Editing The Pen Addict 320/transcript (section)

== Show Recap - DC Fountain Pens ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm very good. Very good. Happy to have you here, you know, that you survived the District of Columbia's fountain pens super show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It was questionable, right? If I would return.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, but you did. And I will say I was following along on Instagram with everyone. I was heartily jealous of people hanging out of the show and that I couldn't be there. But it looked really great. So it was fun to see pictures of people in the bar. I was like showing a dinner some and like pointing out, oh no, this is where all the cool kids sit. They're over here on this long table in the corner. So yeah, it looked like a really great time. You seemed like you were in much better spirits than you were last year. So I'm very keen, I think, might as well get us out of the top of the show. I'm very keen to know how the show went for you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It was awesome. Every step of the way. So, you know, we had our difficulties last year. They were mostly contained to Friday where the show promoter was not essentially not ready and he failed everyone miserably.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I think it's clear to see that every problem of last year's could be put down to the fact that it was a new hotel.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, well, and the promoter didn't do as good a job as he needed to do.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But I still think that that's part of it, right? So like they got a new place and he didn't know how to deal with the new place. Right, like it just like it all ended up being a disaster because they had kind of no idea how everything worked. And I think that that was part like not being prepared because hadn't had to be prepared in the past, right? Because it was like, oh, I know this place. I know how it works. But that's not how it works.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So last year, the show opens Friday, 10 a.m. Vendors didn't get their tables till most of them after noon or so. And that means that customers have been waiting for even the vendors to get their table. So it was a giant mess. And I'm tired of talking about it, but I do need to talk about it just to set up. So this year, the difference was the exact opposite experience. Like we went down, we had our table, we knew our tables Thursday night. A lot of people started to set up Thursday night. A lot of people were able to set up early Thursday morning. Excuse me, Friday morning. And Jeff and I were ready to go at 10 a.m. Friday morning with a knock table. Like we were set up, we were done. We were open for business 10 a.m. Friday morning. And you can't really ask for much more than that. You know, I repeated it many, many times over the weekend because people who were there last year were curious how this year compared. And people who weren't there last year but read about it and were new this year wondered how it compared. I said we had normal pen show problems, not stupid pen show problems. Like, you know, just the normal stuff that happens at any pen show. You know, the unavoidable, you know, questioning. Oh, is this really our table? You know, things like that. Basic stuff that you deal with at every pen show. Otherwise, it went off without a hitch, in my opinion. At least for us, we had a very interesting table location. We were basically in the hallway entrance to the main ballroom and main hallway of the show.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I was a little concerned for you when you told me that. Because I remember last year that every time I walked past the people that were on those tables, I thought to myself, it's a very bad place to be.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I was a little bit worried about it, too. And it did get a little bit clogged sometimes, but it never got filled up to where you couldn't really walk by.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I always just thought it was more that people would never stop. Like, they'd never stop to linger because you're going in or leaving. You know, I always thought that, well, like, people aren't going to stop because you're the first table. So they're going to go walk around a bit. And then the other time they're going to see you is when they're on their way out of the door. And they're probably not going to stop then either. So I was a little bit like, oh, I don't know if this is going to be good for him.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Totally agree. And it ended up working out. So it worked like this. When people came into the hotel, they could get to the registration table first out in the hotel foyer. And it was across the hall from the front room of the show. So this room has a giant ballroom, a hallway that wraps around it. And then separate from those is the first room in the front of the hotel. So registration was right across that first room. So we were, Jeff and I were watching people. We thought they might just, like, jump right past us and head on into the big room and, you know, go on about their day. But what was happening is people were checking in and turning right around and going into the first room. So they were ready to start up in there. And then when they'd come out, they'd start making their way down our tables, then into the big room. So, you know, I don't think it was an issue, even though we kept thinking all weekend, well, this could be an issue, especially on Saturday when it's busy. People may just not want to deal with, you know, the traffic there. But the reality is inside the main ballroom, it's much harder to get in between the aisles than where we were. So, you know, it was pretty interesting to see how it all worked out. And in the end, like, it totally worked out for us from a business perspective.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, and I guess you, again, you have the benefit of there will always be some people at your table, which I think, you know, it does really help at shows because you get people that specifically seek it out because you're Brad Dowdy, right? Or because people want to buy knock products, right? Like, there is a difference to some vendors, I think, in that people are going to the show, some with a specific goal to stop at your table. So, there's always people at the table. And when you go past the table where there is people, you are more drawn to it because it shows there's buyable things on that table. Does that make sense?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right, right. It was funny. Elaine from Jetpins was there, one of my really good friends. And she hung out for a little bit. I think it was, I don't know, it was Saturday night or Sunday morning. She says, I'm just going to hang out in here, talk to you guys, because, you know, if no one's at the table, no one's going to stop. So, if they see someone hanging out here, maybe they'll stop.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm like, yeah, that's a good idea. And I think it really does help when you guys go to the shows. Yeah. Like, if you had somebody else selling your products, right? Like, if it was just like a table set up by a rando, like, I don't think it would still sell good because your products are good. But I don't think you'd sell as much because you wouldn't have as many people stopping by.