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I cannot think of anything more dreadful than going shopping on Black Friday.  I am entirely fine with those people who enjoy it.  I know for some families it is a day to shop with a sister or a good friend, and I can see where that would be fun for somebody.  But not me.  I hate shopping, and Black Friday just seems like something I dislike magnified by ten.  So…I guess I could start Christmas decorating.  Except I am the tree guy and the outside lights guy.  And about seven inches fell last night in a “lake effect event”, so putting up lights sounds like a bad idea.  Tomorrow will be 44 degrees and sunny so maybe I can put that off a day.  The tree?  Ah, that’s pretty easy, I’ll get to that later.  So, that leaves me here at the computer with my coffee and this site.  Geez, I might as well go to work.

Friday’s off are no picnic.  My son has to go to work (low man on the totem pole), my wife has her Friday things to do and my other family members are doing whatever.  It is not like I’m going to crack open a beer, watch Netflix and chill while everyone else around me busy doing this or that.  So, here I am, thinking about fasteners.

Here’s one observation for you:  there are only three more works weeks left in 2014.  Sure, we can sneak in a couple days during Christmas and New Year’s week, but there are only three full work weeks left.  All those trips you planned to make or projects you wanted to complete, you essentially have three weeks to finish.  And they don’t necessarily have to be done by the end of December.  You could start them and finish them in January.  But if you had things you wanted to accomplish by the end of 2104, the countdown has begun.  I have a perpetually changing list of things “to-do” and the sad realization has set in that I cannot possibly get all the things done that I wanted.  So, my scheduling is starting to snake in to 2015.

Do you all send Christmas cards?  I read a lot of them when I am waiting in lobbies.  They are a nice gesture, for certain but I also wonder if anyone gets offended if they do not get a card from a particular supplier.  “I did $20,000 with that guy, you think he’d at least send a card”.  I once had a customer ask me to send the yearly Christmas card to his attention because he and another buyer had a contest to see which one got more cards.  It can be a competitive thing.

Before I get some email or call from somebody saying, “I thought this blog was about fasteners” I will point out that I’m writing on what is technically a day off.  Technically.  I will be going to the office to pick up my mail and to gather up a few things I need for Monday.  And, I need to pick up some things I need to schedule next week.  But just so I do not upset those of you who prefer I talk about fasteners, here you go.

There were not a lot of mergers and acquisitions in our industry this year.  At least not like what went on in 2013.  I bet you an Old Rusty Bolt that next year is different.  I think next year we will see more activity.  I have spoken with many business owners and sometimes, just for the heck of it, I’ll ask, “do you get calls from people looking to buy your company”?  The most common answer I get is, “every week”.  There are a lot of buyers out there right now.  Oddly enough, I could easily think of five to ten companies that could or should sell their companies.  Owner getting older with no succession plan, companies losing their ability to compete, etc.  I think next year will be much more active than this year has been.

Time to log off and take a look at what the next three weeks have in store.  No Black Friday dashing to stores (thank the Lord my kids are older and I do not have to worry about the newest popular toy) for me, I’ll be trying to dash around the fastener industry.  And hoping that the snow does not completely screw up my travel plans.  But as I do it, at least I know I have the support of my family…

Going to STAFDA just a few weeks after the Vegas Show is interesting.  Both are great shows, they are just different in many ways.  Your big booth names at STAFDA are Bosch, Milwaukee, Dewalt and companies like that.  Those companies do not even attend Vegas.  Yet, there is some amount of crossover and you do see some familiar faces at STAFDA that you just visited at Vegas.

Some background about STAFDA that is worth noting:

People who attend the STAFDA show are STAFDA “members” and they pay a yearly fee to be a member.

The STAFDA show entry fee is something like $199/person

The STAFDA show moves from year to year and is not always in the same location

STAFDA has a three hour long opening “bash” and is usually held in a unique, interesting location (this year it was at the NASCAR Museum).

STAFDA has a series of meetings and big name speakers as well as a very well respected economist.  These sessions are very well attended.

The three hour opening bash is really well attended.  I would have to guess that almost everyone attending STAFDA shows up at the opening bash and stays at least a couple hours. And, because it runs from 6:30 to 9:30 and it is at a really cool place, that is where everyone hangs out for the evening.  During that first day there are also a series of training or informational sessions.

