IWF 2008 Recap
I’m sitting in the Atlanta airport, sipping my Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, and there’s no better time to recap my time at IWF. After 4 days of demos and conversations over very loud woodworking machines, I actually still have a voice. Last year I lost my voice after day 1, and this year I was determined to take the appropriate precautions. Fortunately it worked, for I am currently singing a rousing rendition of “It Takes Two” by Rob Base for Nicole as I type.
Our first two days were spent at the Festool booth doing demos. Not surprisingly, this year was all about the Kapex. Nearly every demo ended with the big question, “So how much does it cost?”. Most times I would tell them the saw is north of $1000, and point them to a Festool employee for accurate pricing information (I honestly don’t know the exact price). The most interesting part was watching the reactions. A few folks looked at me like I was nuts, but the vast majority gave me an approving nod, or simply said, “Not that bad.”, or ” Looks like a good investment.” Considering that the IWF audience primarily consists of pros and semi-pros, this was not all that surprising.
Incidentally, Festool and I put together a DVD of all of my Festool tool demonstrations (some have never been seen before). They were free at the show, and I brought a bunch back with me and would be more than happy to send them to anyone who is interested. Just email me your name & address and I will hook you up.*** We brought 50 of these back with us and they are all spoken for already. We will try to see if we can get more from Festool.
Day 3 was spent with our friends at Powermatic. We hung out in the booth, looked at some of the new offerings from Powermatic and Jet, and had the opportunity to chat with fans of the show (like Justin and Susan in the photo). It was great putting faces with names as well as meeting some folks who are just fans of the show, but have never felt compelled to comment or email me. If you took any pictures with us at the show, feel free to upload them to Flickr and then add them to the Wood Whisperer Fan Photos Group.
Day 3 was capped with our Wood Whisperer meetup. Over 20 of us gathered together at a local sports bar for some good eats and woodworking talk. It was an absolute blast! A big thank you to everyone who showed up. And I can’t forget to thank Hendrik Varju who hung out with us all night!
And finally on Day 4, we slept in. After two conferences in a row, Nicole and I were due for a little extra rest. Even with a late start, we accomplished quite a bit. This was our day to film Wood Whisperer content and “talk business” with vendors. As you will see in the upcoming video, we tried to focus on the newest and most interesting things. With only one day to walk the floor and so much ground to cover, I am sure we missed a lot.
One of the best parts of these large woodworking shows is meeting some of the better known woodworkers, authors, and editors. I had a long talk with both Ellis Wallentine from WoodCentral.com and Tom Hintz from NewWoodworker.com. If you don’t know these guys, you should. Before we had dozens of blogs to read (back in the olden days), there were only websites containing articles and collections of links. Two of my favorite distractions from my lab work at the time were WoodCentral.com and NewWoodworker.com. So it was a real honor to meet these guys in person. I also had a chance to catch up with “The Schwarz” and Mr. Glen Huey from Popular Woodworking, Anatole Burkin from Fine Woodworking, Hendrik Varju, Lucas Peters from Wood Magazine, Ian Kirby and Ernie Conover. I also had a chance to hang out with my buddy Kaleo Kala for a while.
I want to thank everyone who introduced themselves at the show. It was truly awesome meeting all of you! I also want to thank our sponsors, Festool and Powermatic for believing in us and allowing us to be a part of the “family”. And the most important thank you has to be reserved for Nicole. Without her help, guidance, energy and encouragement, I can assure you none of this would have been possible. Now I need to muster the energy to edit the video. Wish me luck!
If you want to see the full collection of pictures taken at the show, check out my Flickr Page.
2008 Woodworking Show- Underwhelming
So, what’s the deal with The Woodworking Shows? Have you been lately? Now I’m not talking about the large industry shows like AWFS and IWF. I’m specifically talking about the smaller consumer-aimed shows that travel the nation every year. And every year, you can look in any woodworking forum and see posts from people claiming how disappointed they were or how the show is going “downhill”. Last year, we attended the local show here in Phoenix and even made a couple videos. This year, as a nice change of pace, we decided to simply attend the show. No work, just pure woodworking entertainment. So, being a spectator coupled with the fact that this was my 3rd show in a row, put me in a good position for an objective review.
Let me set the stage. Its a cloudy, rainy, miserable day in Phoenix (obviously not typical). We make the hour-long drive to Westworld in Scottsdale. We make our way inside and I feel that boyish excitement building. That feeling I get when I am about to plunge into tool nirvana. The feeling of being surrounded by like-minded peers who are equally excited about a common interest. The chance to sit in on a few lectures or seminars and glean some knowledge from an industry professional. The prospect of seeing some big tools I will probably never need or handplanes I will probably never know how to use properly. At the very least, its a chance to see some products that I look at online all the time, finally come to life.
Now I know this isn’t exactly the fault of the The Woodworking Shows, but the first thing I noticed upon entering was the horrible lighting. Little halogen lights hanging overhead about 75 feet in the air were casting their harsh shadowy and unpleasant glow on the rather small assembly of displays below. We had better lighting in our moldy basement back in New Jersey! Now if these 30 year old eyes with 20/20 vision were having difficulty, I can only imagine how annoying it must have been for my more veteran woodworking comrades. But bad lighting can’t stop a good show. So we pressed on.
We began at one side and meandered through the aisles. Within 10 minutes we had seen everything. Obviously we didn’t really stop to look at much, and I have to ask myself why? Am I really that jaded to this stuff?!?! Certainly not! I was like a kid in a candy store at the Vegas show this summer. What, besides the obvious size difference, makes this show so different? Well here’s my best guesses.
First, there was nothing new or interesting for someone who pays attention to this stuff online. I can look at router bits, saw blades, and consumable supplies all day on the net. So the one way to grab my attention with these items is to price them competitively. And unfortunately, it seems that these companies just can’t compete with online pricing. So much for that angle.
Second, none of the major tool manufacturers were represented. Powermatic, Porter Cable/Delta, Lie-Nielsen, Festool………not a single one. Now from what I understand, this was due to the fact that the show recently changed ownership and there was difficultly getting contracts signed in time. But there were tools there last year, and only two or three companies were fully represented. It seems that most companies just don’t feel this show is worth their time and expense.
Third, and in my opinion this is the most critical factor. There was a severe lack of focus on education. If there were quality seminars taught by quality instructors, I would have spent my entire day there. But there was very little being offered. There were two “stages” though, and one of them was completely abandoned at noon on a Saturday. The other one was host to a small finishing lecture. The same lecture I’ve seen for 3 years straight.
Just to be clear, I do not profess to know the answers to this riddle. I am simply making observations based on my opinion and my experience. The shows are clearly suffering, and will continue to suffer if things don’t change in dramatic fashion. What’s the winning formula? More seminars with quality instructors? More tools? More discounted prices? Lower booth fees so more vendors can sign on? I refuse to believe that there isn’t enough interest from consumers. But is there something the show can do to really capture our attention and that of potential vendors and instructors? For me, the woodworking show now feels like an obligation instead of a MUST-SEE event, and that makes me pretty sad.
When done properly, a woodworking show should bring out the kid in all of us. It should make us have to exercise restraint with our credit cards. And most importantly we should walk away with some woodworking knowledge. The only disappointment we should feel is the fact that we couldn’t catch “so and so’s” seminar because it conflicted with someone else’s. Or maybe we missed a particular bargain because we arrived too late and they sold out. I am holding out hope that in the new year, the new owners will really build this show up to its full potential. Bring back my woodworking shows PLEASE!!!
What do you guys think? Do you have any suggestions for how the woodworking shows can improve? Or is this simply the natural evolution and subsequent extinction of an outdated concept?
25- AWFS 2007 (Part 2)
High Resolution Version
MP3 Version
In this part of our AWFS series, we hear from numerous manufacturers about their new and exciting products. If you want to learn more about these companies and the products they offer, check out these links:
WMH Tool Group (Jet/Powermatic)
Leigh Industries Ltd.
SawStop
Tenryu America, Inc.
Steel City Tool Works
Festool
*note- I apologize ahead of time for the sound quality. We did the best we could under the conditions we were presented with. Nicole did a great job keeping my energy level up and encouraging me to get these interviews so we all have her to thank for it. Enjoy!
23- AWFS 2007 (Part 1)
High Resolution Version
Its been a week since the AWSF show in Vegas and I am still hyped up about the experience. Hanging out with the woodworking elite and meeting all the Wood Whisperer fans was incredible. Nicole and I would like to thanks everyone who introduced themselves. This video gives you an inside look at AWSF 2007. We have live demonstrations from David Marks, Scott Phillips, and Mike Heavey. I will apologize ahead of time for the audio quality. You would not believe the amount of ambient noise in a place like that! But sometimes words are just not needed. You’ll know what I mean when you see me chatting with the one and only Norm Abram.
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