San Jose

[robo hippy]

I had plans to be a vendor in San Jose, but had to cancel out. To all I invited to come by and talk to me, I apoligise. I got the hand book from the event center on May 22. Among the 'surprises' was finding out that having the electricity I needed for a 220 volt lathe, and my grinders, put the price of the booth above what I could afford or justify for the event. I will still be there, and hope to see many of you.
robo hippy

 

[Steve Worcester]

I had plans to be a vendor in San Jose, but had to cancel out. To all I invited to come by and talk to me, I apoligise. I got the hand book from the event center on May 22. Among the 'surprises' was finding out that having the electricity I needed for a 220 volt lathe, and my grinders, put the price of the booth above what I could afford or justify for the event. I will still be there, and hope to see many of you.
robo hippy

Yep, operating with 220V power is real expensive (>$600 for 20AMP). Operating machinery also requires insurance.

Think about if you can do it with a static display, I know that Don Geiger has done pretty well selling grinder upgrades without powering on a grinder.

 

[hockenbery]

Think about if you can do it with a static display, I know that Don Geiger has done pretty well selling grinder upgrades without powering on a grinder.

I don't think Don's wooden grinder has a plug but is sure is pretty.

Al

 

[Choice Woods]

Didn't go either

I didn't go this year for a few reasons. One was they were going to charge me 55 cents per pound to unload the truck....lets see 55 cents times 10000 pounds??? Thats more than I can count on my fingers and toes.

 

[Rob Wallace]

Convenient, but Costly......

I can tell you that a lot of the extra cost for this symposium came from a multitude of rules and requirements in California. There were so many restrictions of what AAW staff could and could not do that it drove-up the cost of putting-on this symposium significantly. The contract for this one was signed a few years ago, and ultimately the San Jose Symposium came out to be very costly - I hope the AAW at least broke even and it didn't cost the organization too much money to be at this venue. Many vendors were perturbed at the various 'union' and other hidden costs incurred for unloading, power and wiring charges, and set-up in the vendor area. The AAW's volunteer AV people could not touch any of the set-ups of the demo room projectors, or any cable that the AAW did not own; only union 'technicians' could plug-in or unplug simple VGA cables, or adjust the projectors. No videos of ANYTHING going on at the Symposium could be taken, which would violate union rules - including amateur/personal videos taken of demos or anything else - nothing! I'm not overly enamored of having another symposium in California under such idiotic rules and restrictions.
Although it was a convenient location (meeting rooms all in one cluster on same floor, close proximity to the Instant Gallery and Vendor Area halls, etc., this still was a pretty pricey location.
As always, I enjoyed seeing and meeting with woodturning friends old and new, seeing and learning at the demonstrations I could attend, buying some new toys.....errr.... tools, and participating in the auction. I also enjoyed meeting 'robo hippy', Charlie Belden, and several others I've only known from Internet forums. A few people even came up to me after the 'Gizmos and Gadgets' session on Friday and introduced themselves. It's just unfortunate that the cost of the venue was prohibitive for many people, even those within reasonable traveling distance.

See you in Tampa next year!

Rob

 

[hockenbery]

Rob,
It was good to see you and get a tutorial on Snow plants!

A good summary on San Jose. Even with restructuring the contract in San Jose was never in the AAWs favor.
The AAW now has CCC back as our conference coordinators. These folks did Portland, Richmond, Albuquerque, and set up Hartford.and St Paul.
......
CCC has set up the contacts with Tampa and Phoenix.
Tampa will be less expensive than San Jose all around.

Great job on the auction!

Al

 

[Mark Wollschlager]

The symposium was really nice.
It was too bad to hear about the problems with the facility ( rules/fees and such).
The AAW side of things seems to go really well, due to the hard work of the many volunteers.
I got the impression that the San Jose convention center is oriented more towards the many tech companies in the neighborhood ( Adobe, Oracle, etc ).
They probably have no trouble throwing money at a marketing show there and the convention center expects that sort of customer.
Mark

 

[JimRomick]

Unions

I have been a member of one union or another for most of my working life. Unions serve their members by providing work rules, health care, pensions, etc., under collective bargaining agreements. To fault the unions for the excessive costs for the Symposium is "crying foul" after the fact. The AAW should have investigated and undetstood the costs, regulations, restrictions, etc., before considering booking the event. An oversight I am sure they will have learned from.

Reguarding the banquet on Saturday night. I sat at a table where ALL of the diners had to send their meals back because the chicken was raw. I only hope that those who may have eaten what I couldn't did not get sick as a result.

 

[robo hippy]

Part of the problem was the idiotic rule restrictions and insane overcharging for 'services' that came with the event. The other part of that problem was that as vendors, we got the final notice of these rules and expenses barely 2 weeks before the show. I was told that it was too late for me to get any kind of refund from my booth fees. I have done Art and Craft shows in California before, and not had this type of headaches.

robo hippy

 

[MichaelMouse]

Part of the problem was the idiotic rule restrictions and insane overcharging for 'services' that came with the event.

Sort of like the university here that demands all catering, even for other university departments, be done by their chow hall people. Can't host a conference and serve a dozen bagels and coffee in a morning meeting without paying $6 a head. Don't even want to THINK what they charge for a box lunch. Local establishments would charge about 1/3 for better quality.

Even if you have a master, you have to hire a custodian at overtime to unlock doors for events and make sure the lights are out at the end ... goes on and on.

Did I mention that they also won't allow university organizations to use the (gratis, if catered) conference facilities at the Ramada?

 

[Choice Woods]

The thing about all the added fees is this. This is not the first time that this has happened. Inventing the wheel every time is ludicrous. That is why the AAW hires a coordinator. They are suppose to be educated in these things and aware of them in the beginning, because that is what they do for a LIVING.

I have dealt with many symposiums coordinators and with the exception of one group that did the symposium way back, they all need to walk in the vendors shoes. Matter of fact the AAW needs to walk in a vendors shoes to understand whats going on.

I do understand that sometimes they have no control over events at the last minute. But in the past when we have had to deal with the unions at these types of vines you HAVE to have your "I's" dotted and "T's" crossed and you must do it well in advance and in writing.

Come on 55 cents a pound to unload a truck? Give me a break. It would of cost me over $2000.00 to unload and probably the same to load.

 

[hockenbery]

I have been a member of one union or another for most of my working life. Unions serve their members by providing work rules, health care, pensions, etc., under collective bargaining agreements. To fault the unions for the excessive costs for the Symposium is "crying foul" after the fact. The AAW should have investigated and undetstood the costs, regulations, restrictions, etc., before considering booking the event. An oversight I am sure they will have learned from.

Reguarding the banquet on Saturday night. I sat at a table where ALL of the diners had to send their meals back because the chicken was raw. I only hope that those who may have eaten what I couldn't did not get sick as a result.

Jim,
Paying a fair price for services needed is fine. I have no problem with Unions. Generally when you are out front on the negotiations the costs can be controlled and needed union workers engaged effectively.

You are spot on regarding prior investigation. The bad contract was understood in 2010 and some changes were made.

Our food was cooked a bit too much so on average they got it right 🙂

Al