Each we add more specialty vendors to the ICRBE. Last year Woodcraft attended and found the market for their offerings very, very good. Chet told me that they sold over 30 Jet Midi-Lathes. They'll be back this year.

Packard Woodworks, one of the largest wood turning supply shops in North America, will be attending the event in February. They do wood turning and only wood turning. They sell everything from the midi-lathes all the way up to the serious OneWay and Nova machines. And they'll have them at the show.

They also carry a wide, wide selection of turning tools, sharpeners, grinders, lathe accessories and turning stock. They've purchased several booth spaces to be able to display their truly huge and varied line of products.

The Skin Shop will also be on hand. They carry a unique selection of snake and reptile skins and assorted items that can be employed in the various seats and handles that many builders enjoy making. There will also be seminars at the event detailing just how to employ these exotic items into your rod building projects.

I have a couple more specialty vendors to announce early next week. I think the event gets more well rounded each year with the addition of these type vendors. In other words, it continues to offer the attendees a better and better value each year.

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Tom,

I know the site says the seminars will be annouced Aug29th, but how are the seminars scheduled? Are there several seminars running concurrently? Are the some of the seminars repeated, so if you miss it, you can catch it later? Just wondering. Pretty excited about coming up.

A few seminars are presented both Saturday and Sunday. Some run only once. There usually two running at the same time so often you do have to make a choice as to which one you want to see the most. With this many seminars, there just isn't any other way to do it. In fact, that's why I capped the number of seminars at 25. Any more would just be more that you'd have to miss.



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Alex you will completely understand this post when you return home from the 2008 High Point Expo. The odds are very strong that you will get caught up in the moment and miss a seminar that you really wanted to attend. The sensory sights and sounds on this show floor are just too much to deal with for nearly all rodbuilders. When you see the amount of things you can touch, see and feel will somehow make the clock a very insignificant factor. This show will pass fast and be over in the blink of an eye. It is kind of like going to see the Smithsonian Museum in one day! Plan early and make the commitments to self ahead of time and wear a watch with a preset alarm if you really want to attend a particular seminar. Tom was kind to wait until 10:00 am on Saturday last year so that people had some time to gawk before they started.

See you there and good luck on your scheduling!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2007 02:18PM by Bill Stevens.

Alex,
Bring a BIG notebook for the seminars. There is so much information and so many interesting seminars that it will be hard to keep track of all the info. Oh, and the vendors and the seminar speakers that are happy to take the time to answer your questions one on one is very, very cool.
Buzz

Very true, most will work with you after a seminar if you missed something. Plus, most are around all weekend and you can speak with them during the event or at the hotel in the evenings. A tremendous amount of information is exchanged outside the seminars themselves.

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Are any of these seminars videotaped and available for purchase? An ICRBE 2007 DVD would be on my wish list!

I'll be glad to meet and talk to them. Just starting on my journey into the turn aspect of rod building.

The cost to tape, edit and produce such DVDs outstrips the demand by a wide margin. And, taped seminars really don't go over well as recorded instructional material. Sorry.

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To echo Bill Stevens comment: there is so much interaction between vendors, presenters and fellow rodbuilders that it's easy to miss seminars you planned to attend. This will be my 5th event & I have experienced that multiple times. You simply have to be there to understand all the good stuff going on.

The seminar presenters & vendors are dedicated to the craft and are very available for discussing things pertaining to custom rodbuilding.

No other rodbuilding event even comes close, IMO.

Stan.

One suggestion takes along a spouce or friend. Decide which simenar each would attend and take notes and pick up as much free info that you can pick up then at a time exchange info.
Good Wraps Bob Oh yes do not foreget to take a camera

I do try to announce them on the PA about 5 minutes before each begins. I know that there's so much going on that it's easy to miss one. Maybe we'll rig up a blue light and start flashing it prior to each seminar.

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It was very effective last year Tom as I would have missed several without your announcements