Editing The Pen Addict 374/transcript (section)

== San Francisco Pen Show ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm. So, let's now, because last time we all spoke on the show, we'd only been at the San Francisco pen show for a handful of hours, really. It was only one day, which is very different to normal for us. We usually record the pen show kind of at the end of the second day, which by and large, that's a lot of the pen show feels over by that point, right? Because Sunday tends to be a quieter day as it was in San Francisco as well. So, I kind of wanted to get everybody's thoughts about this San Francisco pen show, not just this year, but like maybe the San Francisco experience in general, right? Like what it's like to be at that show. So, Anna, how was your show overall? What were your big takeaways from the San Francisco pen show?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The show was really consistent to previous years. Probably the biggest difference was we set up on Friday morning instead of on Thursday night, which is how we normally do it, partially because Bob and Myke got in late. Matt from the pen habit got in late. And then I went downtown to see you and the whole relay team do their show. Sorry, my voice is still a little rocky. And so, as a result, the way that they had set up Friday morning to start, basically they let vendors in only an hour, I think, before they let three-day pass holders in. So, we ended up basically unpacking essentially the same time people were shopping. So, we kind of spent the entire day on Friday feeling a little bit behind and like spent all day feeling like we were trying to catch up, which was a little stressful. I can't entirely blame the vendors for that. I think some people were able to set up on Thursday and had we timed things differently, we probably could have had at least some of the, some, something set up. But overall, one of the things I found really interesting was that I did have a chance to talk to Sid, one of the organizers, earlier in the day and found out that they had set up the show where each of the organizers was responsible for one particular part of the show. So, like Sid was responsible for like food and beverages. I think Todd handled all the like PA and like picking the band and some other like had very specific tasks. I think Ricky was handling a lot of the vendors. I think Todd probably helped with that too. And then this year was the first year, Franz was responsible for all the classes and workshops. So, by giving everybody very specific tasks, they could really focus and make sure that those things were handled. And you could really tell. Like everything was super organized and when anyone had any problems with any one part, you knew who you needed to talk to and you knew what needed to be, you know, like how to get those things taken care of. So, I mean, San Francisco really sets the bar for how pen shows should be organized.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Especially because like it's not only just well organized, it's well organized and they do more, right? So, like there is more available to attendees at this show than there is a lot of other shows. So, it's like, you know, you could do less and run it better, but they do more and run it better, which is that's the double here, right? Like that's a double whammy right there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, totally. And then you have other people from their pen, the San Francisco pen posse who volunteer at the front desk to people like Kimberly who on her own volition decides she's going to start her own pen show Uber and she picks people up at the airport. And she picked many of us up at the airport and gave people's rides to the airport. I mean, like just really, really awesome stuff like that.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Yeah. You got to go see the pen show Uber hashtag on Instagram was awesome. Like everyone, every, all the riders got their picture. It was great.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, yeah. Some of us were a little worse for the wear that morning.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Probably not the best timing, but yeah, it was fun.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But it was, it was so awesome and it was so kind of her to do it. And, you know, so it's like, again, even the people in the community in San Francisco step up. Kimberly and several other people who helped her also arranged to bring sandwiches on Friday on Saturday and Sunday for people, for vendors who were working in the show. So again, found a way to make sure that people got lunches that didn't necessarily have to order from the, you know, $20 for a sandwich from the hotel kind of thing. So, I mean, just lots of different things that really helped make that show amazing. And then people like Alexander who put together the pen show map.

'''Myke Hurley:''' How cool was that?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The interactive pen show map that went up pretty much, I think, late Thursday night or first thing Friday morning. So a lot of people were able to find that and use the interactive map to find vendors and where they were located on the show floor. Amazing things. And the fact that he was able to do it and the show gave him access to that information so that he could put it together. And I mean, it was just, it was freaking phenomenal. So those were my big takeaways just about the show itself. Personally, we had a really good show. We sold out of the coloring and the coloring on Saturday, by Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Amazing. I mean, like we had no coloring. Like we were running around asking other people if they had any left. So just stuff like that. And then there were other like super awesome moments, like Yukio Nagahara spent time with both Audrey from Franklin Kristoff and with Ralph. And there are photos on Instagram that people capture these moments.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Just for context, could you tell, in case listeners don't know, explain who Yukio Nagahara is?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yukio Nagahara is the, he was the nib, he is the nib grinder. And maybe Brad, you can clarify for me, was for Sailor. And he does all of those amazing like specialty nibs for Sailor that no one else really knows how to do. But I mean, he is so skilled and is like literally zen-like when he's grinding a nib. I mean, like just to watch him work is pretty spectacular. And the fact that he sat and spent time with both with Audrey and with Ralph. And I know that both of them had really great experiences talking with him through the interpreter that just gave them, like really empowered both of them to continue to do what they're doing as, you know, new nib grinders in our community. I just think it's so amazing.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Yeah. That made me smile so big when I saw that he was sitting with them and spending time with them. I was like, yeah, this is great.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, one other thing I forgot. A woman came up to the well-pointed desk table and she showed her coloring that she'd been using and she had been painting teeny tiny little plants on the coloring. They are amazing. Please, please, please include the link for them. She's actually a video game artist. And so she was like working up like sketches for like artwork that might go in this game. And so she was just doing her like sketches and stuff in the coloring. And there are these like absolutely amazing teeny tiny illustrations. And she showed it to Bob and he was so blown away. He started to cry. And she's like, she's like, oh my gosh, don't cry. Please. Like I didn't, you're gonna make me cry. And then it's like, why are you guys all crying? And then I saw them and I was just like totally blown away. Like I didn't even know what to say. I was so speechless. They were so stunning. And it just sort of showed that people are starting to do these creative and amazing things with this little book that we made. So those were my moments.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Really stunning. Yeah. I'll put the link in the show notes. They're very beautiful.

