Vapouround magazine Issue 02 | Page 134

EVENTS CECMOL EXPO SHENZHEN, CHINA 20TH-23RD OCTOBER C CECMOL were kind enough to invite us along to their second show for vaping in China. The event itself was hosted at the convention and exhibition centre in the heart of Shenzhen City, China between the 20-23 October. Shenzhen is considered by many to be the home of vaping innovation with leading hardware brands including Aspire, who were producers of the first sub ohm tank based there. CECMOL itself is part of a much larger exhibition, featuring numerous weird and wonderful products, but I don’t want to bore you with the details of this. My main focus for this article is Hall 3 – The Vaping Hall. For me the event really began a long time before the show, in the lead up I was in constant contact with the organiser, Annie Jiang. I was blown away by just how organised and efficient she was at helping us to make this trip a reality. From supplying us with invitation letters for our visa application to ensuring we had full access to the event. I have had the opportunity to go to a number of events around the world now, but this was my first in Asia and I can tell you I really did not know what to expect. 130 WINTER EDITION VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE All things considered I have to say that it was one of the most enjoyable to date. Yes, of course on this trip my eyes were opened to what using a ‘Chinese toilet’ is like, but the trip itself was a roaring success. The helpfulness of local people coupled with the knowledge of vaping they showed, made me realise just what a global phenomenon vaping is, and just how many more people need to be made aware of it. On our arrival, Annie was there to greet our team and showed us how to gain entry to the expo. Once in I was not only astounded by the size of the hall but also the mixture of countries which were represented at the event. Upon walking around you could see UK brands such as Perino, USA based brands such as Ruthless and a guy I can only describe as legendary, Kurt from Café Racer, whose introduction to us was thrusting a beer in our hand and inviting us to join him in beer and vaping…. perfect. As well as these countries there were representatives from France, Canada, China, Malaysia and Indonesia displaying the latest hardware and Juices. The exhibition had many events which took place over the course of the exhibition. These took place on a giant stage at the back of the auditorium. The following are just a few: Product Launches: The product launches that took place were accompanied by a number of models looking glamourous in fine evening wear, whilst walking like cat walk models to display the new products to a captivated audience. Cloud Competition: A cloud competition was held with the grand prize being RMB 8,888, for those of you don’t know 8 is a lucky number in China. Tricks: VGOD were on the scene with a selection of tricks to entertain, creating a great atmosphere and rush of excitement through the crowd. This must have seemed like a very strange site to the non-vapers who had happened to this part of the exhibition at random. In conclusion this was a successful event for many reasons, from the organisational skills of the CECMOL staff, to putting on events to keep its audience captive in all things vape. If you want to get more of a feel for the event please check out our video on the CECMOL page of the vapouround website.