EVENTS
BY PAUL CAPLIN
VTC MEXICO, MEXICO CITY. OCTOBER 12-14
“No one was looking for free samples or giveaways and if you did
give away freebies they were so grateful.”
I have travelled to Mexico before on a few occasions, but never
to Mexico City and never to a vape expo, so I didn’t know what
to expect.
We arrived after a long flight and checked out the hours of the
show. We didn’t need to worry about set up day as the booth was
already going to be set up when we got there. We found out that
day one, which was going to be the B2B day, wasn’t going to start
until half-past four in the afternoon – a strange time for a show to
start and I was left wondering what time it would end.
So we got there at about four, eventually finding a back door to
the expo hall where we were supposed to enter.
On arrival, we found our booth but there was no check-in like with
other shows. The booth had been decorated but lacked furniture.
When we asked about it, we were told that we would have it in
about an hour. The show was due to start and we were going
to be working off the floor. We also noticed that many booths
were still being built. It turned out that the advertised time was an
estimation and the show actually started about half past six – the
finish time was also completely wrong, but hey, ‘when in Mexico.’
The B2B day wasn’t too bad. There was a good turn out, but we
were sceptical. The Mexican people we had met were incredible
and very accommodating and everyone wanted to help. Most
people we met also spoke great English, even though we had a
translator.
130 | VM20
Day one finished on a
positive note and people
seemed to be happy. The business
side of things seemed to be of a good
quality, with not many time-wasters about.
There didn’t seem to be as many people
on day two for the B2B part of things
– then they opened it to the public
and the floodgates opened.
‘Wow’ is all I could say. There
were masses of people and what
great people they were. Everyone was
respectful and wanted to try the juices and were prepared to
spend money. No one was looking for free samples or giveaways
and if you did give away freebies they were so grateful. Someone
even tried to offer money for a free magazine.
All in all, this is a fantastic developing market. I think this show
will get stronger and stronger and be one to watch in the future.
I really enjoyed my time in Mexico and can’t wait to go back.