Introduction
This meeting took place in Poway, California on the trade show weekend in San Diego Saturday 29th Jan 1994. It was prompted by a discussion about the increasing sales of blank boards and blanks wheels. (at the time, it's doubtful ANYONE could have imagined that blanks would hit 80% of sales in some shops!!)

A group of us met to consider the long term effects on skateboarding and the health of the skateboarding industry. (this was before IASC)

Let's stress again; it was not an intentional move to restrict this meeting, or exclude any parties. It was just a starting point of what we hope will be more Cooperation between companies to help the sport grow and tackle some of the problems that are keeping skateboarding from moving forward.

The Problem
In 1980 there were 175 pros at the Gold Cup series. Six months later there were only 15 left. Think back to the early eighties and remember how small skating can get. Our whole aim is to avoid that happening again. (this was a year or so BEFORE the Extreme Games hit-it's doubtful anyone could have imagined what was about to hit-at the time, Transworld was barely past 120 pages in size)

Everyone present at the meeting supports pro skateboarding. Many have been professional skateboarders themselves. But the relationships
between pro skateboarding and their companies is supposed to be a 2 way street, and in today's industry environment things have gone astray. We
have gone from the Mid eighties when everything was so strict as in having to do well in am contests to turn pro, having to wear this shirt at a contest, having to go on tour etc etc to today when being a professional skateboarder you don't have to travel, enter contests, do demos, take photos wear company or ride company products. We have to find the happy medium.
Something has to change for everyone to succeed.
(ah, wishful thinking..."the happy medium" has never really been achieved...)

There is presently an abundance of pro's and models, but not enough buyers. (and it's even worse now due to the proliferation of blank/shop decks)

The way the industry is going looks bleak and things could get a lot worse before they get any better. If the blank war progresses any further we could find the industry regressing back to a handful of pro's. The intention of this meeting was to avoid such a collapse. (prescient? absolutely! Very few pros make a decent living off of decks...)

Notes on the Proceedings:
Please read the items which follow. All the people listed made a gentleman's agreement to keep to these points. We hope that other company owners who read this will support what we are trying to do.

Many conclusions can be drawn from these notes, and if you need more clarification, please call someone who was there. Don't just read between the lines. We'd all be pleased to discuss this with anyone. Overall it was a very positive meeting.

1) The need to rebuild Confidence
The overall theme of the meeting was to strive toward more stability in the industry. More consistency among companies, riders, teams and products will help rebuild confidence among distributors and retailers. (again, well stated, but the devil is in the details...in this case, Devil Man (aka World Industries)

2) The state of the Industry
Everyone present agreed (to varying degrees) that the industry was shaky and that we had a lot to blame on ourselves for creating some of these problems. It has gotten to the point where sales are weak and the companies have less money to use for promotion and in turn less money to take care of the riders. (the only difference is that now skate companies are trying to compete with MUCH larger entities - the marketing dollars are even that much tighter and they need to go further-it's a painful situation)

ACTION: We need to cooperate together to turn this trend around and head back in a positive direction.

3) Skateboarding doesn't seem like fun anymore
Media and companies tend to concentrate on the negative side of skateboarding. At present skateboarding is not fun: Videos portray the
impossible, product is not designed for fun- this all targets the hardcore market, and is not accessible to the "fun only" skater or the new skater. (nothing has changed in 12 years...the reality is that the tricks have become that much harder and accessibilty for the fun only skater has been left to you guessed it, the longboard, slalom and other "niche" skate companies. This is a missed opportunity that I think most in the traditional skate industry regret. I could see their side though. You make not be able to do a 40 stair ollie, but you can have the hardware, clothing and shoes of the pro that can. (The only problem is that the industry gave away the keys to the candy store to the softgoods guys)

ACTION: We as an industry, must concentrate on a more positive future. We have narrowed down skateboarding to a very small market. Bring the fun back and get the negative out. Target beyond the hardcore market: new buyers, cruisers, recreational skaters. (amen brothers and sisters! so what happened???!)

New kids who are not aware of all this vibing crap. (vibing crap? talk about a growth industry! as a result of being so narrowly focused, vibing has grown and grown-most hardcore street skaters think anything but street skating is not really skating..they show some tolerance for tranny, but don't get them started on longboarding!) We want the media to show more variety of types of skating out there. (are you listening, Transworld? the hardgoods advertisers WANTED you 12 years ago to change the tune)

The companies will promote more accessible skating and more positive images, produce products that are more fun to ride. We need to make a wider board, bigger softer wheels etc as well as the hardcore products. (you mean, VARIETY? Lord knows we can't have that! It would corrupt people! Again, easy to talk and write about, but then well, you know, our pointy eared foe pops up and NOTHING CHANGES!)

Tours, demo contests have to portray skateboarding in a better light. Emphasize consistency, positive attitudes, company support and promotion of the sport. Don't send out riders who do not agree with this, otherwise we risk doing more harm than good. (it's been sex, drugs, rockn'roll, hate, kill, destroy etc etc)

4) Blank Boards
We have been promoting sales of blank boards by allowing our riders to ride them. It was agreed that companies will only hand out with graphics or logos. We will encourage the media not to show boards without graphics and photographers will not shoot photos of team riders unless they are supporting their sponsor by riding a board with company graphics and wearing company T's, hats etc. No more blank boards, blank T's, Gap jeans etc etc. As one distributor said, "How can we sell the products if the pro's don't ride them?". (wishful thinking...the genie was out of the bottle...RIGHT HERE they should have realized that it was time to create a new bottle)

ACTION: This will require a process of education. We need to demonstrate to the riders how supporting their companies will help the companies support the riders. The riders who help their companies in this way are the ones who should benefit themselves through increased sales, trips to contests, tours, etc.

