AquariumExpo 2013 is here!

If you think about the ornamental fish trade in our country compared to first world countries like the US and Europe, we operate on a VERY small scale. Think about the costs incurred by LPS owners in actually setting up live tanks for an event such as this. Is the minimal exposure for them worth the cost? Maybe not. I bet that most pet shops generate their income from selling more generic stuff to the public rather than relying on that once of specialised big sale (for example some of those LED lights on exhibition at Dorry’s stand went for R3500). Therefore they simply don’t see the merit in spending so much for so little exposure.
We (TASA , MASA and APSA members) must understand that we are part of a very specialised hobby in a developmental country with many challenges for those trying to make a living from the hobby. Even though your expectations weren’t met, the simple fact that you were there might contribute to a bigger and better expo next year.
There were also many knowledgeable people there with an infinite amount of experience. If you’ve managed to listen to Arno Naude’s presentation on the biodiversity act you could have gotten insight into the status of TOPS species or freshwater crustacean black list species or even the Knysna Seahorse. Many other questions on forums that you never find the answers to. Members from SAPTA were also open to questions.
If you think you didn’t gain anything from it, maybe you should have asked some questions and approached people on your own. I myself got several new contacts – live phytoplankton cultures and experience from people who have actually bred live food cultures for 15 years. You don’t read that stuff on a blog or in a book. In my opinion, if you knew where to look and who to ask you could very likely get in touch with someone that can source you the fish you want.
We are the hobby, that’s it. It is up to us to grow the industry. Negative comments are not going to promote future growth. So to all those actually participated in the event trying to get some exposure, credit to you because this is where it starts.
My suggestion is to arrange the next Expo on a pre-booking basis. Maybe if 400 to 600 people manage to book and pay tickets up front, local pet shops might be more inclined to put in the effort. Jenn is absolutely right.

 

I agree!!
It is always easy to say what was wrong. I enjoyed the Expo because I made it a fun time meeting everyone I know on TASA and MASA. Yes, there was fewer exhibitors but the guys that did exhibit did an excellent job.
The talks were great and informative and there was knowledge to be gained by attending.
Yes, there was no livestock but I have to agree that selling fish is not an option.
If the fish dies because it was too stressed or gets a disease then the Expo will quickly get blamed.
I do agree that there should have been more plants and corals for sale.
The people organising the Expo have full time jobs and do not get paid to organise this event.
They do it soley for the love of the hobby so let's rather get behind them with our support and suggestions then tear them down and threaten not to go next year. They will listen and make note )
Better yet - why don't you offer your services and help??

 

+1 all said and to keep in mind of the members that not all of us have planted or marine tanks, even the most basic things can make it worth it!
think at the end of the day the members just want to share how they feel! that we r behind TASA and will love to help in the future!

 

I feel that some potential exhibitors were dissuaded from participating by the high costs involved. Now, I don't know how much the expo charged people to exhibit, but it felt really "high-end" and there were only a few exhibitors. I'm sure that more exhibitors, each paying less, would be better for visitors and result in the same profit margin for organisers.

Edit: I just read on APSA that the charge for exhibitors was much higher than last year, which makes me even more certain that this was a large part of the problem.

 

look very great points and i agree with everything that was said and yes this hobby does need to be expanded and yes the pre buying of tickets would help alot of us and LFS to join but if i go to an expo and have a look at what is on show and want to buy it or hope to get some sort of a discount due to it being an expo, but when things are twice the amount of my LFS and we drive all the way out hoping for a bit of a show, we are allowed to be disappointed IMO... if its too much to pay why not join the other expos like the reptile expo or Pet expo im just saying that if we are to back everyone we have no problem, we just dont really want to drive all that way for a few tanks.... not being mean just adding my 2cents

 

+1 on keep in mind of the members that not all of us have planted or marine tanks
I could unfortunetly not be there as I'm in PE but I can relate to not being able to have plants, something most Cichlid keepers have come to terms with. So if you take away all the plant stuff then that is what appealed to us not sure how much is left after that as I have noticed a large increase in planted tanks lately that and Discus keepers strange enough.

 

Yay! Good luck @Zebra Pleco. I know this has been suggested already, but I do think combining with one of the reptile / pet expos would be a better fit. A number of the regular exhibitors there are LFSs who also have good fish sections; all they would need to do is expand the stalls they are already running.

