I had some time to think about an electric skateboard convention and incorporate some of the ideas that I’ve had …. So, here are my thoughts….I hope you can amuse me and follow my thought process along. I’ll do my best to keep it concise. (I warn you know, this ain’t short)
In my opinion, electric skateboards are divided in groups…DIY built boards and Production (pre-built) boards, which are divided further by brands i.e. Boosted boards, evolve, acton, inboard etc.…The list seems to get larger every month with a new esk8 company popping up. Although we all Esk8, we are divided by a kind of brand loyalty, which keeps us divided.
Convention Noun 1. A meeting or formal assembly, as of representatives or delegates, for discussion of and action on particular matters of common concern.
https://www.facebook.com/events/260834791028210??ti=ia
Simply. We need to unite. DIY and Production need to be under one flag per se. Sure, everyone involved in Esk8 has got their own angle…but at the end of the day, no matter which Esk8Squad you roll with, we all Just SHRED. And that is what we all have in common. We love esk8. We love it for the ride. We love it for a million other reasons…especially those of us that build them.
As DIYers we take pride in our builds, no matter how crappy it looks…We made them. We love our babies! Our passion for esk8 shows. It shows in how we interact with each other. We take time to explain to complete strangers, how we did what we did. We motivate each other. We have built a virtual community, a DIY Esk8 neighborhood. And the ‘hood’ is getting bigger.
The popularity of Esk8 has grown over the past few years, and seems to be really accelerating in 2017. We’ve seen recently new Kickstarters from our favorite vendors, companies on Shark Tank, a bloom of Chinese manufactures with esk8 offerings. Also, there are more people going the DIY route. But it’s still not common. We are in clusters, pockets of builders and riders spread around the globe. But this is how trends kind of go…Those pockets, become areas, then regions…till it’s everywhere…It sounds like a fad. I don’t think it is.
We’ve seen esk8 touted as the “last mile solution”… How true is that? Do you look at your board and tell yourself, (in a hipster tone) “Esk8 is great. I don’t have to huff it back on foot!” It is so much further from that, for most of us these days. If we could really put a FLUX Capacitor on our boards, we’d ride till the wheels fell off or couldn’t feel our feet anymore.
We are a community of DO’ers. We get it done. “Built. Not Bought.” Someone posted here on the forum one time. I thought to myself, “That is so true.” (of course on varying levels) . We are ambassadors of this hobby. We try to bring people into our squad. So, it make sense that this interest in having a huge shindig, bringing all of esk8 into one parking lot was born on this forum. It’s a great idea. I love it. And it has been on my mind before, but wasn’t sure if it was the right time to open my mouth. I guess this is a good time.
I’d like to again, propose that we have a convention in 2018 that brings in as many aspects of Esk8 in to the fold….My way. LOL…. Here we go….Let me begin by describing in general what I would want to see…I’d like to see all the major players there. Representing their company. All the DIY Esk8 Vendors and other smaller companies involved in esk8 in some way. I want races. I want build competitions. I want guest speakers. I want demo rides. I want group rides. I want it open to the public. I want us to be covered by the news. I want a group picture! Lol
How do we get there?
First, as mentioned above, we need to unite. We need to organize ourselves under one body. We are stronger as squad than as individuals. We as a group need to be recognized. It will help us influence major players to attend our convention. And that in turn will make it a more attractive for other Esk8ers and Noobs to attend. SO, we need to grow it. We build on esk8 as the core foundation. It’s how we all roll. And you know when people see you, they wish they could have their own and roll with you. We are the example, because it’s the coolest thing they’ve ever seen. So, we all must be ambassadors, marketers and even sales people. We need to promote Esk8, so we can promote the group and our convention. Sure, there are boosted and evolve groups and they have their ‘fanboys’. But we can still shred the same path. So, why not just do that? We need to project a sense of community within all the different factions of esk8.
Second, we need to build a team working on all angles of the convention. Date, location, vendors, sponsors, events, event locations, logistics, batteries, hotel, marketing, and costs. We also need a team to constantly promote our Esk8Squad to individuals and groups by any means. Like through social medial, facebook and Instagram and other means such as merchandise. This will increase chances of having an awesome turn out for a convention.
This all takes time and money…and obviously help from anyone of you that is willing to lend a hand in your own way.
As we progress forward we can adjust things to suit our needs as issues arise. But we need to start.
And I’m going to start this thing off by asking each of you to fill out my google form.
It’s a slew of questions. But also, it will show us how we currently stand. Please fill it out even if you will not be attending. I will be adding more updates and ideas on this thread….and use this to talk “out loud”…. This is about as much typing I can do for now…as we progress I will expound on my ideas and provide more detail.
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