Editing The Pen Addict 374/transcript (section)

== Show Comparisons ==


'''Anna Reinhart:''' quite like that. As hard as it is to compare the shows, we're going to make you do it even further, Ana. Because you, out of the three of us, were the only one that went to the Washington DC pin show and the San Francisco show. So I don't want to make this like, uh, Hey, this one's great. And Hey, this one's terrible. But I thought we could make, you know, a concerted effort to kind of hear from you what you found to be the differences, what these shows do good, what they do right. Can you walk us through a little bit of just being to these really probably the two biggest pin shows in the world? I don't know if that's fair to say or accurate, but it's at least in our realm, the two biggest pin shows on their calendar are within a three week span and you were at both of them. So I want to know how they compared. Sure. Now, you know why I'm so tired. Yeah. Right. But now, you know,

'''Brad Dowdy:''' why I didn't go. Totally. Um, well, okay. This year was the first year where the DC organizers did actually let us set up on Thursday night, which was a huge benefit. So we were able to kind of hit Friday with our feet on the ground, which was huge, um, for us just because, you know, the Van S table is a massive undertaking. Um, and there was fairly decent delineation between the time that vendors had and the time that, um, pass holders and the public were allowed in. Um, there was only a little bit of like wonkiness on Saturday because the fire marshal stepped in and said there were too many people in the hallway and they had to let people in early, but it was really only by about a half an hour. So that is what it is. Would I prefer that we had like, I mean, we knew where our table was, but the fact that San Francisco provides the table, like the table map, um, at least it was uploaded a couple of days before the show on their website, um, which then Alexander turned into an interactive map. Like, would I like DC to have that? Yes. You know, I mean, cause it's such a big show. I've, I want attendees to be able to like map out their route, figure out where they want to go. Do you want to get to the Franklin Kristoff table right away? Where the heck is it? Like those types of things. I mean, I think it would be, it's important for people to be able to figure out like who's at the show and where are they going to be. And if you don't know who someone is being able to find out before you get there, like if you don't know who Yukio Nakahara is, you know, like those types of things, being able to like look that up before you get there and be like, Oh, famous dip grinder. Maybe I can schedule an appointment, you know, or who are these people? Oh, this is someone who specializes in vintage pelicans. I would like to go see that table, you know, that, that type of thing. Again, I don't know that we can fix these things, but it sure would be nice. Sure. Sure. What does San Francisco do? Right. We've sort of talked about it already. I think they do a lot of things right. And just on Sunday night, I sat and talked with Franz and he was already asking like, what classes can we offer next year? How can we make this better? So it's like, they're already ready to like do more next year. So the fact that they're already asking those questions shows their motivation to continue to grow and improve.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Yeah. I have emails for 2020 in my inbox from Todd already. So yeah, they are just, they're on top of

'''Brad Dowdy:''' it. Yeah. Well, and I imagine for, for both the vendors and the organizers, they're, they're still riding that high. People are still thinking about it. Why not get people while they're still, Hey, you still remember how much money you got in your pocket. Let's talk about next year. So.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' So if you could impart some of this wisdom, say to other pin shows, maybe DC specifically, what type of things do you see that might work in DC that they could, they could improve?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, I think we've all said it over and over again, promotion, like mailing postcards is not 21st century.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Do those postcards require the correct date of the show on the postcards? I would think so. I was curious. Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That might be a really good start. If you are going to mail postcards, maybe put the right date on them. Just an idea. Sorry. Um, but if you're not, I don't know an Instagram account that, that you are feeding regularly. Um, there's so much more. And I mean, even promotion from within the event itself, like once people get there, there's the signage at DC was as bad as it's ever been. I mean, it was literally somebody pulled a piece of paper out of a copy machine and wrote with a, with a Sharpie insulting. Hmm. I mean, come on, how hard is it for somebody to sit down in advance and, you know, generate signs and have them printed at a local copy shop that, that points to where all the ball, you know, a map of the, of the venue explaining where everything is because people still didn't know from the registration table to the, there's a second ballroom. There's not just the main ballroom and the people all the way back in the back hallway. And some of the people that were in the far back hallway were people like Musubi that people came to see specifically, you know, I just, you know, and stuff like that. And it's like, so have signs on the wall. It's like more vendors back here with a big arrow. It's not that hard. It's a 24 by 36 piece of poster board.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Right. So maybe it's an awareness that we, we may never get out of DC to be, be perfectly honest, without some assistance or an awareness of what the current attendees are looking for, as opposed to your standard classic pen show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. But I mean, it's, it's as important to the vendors too, who paid for those tables and they paid the same amount of money as the people in the big ballroom. And yet they got way less customers and that's not fair. And we talked about, I talked with other vendors in DC about that. And it's like, if you're going to stick somebody in the crappiest spot in the entire facility, then I don't think they should have to pay as much. Right. Right. If you're getting, if you're getting, you know, C seating, you should be paying C rate.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Yeah. Well, let's, let's we blow too, too much smoke up San Francisco's, you know, where, what, what can the San Francisco, yeah, up the golden gate, unless we, you know, remove the fog from the golden gate. What can, what do we want out of San Francisco? What can San Francisco, what can they do to improve in your mind, especially as it relates to say this year's show or other pen shows?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, I mean, you know, we did talk about like just improving the overall, um, scheduling like on Thursday and Friday night. Yep. How did you guys feel about it? I mean, what would you like to see improved? I mean, a lot of people were asking about being able to pay for their passes, uh, digitally. I mean, they do sit in Silicon Valley. People should be able to pay for things with Apple pay.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Yep. That was one thing that I did catch, um, a few people saying, so, you know, digital payments, um, I, they're going to have to have a room expansion here pretty quick where I think we're maxed out. Um, and they're already looking into, into that right now. Um, you know, I just think I would personally like extra facilities outside the pen show to be available at the hotel, but that's a hotel issue, not necessarily a pen show show issue. But, uh, yeah, I mean, it's kind of hard. We just came off this high of such a fun show. It's kind of hard, but you know, they are open and, and available to any comments anyone has, including any attendees or anyone hoping to attend the show, um, hit them up on their website and tell them what you'd like to see. I'm sure they'd be interested in that feedback.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, absolutely. If there's something that we forgot, I mean, certainly contact any of us and let us know if you have ideas. Um, one of the things that I spent a long time talking with Franz about was like possible ideas for future classes and workshops. You know, what are things that, that are not being offered at pen shows, you know, classes, workshops, um, seminars that people are not, are just not being offered. And whether that's in San Francisco or at any pen show, you know, I mean, between Brad and myself, we pretty much hit every pen show in the United States now. And if we don't, we know somebody who does, and we have contact with most of the organizers. If the classes aren't being offered, let's, let's make them happen, you know, or at least put it in the ear of the people who can, you know, and same thing with the events in general, like all of these pen shows, like if we don't start saying something to people about what it is that we want these events to be, they won't ever be what we want them to be, you know, and it might, might not happen overnight, but, you know, with little changes and little suggestions, I think we can slowly make these events better and, San Francisco is proving that and Chicago is proving that and even St. Louis, I mean, the changes that happened between the first year and the second year were dramatic and they're constantly, they were constantly looking for more feedback and the improvements there showed. So, I think each, there are shows that are showing that they, they definitely want to be better and draw more people. And the more people they draw, the more vendors come, more vendors, you know, like get them to spend money, more vendors keep coming.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Exactly. Well, I know this one was a blast and I, yeah, it's hard to ask for much more, but we'll, we'll keep going and keep pushing. And I just know we had fun, right, Myke?