IWF question

[Wayne Fuder]

I have been toying with the idea of taking in IWF this year. I have never had the chance to do so in the past and am not completely sure it will fit into my schedule this year yet. If it does work out for me, what do I need to do to prepare for the event and what can I expect. I would probably be driving from Minnesota to Georgia. Any and all comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

[Glenn Samuels]

Get a hotel room before you leave home. :D
Sorry but I couldn't let that one slip by. I was there many years ago and the show is huge. See if you can get a floor plan before you arrive so you can make a plan on whom to see. With so many machines being shown, it is easy to get distracted and forget something that is important to you.

[Wade Lippman]

It is a huge event, mainly of interest to commercial woodworkers. I made a nice vacation out of it with my son.
I wanted to see several machines that were not available locally, and I did get a couple show specials that paid my expenses; but would not consider going back.
Why do you want to go?

[Mark Bolton]

I have been toying with the idea of taking in IWF this year. I have never had the chance to do so in the past and am not completely sure it will fit into my schedule this year yet. If it does work out for me, what do I need to do to prepare for the event and what can I expect. I would probably be driving from Minnesota to Georgia. Any and all comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.


Not to sound snide but your mention of fitting into a schedule and then "driving from minnesota to georgia" dont really jive unless I guess your deathly afraid of flying. I am 8 hours from ATL and I wouldnt drive it unless I had planned on making a bee-bop-on-the-way vacation out of it. Fuel costs and wear and tear on a vehicle alone would cover the cost of air fare.

Some good threads over on woodweb about attending.

[Erik Loza]

Wayne, here are my suggestions:

1.) If there are vendors you specifically want to visit, make a list and hit their booths first-thing. This event is huge, the Congress Center complex is expansive, and it's easy to get lost wandering around then "poof", the day is over.

2.) If a person wants questions answered about a machine or wants a demo and expects to have some time to chit-chat time, do that on Wednesday and Thursday and as early in the day as possible. Friday and Saturday and are serious wheeling/dealing days and often times, reps simply cannot get to all the folks in the booth if they are sitting down with a buyer.

3.) If a person is serious about buying a machine at a show (and I realize many folks just come to window shop/do research for later, which is totally fine...), make it abundantly clear to the rep of whatever mfr. that happens to be, that you plan to buy at the show. Doesn't matter what manufacturer it is: Every rep is under a lot of pressure to close business at the show and if they are talking to someone who who may not be a buyer and they see you walk into the booth, you want them to drop what they are doing so they can connect with you. I'm saying this because, in my experience, shop owners (which usually consist of the owner, the production mgr., as well as a few shop guys) will be doing their serious buying on Friday and on Saturday afternoons. Cannot tell you the number of times those guys will sit you down and take up an hour or more, since they will have questions about leasing, machinery packages, etc.

Point being that for those of us who are private ww'ers, please realize that the show is geared toward the industry and the "one guy wandering around the booth" may not get attention on Friday and Saturday afternoon unless a rep recognizes him. Hope this makes sense.

All that being said, it's a great show and everyone should have it on their bucket list.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Tom Walz]

+1 for What Mr. Loza said.

Check out
http://www.iwfatlanta.com/

[Peter Kelly]

There are also itinerary builder tools on the IWF site that allow you to create an agenda. Useful if you plan on attending any of the sessions.
http://s15.a2zinc.net/clients/iwf/myiwf/public/NZ_Login.aspx?Role=A

Bring comfy shoes!

[Jerome Stanek]

comfortable shoes. We like to stay in Smyrna nice places and not to far from the convention center

[Bruce Wrenn]

Can't go this year due to scheduling conflicts. We usually stay over in Buckhead (Country Inns and Suites on Sidney Marcus Blvd.) Buy a pass, and ride MARTA to show. Bus stops at foot of stairs at hotel, and Linbergh Center is only three blocks away. Catch train from Linbergh to Five Points, transfer to west bound line, and get off at next station. You will have to either walk thru CNN Center, or around Phillips Arena to get to show. From show, when returning, it doesn't matter which north bound train you get on at Five Points, as both go to Linbergh Center. Catch bus (Buford Hwy route) at Linbergh back to hotel. Across the street from hotel is a Target store if you need anything. Pizza Hut and other eateries are right down street. Highland Hardware ( a must go see) is a couple miles away.

[Keith Bohn]

The World Congress Center is so large you can see the curvature of the earth.

All kidding aside, yes, set aside at least two days, three if you're the type to gawk a little.

