Replies

1. 
   ThreePuttJoe | Feb 28, 2007 08:13am | #1

   I was there on Saturday. I got the hall pass from the wife and kids, and it was a woodworking show, so it automatically was great. There were less vendors than I thought there would be. As discussed in another post, I thought that Steel City could have had a bigger presence. The one they do here in Illinois (at the Odeum) seems a lot bigger and has more "classes." I picked up some good deals. I was a little disappointed with no Lie-Nielsen and no General, but Lee Valley had a good booth. I got to play with the sharpening machine quite a bit, and bought one. I also took their whole plane line for a test drive. I like the scraper plane. There was a booth with an ornamental mill that uses a router to create fluted and spiraled columns etc. They had a $9,000 machine, but were introducing and demo-ing a benchtop model for around $800. That was pretty cool. I almost bought a Nova lathe for $900. The guy said he could do better if I wanted it, but I haven't done enough lathe research yet (I do know that Nova lathes are a good name but I didn't want to regret an impulse purchase like that.

1. 
   user-189774 | Feb 28, 2007 11:08pm | #3

   Did you get to talk to the folks at Steel City on Saturday or were they swamped like early Friday? I went there with the sole purpose to look at the Tormek again and compare the 8" jointers from the big three manufactures, however SC only had their 6' on display and it looked a little cheap.

1. 
   ThreePuttJoe | Mar 01, 2007 05:33am | #6

   I didn't talk with the Steel City people since they only had three or four machines there and none of the ones I'm in the market for. I thought that being a new brand with some marketing savvy built in, they would be doing justice to all of the shows. I kind of feel like this one got passed over by a lot of people. I too wanted to test and compare the Tormek and the Lee Valley machine head to head. I went with the Lee Valley, as I mentioned.I was disappointed with the lack of seminars and vendors there. Once again, the shows I have gone to at the Odeum had a lot of the missing vendors and more classes. One thing I was looking forward to and didn't see here was the Wood Mizer demo where they were selling slabs of Black Walnut and other woods right off the log. I bought a couple of rough slabs with two live edges last year or the year before for under $15. It's not as if they don't have the room at that facility. No CMT or Whiteside either. Woodline was the only vendor I can say really went all out and had a presence.Another poster said that LN doesn't show in the midwest because they don't sell well here. Is that true? Are they accounting for their Woodcraft and online sales? I am going to email them and inquire about this. I knew they weren't going to be there before I went, but I wanted to see some of their new stuff like the router plane.

1. 
   dovetail15 | Mar 01, 2007 06:22am | #7

   I attended the show in Illinois, East St. Louis, to be exact. I have been the past couple shows and I was very disappointed. I am a remodeling contractor by trade and the trade shows I have been to are fantastic. The difference is in the mindset of the vendors. For example, a vendor at a remodeling show is there to educate me about their product. I am able to interact with them, sample the product, and locate a dealer in my area. The vendors at the woodworking shows are interested in the bottom line sales only. I was very interested in the Steel City dust collector. When talking to a rep., I was told to wait while he wrote up a sales slip. I was very interested in finding out the story behind the start up of a company like SC. I do not think the sole purpose of the shows is to get a good deal on tools, lumber, or whatever. They should be an opportunity for you to ask questions to a trained rep, demo the product, and all that good stuff. Am I in the minority on this topic?

1. 
   ThreePuttJoe | Mar 01, 2007 06:50am | #8

   I think you hit it right on the head. They seem to be geared up to sell at these shows, which I really find strange. I was a buyer for a catalog company in a previous life, and have attended zillions of different kinds of shows all over the country, including the Hardware Show in Chicago, the CES Show in Vegas, the Super Show (sporting goods) in Atlanta, etc. I have always felt that people at these shows are the top people from the companies...trying to gain customers. At the woodworking shows, they seem to be "order takers." Why are you trying to sell one, two, fifteen pieces instead of creating hundreds and hundreds of customers? It just seems so shortsighted to me. I know there is a big difference between the shows I mentioned, and the woodworking shows, but they could still learn a thing or two. Take Lee Valley, they had a nice sized booth, a lot of their stuff set out for people to touch and try. All of their planes were on a rack atop a bench with a few pieces of wood. You could play with all of the stuff. And they had knowledgeable guys to answer questions, and new guys to get experience. Furthermore, if you did want to buy something, they would take the order, and give you free shipping and no tax. But they didn't have a pile of boxes with a snake oil pitchman trying to get you to walk away with a plane. If Steel City is going to be there, why not tell people your story? Show your stuff, have some cut aways showing how much better your stuff is. Where was Saw Stop doing the hot dog demo? You have hundreds of potentially your best customers captive, why not captivate them? There is no way you can outweigh the value of good PR by selling a few table saws.