The second day starts with several STAFDA  sponsored presentations and is followed by a keynote speaker, this year it was Joe Gibbs.  Then at noon the exhibition hall opens and the trade show continues until 6:00.  During the evening, many of the larger STAFDA exhibitors host parties in the surrounding area.    On the final day there is the presentation by STAFDA’s  economist (who many say is very, very good)  and then the trade show opens again after that.

It certainly was an interesting, well run show.  I know a lot more people at the Vegas show than I do at STAFDA but there is enough overlap that it is still familiar territory.  I did have a productive time at STAFDA.  I’m not sure there are a lot of lessons that one show could teach the other.  I’m not sure I could say to the STAFDA people, “you really should adopt this because it works so well in Vegas”.  Likewise, Vegas runs just fine even if it is quite a bit different from STAFDA.

The challenge I see for any trade show is keeping as many distributor customers at the exhibit hall or at show sponsored activities so that the exhibitors get the maximum opportunity to interact with them.  When an exhibitor pays for a booth and sends their staff to work the booth, that is a large commitment of time and money.  Optimally, the exhibitor/supplier gets a lot of face time with customers and prospects and has the opportunity for a more than just a few in depth meetings with important customers or partners.

As great as the Vegas show is for me, I always find myself wishing I had more time to talk to more individuals.  The time just flies by and then there is a pretty big drop off on Friday, probably because people have partied on Thursday night or they are trying to catch flights in order to spend the weekend at home.    I do wish there was a way to keep more attendees in the show area in order to increase the total effectiveness of the show.  I noticed at STAFDA that there were periods where the aisles were slower, just like at the Vegas show.  I would be curious to hear feedback from others who might have attended both shows.  In the end, they both offer a lot of value and need to be worked by both suppliers and distributors to get maximum benefit.  Still, any insights or suggestions that might improve either show would be beneficial to everyone including those who run the shows.

I’m gathering up all the things I need to take to the STAFDA show which begins Sunday evening.  I have not been to the STAFDA show for a few years and I am looking forward to it.  At the Vegas Fastener Show, I pretty much know what I am getting year after year.  I do not go to STAFDA consistently enough to remember exactly how the show is set up or even everyone who will be attending or exhibiting.  Also, STAFDA changes locations from year to year, so that shakes things up a bit.

But, I think I know the Vegas show pretty well.  I think I do.  But, I recently exchanged several emails with Bob Baer of Abbott Interfast Corporation about the Vegas show and our back and forth emails brought up some interesting things about the show.  You see, Bob just completed a post fastener show interview with Brian and Eric for Fully Threaded Radio.  Bob and others were asked to do a show re-cap and that is why were exchanging thoughts about the show – he was doing some preparation before the interview.  And, just to fill in some background on Bob, he is a CPA and an accountant by training.  His role at Abbott Interfast has expanded over the years, but Bob is a numbers guy.  I am going to take the liberty of sharing a few of the numbers that Bob and I tossed back and forth that come directly from the Vegas Show post show data.  I hope the data is exact but, if it is not I think it is at least pretty accurate.

According to the data shared by show management,  the overall badge count was 4,322 – of those 1,939 were attendees and 2,383 were exhibitors.  And, don’t forget, one person’s exhibitor is the next person’s customers.  A lot of exhibitors are also customers to other exhibitors.

Of the overall badge count, 75% were from the U.S., 9.3% from China, 5.7% from Taiwan and 4.3% from Canada.

Of the exhibitor badge count, 69% were from the U.S., 16% from China, 8.5% from Taiwan and 1.5% from Canada.  Maybe a little surprised that there were more from China than Taiwan.

Of attendee badge count, 81% were from the U.S. 7.6% from Canada, 2.6% from Mexico, 2.3% from China and 1.1% from Taiwan.  No big surprises there.  There were attendees from 37 different countries.

This was interesting – the companies with the highest badge counts were Brighton Best (90), Star (35), Stelfast (23), AVK and Unbrako with 17 each and Alcoa with 15.  A lot of this makes sense as several of these companies have branches spread around the country.

There were 185 independent reps (9.5% of attendees – as most are registered independently from exhibitors).  There were 117 service folks which I’d guess are people like computer system people.

There were 478 first time attendees so clearly the show is still attracting fresh blood.  And there were 340 first time exhibitors (people, not booths or companies).

