Once again, I find myself in a frenzy of preparation for the upcoming Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City. I'm in the midst of a daily stream of emails and phone calls with vendors and fellow Backpacking Light staff as we schedule appointments, sift through hundreds of press releases proclaiming the (supposed) greatest new outdoor gadgets, and organize our show coverage. This show will be my fifth for Backpacking Light, which I suppose makes me a veteran. Still, rather than becoming jaded, I look forward in anticipation as each show gives me an unprecedented opportunity to see the latest new gear, but more importantly, also gives me a chance to renew relationships with vendors and staff.
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I guess my disappointment in the Outdoor Shows coverage was that I really wanted to get a glimpse of the shows as they were happening, like BPL used to do for the last few years. One of the most valuable views into the shows that I've had over the years at BPL was getting photos of gear. As it was, this year I kept waiting for the short reviews to show up, found nothing, and so closed the BPL window and looked for the news on other sites, like Lighthiker and Spadout. Kind of silly, I thought, since it is here at BPL that I want to learn about those things. Even today, years after they were published I still go back to old reviews and photos of gear to think about and compare gear. The photographs are what make it most worthwhile, such as last winter when I was looking around for winter tents and brought up a search for the Mountain Hardwear Bunker 1. This year the shows have ended and I feel I've learned nothing about the shows from BPL.
Though I do agree with John that the upcoming articles will probably fulfill that need for more information.
I also realize that trying to keep up to-the-minute reviews certainly must be exhausting! The shows are exhausting enough in themselves!
There are forums for past OR shows, which seem to keep all the info consolidated. Any reason for the change on this?
Perhaps another thing that I liked last year and seems more difficult now, is immediate interaction. I remember that during past shows, because the reports were published during the show, questions could be asked to the BPL team which then could go back to the reps on the floor. The current format doesn't allow this I think (or at least not as easily).
Tom wrote:
"I remember that during past shows, because the reports were published during the show, questions could be asked to the BPL team which then could go back to the reps on the floor."
You know I had forgotten this, but you're absolutely right. That was very cool/useful and is an excellent point on the side of more timely reports. It was like having our own representatives at the show rather than just reading reports.
Hi all,
This link to a bunch of short revirews was posted on a different thread and I want to add it here.
Short reviews from the Summer-ORS-2008
Seems that Patagonia is coming out or coming back with its Wool #1. It would seem that this new item might have attracted enough attention to get some kind of notice by BPL.com.
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