2. 
   highfigh | Mar 01, 2007 04:40pm | #9

   Low sales has nothing to do with Woodcraft, it's a matter of whether it's worth the cost of renting a booth at the WW Show and the rest of the associated costs if people only go to their booth to kick the tires. I heard this on Saturday from the person who writes up all of the sales at the L-N booth during the shows and she said the company decided to pass on more shows than just MKE. She said they just don't do well at the Midwest shows. People can look at the planes at Woodcraft but if someone wants to try one out, Deneb will usually let them unless he's in the middle of a demo and that's not something Woodcraft will let people do at the store unless it's specifically a vendor sponsored event.Did you see the sign at the entrance for the paid seminars being upstairs? There was a lot of open space at the show this year, that's for sure.
   "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."

2. 
   highfigh | Feb 28, 2007 05:20pm | #2

   It's going to seem like I'm just dumping on the show but I thought it was weak. The weather kept a lot home even though it had already passed and if there were 200 people there when I was there (1:00- about 2:30), I would be surprised. I normally go to at least one of the seminars and this time, there wasn't much of interest.

   I did find out that Lie-Nielsen wasn't there because they're passing on most of the Midwest shows due to low sales. Too many people asking questions like, "where's the power cord?" and saying that they're too expensive.

   "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
3. 
   handymom | Mar 01, 2007 02:28am | #4

   I drove from Illinois to get to the show. I wanted to check out Marc Adams before I sign up for one of his classes. I took 3 of his seminars (his 4th was canceled because he needed to get back to Indiana and the weather was threatening). I got a lot out of his seminars and enjoyed them immensely. When the first session was over at 12:00 on Friday, there was a line almost out the door to buy tickets and get into the convention hall, and it was hard to get around with the crowds. There were less on Saturday. Fortunately, I had checked out the website and knew that Lie-Nielson would not be there. And, luckily, I then bought a few LN planes at Woodcraft during one of their 15% off sales and saved more than I would have at the show. I didn't spend a lot of time in the actual convention hall. Just checked out the finishing guy, who I learned a lot from at the Chicago show. Overall, I'm glad I went!

1. 
   MARQUETRY | Mar 01, 2007 04:02am | #5

   Thank you for your comments.  I also have attended 2 seminars given by Marc at previous woodworking shows and I attended his class at MASW on marquetry.

1. 
   handymom | Mar 01, 2007 04:57pm | #10

   From my limited time on the floor, I agree that Lee Valley had the most interactive, hands-on booth. There was wood and vises there to test the equipment. If all of the booths had been as inviting, I probably would have stayed longer and checked out more products. On Friday it was very crowded and hard to get around, although, now that I think about it, there was plenty of room around the periphery of the booths. The Chicago show I went to was less crowded because the weather was unusually beautiful, so I was able to check out more. The Lie Nielsen booth was always crowded.As for the seminars, Marc Adams was excellent. I got to hear a little of Michael Fortune at the Chicago show and he was also excellent. Marc said he would not be doing the show next time.How long have these shows existed? Perhaps the most knowledgeable, enthusiastic people have tired of the venue and have hired sub-standard replacements. It must be a pretty rigorous gig to travel to all of these cities, set up booths, talk to hundreds of people, over and over again, about the same product.Are there other shows or events that you enjoy going to in our area?

4. 
   Handrubbed | Mar 01, 2007 11:51pm | #11

   I didn't go to the Milwaukee show due to the absense of Lie-Nielsen.  While I don't blame them for skipping some smaller venues like Milwaukee, I would doubt that L-N is forsaking the midwest.  More likely is that they may feel that the show is weak and does not attract their customer.  The Woodworking Show seems to be in decline with every passing year.  Now that the big power tool people seem to be bowing out;  and the vendors who appeal to real serious craftmen left long ago;  all that's left are the carnival barker-types with their saw off-cuts you can read a book through.  The Chicago show was twice a year until recently...now it's just once.  All businesses are feeling the effects of the new economy based on the internet.  You're reading this, right?  I go to the show to get some of that "warm and fuzzy" that the internet can't deliver and retail store have forgotten about.  Certainly Woodcraft has.

   I think the concept that L-N is fostering now of having their own regional shows with select vendors is absolutely spot on as the direction for them to meet their real customers.  Bring it on!

1. 
   highfigh | Mar 02, 2007 02:28am | #12

   She didn't say they were dropping all of the midwest shows, just the ones that don't do well for them. Since she and Deneb do most, if not all, of the shows, I would think her info is accurate because the dates would be off of their schedule.
   "I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."