Daily Vaper

The ECC And The Evolution Of Vape Conventions

REUTERS/Victor Ruiz Garcia - RTS16Y5Z

Norm Bour Contributor
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In 2013 the Electronic Cigarette Convention kicked off the first large scale vaping event of its kind. Over three days it brought in more than 20,000 attendees. Since then, they have tried different venues and formats. However, the latest iteration may have shown that if something isn’t broke, it doesn’t need fixing.

In early February, ECC held its latest event. The good news is that the organizers may be back in their stride.

With over 250 vendors showing up, the 2018 ECC was held at the Ontario Convention Center, site of some of their most successful prior shows.

Many of the big names were there, like Space Jam and Cosmic Fog. However, some former participants, like Five Pawns and The Standard, were notably absent.

ECC had a reputation as “party central,” and many came to play rather than work. The festive mood remained this year, but some vendors we spoke with had great sales days. One even said they “had one of their best single sales day ever.”

The role of events in vaping continue to evolve. The days of lofting free samples into the crowd, not to mention hiring midgets and Little People to push your products, are gone. Instead we have indications of more maturity and more focused business owners.

What fest or events do you like? We’re doing an overview of some of the more well-known shows, like VCC, Vape Showcase and Miami’s World Vapor Expo, along with the international shows.

Today we have shows in Columbia, South America, Mexico, and several in the UK, France and China. New this year is the Oceana Fest which will cater to the Southern Hemisphere countries like Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea.

Do you have questions about mastering the vape industry? If so, send them on to norm@VapeMentors.com and we’ll address them in future columns.

Norm Bour is the founder of VapeMentors – a vape industry consulting company for vape shops, eCommerce sites and e-liquid brands. He’s also the host of Vape Radio, the largest vape business podcast in the world with more than 1.3 M downloads.

Get a free copy of his book Vapreneur by clicking here

As a founding partner in the Vape Industry Business Exchange (VIBE) & CBDyoume.com, Norm is committed to supporting the vape space into this Brave New World.

Contact him at norm@VapeMentors.com.