SHOW REPORT: OTS Trade Show Reports

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 UKC/UKH Gear 04 Aug 2022

For the first time since the pandemic UKC and UKH have attended an actual, real life trade show, OTS in Liverpool. Here are the highlights of what we saw.

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 gekitsu 04 Aug 2022
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

i absolutely get the factors of travel logistics and having to cut/edit/upload a whole bunch of lengthier videos vs fewer, shorter ones. but as a complete nerd, i am sad to see the big infodump style videos go.

of course, their usefulness always stood and fell with the quality of the sales rep. but nate hoette talking for 20something minutes about just the changes in a model of shoe was always worth the while.

In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I wonder if the The Outdoor Show will go ahead in ExCel London this year.

I met Alan James at The RockFax stand and at my first one I met Gaz Parry.

They used to have an AMI course run with DMM where you were taught about gear placements and anchor building. AMI and DMM also had a course where you learnt about self rescue. Both good fun and educational but not as good as doing it outdoors - I have never done a self rescue course in the real world.

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In reply to gekitsu:

One thing I should have added within the report, which I didn't (and now regret), is that we're now publishing a lot more video content than ever before.

Where previously our trade show reports would represent 99% of the gear related content we film within a year, they now represent much less, because we're doing much more elsewhere. Whilst trade shows are very practical to film at, they aren't necessarily the best in terms of providing a meaningful opinion about a product. We've obviously got our own experiences to go on when looking at a product, and whatever the brand representatives have to say, but we've never actually used the product.

Our Gear Guides differ significantly in this regard, because we go into detail on how each product has performed in reality. Whilst we'll mention construction and technology within these it isn't something we'll labour on, as we don't want to get bogged down in too much jargon. Here's a link to a few examples:

Five Ten NIADD Mocc - https://youtu.be/uZ5oLG_xHww?list=PLp4qYSv5FDsRht3Asiy93rtque4QkdVYJ
Scarpa Ribelle Run: https://youtu.be/sxZdgMoZevA?list=PLp4qYSv5FDsRht3Asiy93rtque4QkdVYJ
Montane Spine Jacket: https://youtu.be/ZFGP7UcTLsw?list=PLp4qYSv5FDsRht3Asiy93rtque4QkdVYJ

Our 'Ask the Expert' videos are perhaps a little more what you're describing when referencing what we did with Nathan a few years ago, as these have a more brand-oriented approach. We'll interview a member of staff, or brand athlete/ambassador, about the product and get their take on it. Again, here's a link to a few examples:

Exped's Sleeping Mat Range: https://youtu.be/OEodNX_zJxA?list=PLp4qYSv5FDsRht3Asiy93rtque4QkdVYJ
Nikwax on sustainability: https://youtu.be/vb5s5Y8mfrw?list=PLp4qYSv5FDsRht3Asiy93rtque4QkdVYJ
Unparallel Flagshiphttps://youtu.be/s_Gm-ow1IIw?list=PLp4qYSv5FDsRht3Asiy93rtque4QkdVYJ

Sorry for what has become a very long answer, but hopefully that allays any fears we won't be nerding out in future!!

Post edited at 18:46
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Are you doing any La Sportiva and/or Petzl reviews?

 gekitsu 04 Aug 2022
In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

rob,

many thanks for the reply, don’t worry about its length. mark twain said it right: ‘i didn’t have time to write a short letter, so i wrote a long one instead.’ and i know i will ramble whenever given the opportunity, so i am not going to hold it against anyone.

and yes, i completely agree about what trade show filming can not provide – what it can be is an overview what’s going to come next season, and you get some footage of how the product handles in addition to the blurb. plus maybe a question or two. i think that combination is what i appreciated most about the old style gear show coverage.

one thing i pondered to mention in my comment, and regret i didn’t, was that i appreciate the editorial take on newly announced products – that is definitely a valuable addition. because when it comes down to it, a professional reviewer is more likely to have some hands-on experience with other products in a given category and can give an impression about how it appears compared to competing items. (it’s probably not very nice to say in front of a sales rep that their new jacket looks to be the good-enough-for-most alternative to [crazy expensive arc’teryx piece] for people who don’t want to spend arc’teryx money, but it’d be a useful take. )

cheers, and here’s to more gear nerding in the future!

 Twiggy Diablo 07 Aug 2022
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Oh my god absolutely crying at the thermarest noise test (0:38s into the innovative products video).

In reply to Twiggy Diablo:

> Oh my god absolutely crying at the thermarest noise test (0:38s into the innovative products video).

I remember making a joke about crisp packet technology to one of their designers at a trade show a few years ago - suffice to say they didn't see the funny side.

Hopefully the highly unscientific scrunch test did it justice!


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