Our very first Magic Show in Las Vegas and it was definitely an eye-opener. We weren’t there to show any product, the focus was on attending the educational seminars. It was hot in LV so I’m glad everything was held indoors. I couldn’t bring my camera inside the showroom areas so obviously I couldn’t get many images of great interest. This is understandable, considering the fact that all the retailers are showing their upcoming lines (tshirts, prints, bags, accessories, etc.) Hell, everything you can think of was there. If you aren’t a buyer you don’t get to really look at all the new items anyway, but like I already mentioned, that wasn’t why we were there. That being said, you won’t get to see all the cool shit. I guess you’ll just have to go next year.
A couple of things that we learned attending this first show:
1. KNOW WHAT CLASSES APPLY TO YOU
Magic is huge and you can get caught up wanting to do see everything and attend all the classes. However, it’s important to really sit down and figure out what classes make the most sense for your company and the stage you are at. Are you a startup? Are you involved int he manufacturing? Are you looking to be a buyer or retailer? Are you looking for outsourcing? You need to make the most of your time here if you are serious about your company because it goes by pretty fast. Luckily for me all the core classes myself and my team needed were held on the same day. Unfortunately, there was a lot of back and forth between buildings that were on opposite ends of the LV Convention Center. Again, know the classes you really need because you’re just wasting time attending the ones that don’t pertain to you. This is not just some party. Go and really learn something.
2. DON’T ATTEND THINKING YOU WILL SEE ALL THE COOL SHIT
Unless you are a buyer (someone that plans on opening a store to sell different brands, think HOT TOPIC, ZUMIEZ, MACY’s etc.) you won’t feel very welcome to sit and talk with any of the vendors. I’m not saying this as an implied form of snobbyness. It’s just that that’s not what the vendors are there for. They are there to sell new product to serious buyers, this is business. Although at some point and during our casual stroll throught the streetwear section you would think otherwise with all the loud music and noise. You would think you were at a street party. There are many nice booths you can look at and occassional touch some product. It’s a great visual experience. You get to see the amount of money that’s going into this whole thing. It’s big business.
3. ATTENDING MAGIC DOESN’T MEAN FULL ACCESS
There are different levels that your “Magic” pass can get you into. We didn’t have the “full access” pass which we found out while trying to get into the Pooltrade Show or the Project Show. That kinda sucked for us, but we didn’t know. It really sucked big because we were excited to see the Pooltrade Show vendors, mainly because we feel that our style fit the within the vendors showing there. It also costs more than double to attend so that made things kinda difficult too.
Hopefully, that’s enough advice for anyone to go off of if they plan on attending.
Later,
GREEDY
Newborn Apple™
