2010 Ifolg Fall Show Wrap-Up

[Angster]

Hi all. I know there are several topics here for the IFoLG show that just happened. As the show chair, I'm interested in feedback from all of you that managed to attend. What did we do right, what did we do wrong and did we miss anything?

I'd like to gather as much feedback as possible so if we haven't regained our sanity and decide to host another show, we'll be better prepared. I'm sure the guilds getting ready to host the next couple of shows could benefit from this information as well. Only by getting your feedback will we be able to move forward with the shows.

Personally, I'm bushed! Finally starting to think I may actually have caught back up on my sleep... The show had some minor hitches that we seemed to have corrected in a timely manner, but as I seemed to be constantly wandering around, I imagine there's a couple of things that I've missed.

Let us know what you thought! And thanks!!!

[budd4766]

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the show, though I've heard LOTS of great comments from those who were there.

As I had an item in the competition, the only thing I would suggest is some sort of posting, be it here, or on your website, showing what/who won ribbons. If you did pics, that might be a lot of space to load on a site, but at least an "official" listing would help. I know a few people posted pics taken as they wandered around, but didn't get all of the winners.

And...pics would show what beat us how the competition stacked up..

Plus, the stuff is just plain cool to look at..

Just a thought.

[Angster]

I agree with all you say... This stuff is so very cool to look at. But, to answer your questions...

IFoLG tracking committee is the official group that keeps track of all of the competition winners. They should have a listing of the results of the show on their website, eventually. I believe they handed out CDs of the results at the Board of Governors meeting to all of the guilds there. I'll check to make sure. As this is something regulated by IFoLG, I feel it is in their pervue to get the information out.

Side note (and some good news)... IFoLG has gotten some good folk to assume control of their website. SO, sometime soon, the IFoLG site will start to have some of the webby goodness that is LeatherWorker.net.

Pictures... We took pictures of all of the award winners of the show, and we'll be sending out CDs in the next week or two to all of the guilds (whether they were represented at the show or not). I'm hoping to talk with the folk running the next couple of shows to see if there's a way we can easily and quickly take pictures of all of the competition entries. Have some ideas, just need to see if we can get them to work.

Since our guild will not be renewing our domain name for the 2010 show, I'll try to find somewhere else we can host the pictures of the award winners. What better way to inspire current leatherworkers to try something new, or interest new leatherworkers to try their hand at our craft.

[KatieG]

Hi Ben I hope the show went well, sorry I missed it!

[Angster]

Hi Ben I hope the show went well, sorry I missed it!

We all missed you there. Loved the jar, it was awesome!

[CitizenKate]

Okay, but you asked for feedback... I used to work for a non-profit org whose main job was to plan an event on a similar scale to this one every year. It was a full-time job for a staff of 10 people, so I can tell you it is no small task to put together an event this big on a volunteer basis. I would say the show went very well, at least as well any events I've attended that were run by very experienced event teams.

Registration was the easiest it's ever been (I really appreciated being able to do that online this year). Check-in went smoothly, all the paperwork was in order - no surprises, big plus - and there were enough people who knew what they were supposed to be doing to get everyone through the process in a timely manner. Your staff was showing some great teamwork. All the activities (the tannery tour, the classes, the banquet, the meeting, etc.) were well-planned and went smoothly and on schedule.

The location was great - very easy to get to from the interstate (not to mention the airport - we had a great view of the runway from our room and enjoyed watching planes taking off and landing), and several different places to eat within walking distance. I was a little disappointed that internet access wasn't included in the room fee, and I am not willing to pay $13/day for it when I pay $1.30/day for it at home, and every other hotel I've stayed at in the last two years has included it with the room. Other than that, the accommodations were great.

I know this was brought up in the delegates' meeting, but I also want to emphatically second the comment in hopes that people planning these events in the future will "hear": the exhibit rooms (and probably the vendor area, too) really need to have plenty of light. It was fairly difficult to see the work in some areas of those rooms. I would have had difficulty judging some of the work, and really couldn't photograph it at all without using my flash, which in many cases ruins the shot. Maybe it's no big deal that there wasn't enough light to take good photos of the work. I know your staff took properly lit photographs of all the winning entries, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them. (We can post them in the gallery when they come available, by the way.) I think having enough light to support the judging process is a much more important reason to make this a priority, but also keep in mind that your biggest promoters for future shows are the people who take and share photographs of what they see at the shows (not just the work, but also the people, activities, etc.), and there was also a lot of work shown there that would not be included on the CD.

