- Joined
- Mar 5, 2001
- RO Number
- 3655
- Messages
- 1,800
Hi all, back today from the Annapolis Power Boat Show. No less than 11 RO's stopped by to say hi! It was a new record, and I appreciate all you guys coming by to shake hands. It helped brighten things up.
The Show started on a real down note (for me). I arrived the evening before (Wednesday) and had to drive through 2 hours of torrential rains. Luckily, most of it was on US-301, out in the boonies. But I was well travel-worn when I arrived in Annapolis. I'd brought several boxes of catalogs with me, to replenish the stock that was consumed during the Sail Boat Show, the previous weekend. So I arrived at the show somewhere around 7 PM, and parked in a No Parking area with my 4 way flashers on (the police had allowed me 10 minutes, and then I'd be towed).
A little background info - we use the same display and the same booth location for both the Sail and the Power Show. We simply leave it there for the few days between the two shows - many exhibitors do the same thing. So when the fellow who'd worked the Sail Show returned to our plant, he told me everything was set up, and I'd only have to dust it off, and set out new literature - and I'd be good to go.
Back to the story. I loaded my heavy boxes of catalogs onto a hand truck and wheeled it into the tent where our booth is located. Upon arriving at the spot, I made a horrible discovery! The booth had been trashed! We have a 20 foot long display, and 10 feet of it had been torn down and shoved into the remaining 10 feet, with everything just thrown there - all mixed up, with parts of it in other people's booths and in general a total Chinese Fire Drill! Wires from the lights and working product were all tangled up, other parts of the torn-down booth were piled on top of the tangled-up wires, and all in all, I just wanted to sit down and cry! As I had to get my car out of where it was parked right away, I tossed the hand truck back in the car and left. I went and checked in at my motel, unpacked, then went out and bought a bottle, and proceeded to down a few, in anticipation of the next morning's job.
In the morning, I went over 2 hours early, to give me time to tackle the mess I had waiting for me. I asked around, if anyone had any idea of what'd happened. Having been in that same spot for quite a few years, I've developed a friendship with most of the other exhibitors in that same part of the tent. Come to find out, a well-known engine manufacturer (who shall remain nameless here) had a setup crew who'd moved their equipment into my booth. Their booth was in the exact same spot, only on the other side of the tent - it's a large tent, divided into two halves, called "A" tent and "B" tent. The divider down the center is a row of parking meters, as it is a parking lot the rest of the year. I'm in "B" tent and the engine booth is supposed to be in "A" tent, in the same exact location. As my investigation revealed, they'd assumed that we were supposed to move out at the end of the Sail Show but hadn't yet done so - so they moved me out! And they set up their booth in it's place. Then, when the staff arrived, who were supposed to actually work the show, and went to their booth location, guess what? No engines - empty booth. So they said WTF, and went walking around, looking for their engines. Voila! There they are, on the other side of the tent, in Raritan's booth! Upon making the discovery, they called the setup crew back and removed the engines from my booth, but one slight little detail remained. They didn't put things back where they'd originally been, they just left it the way it was! So upon my arrival at the show, I had a disaster on my hands! We use a two man setup crew to set up the booth, and I was by myself - and I'm not young any more, and not real healthy! So I hotfooted it over to the Show Office and demanded an explanation as well as some help in getting it set back up in time for the Show to open. Talk about a bunch of drones! Of course they denied any knowledge of what'd happened. In fact, I found out later that they'd called my office, to find out WHY OUR BOOTH HADN'T BEEN SET UP!
After going off on them for several minutes, they finally pulled me off into a side office and closed the door, as things weren't exactly pleasant between me and them - and I was getting extremely loud! They finally agreed to send over a couple of guys to help me get it set back up. Long story short, after about 1/2 hour, two monkeys showed up and did some of the bull work for me, but I had to do the lion's share myself, because I knew where things had to go, and they didn't. I got the booth up and functional, and ready to go, about 10:05 - the Show opened at 10:00, so I "just" made it. But, I was dirty, sweaty and in a foul mood for the rest of the day, because again, I was the only one there and couldn't go back to my room to shower and change. But, I guess such is life on the great boat show circuit. After 27 or 28 years of working shows, nothing surprises me any more. I'm just glad I didn't wait until the day the show opened, and come skipping in at 9:50, to find that mess, 10 minutes before the show opened - as I would have normally done.
