EVENTS
BY STAFF REPORTER
NATIONAL VAPE EXPO. DUBLIN CONVENTION CENTRE - JULY 1-2
To say that this show was a disappointment is an understatement in the
extreme. As vape expos go, this was absolutely woeful from start to finish.
When I arrived at the convention centre
there was nothing to say that a vape expo
was taking place inside. No posters, no
banners, no signage, absolutely nothing
at all. It was the same story inside - not a
single clue that I had arrived at the
right venue.
The online floor plan boasted 63 stands
and a large stage but as soon as I stepped
foot inside the door I was in for my
next shock.
There was no stage, hardly any visitors at
all and perhaps about 20 stands in total.
I had literally seen everything there was
to see in my first two minutes and I am
being generous if I say that I counted a
couple of dozen visitors in total during
the morning.
This was going to be a very long couple of
days and I was wondering just how slowly
I would have to walk to kill time.
Normally at shows I am so busy that I
don’t have any time to fully engage with
all the entertainment and listen to the
guest speakers.
116 ISSUE 12 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE
The show website featured two guest
speakers described as: “Some of the top
advocates in the country with one of the
most beautiful advocacy panels yet,” so it
was a rather intriguing build up.
Sadly I was to be disappointed once again
because they were not anywhere to be
seen and therefore I cannot comment on
how beautiful or otherwise these vaping
advocates actually were.
I heard unofficial estimates that less than
200 visitors attended the event over the
two days and from my own observations
I would say this is in the right ball park.
This was such a disappointment because
Ireland has a vibrant vaping community
but where was everyone at this show?
Many of the exhibitors I spoke to criticised
the poor organisation and questioned
whether the event had been publicised
enough. After all even the most passionate
vapours cannot attend an event they
don’t know about.
Certainly any vapers passing the venue
would have had no idea that there was a
vape expo going on inside.
I felt so sorry for the exhibitors who had
paid a lot of money to attend and I was not
surprised to hear that some were talking
about obtaining refunds. I must say I can’t
blame them.
I am used to shows where people queue
to get in, there is thumping music, an air
of excitement and thick clouds of vapour
in the air but there was none of that here.
In fact there were hardly enough visitors
to fill a phone box with vapour.
I spent a lot of time chatting to exhibitors
I knew and they were happy to have
someone to engage with because they
had so little else to do. Very often a good
15 to 20 minutes would go by between
one person visiting a stand and the next.
No wonder the exhibitors were angry.
During the weekend I had to come up with
ways of passing the time such as counting
the number of steps between stands and
taking regular coffee breaks.
Never in my life have I made a large flat
white latte last so long. Normally I am an