Vaping Diaries #123: ECC 2013 Wrap Up

All my ECC 2013 videos (please watch them!) have been edited and all but one has been posted. Now that all the work is done, it’s time to reflect on the first annual Electronic Cigarette Convention. Before I get to that, I wanted to thank Dulce and Steve from ECC for making the show extremely media-friendly. Big-time thanks to RPadholic N8R for filming my interviews. Now onto the ECC 2013 wrap up.

In a nutshell, ECC 2013 greatly exceeded my expectations. From my perspective, the show was well organized and several exhibitors had impressive booth setups. I was expecting a basic room with simple vendor tables from local companies. Instead, some exhibitors had really elaborate booths and there were companies from all over the world (China, Finland, the Philippines). Of course the show wasn’t as elaborate or flashy as E3 or PAX, but for a relatively young business, ECC 2013 was vibrant and well attended. The show organizers and exhibitors did way more than I expected them to.

That’s not to say that everything was perfect. While the ECC web site was much better looking than the one for the competing Vapefest show, it didn’t have a lot of useful information. My coverage plans would have been a lot easier with an exhibitor list and a map of the show floor. Hell, I had to go to the ECC Facebook page to find out what time the convention started each day. There were a lot of products that debuted at ECC 2013 and some attendees had no idea that they were there. It would have been nice if the conference stage was used to unveil products and have the creators talk about them. (Dulce, I’m available for hosting duties if you want me to moderate panels or announcements. Use me!)

From the people I spoke with online and IRL, ECC 2013 reactions were largely positive. Most of them enjoyed the show and were happy to attend. Some complained about nothing new being at the show, which wasn’t true, but as I mentioned earlier, the show could have done a better job highlighting new products. Some people complained that there wasn’t enough free stuff. That complaint seemed whiny to me. If you pre-registered for ECC 2013 then you paid a grand total of $0. How much “free stuff” do you expect from a free show? Besides, lots of people posted photos of fairly hefty hauls of free juices and drip tips. I didn’t get too many freebies because I was busy working, but I got some and it looked like you could get a lot if you were aggressive about it.

For people that aren’t familiar with my work in tech and gaming, keep in mind that I’ve attended a lot of trade shows, expos, and conventions. E3, CES, Comdex, Comic-Con, NAMM, CEDIA, Anime Expo, Toy Fair, and BlizzCon are just some of shows that I’ve attended for work. I’ve attended impeccably organized shows and ones that were run horribly. Aside from an overzealous security staff (totally the Anaheim Convention Center’s fault), I was quite pleased with my ECC 2013 experience.

For a first effort, ECC 2013 was a great show and I’m sure it will be even better next year. There were lots of hardware and juice companies displaying goods for attendees to try. New items debuted at the show, as well as a few ECC exclusives. The vibe was fun and the work was productive. Congratulations to everyone that worked on ECC 2013. If any of you plan on going next year, I hope to see you!

RPad.TV ECC 2013 Videos

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv