Editing The Pen Addict 257/transcript (section)

== Pin Shows ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So since then, I've been to another pin show. We don't get to talk about these things. We've mentioned the Chicago pin show in passing. And I thought I'd take a couple of minutes just to talk about the show as a whole. That cool with you? I would love that. I've been waiting for it. Yeah. Because it was a weird show for me that I took knock on the road for the first time.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You've never done this, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, well, we did DC in 2015.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Did it count though? I felt like you were kind of just like bolted onto the end of Venice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We were pretty much bolted on the end. And maybe had like a half table. We threw out some stuff. I was like, I was working for Lisa. Jeff was there. And we sold some things. It like wasn't an official deal. This was the first official road trip for knock. And I got to say, it blew away any expectations I could have come up with. Oh, that's awesome. You know, you don't know these things when you're first going out as a vendor. And the, you know, it's hard to set expectations. Like, you know what your expenses are going to be. You're like, man, I hope I don't lose money, right? That's like the big sweat. It's like, I hope I don't lose money is phase one. Phase two is I hope I make money is phase two. And phase three is I hope we really profit from this. And we were well into phase three. So like we sold a ton of stuff. I had some before and after pictures of the table. Like I had, when I set up the table, you know, I had the table fully stocked. I had back stock under the table. And then by Sunday afternoon, I took a picture of the ravaging that happened at the table. And there was no back stock left and the table was completely wiped out. So it was cool from a business perspective. It was pretty cool to see. It was exceeded any like made up expectations I could have had in the beginning. I figured it would go well. I figured we'd make money, but it exceeded all that. Like it, it, the feedback was great. The new customers were great. That's always fun when you see people who have never seen our products try to figure out what it is. Then it clicks with them and they go, oh, this is really great. And, you know, I'll have one of these. So it was cool to see. So from a knock perspective, it was fantastic. And I would do it again. From a show perspective, it was outstanding. The Chicago Pen Show has really stepped it up. We talked about it last year. And when I went, this was the last year was the first year with new promoters and they got a new hotel. They kind of created a different vibe around the show. And, you know, it's really come to fruition by this second year, like really quickly. This was kind of a. That's awesome. Yeah. It's kind of like a must attend show now. Like it is really, really, they stepped their game up. The place is absolutely packed. The entire weekend, the bar area is wonderfully set up for morning and night hangouts. And you're only steps away from the show floor itself. So you like you can sit in the bar and see the show floor. Like everything is right there. And it's wide open. It was packed the whole time. I got to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in a long time, like Lay and Thomas and Dan Don and Cindy and Tanya and everyone that I'm going to forget all kinds of names. Critter. Critter's there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It was a shame this year that everybody wasn't there at Atlanta. There wasn't as many people. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because you can't travel to all the shows. Nope. You cannot. Yeah. So Doug's asking a question I want to point out, which I wouldn't normally distract myself this early in the show. I'll wait till later. So Doug in the chat room says they didn't hassle people about bringing liquor into the bar. So in Atlanta, we had a problem with that. And in Chicago, not only did they not hassle people about it, they worked with the show promoters to have a whiskey and scotch tasting event on Thursday night where it was all outside booze. The hotel was not involved. The hotel was not involved. You don't get that kind of buy-in from a hotel to allow you to bring in bottles of whiskey and scotch to set up on a table in their function areas and have a bunch of people around sampling liquor. That does not happen. So they have a great relationship with the hotel because they know this is Thursday night. We're going to be here all weekend. What's the big deal about letting these people bring all their favorite libations and sharing with other people for a couple hours on a Thursday night? Because we know they're going to be here the rest of the weekend. They're going to be at the bar. They're going to eat dinner and food and buy drinks. So why do we want to put up that wall immediately even though that's the hotel business, right? I mean that's the business that they're in is to get you into the room at a fair rate and then really kind of stick it to you on the bar and food stuff, right? So which is fair. I mean that's the business that they're in. So to see a hotel buy into what these show promoters want to do is super cool. It's really, really cool. So that was a very unique situation. We probably won't see that again all year going around to other shows. You always have to be stealth and sneaky or, you know, people like to, yeah, or not do it. And, you know, but we, even if I, we do do that, I always make it a point to support the bar and restaurant the entire time I'm there, right? Like on Saturday night I had an open tab for pen addict people, you know, just to go up to the bar because I want to give back to the hotel for, you know, they, I want to do that for the hotel for them doing these things for the show earlier. So I think it's great. So, yeah, that was cool. So, um, the entire vibe of the show was great. It was fun. It was exhausting. By Sunday night, um, I was absolutely smoked. I was just done. Well done. Um, and I could barely, barely stay up, um, by the time Sunday night rolled around. I think I went to bed around nine or nine 30. So, uh, yeah, it was a great show. Um, I didn't get around to buy many things, which was good. That was kind of the intent going into it, right? I'm working, I'm working by myself, you know, had Matt, Anna and Lisa right next to me and they'd cover for me, you know, if I'd go to the restroom or want to look around a little bit, but I just go kind of look around the vendors right in front of me. You know, while we're, um, you know, there was some quiet time at the table and I found some vintage, uh, Japanese pens at this one vendor's table, right around, right near the knock table. And I saw he had a bunch of, um, tubs under his table as well. So I asked him if he had some more and he said he thought so. So he, he gathered up a stack of pens, brought them over to me on Sunday and I picked out about six pens that I wanted from him. So I have some, some of it, I don't know what I have yet, but some of them are modern ish, like from the sixties and seventies, maybe one from the eighties. Um, I have a sailor old sailor eyedropper that I'm really trying to find out about that's from around world war two and has a falcon nib. It's just really neat. It's, I did things a little differently this time in that I just took a risk in buying something, you know, it was just not that expensive. All things considered it's given me something to play around with something to research, you know, something to dig into and have some fun with and try to figure all these things out. I was like, let me take this a different route this time and, and buy some older pens that kind of fit my style and aesthetic. You know, anything old and Japanese is right in my wheelhouse. So, you know, that's, that's what I ended up with. So I just kind of, I kind of went with that. Um, I still don't know what I have. I still haven't inked any of them up. I've cleaned them all. Um, some of them were awfully, awfully dirty, but, um, it's one of those things, you know, going into it. And so I'm going to see if I can figure all these out and start using them, figure out what I got. So it was, uh, different from a purchasing perspective. So that's all I bought. And then like a couple of bottles of show special ink. And that was it. I really wasn't into anything else. So it was just nice to go around and see some, end up with some random stuff like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I guess it was one of the good things, right? That like you can end up with a weird thing that you didn't know you wanted. Right. That's, that's part of the fun of, of looking at some of the stuff at these shows, I guess.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And that's what I ended up with. I, this is not something I go in intending to purchase because you usually don't see it at a show, but I just happened to stumble on a thing. And then asked the guy, did he have more of those? And it turns out he did. So, um, it was cool. It was cool. So it was, uh, I think Chicago is just going to be pretty much planned on the calendar from the jump every year. It's that good of an event. Um, they do a great job. Everything runs smoothly. I like the fact that everything is kind of in, I don't want to say it's a small space because it's not, it's a large space, but it's all kind of self-contained right there together. Like nothing is far away. Um, and then there's like places to eat, like right outside the hotel. And I don't know, Chicago is a great show. If anyone's in the area or wants to make a trip to, um, they, they do a great job. It's well, well worth it. And, uh, I think that's probably the, the vibe you get from pretty much everyone that was there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Uh, last week at the end of the show, we, we took a moment to talk about Susan Worth who tragically passed away within the week and the run up towards the episode in between the Chicago Pen show and last week's show. Um, and you have some stuff that you wanted to add to that today.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So it's, I had a tough week last week. Um, you know, dealing with my emotions after Susan's passing. It still hasn't quite sunk in, but I'm getting, you know, the further away we get from events like that, the little bit more clarity we get. Um, and I don't think, and I don't know when this is going to happen, but we're going to know pretty soon how big of a hole she left behind in the Pen show world. She, the, I think what I'm going to have to figure out. And I don't, what I don't think most people realize out that don't listen to the show is the educational value she provided to so many people who attend Pen shows, not just what they get from her. If they go to her tables and are learning about their handwriting and pens, but the classes she gives, um, during the shows, the, the round table she gives after the shows at the bar. Like I miss seeing her for the last time Sunday night because I was exhausted. And then later that night, she'd come back down and hung out at the bar. It's like, you know, you don't want to miss those last moments. You know, you don't know at the time, but like, I regret, you know, being, being so tired. And I miss Susan that night, you know, you don't know it's the last time you're going to see somebody. So the educational aspect is something that has been stuck in my brain for the last few days. I don't have any answers, but I think that's where we're going to see the biggest effect in her absence. I don't know that there is a direct solution to that. I certainly don't know what it is, but that's what's been weighing on me since her passing. I mean, aside from her awesomeness and just being around her, right? And she lights up a room and you know, she's there and you know, her presence alone will be missed just because she's that type of figure. But the stuff that you don't see, like the knowledge she passes on to people, that's, that's going to hurt. Like what, what she did from an education and learning perspective, it can't be measured, but I think it is, you know, it's huge. And we're going to miss that greatly. And, you know, I don't have any answers to that. Is that something I can fix? I don't know, you know, but that's, that's what's in my head right now. Um, so her memorial, um, in Milwaukee takes place this weekend. Uh, we're going to do a big memorial in DC for her. Um, Bob has graciously donated her tables in DC to allow John to set up Susan's full table. Um, we'll have flowers, pictures, we'll have paper and pens for people to write notes to be compiled in a book, um, to give to John. Um, and, you know, we'll have some, definitely have some things in DC for her, for anyone going to the DC pen show. That's going to be the kind of the pen show memorial. And, uh, it'll be good. You know, we need to do that at a, at a show. Um, she certainly deserves it and she deserves more than that. So trying to figure out how I can honor her memory or the community as a whole can honor her memory. Those, and, you know, try to focus on like education and beginners and that type of work that she did is just really, I, that's what I'm thinking about these days. And, you know, I don't know what I'll come up with, but, um, that's, that's what I see aside from missing the chance to give her a hug, buy her a drink and take a selfie. Um, I'm just going to miss her teaching everyone who came into her presence. So, um, and if you missed it, uh, last year at last year's Chicago pen show, I sat down and did a little video. Uh, Lisa Van Es wanted to do it on Periscope and Periscope will save your videos. So it's a raw video from that aspect, but she published it on YouTube and it was just a funny talk with Susan. As you can imagine, we talked for about 30 minutes. She's amazing. And, uh, it was a really cool to go back and watch that. That made me laugh and made me smile.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If you don't know who Susan is, like if you're listening to this, which would be a lot of you, I expect, like, you know, you may be heard her in passing on other episodes and you want to understand why this is affecting people the way that it is. Watching that video will probably give you a really good sense for why this is a blow to the pen show community. Um, but I will say, Brad, if there's anyone that could pick up that educational mentor, it would be you. Um, it's something you could do, but you are a pretty busy man at pen shows as it is. But, so it's definitely something to think about.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And it's not something that I have to do or I'm looking to do, but it's something I want to be a part of. Yeah. If, if it's, it's healthy, it's healthy for the community to have that available. And I don't think people realize what she did. Um, you know, a lot of the regular show vendors, you know, that, you know, don't travel in our circles probably don't grasp that. Susan laid the groundwork for a lot of their customers that they have now. Sure. So this is going to be, it's just a massive, massive loss. And, um, yeah, it really stinks. It really stinks. So I don't know. I, I don't have any plans certainly, but, um, that's all I can think about these days. So we'll see. I mean, I, yeah, I haven't put any thoughts into it. I haven't talked to anyone about it, but you know, maybe in DC, you know, I can talk to some friends there and, you know, see, you know, maybe we can do something. Who knows, who knows, but, um, yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Talking about doing some stuff. Uh, on the, when I was watching the live episode, I was, uh, reminded that we should maybe mention the wiki again. Yeah, for sure. If you haven't checked it out, it's stationary.wiki and it's a thing that people are compiling. And I kind of wanted you to maybe just touch on it again, Brad, like for, for what people can do and how they can contribute towards this.