Finally, (and I’ll stop after this so I do not bore you to death)  the top 5 states represented at the show were:

California – 643

Illinois – 444

Ohio – 345

Michigan – 270

Texas – 228

So, what does all this data tell us?  I don’t know.  Data can be interpreted many different ways.  A few things I cannot help but notice is the strong Midwest (IL, OH, MI) representation at the show.  Especially when you figure that the 90 Brighton people were all registered as coming from CA, and then I’m guessing a lot of CA attendees can drive anyways.  The show does seem to attract the eastern part of the country and not just the west.  The percentage of Asian suppliers is not surprising, though the data shows badge counts and not booth counts.  Clearly, Asian suppliers are trying to sell more fasteners to domestic distributors and there is nothing surprising about that.

One small point I’ll make is in regards to the amount of time the show is open.  Bob pointed out to me that if you add up the hours the show is open and multiply that number by minutes in an hour (60) you get 660 show minutes.  There were over 800 booths sold this year, understanding that several exhibitors had more than one booth.  But, even if you were to cut the number of booths by half, you could not spend more than 2 minutes per booth and get to every booth.  It is nearly impossible to see everything there is to see at the show, especially when a lot of people skip the show on Friday.  Most exhibitors cringe when someone mentions staying open longer because attendance on the second day is so greatly reduced.  But I sincerely do not think you can get all the meetings and personal visits done in the allotted time.  There are so many people attending, it is hard to get quality time with more than a dozen or two dozen people and that is probably why some companies bring so many people to work the show.

Anyways, I’m soon off to STAFDA and will try to report some observations from that show.  Vegas was again a very good show but I planned ahead and set up some meetings that made it a good show.  It is always the case, it is how you prepare for and work the show that makes it a good or bad show.

I had a conversation today with Don Shan of Solution Industries today.  It made me feel kind of good because he is as much of a tortured mess as I am.  We were discussing our schedules since we have returned from the Vegas Show and we both admitted that our minds have automatically gone from the Vegas Show right on to putting things in motion for 2015.  Never mind the holidays and all the fun and family events that will take place.   My mind wants to skip right over those.  I am looking at the next two months as the time I use to make sure I enter 2015 with momentum so that I do not just wake up on January 1 with the feeling of it all starting all over again.   My mind is racing with things I want to do before the end of the year.  People I want to visit in the next two months.   I need momentum.  I need projects already started.  I need to have some answers in place when I’m asked, “so, what are your plans for this year”?   BOOM!, here they are!!

I will take time to enjoy the holidays, I’m sure.  I will attend a few parties and see some good people.  But I sleep better when I have that momentum of having started things up when I could probably get away with slacking off a bit, because it will, in fact,  be the holidays.  Again, I’m a tortured mess.   So is Don.  I imagine there are some more of you out there too.  If you are, then let’s get together for breakfast or lunch and at least we will feel like we are doing something productive.

Finally got an opportunity to sit in on one of the Fastener Training Institute’s webinars on October 31.  It was the Structural Bolting Seminar conducted by Carmen Vertullo.   I have had the pleasure of attending other classes conducted by Carmen and this webinar was equally enjoyable.  Carmen has a way of discussing technically sophisticated fastener information in a down to earth way that makes you feel like you are learning from a neighborhood buddy instead of a college professor.  And to me, that is an excellent thing.

The webinar covered a lot of different areas from the very simple to more sophisticated topics.  Carmen used the IFI catalog (which you can see and follow on your computer screen) to cover ASTM specs, and also discussed things like “K Factor” and torque vs. tension as an indicator or measurement.  He had live camera shots that he could share and did so when demonstrating how to use a Wilson Skidmore Bolt Tension Calibrator.  But what I really enjoyed was the inclusion of useful information for people who SELL structural bolts, not just technical information for people who measure or specify them.  One slide had the heading, “What makes a good supplier?” and it covered many of the questions that can come up when a distributor is selling structural bolts to an end user.  There was even some information on the best way to handle  structural bolts on a worksite.

I’m not going to write an entire review of the webinar.  Rather, I would like to tell you that it was a well run, hour and 15 minute class with questions afterwards.  Questions could be submitted right there on the webinar site as Carmen was teaching.  You just type in the question and send it in and then after the presentation Carmen responded to the questions that came in.

I’m not completely sure if the FTI offers a subscription to the webinar series or if they are each independent, stand alone sessions.  If I was a distributor with even a small number of younger employees, I would try to make room in your schedule to have these young people sit in on these monthly webinars.  I truly think the cost and time commitment would be well worth the investment.