HEAD Watersports has announced an expanded programme of seminars for DEMA Show 2026, bringing training, equipment, technology, retail and business development together across four days of industry education in New Orleans.
The programme marks a broader approach than the company’s traditional SSI-focused seminar schedule, drawing on expertise from across the HEAD Watersports portfolio to address different parts of running and growing a modern dive business.
Sessions are scheduled to cover diver training, equipment sales, technology, marketing, risk management, retail operations, freediving, swimming, military programmes and emerging business opportunities.
“We’ve always used our DEMA seminars as an opportunity to give SSI Training Centers practical education they can take home and immediately put to work,” said Rachael Steidley, Marketing Manager for HEAD Watersports North America.
“This year, we’re taking that concept even further. By bringing together training, equipment, technology, marketing, and business expertise from across the HEAD Watersports ecosystem, we can offer dealers a much broader educational experience designed to help them strengthen every side of their business.”
Beyond Diver Training
SSI remains a significant part of the programme, including the return of the What’s New at SSI sessions.
Other seminars will examine the expanding SSI App and wider technology ecosystem, Scubago, freediving, professional development and ways for dive businesses to engage younger customers.
The programme includes Maximize Your Marketing Potential with Scubago, examining how dive businesses can use the platform to generate direct bookings, increase their online presence and connect with more divers.
Scubago is designed as a discovery and booking platform connecting divers with dive centres, resorts, liveaboards and other operators around the world.
The expansion into equipment-focused education is particularly notable. HEAD Watersports says seminars will offer retailers practical approaches to selling categories including buoyancy compensators, regulators, dive computers, swim products and underwater imaging.
That creates a programme extending beyond certification and instructor development into the commercial side of operating a dive centre.
Business Growth Takes a Bigger Role
Marketing, customer retention, store operations and revenue development will also feature prominently.
One session, Get Kids Salty – How to Build the Next Generation of Divers, Ocean Advocates, and Lifelong Customers, is being presented in partnership with the Guy Harvey Foundation.
The initiative is designed to encourage greater engagement between young people and the marine environment. At DEMA, the focus will turn towards how dive centres can engage families, develop youth diving programmes and potentially build longer-term relationships with the next generation of divers.
The programme also includes sessions addressing the new SSI App and the organisation’s growing technology footprint, alongside specialist subjects ranging from teaching minors to opportunities involving US military veterans.
For a wider look at the group, The State of HEAD Watersports will bring executive leadership together for an interactive discussion covering the HEAD Watersports family, opportunities for dealers and its direction heading into 2027 and beyond.
According to the official DEMA Show seminar schedule, that session will also examine the integration of brands including SSI, Mares, Aqualung, Apeks, Zoggs and Aquasphere within the wider HEAD Watersports business.
For dive retailers, the expanded programme provides an early indication of how that increasingly broad portfolio could translate into practical support at dealer level.
Four Days at DEMA Show 2026
HEAD Watersports seminars will run from Tuesday, November 3 through Friday, November 6 in Room 271 at DEMA Show 2026.
The company will also exhibit at Booth #1629, where attendees can obtain the complete seminar schedule and meet members of the HEAD Watersports team.
DEMA Show 2026 takes place from November 3–6 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, bringing together businesses and professionals from across the diving, travel and action watersports industries.
With education increasingly extending beyond dive instruction into technology, customer acquisition, equipment retail and business management, the expanded HEAD Watersports programme reflects the increasingly varied demands facing dive centres and retailers.
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