'''Anna Reinhart:''' Artwork is amazing. Yeah. It's wonderful. Yeah. So I, I mean, I echo most of everything that Ana says there, the show promoters and the volunteers are amazing. You know, with our setup for the podcast, we dealt with Todd mostly. And you could tell like I never had to deal with Ricky or Sid, like that was Todd's realm. So whenever I needed something about the room, it was Todd that handled it. And if I ever needed Todd or had to find Todd, Todd was there and he showed up. So it was like, they're just super on top of things. The way the entire event runs and the volunteers are amazing. They have a huge group shout out to the San Francisco pen posse for all of their help all weekend. Um, it was a packed house Friday and Saturday, pretty much all day long. Both of those days, it got really hot on Saturday. It was so full, um, which is okay. Like I, I'd rather be just completely packed like that all the time. And, you know, the ballrooms keep expanding every year. I guess it's been two years since I've been, there's more tables in the foyer, more tables in the outside space. Uh, they have one room out, uh, out off the foyer to use. And then the main ballroom is just wall to wall vendor tables. And, you know, they were all taken. Sometimes you'll see pen shows where the room might be completely set up and then it might be, you know, handfuls of tables, you know, where vendors didn't show up or just didn't get sold or whatever. And not here, they use pretty much every square inch of available space. And it just kept rolling through with the, with the people. I do agree with Ana about the setup. It would been nice to have a little bit of buffer, even though I didn't get there until about seven 30 or eight in the morning, um, with the passes weekend passes, getting there, allowing access at 8.00 AM as well, just made it a little bit tougher. Um, it was easier for me obviously than Ana and setting up the whole van S table. Um, so, you know, if that could be pushed back to like 10 o'clock and then public at like one o'clock, something like that, I don't know, maybe a little bit worth it or ensure that we can definitely set up Thursday night. Um, which I couldn't either for the same reasons. I love the hotel. Um, the space is great. It's expensive for food and beverage. Of course, not only is it hotel prices, it's Silicon Valley prices. So it's mega expensive, but I will say at least it's good. Um, it's good food. I had good food, good drinks the whole times. I, it bugged me that the market shut down, you know, like the little, uh, kind of coffee and, and deli cooler space, um, that most, that most hotels have this one shut down at like three o'clock ish every day, some two, three o'clock. So I would like that to be open till at least I finished the show. I was desperate for like, you know, a diet Coke or a water or something like that after hours. And I'd, so I'd just, I'd leave the show, walk over to the market and it's closed. And I felt that was a little bit weird because there were no other options except the bar or the restaurant. So I would like to see that open later. Um, the bar did stay open late though. We had, uh, we had no problems in the bar in the evenings. Um, they stayed up until at least midnight. I'm pretty sure. And I love seeing all the Asian vendors, you know, I've been able to make friends with so many of them over the years that make the trip, you know, Bungu box, Stilo art, a boy, uh, on and on and on. And there were new ones there this year. And like, that's just right up my alley. And I just didn't get enough time with any of them or anybody this weekend. Um, really until Sunday, I was able to walk around a little bit and, uh, and talk and greet everybody. But, uh, some people I didn't even see for the first time until Sunday, just cause we were so busy, which is great. I mean, you know, if the show's set up that well, the hotel's nice and the crowds are big, you know, there's not much I'm ever going to be able to complain about. So it was just a really great

'''Myke Hurley:''' all around show. I would say that for me, uh, it felt a lot more like of all the pen shows that I've been to, it felt more like the DC show than anything else. It was big. There were lots of people. It felt represented by all walks of the pen community, right? From, uh, you know, people selling vintage pens to artisanal makers, to some weird and wonderful things, to big brands, you know, like nibs.com were there. I've never seen, I don't think I've ever seen them at a show before. Um, and they had some wild stuff. Uh, I would say from a setup perspective, natural light is a wonderful thing. Cannot be, uh, underestimated. So many, uh, pen shows are in rooms that don't have windows. And this one having windows was very nice. Um, plus the weather was good in San Francisco, which helped a lot. I met way more first timers than any other show that I've been to. Like people that were, this was their first ever pen show. That was really amazing. There were also a lot of people that were like talking about coming to the pen show for the first time because they heard last week, the episode two weeks ago, which was super amazing. Uh, I met a lot of new people and I got all the pen shows that I've been to. There's like an overlap of, of people that I've seen at other shows, right? Like people that will travel for shows or it's like, uh, it's possible for them to be able to make multiple shows because of like location. But this show, I met more new people than I've ever met before. Um, I was exhausted to two live shows and the pen show with a broken spine. Bad for me. That was a bad set up for me. Um, so I apologize, Brad, I wasn't very helpful for you. Uh, you were more than helpful, more than helpful, but, uh, that I'm very, I was very tired after that. It's made me realize that if I'm ever going to do multiple live shows in multiple days again, um, I need to make sure that I don't have anything else around it. Um, I think overall as well, the hotel was excellent. It's the best hotel that, uh, I've been at a pen show for the food was great. Like I thought it was really great. It wasn't cheap, but it was great. If it's going to be expensive, then I wanted it to be good. And it was, and the location was brilliant too. Like it was just a few minutes, like in a lift to San Carlos, which is this really nice town. We went for dinner there a couple of times, had a ton of great options. So I would definitely happily go back to San Francisco. Um, so, you know, like no, no disrespect to any of the other shows that we've been to, but if we were going to return to one sooner rather than later that we've been to before, I would, I would return there. I think like I'm way more keen to go back to San Francisco than to

'''Anna Reinhart:''' go to DC. So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, here, here to the San Francisco pen show. Yep. So a lot on last