Trade Show TalesBlog

Posts Tagged ‘Atlanta’

Shooting from the Hip — 8.10 (Really Columbus?)

June 18th, 2010 COMMENTS

Shooting from the Hip (trade show tips)

Shooting from the Hip by Reid Sherwood

Really Columbus?

The week’s travels were challenging, but the meetings made up for any hassles. I can’t complain too much. A couple of canceled flights allowed me, on my 23rd wedding anniversary, to have dinner with my wife instead of my good pal, Kevin Carty. Vicki, thank you for the 23 years of adult child care you have provided. Remember, I am still the acorn waiting to become the giant oak.

I made a quick trip to “Hotlanta,” and I mean HOT. There is an interesting buzz in the air. Things are pretty dead now, but the fall looks to be rock solid. Both modular and custom distributors are saying the same thing — smaller modular exhibits are in demand. That’s great news for Classic’s Visionary Designs and Euro LT lines.

Some of you have read on other social media websites that I had to divorce my iPhone. I have come to grips with that. I have switched to Sprint and purchased the EVO to replace my iPhone. As a general rule, I like the phone. However, the battery life is worse than awful, and it performs much worse than promised. That brings me to this true story.

I was calling a Sprint store in Atlanta to make an appointment with the service dept to see what could be done to remedy the battery-life problem. I am talking to the sales associate and getting directions to the store. I asked if they are east or west of the Interstate. The sales associate replies in a rather condescending voice, “Sir, that is going to depend on whether you are coming from downtown or are headed downtown.” I couldn’t resist. I replied, “Really Columbus?”

Hope to see many of you at TS2 in Boston! Let us know if you need a free pass.

Talk to you next week  . . .

–Reid Sherwood

Word on the Street — October 12th thru October 16th

October 16th, 2009 COMMENTS
Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Back from Atlanta and Still Scared!

Well, I don’t know about you, but this has been a very long week. That’s not to say it’s been a “bad” week, just long. Whenever airplanes, airports, and airlines are involved . . . . 

I was in Atlanta for much of the week. On Monday, I participated in the Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic. What a great event as always, and kudos to Rich Johnson, Jim Wurm, and Ted Petersen and their whole team for putting on another successful and fun event.

Tuesday and Wednesday were reserved for Classic and ClassicMODUL sales calls. These calls reinforced my feeling that the economy is gradually improving. Everyone’s attitude was more positive, and distributors were actively seeking and building alternate streams of revenue within the industry. Unlike the last industry downturn after 9/11, when industry relationships fragmented, I’m seeing just the opposite this time. Suppliers and distributors are looking for long-term partnerships. I’m not sure I completely understand why, but I have to believe that we’re all making bets, bets based on the viability, stability, and success of our partners. We all want to hitch our wagons (and our future) to winners as business improves.

Thanks to everyone I saw on this trip. As always, I really appreciate your time and feedback.

Netherworld

Now for the weird highlight on this trip. On Tuesday night, several of us had dinner with Kim, a customer and friend from the Atlanta area. After dinner, she decided we should go to to a haunted house. We were skeptical . . . It’s not exactly what you picture doing on a business trip. Right!?!? Well, we’re good sports so we went.

Let me tell you about this place called the Netherworld. It is a production that Hollywood would be proud of, if not envious — everything from people flying at you from 10 ft in the air, to characters  jumping out from seemingly nowhere, to subway trains almost slamming into you. All in all, it took about 30 minutes to walk through the entire attraction.

I love haunted houses and scary movies, if they are truly scary! This was! I literally screamed like a little girl for most of those 30 minutes, and most of the time I found myself using Kim or Reid as my human shield.  I jumped so many times that I was actually sore the next day. It felt like I had run 5 miles the night before.

Little things like that can really make a business trip. It’s a nice unexpected break from the normal routine, and this was one of those unexpected events that I will remember for a long, long time.

How about you? Are there things or events that you have done on past trips to break up the norm? Please share some of your best travelling experiences below.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in the Atlanta area over the next two weeks, make sure you take I-85 to the Jimmy Carter Blvd. exit and check out Netherworld! You won’t regret it. When you’re done, you’ll know why it’s rated the #1 Haunted House in America.

Have a safe and restful weekend.

Be Well!

–Kevin Carty

http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a