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After several years of encouraging people to gather at the Bourbon Room, it has occurred to me that the place is so loud and so cramped that it really is a tough place to actually meet up with people to talk. Reminds me of being at a Nazareth concert in my teens when one of my friends leaned over to me and exclaimed, “these guys sound like a headache”.  But hey, what teenage boy didn’t want to go to a place where the whole crowd yelled in unison, “now your messing with a…SOB”.  We were so cool.

The Bourbon Room is kind of a fun place, but it does have that headache quality to it.  I’ve talked to a number of people about trying to persuade our loyal Bourbon Room gang to move to another venue.  If anyone has a good idea on where we could go, I’d love to hear it.  But, I also just heard that the Vegas Show will only be at the Sands Convention Center for one year, in 2016.  After that, the show is moving to the Las Vegas Convention Center.  I’ll be curious to see which will be the “host hotels” once the show moves down the strip.  Which also makes me wonder where the central gathering place will be for after show networking.  So, maybe one more swing at the Bourbon Room will be in order just to say farewell.  But, I think I could be talked out of it.

The 2015 Vegas Show was, once again, great.  Good attendance, lots of networking.  Not a lot of bombshells, no real big announcements.  But, a good show overall.

One quick thought.  As the show was finishing up on Thursday, I realized how many people I would still have liked to have visited.  I even texted a few people letting them know I had stopped by their booths but had missed them.  It’s hard to even fit in a lunch because the show is so busy.

As with a lot of shows, the second day is a lot slower than the first.  And, I heard from several exhibitors that Friday was much slower than Thursday.  I think Thursday can be a pretty rough night for a lot of people.  Too much food, drink, gambling and staying out late.  If you don’t have booth duty the next day, I imagine a lot of people sleep in or skip the show all together.

The dilemma is that there are so many people to see and so many meetings one would like to have that it is hard to jam it all in.  And Friday (the second show day) is just tough because so many people check out.

So, it seems to me that the day before the show is the day where you could do more networking.  The day before the show, people still are energetic, not all hungover and still have interest in conducting business.  As I mentioned in my last post, the Young Fastener Professionals held a networking event that really worked out well.  And, even though there was a bar in the room, all participants were still lucid and active as they had not attended the show yet, nor hung out at the hospitality suites and Bourbon Room yet.  I think there is a good opportunity to do more networking the day before the show starts during the day before the opening cocktail hour.  And, that show sponsored hour is just too short of a time to meet up with as many people as are at the show.  There should be a two hour networking event, maybe from 3-5 p.m. where people who want to gather to talk business could gather to talk business.  Cause, let’s face it, we lose a lot of people by Friday.

I attended the Speed Networking event hosted by the Young Fastener Professionals at the Vegas show on Wednesday. I think they have potentially hit on an event that could add some real value to the annual Vegas trip we all make. It really was not very complicated. Participants met at tables in groups of three people and then, after six minutes, people would rotate to new tables and it would be a fresh new set of three people. Melissa Patel of Field Fastener coordinated the traffic flow and did a terrific job for the YFP’s first attempt.  The rotation would be complicated to explain here, but at the event it was easy to understand and flowed well. Was it perfect?  No, of course not.  But that was mostly due to a few individuals forgetting if they were to move to a higher or lower numbered table. But, it was no big deal. Once in a while a table of three turned into a table of four, but nothing got broke and no fistfights broke out and everybody managed to still network.

Right before the event I heard someone had commented that they did not think the YFP would get all the people who signed up to actually attend because the YFP made the event free.  They were correct, not all 100 who signed up attended.  I can’t tell you how many actually showed up but it was absolutely enough to make for a really good event.  Maybe not 100 but I’d guess 70-80 people  maybe more.

The networking event  was a fresh, innovative idea done at the Vegas Show where very few new, fresh ideas are presented from year to year.  Candidly speaking, somebody should have done this event years ago and I give credit to the YFP for taking it on.  There was a wide range of ages at the event, which was really great.  Inside the Vegas show, its not easy for a younger person to go introduce themselves to owners and national sales managers  from a variety of companies, unless of course they already have some kind of existing business relationship.  I was at a table where a supplier met an existing customer face to face for the first time.  It went kind of like, “hey, I know your name, you’re one of our good customers.  I was hoping to meet you tomorrow”.  I saw people at the show run into people they met the previous day at the YFP event and acknowledge that they met at the event.  I ran into several of my new acquaintances at the show and even at the Bourbon Room Thursday night.  And while the Bourbon Room has its merits for gathering a large group of fastener people in one place, it’s not such a great place to hold a conversation or, for that matter, to hear yourself think.  No problem talking at the YFP event

The YFP event was productive, professionally done and could really be a great event at future shows.  And, knowing the board members Ryan Kertis, Bryan Wheeler, Aaron Shushan and Melissa Patel, I can pretty much guarantee you they are already talking about how to make it better next year.  For those who signed up but did not show, you missed a good event.  I hope this event gets bigger.  This was not a millennial event, it was a really good networking event that just happened to be put on by millennials.  So, don’t let the young people scare you and make sure to jump in on this event next time they do it.

Got in a couple days ago. Ready for the Big Show.  When ya getting here?

Don’t forget to visit the Buckeye Fastener booth at the Vegas Show for a cool, refreshing Old Rusty Bolt Beer!!  And tell them, Larry Kelly sent ya!

In my last post I asked about what was the “buzz” leading up to the Vegas Show.  I think I just read it in a press release on Industrial Distribution.  Fastenal, the company that has largely grown by opening up new stores, has purchased a multi-branch distributor  with locations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.  Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Yes, Fastenal has purchased some manufacturers in the past few years with acquisitions of both Holokrom and Cardinal.  But I think this is the first time they have purchased an existing distributor.

This trend could shake up a lot of markets because I do think there are some pretty deep pockets here.  If they were to start buying up other distributors, this could certainly change the fastener landscape.

So, now we know where at least SOME of the buzz is coming from.

In the world of Twitter, if you type in #NIFSME you will pull up comments made by people in reference to the upcoming National Industrial Fastener Show and Mill Supply Expo.  Truth be told, you could also search by #NIFSMSE (adding an “S” for Supply) and find some posts.  Last but not least, search @fastenershow and you will get any Twitter messages sent out from the show sponsors themselves.  Among the comments you will get notes like “come visit us at booth ######” and a few comments about hanging out at the Bourbon Room on Thursday night.  There might be a couple posts about speakers that are being sponsored by individual industry associations.

What you will not find there is the answer to the question that was posed to me yesterday by one of my customers — “What’s the big buzz you are hearing this year about the Vegas Show?  What news is everybody talking about?”  This question was asked of me by the Purchasing Manger of a large, eight branch distributor who brings 8 or 9 people to the Vegas show.  People want to know, what’s the buzz?

Honestly, I have not heard much.  I think it will be interesting to see what people say about Lindstrom as the forge into new waters.  No big acquisition news, at least on the supplier side.  Then again, there is still a week until the show.  I hear a few rumblings on the distribution side.

Me, I’ll admit I’m kind of a curious person (i.e., nosey).  I like to listen what’s being talked about on the street.  But I get asked by a lot of different people just about every week.  Especially with @fastenershow right on the horizon. Guess we can talk about what we see the fastener market doing for the rest of 2015 as that seems to be the second question I get asked when I visit somebody.