berships, prepaid travel programs, or other community-sup- ported offers can help fund an initiative while showing whether people truly want it. The best source of support may already be in the shop’s logbook, but the offer must be structured carefully and appropriately for the business. A Practical Helper, Not A Replacement For Judgment BUSINESS EDU continued
than a lecture. Everyone in the room will take a board seat at Second Reef Scuba, a fictional shop built from realistic numbers and familiar pressures: a flat profit-and-loss statement, an aging customer base, a landlord’s expansion offer, a new dive system on the demo list, an interested buyer, and $150,000 to deploy.
Answering these questions takes time and data, two resources many shop owners do not have to spare. Used care- fully, artificial intelligence can help with specific back-office work. It can calculate a second-dive rate from existing records, help draft personal re-engagement mes- sages, organize customer feedback, or handle routine inquiries while the team is teaching or underwater.
You will vote on the owner’s options near the beginning. Then we will work through customer fit, differentiation, growth, capital, and AI tool use before voting again. I will bring the business framework. The room will bring the practical knowledge of divers, instructors, retailers, and operators. The value will come from putting those perspectives together.
Photo by Jennifer Idol of Lee Rand, using the Avelo System
The value is not in adopting AI for its own sake. It is in choosing one useful function, one tool, and one measurable outcome. The shop still decides who it serves, what it stands for, and how customers should be treated. Technology can help support that judgment and provide leverage. Come Solve It With Me My DEMA Show session is built as a conversation rather
From Startup to Storefront: Strategies for Building a Thriving Dive Busines s runs from noon to 12:45 pm in Room 291 at DEMA Show 2026 in New Orleans. Please check the show
planner for the final day. Bring your numbers, your experience, and your skepticism. In diving and in business, the strongest plans improve when people are willing to question them.
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