How to waste a nice Saturday

[Ken Salisbury]

Saturday morning was a beautiful, clear, lower humidity than a normal day in North Alabama. My SIL and I went to a pancake breakfast sponsored by my Granddaughter's Cheerleaders group (as it turned out the only pleasant part of the day).

We then drove 95 miles to Smyrna, Tenn (near Nashville) via the typical rural Tenn roads :( (more than 2 hour trip for only 95 miles) to attend the Middle Tenn Woodworkers Show. WHAT A BUMMER !!!!

I have been attending these type shows for a long, long time and by far this one was the worst by an order of magnitude than any I have ever attended. The only booths of any significance were those of Woodline and Kreg both of which had a variety of their products with some relatively decent demos going on.

There were VERY FEW booths and we made our first pass through in less than 20 minutes :( .

We went back and watched a Kreg Jig demo and then to the Woodline booth to watch a router box joint demo which was, at least for me, less than educational. Bob Villa even knows how to do what was demo'ed :)

I then went to the 'break' area around 11:30 and hung around there until 12:00 in the hope I would run into some Creekers. No Luck. I had forgotten my SMC hat, but surely if any Creekers had been around they would have reconized this ugly puss. Especially since the break area never had more than 6 people in it at any one time while I was there. :(

We decided to lick our wounds and start back to Huntsville. On a slightly brighter note we did stop in Fayetteville, TN to have a burger and a cherry limeade at the local Sonic Drive-in.

[David Hayes]

Amen to that Bro. Ken! I got caught in the I-40 parking lot on the West side of Nashville. Took me 45 minutes to go about 1 mile. Finally got to an exit and made my way to Smyrna. Due to traffic delays, I didn't get to the "show" until 1 PM so I missed seeing you.

My experience at the show was the same as yours. Very disappointing.

[Ernie Hobbs]

Ken,

I agree totally. I went on Friday afternoon and was quite disappointed. I went with a few things in mind that I wanted to look at- I needed to get a new set of carving chisels and I had some questions about finishing- none of which had anything to do with the booths there. It only took about 20 minutes to get through all the booths, with circling twice to make sure I didn't miss anything.

[Hal Flynt]

Thanks for the report. I went to the one in Smyrna about 4 or more years ago. It was my first show and I thought it was fairly good and much better than one that had been held in Knoxville a couple of years before that. The one in Knoxville sounds like this years Smyrna show. ( I did buy a Jointech router set up at that show, mainly because I got a lot of personal attention and was pleased that it would fit my needs.)

I've been making the Atlanta show fairly regularly the past 4 years and noticed that this years participation was down (of course, there was an ice storm to contend with).

What I don't understand is where does the general public get the information about the shows? I never hear about them on the radio or TV. No billboards or signs in the Borgs or hardware stores. If it wasn't for the post card mailer that I receive, I might miss even knowing there is one. The point is why would a vendor spend the money to set up at a show, where the turnout is poor, and no coverage? If the shows don't do a better job of advertising, I don't think we'll see many of them outside the big cities. Too bad.

[Mike Ramsey]

I made it Saturday about 11:00 AM, first show for me...really was disapointed!! The one high point was the woodturners club. They had some nice turnings with one really nice humongous vase. Bought a diamond stone from the Woodline folks. The Jet rep was rude! My brother took me by GIS in Nashville and they had some nice prices on scratch & dent Jet stuff. The show was a Dud! but I had a great week in the great state of Tennessee!

[Rich Konopka]

I have been attending these type shows for a long, long time and by far this one was the worst by an order of magnitude than any I have ever attended. The only booths of any significance were those of Woodline and Kreg both of which had a variety of their products with some relatively decent demos going on.

There were VERY FEW booths and we made our first pass through in less than 20 minutes :( .

We went back and watched a Kreg Jig demo and then to the Woodline booth to watch a router box joint demo which was, at least for me, less than educational. Bob Villa even knows how to do what was demo'ed :)



Ken, were they showing off the new K3 Jig (http://kregtool.com/about_us/news_reviews/k3.php) at the Kreg Booth? If so, what is your impression of it? I was about to get a Kreg and then I saw the ad for the new K3 which is supposed to ship next month.

Thanks and I glad you enjoyed that burger.

[Ken Salisbury]

Ken, were they showing off the new K3 Jig (http://kregtool.com/about_us/news_reviews/k3.php) at the Kreg Booth? If so, what is your impression of it? I was about to get a Kreg and then I saw the ad for the new K3 which is supposed to ship next month.

Yes - they had it, however and since I already have the Kreg Pro Kit I did not watch the complete demo so I can't really comment on any improvements.

[Mark Riegsecker]

Hal Flynt Quote:
What I don't understand is where does the general public get the information about the shows? I never hear about them on the radio or TV. No billboards or signs in the Borgs or hardware stores. If it wasn't for the post card mailer that I receive, I might miss even knowing there is one. The point is why would a vendor spend the money to set up at a show, where the turnout is poor, and no coverage? If the shows don't do a better job of advertising, I don't think we'll see many of them outside the big cities. Too bad.

Ken, aren't those Sonic joints fun? The only drive-ups left that I'm aware of, at least around here. The closest for me is 50 miles West.

If the show promoters could get to us through a monitor like you Ken you could post the events somewhere. Normally they're so far away it's difficult for me to attend. Just a thought.

[Ken Salisbury]

If the show promoters could get to us through a monitor like you Ken you could post the events somewhere. Normally they're so far away it's difficult for me to attend. Just a thought.

If members will let me know about upcoming shows in their areas I will place them on the SMC Calendar of Events. I do routinely get information about shows in the S.E. which I post.

[Patrick Lane]

The irony is that while you were driving through my hometown of Fayetteville, I was heading to Madison for an event out there. Didn't go well, only sold one pen :( . Should have stayed home and cut the grass.

[Charles McKinley]

The promotion was so poor and the entry cost so hight that Woodcraft in Pittsburgh pulled out and started having thier own show about 4 years ago. It is good show and is about as big as the last "national" show that was in Pittsburgh. The national shows no longer come to Pittsburgh nor Harrisburg. :(

The closest shows to me now are King of Prussia, PA (6 hours) and Columbus, OH about 4 hours.

As much as they say woodworking is growing I do not understand this trend in the shows. I guess I will have to start going to the commercial shows like the IWF and the Comercial show in eastern PA.

[Kenneth Hertzog]

chuck
where in harrisville are you
nice to see fellow wood turners from the area
send me a PM and lets talk
ken
slippery rock, pa

[James Mudler]

My honey do list kept me in Huntsville all weekend long :rolleyes:

[Bob Borzelleri]

I recently went to my first WW show in about 3 years. Boy, what a bust. In years past, the Cal/EXPO shows were huge and well attended. This time, I made the first pass through in about 4 minutes.

Where they used both floors of two adjoining buildings in the past, this time they set the show up on one floor of one section of the adjoining buildings.

Most of the local tool stores were not present. Some had even gone so far as to set up their own parking lot tent sale on the days of the show. I didn't see Woodcraft Supply and their store is only 15 miles from Cal/EXPO.

My take on this is that the organizers are making it so expensive to rent space that the vendors are simply bailing out. All that's left are the folks who don't have storefronts to fall back on.

While the range of advertising was less than what I had come to expect around here, the list of confirmed vendors was pretty thin. I guess they matched their advertising budget to the length of the vendor list.