That being said, all-in-all it was a very well-run show. I know you've no doubt got your own "notes to self" to pass along to future show planners that you collected from everything that went on behind the scenes, but the bottom line is, we all had a fantastic time fellowshipping with our fellow leatherworkers, we learned a lot, and came back home with our pockets full of business cards, a bunch of new tools in our bags, and our brains exploding with new ideas. Mission accomplished. Thank you very much for the great work you and your staff put into making this show a success.

Kate

[Johanna]

Please send me a copy of that cd, Ben, and LW will host the pics. Wade & I took pics and not many came out well (that lighting thing!) but I heard you did the photography with a real lightbox. LW is happy to host anything leather-related. (Kate and I have LW on a dedicated server, so if you need webspace for anything, let us know.) The online registration was convenient, easy and well done, and I hope more guilds take you up on the genorous offer for the template for future shows.

I've been to about a dozen IFoLG shows and this was one of the better organized and planned ones. Any little glitches were quickly handled (like David Theobald's name being inadvertently left off of Lonestar's list) and all the Gateway Guild members were kind and helpful when flagged down and asked questions. Letting the partition stay open between the dealer room and the guild display room was smart- it helped move traffic to both rooms. I liked the way your guild also mentioned some of the other things to do while in historic St Louis. We didn't do the arch, but we spent a whole morning at Cahokia exploring the museum and mounds. Thank you for arranging an excellent meal (most of the time banquet food is awful, but I went back for more ribs just because they were so tasty!) and keeping the award ceremony to a reasonable length.

You and your team did a great job, and I'm glad you agreed to be on the new communications committee for the Federation. (Actually we just drafted him- I don't recall Ben getting a choice!)

Gold star to you and Ali & the team.

Johanna

[Angster]

First, glad to be on board with the communications committee. Second, I'll make sure to get you a CD to post the pictures on the site.

As far as the lighting goes... Yeah, you're right. It wasn't something that we thought about when viewing the facilities. However, I think that any event that uses banquet halls will probably have poor lighting (they like the ambiance, I guess). Even the class rooms weren't really bright enough. I'm not sure what can easily be done to make sure there's enough light in the different spaces, other than providing our own additional lighting. Maybe for competition have some sort of track lighting that could attach to the top of the wall sections for hanging the pictures. For the tables, I'm not sure other than having as many lamps as possible to illuminate the tables. Definitely something that needs to be addressed.

Let's keep sharing issues, problems, solutions, ideas. Hopefully the future shows will just keep getting better.

[Randy Cornelius]

I thought you had a real good show, I would agree with everything that has been said. There where a lot of good things about the show, the on line entry was great, the registation etc. Everything seem well planned. I am sure there were some things that went on behind the scenes that we all did not see but it did not effect the show. The only 2 negitive things were the charges for the internet and the cost to park. Never heard of a hotel charging 10.00 a day to park, but I guess those things were out of your control. Gives us at the iilg things to think about for next year. I just hope next years show is as good as yours was. Thanks again for a great time.

Randy

[Art]

I did not attend the show. I usually attend the IFoLG show and the Kimmel Boot and Saddlemakers show. But that two week hiatus between the shows makes that impossible. You need to coordinate the show dates better. I can't imagine the vendors having to wander around for three weeks with motels and all just to make these shows. There is no way I can go to next years shows and travel back to the east coast between them.

Art

Hi all. I know there are several topics here for the IFoLG show that just happened. As the show chair, I'm interested in feedback from all of you that managed to attend. What did we do right, what did we do wrong and did we miss anything?

I'd like to gather as much feedback as possible so if we haven't regained our sanity and decide to host another show, we'll be better prepared. I'm sure the guilds getting ready to host the next couple of shows could benefit from this information as well. Only by getting your feedback will we be able to move forward with the shows.

Personally, I'm bushed! Finally starting to think I may actually have caught back up on my sleep... The show had some minor hitches that we seemed to have corrected in a timely manner, but as I seemed to be constantly wandering around, I imagine there's a couple of things that I've missed.

Let us know what you thought! And thanks!!!

[KatieG]

We all missed you there. Loved the jar, it was awesome!

The pictures I've seen so far from the show look great, seems like it pulled together well.

I miss the guild... I did send a letter to the guild with the jar. Glad you guys liked it! I'm curious as to what happened to it tho lol.

And grats on the communication position!

[Leerwerker]

I really enjoyed the show - thanks for a friendly atmosphere!

The lighting aspect is an absolute, not just for people who want to take photographs to go and show all the beautiful in the rest of the world, but also for the people to be able to SEE the work. (The average age of attendees indicate eyesight that works better in bright light....).

The light did also present a problem at the judging - at one point judges could not even see if a piece had braiding or stamping as a decorative border! (...until a flashlight was produced ....)