2018 La Pen Show Report

[AltecGreen]

Wow!

 

Could I ask who made the large "red ripple" pen in the obscure Japanese section?

Marukin

[Nikolaos]

Your LA pen show report is always something to look forward to! Thanks again! You picked up some awesome pens, well done. Hope to be there next year

[aardvarkbark]

What a terrific report in the spirit of this forum. Many appreciate your contribution.

[da vinci]

Marukin

Thanks!

[FarmBoy]

Oh. For those who haven't run conferences... Hotels don't care (generally) if they're in the midst of construction -- they feel that if they provide some meeting space, with some food space, and toilets, that they've met their contracts. You don't like it, tough. (a bit over generalizing, but from having run conferences for 34 years, not my career though, I'm not far from how they tend to react).

Having run a show or two I can say I took my business to a hotel from whom I did get the necessary responses to earn my business. I would add that I choose a venue where I will be a major customer and I'm willing to do a long term contract that is beneficial to both of us.

As to the Manhattan Beach Marriott/Westdrift Hotel...I think they will start caring soon enough. They may not care about me but they will care about breakfast.

Edited February 22, 2018 by FarmBoy

[hungrynerd]

As to the Manhattan Beach Marriott/Westdrift Hotel...I think they will start caring soon enough. They may not care about me but they will care about breakfast.

 

[penwash]

Hi Ricky, I finally was able to meet you at the last day in the afternoon (Will from Dallas, btw).

 

As this is my first time at the LA Pen Show (I am a vendor), having no expectations and ready to go with the flow, the hotel construction didn't bother me as much as raising my eyebrow. Of course, my room happens to face the golf-course, no plastic covering on the window, and I smell nothing out ordinary throughout my stay in the hotel. So it could all be beginner's luck

 

The way the show was organized is a bit more of a mystery to me. For example, everyone, I mean everyone that I talked to says that Saturday is expected to be a slow day. Why not then, make it a public day? To me that is most logical because it won't rob Sunday from its attendance, rather it will give everyone, including the attendees more breathing room and repeat visits to vendors. Who would not benefit from it?

 

Back to this thread's topic. What is really interesting to me, having walked the show through your lens and narrative, it seems that you and I know a completely different group of people within the show (aside from some popular faces). Which is encouraging to me because that means I have yet to meet and know the other half (or more) of the fountain pen community at large

 

Anyways, just want to say hi again, and thank you for the wonderful reportage.

[ErrantSmudge]

My single-occupant room didn't have plastic coverings or strange smells, just an overly bland view of the hotel roof.

 

But I did hear from other attendees on the poor design of the refurbished rooms at the Westdrift hotel - tables with no chairs, a very stiff sofa, no drawer space for clothing storage, bathroom and entry doors that collide with one another, very tiny refrigerator, coffee maker that's set on a very low shelf and bolted into place, etc. etc. Those same issues were true with my room, but I was only staying a single night and so they really didn't matter much to me.