AEMS: Expanding Del Mar’s Vibe into Anaheim

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

In the final hours of the Anaheim Electronics & Manufacturing Show (AEMS), I spoke with show managers Doug Bodenstab and Connor Good. Doug, a longtime surfer, is also the founder and manager of the Del Mar Electronics & Manufacturing Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. I asked Doug and Connor to discuss how the Anaheim show got started and the impact it’s making on the industry.

Andy Shaughnessy: Doug, give us some background on this Anaheim show, and how it’s related to the Del Mar show.

Doug Bodenstab: Sure. My wife and I started the Del Mar Electronics & Manufacturing Show in 1995 after the ERA (Electronics Representatives Association) show was moved to the San Diego Convention Center. Nobody wanted to go down there to the convention center and, as a rep, I knew what the people wanted. So, we started our own show and it took off really quickly because it was a low-cost alternative. Even today, we keep our booths really affordable. 

Connor Good had worked for us, and then he married my daughter Hallie. He suggested we start a show in Anaheim, which I had already thought was a good idea because there was no show for reps and distributors. Having the event at the Anaheim Convention Center is a little tougher than Del Mar because costs are higher and everything, but I thought we could keep the price down. Connor, Hallie, and I launched this show during COVID, and now we’re in our third year. We’re in a great hall with beautiful conference rooms. Costs are low and it’s going really well. For AEMS, we do all the same gimmicks that we do at Del Mar.

Connor Good: We're just taking what we found to be successful at Del Mar and providing the same atmosphere here: laid back and easy to work with while staying low cost, even in the professional hall of the Anaheim Convention Center. The Irvine area is very company-dense, so we started developing our database and expanding by visiting companies to see what would work. We tried to get it off the ground in 2020 but had to postpone it till 2022. We’ve been growing ever since—about 20% each year. This year we had 274 booths and about 2,500 registrants. This is our third year, and each year we've grown a bit.

Shaughnessy: Connor, you came here from Philadelphia. When you moved out here, was it your plan to get involved with this? 

Good: I was an audio/video technician for a company outside of Philadelphia. I did home automation—whole house audio, lighting, and surveillance—so I knew a little bit about electronics. Then I met Hallie and when she said she was moving back to San Diego, I said, “Okay, I'll come with you.” It was just a great opportunity, and Doug's super easy to work with. We're good friends. 

Shaughnessy: What are your plans for the show next year? Will you do anything differently? 

Bodenstab: We will add a few features, now that we have more time, but it will be mostly software.

Good: Yes, we will just keep pressing to get people to come. We have free parking, and that’s a big deal. We know how hard it is to get people out the door; the internet makes life a lot harder to get folks to the shows.

Bodenstab: People going to shows fit into two groups. One goes to a show to look for what they need, and hopefully to find what they’re looking for. The other group wants to see a human being, especially people at a booth. The show can be the best “search engine.”

Good: They like being at the show and conversing with someone who knows what they're looking for.

Shaughnessy: Do you see this show as a complement to the Del Mar show? 

Good: There's an overlap of exhibitors, but then the attendees themselves are typically different.

Bodenstab: A lot of people aren't driving an hour and a half from LA down to San Diego, so we're seeing a lot of exhibitors hop between the shows. That draws in more attendees and companies we haven't seen before. They’re different, but they definitely complement each other.

Shaughnessy: Any final thoughts? 

Good: We’ve secured the dates in the hall for next year. The show will be in the same hall, the ACC North 200 level. We're just continuing to cultivate our database, expand our reach, and try to bring in as many people as we can to have a good experience. The show is not only fun, but you can get the job done here.

Shaughnessy: Thanks for speaking with me, guys.

Bodenstab: Thank you, Andy.