The Show started on a real down note (for me). I arrived the evening before (Wednesday) and had to drive through 2 hours of torrential rains. Luckily, most of it was on US-301, out in the boonies. But I was well travel-worn when I arrived in Annapolis. I'd brought several boxes of catalogs with me, to replenish the stock that was consumed during the Sail Boat Show, the previous weekend. So I arrived at the show somewhere around 7 PM, and parked in a No Parking area with my 4 way flashers on (the police had allowed me 10 minutes, and then I'd be towed).
A little background info - we use the same display and the same booth location for both the Sail and the Power Show. We simply leave it there for the few days between the two shows - many exhibitors do the same thing. So when the fellow who'd worked the Sail Show returned to our plant, he told me everything was set up, and I'd only have to dust it off, and set out new literature - and I'd be good to go.
Back to the story. I loaded my heavy boxes of catalogs onto a hand truck and wheeled it into the tent where our booth is located. Upon arriving at the spot, I made a horrible discovery! The booth had been trashed! We have a 20 foot long display, and 10 feet of it had been torn down and shoved into the remaining 10 feet, with everything just thrown there - all mixed up, with parts of it in other people's booths and in general a total Chinese Fire Drill! Wires from the lights and working product were all tangled up, other parts of the torn-down booth were piled on top of the tangled-up wires, and all in all, I just wanted to sit down and cry! As I had to get my car out of where it was parked right away, I tossed the hand truck back in the car and left. I went and checked in at my motel, unpacked, then went out and bought a bottle, and proceeded to down a few, in anticipation of the next morning's job.
In the morning, I went over 2 hours early, to give me time to tackle the mess I had waiting for me. I asked around, if anyone had any idea of what'd happened. Having been in that same spot for quite a few years, I've developed a friendship with most of the other exhibitors in that same part of the tent. Come to find out, a well-known engine manufacturer (who shall remain nameless here) had a setup crew who'd moved their equipment into my booth. Their booth was in the exact same spot, only on the other side of the tent - it's a large tent, divided into two halves, called "A" tent and "B" tent. The divider down the center is a row of parking meters, as it is a parking lot the rest of the year. I'm in "B" tent and the engine booth is supposed to be in "A" tent, in the same exact location. As my investigation revealed, they'd assumed that we were supposed to move out at the end of the Sail Show but hadn't yet done so - so they moved me out! And they set up their booth in it's place. Then, when the staff arrived, who were supposed to actually work the show, and went to their booth location, guess what? No engines - empty booth. So they said WTF, and went walking around, looking for their engines. Voila! There they are, on the other side of the tent, in Raritan's booth! Upon making the discovery, they called the setup crew back and removed the engines from my booth, but one slight little detail remained. They didn't put things back where they'd originally been, they just left it the way it was! So upon my arrival at the show, I had a disaster on my hands! We use a two man setup crew to set up the booth, and I was by myself - and I'm not young any more, and not real healthy! So I hotfooted it over to the Show Office and demanded an explanation as well as some help in getting it set back up in time for the Show to open. Talk about a bunch of drones! Of course they denied any knowledge of what'd happened. In fact, I found out later that they'd called my office, to find out WHY OUR BOOTH HADN'T BEEN SET UP!
After going off on them for several minutes, they finally pulled me off into a side office and closed the door, as things weren't exactly pleasant between me and them - and I was getting extremely loud! They finally agreed to send over a couple of guys to help me get it set back up. Long story short, after about 1/2 hour, two monkeys showed up and did some of the bull work for me, but I had to do the lion's share myself, because I knew where things had to go, and they didn't. I got the booth up and functional, and ready to go, about 10:05 - the Show opened at 10:00, so I "just" made it. But, I was dirty, sweaty and in a foul mood for the rest of the day, because again, I was the only one there and couldn't go back to my room to shower and change. But, I guess such is life on the great boat show circuit. After 27 or 28 years of working shows, nothing surprises me any more. I'm just glad I didn't wait until the day the show opened, and come skipping in at 9:50, to find that mess, 10 minutes before the show opened - as I would have normally done.