The New England Woodworking Show
#11
Just a quick review of the changes for 2019. 

In prior years you could print off a $2 off admission coupon from their website or use the mailer they sent out for the $2 off. 
This year to save $2 off the door price of $14, you had to pay on line and print out your admission ticket. Parking is still $ 5


Prior years had Peach Tree taking up about 25% of the building.
This year no peach tree.  A larger area was set aside for the vendor selling overstock and Chinese tools.


In prior years the seminars were primarily at the left end of the rectangular building with carter and another on the right end.
This arrangement helped to isolate the seminars from the vendors.


This year carter was still on the right end but the other seminars were lined up one next to the other along the long back wall.  
There seemed to be fewer seats set up for each seminar area with this layout, and a lot more people standing in the aisle behind the seats.
Every seminar had vendors within 15' of the seating area.

Each seminar had small speakers on each side of the seating area pointed in towards the seats. 
When standing in the aisle, hearing was marginaly okay at times.  
Other times you had a tablesaw or other power equipment running 15' from where you were standing trying to listen to the seminar, that totally drowned out the seminar. 

The "Showcase" and totally turning show in Saratoga NY has a better layout that uses individual closed door conference rooms for each seminar.
My .02
Karl




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#12
Thanks for the review. The seminar arrangement did not sound too good.

Yrs ago I went to one that had Paul Sellers. The costs ( admission, parking, food, gas (almost two hrs)) added up as compared to free shipping these days. There are fewer new vendors at each show.

Simon
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#13
The door and parking fees are high enough that we rarely go any longer. I don’t think the smaller crowds are indicative of fewer woodworkers, but the high price of admission compared to the value.
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#14
I do not do these shows in general because I get to go to the big industrial shows, and the Woodworking Shows look very pale by comparison.

I am assuming that the loss of Peachtree as the primary vendor would hurt theshow a lot. 
But Alex Snodgrass from Carter isdoing the circuit and seems happy.
Ralph Bagnall
www.woodcademy.com
Watch Woodcademy TV free on our website.
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#15
We were discussing the Indianapolis and Columbus shows on another forum., the Peachtree absence came up. It was explained there was some family problems that kept them out this year; I believe it was sickness or other health issues. Like yours, Peachtree was a huge part of these shows....the place already looked empty, this year it will be.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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#16
If there's no Peachtree, I won't be going. They are the ones with the most, and useful, product lines of shop supplies and handy gadgets.

KC was sparse enough last year. Without them.........well....that just about leaves the import, overstock, used stuff chinaman and his 20 tables of picked over stuff. Seldom a bargain there.
And the parking fees. Last year was a first on having to pay to park.

I've attended since the early 90's. These last ten years I've watched the show dwindle in vendors. I hate to see that.
Steve

Missouri






 
The Revos apparently are designed to clamp railroad ties and pull together horrifically prepared joints
WaterlooMark 02/9/2020








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#17
Sign of the times I suppose.  There's so much content on YouTube why pay to park and see someone you hardly know to teach you something you can get for free on the internet?  Online sales are so prevalent as well.

Years ago, those shows were pretty good.  I took a class from Graham Blackburn, talked to Chris Schwarz, and bought half my stationary power tools at these shows.  I'm glad to have been able to do that.  I wonder how anyone these days could get any exposure to woodworking aside from print and visual media.  IMO there's no substitute to seeing stuff hands-on.
Still Learning,

Allan Hill
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#18
(01-13-2019, 05:57 PM)AHill Wrote: Sign of the times I suppose.  There's so much content on YouTube why pay to park and see someone you hardly know to teach you something you can get for free on the internet?  Online sales are so prevalent as well.

Both online videos (free/paid) and shopping convenience (free shipping, Cyber events, etc.) have made attending shows tough to justify. They don't even bother to do any in the west coast now.

I had bought something from that "liquidation" vendor (I felt sorry for those workers who had to rebox everything from show to show) and it was the best value: the 6" steel rule, half a dozen of them, imperial & metric, with a conversion table on the back. $1 or so. I am never short of a steel rule in the shop.

Simon
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#19
A good showing of vendors like Lee Valley, Powermstic, etc with show discounts may attract some bodies. I realize it’s hard for Powermatic to bring in all of their models but if you were in the market for a particular tool it would be nice to see it in action.
Don
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#20
(01-13-2019, 03:49 PM)fredhargis Wrote: We were discussing the Indianapolis and Columbus shows on another forum., the Peachtree absence came up. It was explained there was some family problems that kept them out this year; I believe it was sickness or other health issues. Like yours, Peachtree was a huge part of these shows....the place already looked empty, this year it will be.

Hard to imagine a company like Peachtree not doing the shows due to illness. It is not a tiny, one or two person outfit.
Ralph Bagnall
www.woodcademy.com
Watch Woodcademy TV free on our website.
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