Back from Reno

[Ed Caffrey]

Made it back home around midnight last night. Came home to -10F, and wind.....just a bit on the chilly side!

The ABS Expo was a classy show, as it always has been. There were a number of changes to the show this year, most notable was that the show was only one day of sales. Friday was a day full of seminars for both makers and clients, all of which went very well. Friday evening was a two hour "preview", then the banquet, and then Saturday morning from 10-11am was another preview, with no sales taking place until 11am. I won't try to explain all of the particulars, but would say that the show committee did an excellent job of coming up with creative ideas, and executed the show wonderfully.

To be totally honest, it seems to me that show attendance in Reno has been declining for the last few years, and I attribute the low sales mainly to that. The one rule change that hindered me personally, was the fact that we were asked not to make any sales until 11am on Saturday. At the same time our show is taking place, there is a major Safari Club International show going on in Reno, and in the past we have drawn a number of sales for that show's patrons. I think the main issue this year was that a lot of the Safari Club patrons were leaving on Saturday morning, and came to our preview on Friday evening, hoping to purchase knives.....and due to the rule changes, could not...at least thats what affected my sales. The next show will be held in San Antonio, TX, in August of 2009..... I think the change in location will be a good thing, and look forward to it.

Guess its time to start working towards the Blade Show........ON TO ATLANTA!

[ranger1]

Glad to hear you made it home safe.The weather was looking crappy out your way.Course we still predict weather by the wolly worm.

[MLAZYB]

Ed,
Thanks for taking a few minutes to talk with Phil and myself. I know the sales were not as brisk as they should have been. I think after going to this show I may be able to get Phil started forging. He really enjoyed the show as well as I did. We meet and talked with a lot of the best knife makers in the world. Maybe some day I will be able to have one of the tables at the Expo. Ah but thats another day.
Again thanks Ed.

Bing

[Walt2]

San Antonio is getting to less than 2 hrs. driving time for me. If I can find out when and where it is I will make a major effort to visit this one!!!!!

[Ed Caffrey]

Walt,

The show will be August 21-22. I can't remember the name of the hotel, but they tell me you can see the Alamo from the show room. Once I can find out for sure, I'll let everyone know.

[Burke]

hey Ed you got lucky. I am pretty sure that your light was the last one to leave Reno sun day. I endednup going back to the hotel due to all flights being cancelled at about 10:15.Then everything was delayed on Monday. I finally made it home about ten thirty yestrday.It snowed all day today so we have a fresh foot of snow on top of the nearly fout feet already on the ground. But it is not real cold.

[Dave j]

I didn't make it there this time because of the weather. The forecast said there would be a huge snow storm in the sierras. Im from the SF bay area. The only way to get there is over that mountain range.
Oh well I'll be there next year.

Dave