Demo Days! What do you expect?

[SnowHot]

So as not to hijack the Mantra thread any more than I already have, I thought we could carry this discussion over here.
My original rant - Sorry :(

I was at the Volkl Demo tent today at Boyne Mountain.
Let me tell you how it went.

I stood in line for about 10 minutes, looked over the selection of skis, They had a lot of skis in different lengths, which is a very good thing!!!

I juuuuuust about got up to the front, when the guy I was going to decided to stream line and let the other guy handle the paper work end while "he" did the set ups. Duh, why didn't they do that from the git go!?
So I get to the front of the line again, when a man comes back with a ski and has questions, so I'm left standing.
Then I get his attention again, when he asks, as he's handing me the clipboard with the waiver and info, "ma'am, what are you thinking you want to ski" I said, the Bridge, The Aura, and the Fuego!
He said, "I have all of those but the bridge is not in a size you would like, its in a 169 which is a little long for your size."
I said, that's exactly the size I want to demo.

He turned to look just as the other guy was handing it to someone else. ARGH!!

Then a woman comes back with a pair of skis she has been trying to ask him for her next pair. He leaves me standing there, (I've now been in line, and being fairly ignored for 35 minutes) I said, "you need me(the customer) more than I need volkl skis!"
I skied away and had fun on my Blizzards!

Wow Snowhot! I'm really sorry to hear that! I will pass this along to the Rep. I don't know if he was running the Demo, or if it was one of his guy's. In any case I am so sorry that happened to you. I have always found him to be very supportive of women in the industry, me being one of those women( buyer,general manager,area pro rep). Nor have I ever found Kevin to be condesending to women. He has always been very supportive of my Womens ski Instructional programs. His wife was the 1st female tech rep that I ever met ("LookBindings"). She was right down there in the snow pits adjusting bindings with the guy's, that was a tough go round in the "70's"!! (Heck it ain't that easy now!) Both of his daughters are Alpine Racer's and I know that he is very supportive of them too. I would never equate Kevin with being patronizing to women. :( All I can say i that having been a veteran of many on snow Demo's from both sides of the bench, sometimes thing are beyond anticipating. Every body has questions some more than other's and it is impossible for one rep to carry enough skis in enough sizes to make every body happy all the time. I'm verry sorry that it was you this time. Please give Kevin a second chance next time. I will pass this along to him and let him know how unhappy you were with the way you were treated.

I was not put off by any tone toward women. At no time did the men at the ten talk down to me because I was a woman. I am sorry, sooooo sorry, if the tone of my post inferred that he was condescending toward me. It was more about being disorganized.
I will say........they had a phenomenal selection of skis in various sizes. Really good selection. They also had tons of people at their tent, since they were the only demo set up for the day.
This makes it >that< much more important to have a plan and be organized.

 

[Little Lightning]

In Dec. I went to a demo day that was advertised on the radio and on the schedule at the ski area. We had to register inside at ski school and then we received a card with our din, name, etc. When we went to the vendors we gave them our cards and they we able to quickly set up our skis.

It seemed there were more board vendors than ski vendors. I expected every vendor to have a selection of their women's skis. There were only5 ski vendors. One vendor had no women's skis in my size but recommended that I go to the ski shop at the other end of the mtn and ask if they would let me demo the ski I was interested in. The second vendor only had 1 ski in my size. It was a very cold day and the wax stuck in the snow. There were other issues that I had with the ski. The other 3 vendors had no women's skis in my size. I did demo a ski from an unknown company and loved the ski but it was in a size to big for me. They don't make the ski smaller.:Cry:

So what will I expect in the future? Nothing, I won't bother with free demo days.

 

[altagirl]

What do I expect?

That any women's skis available for demoing are probably going to be way shorter than the right length for me, which means I almost always just demo unisex gear.

I also expect it to be busy, so I try to work my way around the booths, look to see what's in, what's not got much of a line and test those first, unless there's something I just HAVE to try.

 

[Little Lightning]

And with my experience the unisex skis weren't short enough for me.
One vendor commented that they were having demo days all over Colorado and they didn't have enough women's skis to go around.

The disadvantage of being vertically challenged. :(

 

[volklgirl]

For the same sizing and selection reasons plus questionable tuning jobs, I've given up on the free demo days and just go to places where I know they have pay-to-demo with a decent selection. When paying for a demo day, I expect the condition of the skis to be exceptional and am not afraid to complain if they're not.

 

[Kano]

One vendor commented that they were having demo days all over Colorado and they didn't have enough women's skis to go around.

Sounds like vendors need to rethink their demo tours -- more skis, or fewer locations at a time!

Kano

 

[Little Lightning]

When I want skis that's what I do, go to a shop that has what I want.

Because the event was so heaily advertised I was surprised with the lack of offerings for women. My SO had lots of choices and went back on Sunday to demo more skis.

The event was well organized with no lines because it was on a less busy side of the mtn.

Last year we were able to do free demos on K2 women's skis as part of our weekly ski clinic. At the end of Feb. I went to demo a particular ski, which they had, but when I asked to demo some other K2's they told me they had already sold their demos in my size.