 

@PsyXe Completely Agree with you on that and would be a little more cost efficient

 

But having said that, the Aquarium Expo logo on the streetpole billboards is so small, if you don't know what it is, you wouldn't know what it says. Not criticizing, just saying.

I pulled out of the expo this year because of family issues. I really did want to attend the expo as an exhibitor, but unfortunately I couldn't. That's why I offered to do a live demo on the saturday. What everyone needs to understand, as Lanzo already pointed out, it's a massive undertaking for a store to sell livestock at the expo. Plants are easy, and a variety of plants should have been at the expo this year, but there's always next year for that. You cannot set up a bank of tanks for livestock in 1 day, and expect the livestock to look healthy for the rest of the 3 days. It's unfortunately a very tough thing to do.

As for the organizers of the Expo, I think they did an excellent job. It's a pity that more of the distributors and big time players in the trade couldn't get a stand there, but they have their own reasons.

What this thread now tells us, is that there is a MAJOR demand in the hobby for a show, and a big show at that. So now let's stop criticizing and put our heads together to come up with real world solutions as to what can be done next year.

 

I believe that the reptile crowd have an enormous expo in September in Pretoria every year. That might be worth looking into and join up with them. They do have a few fishy types there but maybe TASA could beef it up and piggy back on them. - my 2c worth

 

+1 for that suggestion.

 

now we getting somewhere, also a big one in randburg Walter sazulu hall "spelling"

 

Let me firstly say – I got back into the hobby about a monthago, and was very excited to learn that there was going to be an expo so soon,that I could learn from and maybe even get some supplies to set up my new tank(It is still in the planning stages as I am a little compulsive that way).
I went to the expo at about 10H30 on Saturday and spend themajority of the day there, attending 3 talks and speaking to all the exhibitors. The knowledge these guys had was phenomenaland I will one day have a need for it, but from a start-up point of view, whatwas on offer was maybe a bit advance for the beginner.
I landed up purchasing almost every single back copy of “TheFishkeeper” and consider this investment the best money I spend on the hobbysince I started, as I have been devouring them since Saturday and have gained100 tons of info.
All this said however, there was a lot wrong with the expoand I am glad to hear that the organisers have taken note of them and that theyare planning making an effort to change this. But something that I have not seen being mentioned was the talks; firstlyI want to say thank you for the time and effort by all the presenters. I know it is not just a case off walking upand giving a 1 hour talk, as hours of preparation also goes into something likethis.
However every presenter that gave a presentation got highly irritatedat the interruptions by the general announcements that were done over the PAsystems. This should have been addressedby the organisers early on and was definitely handled unprofessionally by someof the presenters. (I understand their frustrations as I would have felt thesame, if I was presenting, but there is a professional way to deal with this) What could have also have been improved was alittle more planning with the set-up. Ifyou are going to have the technology there like a TV screen, you might as welluse it. It should have been set up a bithigher and especially Shawn’s demo should have been recorded in real time andscreened so that everyone could actually have seen what he was doing. I sat in the front row and I could not evenalways see what he was doing. I know theattempt was made to film this, but it was clear that no prior preparation wasdone, so the cameraman did not know where to set up his camera, and Shawn hadto share the table the TV was on, to do the actual demo. Don’t get me wrong, I love Shawn’s work andhave said so many times in the last month on this forum, but it could have beenplanned better. A hands free microphone wouldalso have gone a long way, to make their job easier.
So in closing; a huge thank you to the organisers, and pleasedo not loose heart at the possible perception that this was not a success,because if we just got one person that was not interested before, interested inthe hobby, through this expo, I think we succeeded and it was worth all theeffort!

 

Having missed this (just landed yesterday morning) do we have more pics / maybe a video or two, either on TASA or APSA?


Later Ferdie

 

There's some pics here: Expo Expo photo's

We did record all the talks. Quality varies. Still have to go through the videos and possibly edit them etc and upload still.

 

Nice thanks for the link

 

I really wish i could have joined this year again. I learnt so much last year at the expo, especially watching the aqua scape demonstration!

 

I have a video of Sean's presentation and will upload within the next few days.

Kogan