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Yes, I expected more folks to show up but the ones that did, made it beneficial to my business. And, it was more than just business. It was about networking, meeting the fine members of FabNet, greeting existing customers and having a good time. Many regular exhibitors for the past 10 years I heard complaining about the attendence. Oh well. Maybe they displayed stale product…IMO. Maybe if you’ve seen it once, twice, 3 times, you’ve seen it a thousand times. They may want to keep the word diversify in their vocab and business plan. It works. I had more people stop by and mention: “I’ve seen your ad on FabNet” than I would have ever realized. We had a great show. I never thought I’d be shipping 3 GEM sanders to France of all places,picked up a re-distributor in Puerto Rico, had a pallet ofglue sticks going to Arizona or would be asked to do a speech at a university on business distibution. It’s all good.
To be continued…
Amen, brother Dave.
Diversification, or at least something new to see, that is why we spend 15 to 20 grand going to a local home and garden show. Full kitchen, packed with hardware and features, even if they might be too expensive for our clientele.
Something new for the folks to see, pack the booth and make em remember us. Solve their problems and they will send you money.
Thoughts on thos I met…
Andy & Val (Ann) Californias 1st couple. Exactly what you would expect. Charming, friendly, like they’e lived next door to you forever.
Norm & Susan, we WILL get together in Tampa or St. Pete. Great people.
Joe Corlett, never thought he’d be 6’5″.
Steve L. of Monument, Have met him before but I MUST thank him for having my back at the show!! I owe you Steve.
Mory…this is funny only because I would have done the same thing. Mory says: “There’s no tables in the FabNet Booth”. I guess they were supposed to be there. I direct him to the Freeman help desk. He asks where the tables are at. They ask him how many he needs. He says 2. They say, that will be $300.00. Mory looks at them and says, I para phrase: “I’ll set the S*** on the floor if it costs that much.” LOL LOL
To be continued…
Dave:
Please allow me to expound on your “having a good time” theme.
It seems our gentleman’s agreement for me to buy you a drink and you to buy me two was cleverly sabotaged by Shane’s surreptitious purchase of ta-kill-ya shots for all, taking us to the edge of responsibility, cab ride or not.
I propose that we drink the missed ’07’s at the ’08 show along with the ’08’s before Mr. Shane again undermines our efforts.
I’m certain I can count on your honor in this endeavor,
Joe
Al and his lovely wife. They both worked the FabNet booth tirelessly. Superb people, just what FabNet needs. 2 of the nicest people I met.
Kevin Andreas. Talked shop with him for 5 minutes as he was setting up for a seminar. A wealth of knowledge.
Cygnus. Kevin Cole & Sandy Milroy have helped to further my family business more than they know.. I not only consider them friends, I consider them family. Absolute professionals!
Oxley…
Festool & Akemi…WELCOME ABOARD THE FEDSAW TRAIN !
To be continued…
Won’t be in Vegas Joe. Let me know where the party is and I’ll send you a scotch & water in a 5 gallon bucket.
[QUOTE]FEDSAWDAVE wrote
Al and his lovely wife. They both worked the FabNet booth tirelessly. Superb people, just what FabNet needs. 2 of the nicest people I met.
Dave,
You are right on the money with this one!! Al and Christina I can not thank you enough. You two were amazing!! And I can’t agree with Dave enough, THE nicest people I met as well.
Val
Dave, you selling the Akemi sealer? I heard it is pretty good stuff. Selling Festool as well now?
Thanks for the kind words, I’ll accept them on Christina’s behalf. Me? Heck, I am a bigger naughty pirate than Joe is.
She just makes me behave………..Right Al, nothing like a wife with a bull whip LOL
We’ve always had sealers, we’re just adding the Akemi/Bellinzoni line because it’s good stuff and they now have a stocking warehouse in Florida.They have 100’s of products. Before, the freight from NY was hideous and made the product not competitive.
Festool. Interesting conversation. I was wandering around and my C-phone rings. FedSawJohn says you need to get back here, a couple of guys from Festool would like to talk to you. So I did. I’ve explained in the past that I chose not to take on the line because you could not stock it. Now you can.
I would say the show floor was a little disappointing. I understand that the industry is maturing, but it would be nice to see something new each year. I walked up to Tom Pinske, said hi, asked him what he’s got that’s new. He said nothing. Disappointing.
The only jaw dropper was the USG robotics. But there were probably only a handful of people there that could afford the half mil price tag on that thing.
If it weren’t for the glut of sink suppliers and imported sheet stock, the exhibit hall would have been fairly empty.
Just reread that post and it sounds depressing.
My favorite part of show, networking and talking to other fabricators was good as always. Thanks FabNet.
Spent a good bit of time talking to Andy, Mory, and Chris at the party. Also met Tom Mather. He should be hired out as entertainment, funny stuff. Had more in common with him than I thought. Good conversation.
Never seems like we have enough time for that part, but its the best.
No Tom, you didn’t stay late enough…
Speaking of Tom Mather, here’s a guy who you would just love to have as a next door neighbor. You’d go out to the paper in the morning and he’d fire a water baloon at you or super glue your fence handle shut LOL.
You’d probably also be sharing a lot of tall beers together…Cheers
Geez, I thought I closed it with Chris and Matt sharing a cab ride, with Matt and I fighting over the tab. He’s smart and cunning, but we were the later stop, so I paid.
A sad note – I saw a young mother leaving that place (what – 12:45 or so?) with a two-year old kid sucking on a pacifier. I’m a pretty gentle guy, but I could have strangled her.
I never made one of those pvc potato (potatoe for those of you in that part of the states) bazookas, but I’d be willing to try. Could be more fun than a water baloon launcher.
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