Vapouround magazine ISSUE 17 | Page 170

EVENTS BY PATRICK GRIFFIN SHENZHEN ECIG EXPO, CHINA - APRIL 14-16 This Shenzhen eCig Expo was the biggest yet and it dominated a large section of the city’s sprawling Convention and Exhibition Center. Th i s Shenz hen eCig E x p o w a s th e b i g g e s t y e t and i t dominated a large section of the city’s sprawling Convention and Exhibition Center. It needed four huge halls to accommodate everyone who wanted to take part in this showcase event and there was a really good atmosphere throughout the three days. I am always absolutely amazed at the speed in which this event comes together and even more impressed at how quickly the expo is taken down again. On set up day there was a huge army of workers including painters, carpenters, electricians and carpet layers. Particularly impressive were the guys on ladders who put up the banners and used the ladders like stilts to walk around the stand without having to climb down. I love coming to IECIE because this is always an interesting show with an amazingly diverse selection of hardware and juices on display. Another reason I love this show is that it is by far the easiest expo to navigate around. A giant scale drawing of the floor plan is on display just inside the main entrance and registration area and this makes getting an overview of such a huge event really easy. The stand numbering system tells visitors what hall the stand is in and then narrows it down by section within each hall. This makes finding individual stands easier than at any expo I have ever been to before. I can never understand why so 170 | VM17 many expo organisers go to great lengths to include the stand numbers on floor plans and then fail to put them on the stands themselves. Vapouround had a huge stand at the far end of Hall 7 alongside Easysnap, Lik Juice, PJ Empire, Zom-b Cloud and Gumee Juice. There was a pop-up barber opposite our stand which was busy from start to finish. On set-up day I vowed to take some time out to get my hair cut but there was so much to be done at this particular expo that I didn’t have time for a trim. The halls remained surprisingly cloud-free throughout the three days thanks to a very efficient ventilation system. The air currents were so strong in parts of the hall that stray pieces of paper would be blown around like kites on a breezy day. Personally, I would have dialled the air down a notch and accepted a slightly cloudier venue. Vaping is clearly very popular in China but smoking still has a huge market and I suspect the dual-use rate is very high here. I lost count of the numbers of people I saw smoking outside the hall and others even had a crafty cigarette in the toilets despite the ‘no-smoking’ signs. We must thank the show organisers for putting on such an impressive event and for looking after us so well, including putting on exclusive VIP meetings with local distributors and vape companies. The music level at this expo was also generally spot on. It