Mostly it is commercial machines, but seeing a single booth that's as big as some commercial shops, it's impressive.

[Rich Riddle]

I asked a similar question back in January and was dissuaded from going. You might want to read that thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?213038-Iwf-2014

There was also a similar thread a couple of weeks ago in the "off topic" forum. It proved very similar to the one posted above.

[Erik Loza]

Been here since Sunday for setup/ test n' tune. Show looks good. Decent number of manufacturers, definitely on the upswing from a few years back. Machinery hall dominated by CNC centers.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Belinda Barfield]

+2 what Erik Loza said. I, along with 3 coworkers, will be there Friday and Saturday. We each have a list of things that the "company" needs/wants. We map out the show, indicating the booths we want to hit, then divide the show up into four (as best we can, it is huge) sections. Each of us takes a section and attempts to stop by as many booths as possible before lunch. We meet for lunch for discussion of additions/deletions to the list. If there is a group "must see" we go to that booth after lunch and then split up again. If there is no group must see, we head back to our sections after lunch. We will regroup on Friday night. Saturday is more separate/group, depending on how things go, booth stops. Friday and Saturday are truly wheel and deal days at the show. This system has worked for us in the past, but with over 8000 vendors this year . . . well, we'll see. Book a foot massage at your hotel for the nights you are there. :)

[Tom Walz]

We are mostly interested in the tool side. We are looking for new products for our website. We only do about half the show.

Big machines in the middle. Little companies with new stuff tend to be on the outer edges.

We start Thursday afternoon. We go in the door, turn right and work a grid. We make appointments for Friday with Vendors.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all working meals.

Saturday we catch what is left and cruise the other side.

I tease the Walzcraft guy about being the side of the family that has money. He tells me that I tell him that every show.

Sometimes we get treated really well at a booth and sometimes we get treated poorly. If we get treated poorly we just keep our money in our pockets and move on.

[Erik Loza]

Did not have much time to browse the hall but from a vendor's perspective, the show was a huge success. Tons of traffic, night-and-day difference from 2 years ago. Seems like the ww'ing market is definitely on the way back up again. Good news for everyone.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[scott vroom]

Seems like the ww'ing market is definitely on the way back up again. Good news for everyone.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

It's a mixed bag. Good for manufacturers, not always so good for consumers who are paying higher prices than a few years ago. When I stocked my new shop with Grizzly 5 years ago, many of the tools were on sale and/or free shipping. Now it's rare to find a deal at Grizzly. And hardwood prices in my area are up around 15-20% from just 2 years ago. But I will admit that a healthy economy even with it's inflated prices is better than a nasty recession like we saw after 2008.

[Erik Loza]

It's a mixed bag. Good for manufacturers, not always so good for consumers who are paying higher prices than a few years ago. When I stocked my new shop with Grizzly 5 years ago, many of the tools were on sale and/or free shipping. Now it's rare to find a deal at Grizzly. And hardwood prices in my area are up around 15-20% from just 2 years ago. But I will admit that a healthy economy even with it's inflated prices is better than a nasty recession like we saw after 2008.

+1... It definitely seems to be shifting to more of a seller's market. All the desireable used machines that flooded auction houses and estate sales after the crash have been gobbled up already, so buyers cannot use the "I'll wait for a better deal"-line any longer. At least not if they actually need to be in production.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[David Weaver]

I asked a similar question back in January and was dissuaded from going. You might want to read that thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?213038-Iwf-2014

There was also a similar thread a couple of weeks ago in the "off topic" forum. It proved very similar to the one posted above.

I was poo poo man number one in that thread. Nothing's changed. Thinking about it as a hobbyist, it was nice to go down there and talk to some factory reps about some things (fuhr, martin, minimax, felder, AOM) but it's not, or at least in 2008 wasn't, designed like a shopping mall, and some of the reps are not interested in talking to individuals at all, even if there is nobody else in or near their booth (we were there friday early, I guess that's why it was empty). There was more foot traffic in booths like grizzly, dewalt, etc, and festool was giving out shirts (I didn't get one, just noticed that there were a million of them floating around).

In terms of whether or not it was worth a 1200 mile round trip, for my buddy who wanted to look at sliders and who is floating in money, I think he thought so (but he saw what he needed to see in about two hours). For me, it was enough to learn that I didn't need to go again (I went thinking "i'll get nothing while I'm there, we're just looking at sliders" and still spent a grand on various small things, though. That's bound to happen). Actually, i shouldn't say that, I did want to get a jointer/planer combo at the time, but nothing of interest was there in terms of deals.