What you would like to see at your state show?

With hands on seminar ? Where do I send my membership fee ?

 

Well Mike I guess the Lady's will like it when you do it it at the AIT, but don't expect the guys will tuck a buck....

 

Lets clarify FEMALE strippers I think there is a video floating around still

 

Would that be a hands on type seminar !!!!!!!!!


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Yes Nancy your are right, when ever I do a seminar I tell every body to get as close as they can, and try to get them to ask a lot of questions, so that it dos not get boring. Learning and having fun is what it all about.

 

Kindness. If you are the President, Secretary, BOD or have any connection to the show as staff, you need to be friendly. Have several people who know the plan and layout that can hang around the convention and help inform attendees where to go and what to do. It would be a good idea for large shows to have a hostess committee to work the show. Be accommodating and wear a smile. Avoid exclusive cliques and go out of your way to welcome newcomers and include everyone into the mainstream. Follow up a convention with personal handwritten thank you notes and phone calls to let the members know how happy you were that they came. It's all about how you treat people. The rest of the details will work out with proper planning.

 

X2 on those recommendations Rick.

 

.........plus strippers.

 

Unfortunately, the wish list and the reality list too often dont overlap!

Others have hit on some of my thoughts too. I prefer the show to stay in one venue, theres nothing worse than getting out of one area, and wondering where the others were off to. Some shows we would run across the street for a bite to eat maybe, but so did everyone else, so it was fun. But car pooling to seperate locations eventually got us all split up.

Michigan is a great example of a very family feeling show, as everyone knows the others, and all the officers are friends too. Its held at a big outdoor show, yet we all were together a lot.

The seminar thing is tough, as we, as judges, get asked to do seminars, but we have too many mounts to look at, and not much time to do a decent seminar. Couple that with it being too costly for most state assoc to get seperate people for judges and seminarians, and you all see that delemna.

As for timing, thats tough, even though I agree. Jan...end of deer season in some areas, bad weather in others. Feb and March...too many competing shows. April and May...turkey season. June...graduation and weddings. July...family vacations and reunions. August...school starts. September...more school and seasons start. See what I mean???

Suppliers spend a ton of money to do these events, many times a year, with little on the spot return. Giveaways add to it, and infommercial type seminars only fractionally help them recover anything.

Now, lets see how WE can help ourselves here...

Support the suppliers so theyll come. Try to save some money to spend there at the show.

Stcik around, dont do the show peice drop off, and arrive Sunday afternoon, pissed at your ribbons.

Become one of those friendly, non clique members, and help a new member out, or smile and say hi to a current member.

Try your best to eat at the host facility, its usually only a couple of bucks more, and it goes a long way towards negotiating next years facility dates.

Invite a friend as a new member. It helps.

Ok, and maybe shoot your turkey early and have a buddy watch your shop, thats a good start.

 

I would do a round about seminar where you have more than one seminar going on at one time these could be mini seminars. Some of us may be good in one area but lack in others. You could cover different subject like one area could do setting deer eyes and another could be how to do ears the list goes on what your members want. I don't like dead time I want to get as much info as I can while there. Then there the big fanally where you get a full three hours on a subject everyone wants by some very talented taxidermist. The more its members are ask to help out I think the more fun it is.

 

We have several seminars at once so a member can choose. As far as seminars "pushing products" being undesireable, you would be suprised to hear that MOST people attending our show LIKE those seminars. SEEING the products in ACTION with a detailed explantion sometimes is the difference that taxidermists NEED to pull the trigger on an item they might never try otherwise. This year in Ohio we have 2 World Champions explaining how to use certain products. What makes the difference if they happen to SELL those products?? You still need to know how to use them. It would be BETTER if someone ELSE did the seminar and happened to use the products? makes no sense.

Exactly. I would say that less than 10% are professionals at a State show. MANY are people who know NOTHING and have NEVER been to a show before. I would say I have NEVER been to a seminar or to a guys shop where I didn't pick up a great idea...regardless of their abilities.

Or MAYBE there are some great taxidermists in that organization. So if a guy is from out of state he's BETTER!? In Ohio we have 5 World Champions in the state at leasts 4 more attending the show this year. So are those guys from out of state better??

 

I like the idea of new products this is good for taxidermy and suppliers who come to rent space, its a win win.

 

Jim, you seem a bit defensive in your replies to some of our recommendations. Sounds like Ohio has the conventions all figured out. Your members are very happy....we get it. Please remember all states are not as great as yours. We all don't have the world champions you boast about. We don't have world champions beating down the doors to get in our shows

As far as seminars where people sell their products, ill give you one example but not mentioning names. I attended a fish seminar where the artist painted a reproduction fish. During the seminar the artist was pushing an airbrush very hard and went on the defensive when a member asked about another airbrush the artist was known for using. Same thing happened when questions arose about repo manufacturer and fish eyes. I spoke with said artist later on(almost a month later) and was told he uses different fish repos than the one he was pushing at the show. He wouldn't give me a straight answer regarding the airbrush but I know for a fact he's not exclusive to one maker. Point is he pushed the products during the show because they were donated items. Not necessarily the best items but free. So in my opinion he was sandbagging info because he didn't want to upset the people who gave him the free goodies.

There's another great artist who uses a certain deer form for his classes because they are free. He also pushed a mounting sand that was a POS. He also endorses a knife that's supposed to be perfect but is also a POS.

 

Andy I think you may have misunderstood what Jim was saying. If a particular supplier donates an item to a seminar I'm doing I'm damn sure going to mention that supplier in my seminar. That said, I will not "lie" about a particular product or deliberately mislead those in attendance but I will definitely give credit where credit is due.

 

"There's another great artist who uses a certain deer form for his classes because they are free. He also pushed a mounting sand that was a POS. He also endorses a knife that's supposed to be perfect but is also a POS. "

You have to be careful with that one, and I can give you examples. Im not sure who you meant, but me, for instance, I use a form I like, and because of that, I go and get it for my classes. I also have a knife that references me...but only because the company that supplies the knife for the supplier (second in line) that you use, offers it, and my name gets carried along.

Things arent always as it seems, trust me, Ive also been there.

 

All I want to see is BLUE ribbons on all my mounts. Is THAT too much to ask?

 

Ummmm..........YES! ;D

 

Hummm You've seen my work huh Paul. LOL

 

Re: Re: What you would like to see at your state show?

Antlerman , you know the price of blue ink is outrageous these days; it makes the price of gas look very very cheap!

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You have a point. Never thought about that way. LOL