Advocacy fellow vapors. This shit will keep happening if we don't stand up for our right to better health.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=MXetgPBrcHg
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=MXetgPBrcHg
And you DON'T mess around with Jim.Ding, ding, ding. Hello, mature people know when to vape & not. You don't stand on Superman's cape, don't spit into the wind, You don't prove someone else's point.
Actually, I think Phil's 2, yes 2 videos regarding this issue were the most informative. Worth the time to watch. There are interviews with the Event Coordinators/Sponsors, several vendors and attendees. Some of Phil's personal opinion, but not that much. I think you can get a much clearer picture of what went down. There's definitely lots of blame to go around here. I'm not sure if it will be ultimately good for vaping or if it fuels the fire of the haters. You know they say even bad publicity is better than no publicity.Anyone with the cliffsnotes version of Phil's 42 minute diatribe?
Advocacy fellow vapors. This shit will keep happening if we don't stand up for our right to better health.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=MXetgPBrcHg
Thanks for the link. I had seen the hotel part on Saturday and it convinced me to go anyway. Well worth it. Thanks Phil.
The rest was very enlightening having been there and living in NJ.
@UncleRJ it's worth slogging through both parts. Bail after the interview part way into part 2 if you want to eliminate Phil's advocacy opinion stuff about being under the microscope.
Sadly I live so far out of civilization that air has to be piped in.
The only HS internet we have is by sattelite and we have no other viable option.
We get X amount of Bytes of data per month. And if we go over and need to purchase extra data, it is more like an armed robbery than a business transaction.
Watching even one of Phil's videos will eat up about a day or 2 worth of date as long winded as he is.
WOW!! Great job!!! Phil should hire you to interpret his vids for those who can't devote the time!!! Reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live "News For The Deaf" by Garrett Morris - j/k Great job making it concise!!Okay I'll do my best with a synopsis. It's not good enough to waste precious bandwidth.
Going by memory and it's a weak one:
First talk of problems he heard was Friday night in hotel bar after arriving. He made a short video telling people to come anyway to support vaping.
Saturday - he talks to vendors, shows speeches from Event Coordinators to B2B crowd before 12PM public opening. Says health dept and Senators are coming. Says 5 times in various forms no nic testing, all other vaping outside in the pavilion, which was coned off parking lot with 6 or so tables near the huge dumpsters. He gives a tour of it and talks to a few people surprised by the sad turn of events. Has video of the state senator and inspectors roaming around warning people, interviews vendors, people guessing on who got tickets and how much they were. Finds one vendor that got a ticket. One scene where people are in a circle having serious discussion.
Phil comes on and is relieved no shut down. He said it was his biggest fear and how sucky that would be for the industry. People seemed to be taking it fairly well. He interviewed senator off camera and gives his synopsis. Senator claimed any bar would call itself a club if that were legal. He also claimed promoters didn't get health permit exemption for something.
Kind of ends there without saying much about people going back to business after the 2 hour interruption.
Sunday morning, Video of coordinators telling crowd they will pay fines and repeats vaping in pavilion rules. he goes back and interviews the two event coordinators. That was the best part.
They seem like really nice guys, Born and bred NJers who love vaping. Andy's family has known the owner of the NJ Expo center for years, mother had cancer and quit smoking with vaping. The venue worked with the health inspectors, separated food, all employees volunteered to be in vaping environment, all visitors joined club and took risks. They had lawyers and claim they did everything they could and will win in court. They were within their rights on private property. Also think they were set up on purpose. Said they don't make money all for fighting for our rights. First vape convention in e area of NY,NJ,PA Real push for advocacy. Doing all they can to make the convention continue. Vendors making good money.
Phil left after that so nothing about how Sunday was fairly normal. He reports second hand info and photo of the signl of the 4PM closing where they told people coming in it was shut down for capacity reasons. I was inside it wasn't at capacity.
The last part is rant about pole dancers and interview with Vape Candy and Sour Patch vendors and the appearance of promoting vaping to children.'
Apologies for any typos. or misinterpretations.
PS> Forgot, Senator joined the vaping club to get in on Friday I think, which claims he is an advocate for vaping. Andy thinks this will help in court.
S
Okay I'll do my best with a synopsis. It's not good enough to waste precious bandwidth.[...]
Thanks @NightOwl for the synopsis. Appreciate it!
Regarding the, if it were legal to call it a club and allow it then bars would do it, claim by the senator.
Not to take a side here but, If I was going to be interviewed, I would have some paper work in hand and my laptop, with some emails to show the communication . All talk is nice , and they seemed to be ok guys , but I have known some used car salesmen who could charm you out of your underwear . While vaping is being attacked , do we really need pole dancers or a cannabis car on hand ?
Having not been there, I can only speak to what I've heard, which I think we all need to remember is second hand (unless we were there)! I do think because this industry is so under the microscope we don't need to do anything, regardless of free speech, our rights, etc. that will cause further negative attention. Pole dancers, cannabis advertising (especially in a place like NJ, might be different in CO), nude women body painted etc. None of that is what we are about and it's just not necessary! Do we have a right to do it, absolutely, but it's not necessary. I think this also stretches into companies that are blatantly plagiarizing known companies (i.e. Sour Batch - I know in Phil's vid they said they are changing, but why do it in the first place). We have so much that is GOOD about what we do. We don't smoke anymore! We don't stink anymore! We can taste our food again! And, the technology in equipment and in e-juice mfg. is something to be proud of! I personally believe we can have incredible vape meets/conventions without all these things! So, let's do the things that bring POSITIVE attention to our industry, there is so much positive!
[stepping down off my soapbox]