The first-ever Scuba Show was held in 1988 and ranks as the third-oldest consumer diving event in the USA – and the only one on the west coast.
We’re proud of our longstanding presence in the scuba industry. To celebrate, we thought we’d look back at how CDN and Scuba Show got their starts.
California Diving News
By CDN Co-founders Dale and Kim Sheckler
It was 1984. After I left a successful career in commercial diving, my wife Kim and I decided that despite not having much experience in publishing, we’d start a scuba magazine. We were already busy raising our two young boys, but California Diving News became our new baby.
Kim kept her job as an RN, working the late shift at a local hospital. She returned in the early mornings in time for us to get the kids fed and off to school. Kim would then work at her job as CDN’s accountant while I hammered away on the magazine’s content and chased ad sales. We worked together co-authoring articles, and Kim was also my dive buddy and underwater model. Friends and family helped feed and babysit the kids during deadline crunches. Neither of us slept much during those early days. In fact, I spent a night in the hospital being treated for exhaustion the day I sold our first magazine ad.
Somehow, we survived those first few years, and the magazine gained traction. Next, we published a few diving guidebooks, which also proved successful.
The early shows ran on the power, hard work and talents of family and friends. Post-show pizza parties and a group photo were a must. The parties usually took place in the largest historical suite on the Queen Mary. Guest of honor at these parties was always the pizza delivery guy (in the center with a bewildered look on his face).
From the top, clockwise: The 1992 show; the 2003 show; T-shirt art from the 1999 show aboard the Queen Mary.
The Start of Scuba Show
In 1988 we decided to try our hand at running a consumer diving event. Once again, we had zero experience, but a lot of enthusiasm and the support of family and friends. Kim had been doing a great job handling the financial side of our business, and we both agreed it was time for her to leave her nursing career to become the CFO of Scuba Show.
We picked a venue based on how many exhibit spaces we guessed we might sell, about 100. Oddly or intentionally, it was the hotel where Kim and I spent our Honeymoon night, the Sheraton La Reina at LAX. The event coordinator at the hotel was a big help but could only do so much. We laid out the exhibit spaces, hired our first “decorator,” and set the framework of the show and we were off!
We sold exhibit space by sending letters and faxes (this was pre-email), making phone calls and hitting the road to press the flesh. Selling the exhibit space was challenging, but we eventually sold all 100 spots.
Other hurdles to conquer included soliciting and gathering door prizes, setting up a fashion show, putting together a printed program, and assembling and judging a photo contest.
Now we had to bring the attendees. We had a readership of about 12,000 with California Diving News, so we heavily promoted the event in the publication and by reaching out to dive centers, charter boats, and dive clubs.
Then another realization hit us — we had no staffing for the show. We would need directors for each department and worker bees for seminars, badges, ticket sales, ticket takers, seminar sales and registration, film festival, demo pool and more. Here our tight-knit family and friends were our saviors! But would anyone show up? At that first show we did no preregistration or advanced ticket sales – only purchases at the door. It was a shot in the dark.
They did show up. First hundreds, then thousands. A little over 5,000 showed up that initial weekend. Exhibitors were happy, attendees were happy, we were happy.
Requests for exhibit space for the 1989 show exploded.