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Niche Market Trade Shows - POS Vendors

Is this a good idea?

  • Yes

    Votes: 5 100.0%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5
  • Poll closed .

joemoraca

Active member

Go to Niche Market Trade Shows to promote Dash and network with POS System Vendors with the goal of adding Dash to their systems.


What
I propose to attend three niche market tradeshows that have Point of Sale (POS) system vendors that specialize in that vertical market. I will focus on niches that are more likely to be open to using digital currencies. The individual shows that I attend will be vetted by the Dash core team to be sure they match up with their future plans for integrations.

I see this project as an "advance team" - show the Dash brand, see who the players are in the POS / payment gateway space for that vertical, meet with who I can, talk about their knowledge of crypto to understand what they see as the good and bad. With that info I will follow up with vendors to work on them to either go forward with integration or at least keep us on their radar.

This will allow me to document that information to have it available for when the "full Dash team" is ready to go after that market. These type integrations can take a while so being a year / 6 months ahead of the full Dash core integration push just makes their job that much easier.

It is easier to be up and running when you know the players by name, who has the biggest market share, who is interested and how to deal with any objections they may have.

Why

Many trade shows are annual events that are well attended by industry decision makers. This attracts the top tier vendors that supply that industry. Since basically all retail businesses depend on a Point of Sale system there are many specialized / generic POS vendors that go to these shows to interact with their customers. Trade shows are a great opportunity to understand the needs of individual businesses, the likelihood of them using digital currency and find out what systems they favor.

Potential shows
CRAFT BEVERAGE EXPO 2017
November 7-9, 2017 | Portland, OR
The craft beverage industry is growing fast with small local breweries opening up all over the country. They could be a good target market for local groups to focus on.

Marijuana Business Conference & Expo
November 15-17, 2017: Main Conference & Expo
Las Vegas Convention Center | Las Vegas, NV
I have requested sponsorship information. - not sure if this is already covered by Dash.

National Retail Federation Big Show
Starts Sunday, January 14, 2018 in NYC
NRF 2018 is Retail’s Big Show it brings together the largest gathering of industry executives for discussions of the latest industry trends and gives attendees an unparalleled view into how retail brands of all sizes are transforming themselves for the digital age. The event offers unique networking opportunities and a glimpse of the latest technologies and solutions for retailers. --- It should be full of POS vendors.

CannaCon is dedicated to creating and strengthening lifelong partnerships within the emerging cannabis industry. There are conferences in both Boston and Seattle. (Boston dates / info not yet available)
Seattle, WA CannaCon Feb 15, 16, 17.

I am not committing to an exact conference list since based on the timing of the proposal passing and being funded I can’t know for certain what opportunities will be available. I will also coordinate with Dash Core business development to ensure there is no duplication of efforts.

My plan will be to work with any local Dash people to help cover the conferences if possible. I will also develop industry specific promotional / educational materials appropriate to the audience.

Expenses
Event sponsorship / Exhibit Space: 3 shows @ 10,000 each.= $30,000
Promotional materials: banners / printed materials / giveaways: $7,000
Travel expenses = air 400 / hotel 4 nights 800 x 3 = $3,600
Subtotal $40,600
10% contingency for Dash price fluctuation and unknowns. $4,060
5 Dash reimbursement for proposal = $1,500 (@ $300/D)
Total: $46,160

I think that the conference sponsorships are important in that they “prove” that Dash has money to spend and is “real.”

Any excess funding will be used to cover costs related to follow up with POS system vendors. This may be integrating systems like DashPOS into existing workflow, developing POS specific Dash modules and / or working with existing Dash POS developers to tweak their product to work with specific industry needs. Additional proposals may be submitted later based on the plans developed with vendors.

Why me?
I have written 3 articles a week on Dash Force News covering POS systems and Dash Treasury proposals. I understand the value of getting Dash into POS systems and building real world transaction volumes.

I also have over 10 years of project management in software development working much of that time in the financial area. I have extensive experience managing relationships with vendors and negotiating pricing and contract terms. I have worked in complex organizational / vendor relationships with multiple partner organizations working together (mostly) to deliver a product or service.

I have attended a lot of business conferences and understand their value and how to network with vendors.

Let me know what you think of this idea.
 
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I would like to publicly throw my full support behind Joe. He is a great representative for Dash and all round great guy. Joe is always thorough in his research and is our resident expert on Dash payment solutions. In my eyes Joe is the perfect man for this job and I sincerely hope the Dash community get behind him in helping Dash achieve more exposure encouraging more business adoption. We need more direct business outreach and this proposal would deliver that. A big thumbs up from me :)
 
Do you need some help running a booth at these locations? The proposal looks like it will just be you there.

We just finished up the tedx event in salt lake city last weekend and got stormed by people. Just giving out basic explanations over 12 of us were talking to people at once at times. People want to learn about this. I wouldn't mind helping and focusing on some of the conference level work. It may not super effective from a outside standpoint but when you are there getting entrepreneurs in their 50's showing each-other how to load their first crypto wallet all excited about this technology it shows you we are much more ready for prime-time than we know. Update incoming. I enjoy working at the conference level event and what you really are paying for is networking with other vendors and not just the people attending.

I'd be glad to help, I've been to cannacon once and done booth work at 3 different events.
 
Do you need some help running a booth at these locations? The proposal looks like it will just be you there.

We just finished up the tedx event in salt lake city last weekend and got stormed by people. Just giving out basic explanations over 12 of us were talking to people at once at times. People want to learn about this. I wouldn't mind helping and focusing on some of the conference level work. It may not super effective from a outside standpoint but when you are there getting entrepreneurs in their 50's showing each-other how to load their first crypto wallet all excited about this technology it shows you we are much more ready for prime-time than we know. Update incoming. I enjoy working at the conference level event and what you really are paying for is networking with other vendors and not just the people attending.