If this takes place we hope to see increased sales, increased payment to riders and more funds to promote skateboarding. Blank products only supports an industry which is doing nothing for skateboarding's future. (they could read the writing on the wall, but my sense they coudn't really find a remarkable way to fix the problem....just "hoping that pros would do something" seems about as sensible as hoping the skate media was going to showcase more variety)

ACTION: Everyone agreed to talk to the vendors and suppliers who are selling the blank products. In the long term, sales of blank product will destroy the market by eliminating the funds available for promotion. It's a case of a small short term profit versus the long term health of the Industry. We will also put more logo boards on the market and stabilize product changes to re-establish the strong company identification that has been lost through blank board sales. (did you just see our red tailed pal? he's back...and his pitchfork is pointed in your direction guys!)

5) The new Graphic problem Slowing down graphic changes was discussed briefly. It was accepted that this was killing deck sales. A distributor will only take 10 of a board, a shop will only take one, both then expect a new graphic next time. Reducing the rate of change across the whole industry was brought up but no final solution was agreed. Some in the room said that they have been slowing down already or are about to do so, others said that it was impossible to slow now.

ACTION: We all agreed it was a serious situation which needs further discussion.

6) Rider Guarantees
It was agreed that rider's deck guarantees no longer reflected the reality of the size of the market.

ACTION: $500-1000 (for 1994) is more realistic for new pro's or under fresh agreements and when a pro moves to a new company $2 per deck was fine. (If a company has an existing agreement with a pro at $2000 for example, obviously it is up to that company to keep that agreement.)

7) Team Jumping
We need to protect the retailers, distributors and manufactures, and to stabilize the market by reducing the harm caused by team jumping.

ACTION: If a rider leaves a company, the most that anyone can expect from a new company is $1000 a month. Also communication will take place between the 2 companies and the old company will have 90 days to clear the rider's inventory. During this period the new company can pay the rider but they can't release a model for him. The media will take an active role in not covering the team jumping, riders quitting or other info that will make inventory on a shelf or company or distributor warehouse obsolete. (there is much to ruminate over here...suffice to say, team jumping is still happening)

8) Too many Identical Models
There are too many pro models available on the market. Distributors and shops dare not order every different one in quantity.

ACTION: Don't turn riders pro so easily. It means nothing to be a pro today and the credibility and status of the pros suffer as a result. Have a rider know what is expected of him and what he can expect in return. Make sure
they appreciate that is a two way deal. This is not a new concept, think what sponsorship and being professional means. If the two way deal isn't working out, companies should discuss the problem with the riders, but if it doesn't work, they should let them go. (again, the proliferation of pros has led to a huge can of worms being opened. It was never fixed and it's doubtful that it will ever be fixed)

9) New Companies
We discussed how easy it is to enter the skateboard Industry. That it shouldn't be a problem if someone wants to start a company. But when a company is started to destroy another company, or make the stock on everyone's floor obsolete, it only contributes to the instability of the industry and erodes customer confidence in buying product.

ACTION: We should stop shooting ourselves in the foot by helping a company get set up and running, especially companies who are coming in
for a quick buck, or do not support the industry and magazines, or do not have long term plans.
(ironically, it is even EASIER to start up a company than ever before....10 blanks for $25 bucks on ebay? no sweat!)

Conclusion
This is a recap of what was discussed; it is no way complete, but it covers the main points. Another meeting is loosely planned for the beginning of May which other will be invited to. This was a positive move toward a more unified and stable industry. So far all the points that were discussed have been put into action, and the "we can trust these guys" thinking has been shown to be an unnecessary fear. Some remarkable cooperation has already taken place among people you would not have expected it from.

Other Ideas and Topics discussed

Skateboarding Promo Video- Maybe by Stacey Peralta. A video aimed at the general market, suitable for sale in every video store in the world. NOT made for the hardcore market. Showing skateboarding as a positive and fun thing to do. ESPN "Max Out" is interested in footage if you have anything to send in to her. (so, even before the Extreme Games, ESPN was sniffing around.....)

Drug Abuse and Paying Ams

Make Skateboarding more accessible to potential skaters- Right now the general public can't understand skating. It's too technical and too inconsistent. Name another sport in which the pro's are so inconsistent. Everyone must have heard non-skaters at pro contests ask when the pro's skate. We must make them go "Wow! Look at that" if we want them to get their attention. Right now skating does not look fun. The kid could quite possibly pass by the skateshop and go buy a mountain bike or a basketball instead.

We must encourage some changes. Modern street skating is rad but we must add to it. Just think if we could have the street scene of today PLUS
the mini ramp scene from 89 PLUS the vert scene from 86 PLUS the street scene from 85 PLUS the freestyle scene of 81 PLUS the pools and park scene from the 70's etc etc . With skateboarding ten times a big, pros could earn ten times as much money and companies make money. If we want those days back we need to open our minds and not limit skateboarding. That's what skateboarding was all about when we started. There were no rules, it just mattered that you were doing it and having fun. (this should have been tattooed on EVERYONE'S forehead! this way, they could have really made the changes when they needed to make the chagnes....now, it's going to be a scramble)