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Rich Z's Blatherings Since Connie and I have retired the SerpenCo business, topics here will focus on topics of a more personal and general nature.

Expo
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Old 08-18-2010, 02:04 AM   #1
Rich Z
Expo

I just realized that normally right now we would be going insane packing up to leave for Expo. Trying to get the animals packed up, trying to get orders out the door to make packing up what was left much easier, making sure everything that is staying behind has fresh water, and pretty much running around in circles knowing it all won't get done.

We always considered the week prior to Expo as being HELL WEEK, because nearly everything came to a head right around then and the workload seemed to reach it's peak. Honestly, more than once we thought we shouldn't go to that show because of the workload facing us when we got BACK, but then on the other hand, the chance to unload a bunch of mouths to feed was too much of a PLUS to ignore. One year on the day before we left, when packing was the most furious, we got over 30 phone calls from people wanting to know what I was bringing to the show, place orders (which meant I needed to pull some animals OUT of the packed boxes), and sometimes only just to shoot the breeze (like I had nothing better to do).... I had to stop answering the phone before I popped every blood vessel in my brain!

Anyway, I sure do miss seeing baby snakes hatching out, but as for a LOT of the work associated along with that, nope, not in the least. It REALLY REALLY was a lot of work, that more than a few times I thought would REALLY REALLY kill us.....

I hope everyone taking animals and what-not to the show this weekend does well selling stuff. And to those looking to buy, I hope you find the exact gems you have been looking for. Connie and I will probably be stopping in sometime to walk around the show and try to make the CS gathering on Saturday evening. Maybe we'll see some of you there.
 
Old 08-18-2010, 06:51 AM   #2
whippet
We are really looking forward to meeting you Rich. Glad you get to have a relaxing weekend at Daytona for once!
 
Old 08-18-2010, 08:28 AM   #3
El Jefe
Hope to see you around Rich....and don't worry, I'm running around going crazy trying to get everything done.....I can see why you don't miss it!
 
Old 08-18-2010, 08:59 AM   #4
ArpeggioAngel
Rich - I think there are more than enough of us still running around like crazy this week to make up for you not having to this year! And just think - you can sit back and look at all of us and say "I remember when"....

I am really looking forward to it - even with all the crazy stress leading up to it and I certainly do hope we get to run into you at the show or our GTG.
 
Old 08-18-2010, 09:03 AM   #5
Hypancistrus
Quote:
Originally Posted by whippet View Post
We are really looking forward to meeting you Rich. Glad you get to have a relaxing weekend at Daytona for once!
Tara is. I already met ya at MARS the one year!
 
Old 08-18-2010, 11:47 AM   #6
Rich Z
Interesting.... I had a dream about Expo last night. Guess I am going to have those yet for a while. Can't remember much of it, but it seemed to be the end of the show and we were trying to get all the stuff that didn't sell packed up. You know, that was normally the worst part of doing a show. Looking at all the critters that didn't sell and wondering why they didn't.

And speaking of the MARS show, coincidentally, Tim Hoen (the promoter of that show) was briefly in my dream as well. When we lived in Maryland we used to be friends with Tim (and his then wife Diane) and spent many a day snake hunting together.

Anyway, I doubt anyone who has not actually vendored at a show realizes how much stress and work it really is. For a while we were doing a LOT of shows, but when I realized that those long stretches of not being able to feed the babies because they were being taken to the shows were having a toll on them, we cut them back to where we were only doing Expo in Daytona the past few years. Heck, I remember one year we did a Tampa show one weekend and the next weekend did the Chicago show. Now THAT was a killer. Plus I can down with a cold or something heading to Chicago, so that entire weekend really was no fun. Try doing a show while you have "Nyquil brain" sometime...... Someone would buy a $30 snake and pay with a hundred dollar bill and I couldn't even figure out the change to return to him... And lord only knows what happened when someone put a stack of deli cups in front of me and asked me to give them my best deal...

Oh and before I forget, anyone doing a show for the first time taking baby snakes, please give them water during the weekend. You would be surprised at how quickly baby snakes will dehydrate over a weekend at a show. We used to pack the babies with water dishes in the deli cups and remove them Saturday morning and replace them on Sunday when packing up. Just in that short time I could see that they were beginning to get stressed without water, so the later shows we kept the water dishes in with them and removed them when sold. At lot more work trying to keep the deli cups clean and attractive looking for prospective buyers, but it was a LOT better for the animals.
 
Old 08-18-2010, 12:37 PM   #7
Nanci
My babies will be traveling with Official Serpenco Water Bowls, thank you!!
 
Old 08-18-2010, 01:16 PM   #8
wstphal
I haven't vended at a reptile show, but I have vended at other kinds of trade shows and it is an amazing amount of work! I am not surprised you don't miss it, Rich. I am looking forward to meeting you, so I can thank you for your cornsnake business that contributed so much to the hobby and for hosting this website!
 
Old 08-18-2010, 03:06 PM   #9
Rich Z
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanci View Post
My babies will be traveling with Official Serpenco Water Bowls, thank you!!
You know, at one of the Expos when FWCC did their rounds checking permits, a couple of the officers noticed my water dishes and started commenting that they should make it a rule that all vendors must have water dishes for the animals throughout the show. And I'm standing there thinking 'Aw hell.... Here we go... Everyone will think I put them up to it and want to burn me at the stake....." I used to work for FWCC a while back doing programming....
 
Old 08-18-2010, 03:20 PM   #10
starsevol
As an animal lover, I would back that.
If you have water dishes as easy to use as yours, why not?

(My husband made me some, our biggest problem so far is that Home Depot does not carry enough of them all at once).
 

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