I'd be glad to help, I've been to cannacon once and done booth work at 3 different events.
If the proposal gets passed like I hope I will be sure to contact you.
 
I have updated my proposal to better clarify what I want to accomplish.

"I propose to attend three niche market tradeshows that have Point of Sale (POS) system vendors that specialize in that vertical market. I will focus on niches that are more likely to be open to using digital currencies. The individual shows that I attend will be vetted by the Dash core team to be sure they match up with their future plans for integrations.

I see this project as an "advance team" - show the Dash brand, see who the players are in the POS / payment gateway space for that vertical, meet with who I can, talk about their knowledge of crypto to understand what they see as the good and bad. With that info I will follow up with vendors to work on them to either go forward with integration or at least keep us on their radar.

This will allow me to document that information to have it available for when the "full Dash team" is ready to go after that market. These type integrations can take a while so being a year / 6 months ahead of the full Dash core integration push just makes their job that much easier.

It is easier to be up and running when you know the players by name, who has the biggest market share, who is interested and how to deal with any objections they may have."

Please check it out at https://www.dashcentral.org/p/NicheMarketTradeShows-POSVendors - I am also glad to have gotten an endorsement from Alt Thirty Six - but at this time I still need more yes votes.
 
Are you going to form a dedicated team, there are more than three tradeshows that should be of interest to the industry? For example the trade show database has 10 shows in the restaurant/hotel industry alone in 2018.
 
Are you going to form a dedicated team, there are more than three tradeshows that should be of interest to the industry? For example the trade show database has 10 shows in the restaurant/hotel industry alone in 2018.
Assuming my proposal passes I think my first goal will be to setup the first conference. I think a tradeshow team is a good idea and would be very happy to grow this proposal into that.
 
Here is a short update after week 1.

Discussed proposal goals with Ryan Taylor. I will coordinate efforts with the new Director of Business Development when hired.

Created new website http://dash4business.com as landing page for how Dash is working with niche markets. (still in progress). The goal is to highlight how Dash is working with legal cannabis, Irish pubs, gold dealers and other groups to benefit both the vendor association and Dash.

Working on getting cards / printed materials / shirts designed then printed.

First conference will be the: Craft Beverage Expo - November 7-9 in Portland OR
Contracted for lanyard (name tag holders) sponsorship ($3,500). - everyone wears it the whole time they are at conference.

Second conference will be the National Retail Federation’s “Big Show” conference in NYC Jan 14-16. I have not yet finalized any sponsorship / ticket details. This is a very big (and expensive) trade show that will have many major point of sale vendors.

Additional conferences will be decided later this year as more details on the events are available. There is a big gap in conference scheduling from early November to mid January due to the holiday season.

I also talked with Alt36 about cannabis conferences - they will be attending and or sponsoring most related conferences for the next 6 months as they roll out their new program. I think it best to leave that market to them.

Thanks.
 
Let me know how I can help with the NYC conference I am nearby and can help you plan or coordinate.
 
Here are a few pictures from the Craft Beverage Expo:

lanyards.png

This is the conference app - they didn't have anything printed so everyone used the app for the schedule and viewing slides.
app-banner-ad_0.png


Dash banner and some old fat guy (the author)
joebanner.png



Craft Beverage Expo 2017 Jan 7-9

Dash was the lanyard sponsor for the conference. We got a logo / link on the website sponsor page and a banner ad on the conference “app” (there was no print brochure) - we were the first banner in the rotation so everyone saw it multiple times. We did not have a table but did have a banner hung in the exhibit hall.

I talked with a lot of people about Dash and its use in business. Most had at least a familiarity with Bitcoin none were currently accepting it in their business. I also identified a number of POS systems that companies were using - I will be doing further research on them.

I was on the lookout for new “objections” to the use of crypto and found some. One new business owner I talked with who was opening a brewery in Idaho said that both the Small Business Administration (SBA) and his local bank asked if he was going to accept crypto - and that it would be a show stopper for both. This older SBA blog post talks about the pitfalls of crypto use in business.

I also talked with a representative of an accounting firm that deals with the craft beverage industry in several states in the Western US - he was aware of crypto and all of the reasons it was “not good” for small business to accept it - just too much work and risk (read linked blog post above) for the small benefit.

Identifying these objections is important as counter arguments will be needed. I plan on discussing them with a local University business consultant who is familiar with the SBA.

I spent a total of 25.25 Dash on the conference.
165 Starting balance
- 5 Dash reimb for proposal fee
160 Dash
- 25.25 expenses for CBE
134.75 Dash balance
 
Given state/banking opposition to crypto, I would think that the business sectors most receptive to Dash would be those already on the state/banking grey-market hit list (sex, guns, porn, drugs other than pot). Pursuing POS with businesses that are favored by state/banking powers might be an uphill struggle. Be that as it may, I fully support the effort wherever Joe takes it.
 
My second conference will be the National Retail Federation "big show 2018" Jan 14-16. This is very heavy on retail technology see this list my goal is to meet with as many Point of Sale / Payment Processors as possible and discuss their adding Dash / crypto as a payment option.

I also plan on attending the North America Bitcoin Conference in Miami to help promote Dash at this event.

I am looking at the National Restaurant Association Conference as the 3rd big conference I will attend. It is May 19-22 2018. This also appears to be a good source of POS vendors. They have a technology exhibit hall - using the "advanced search" it shows 51 Point of Sale vendors registered.
 
"Too much work, for the small benefit", I think its too much work for him/her to understand the benefits of cryptos and specifically DASH. This person will realized soon of that. Keep going, you are doing a great job on this PoS shows. My support from Venezuela
 
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