(Continued)
Gary Rosenfield and I made the drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in 5-6 hours. It was uneventful (If one can say that about Los Angeles traffic).
We decided to go straight to the exhibit hall, get our name badges/passess, unload Gary's Nissan Pathfinder of the Show items (booth, models, etc.) then check in at the hotel.
The next day, Thursday, Gary and I started putting the booth together and getting everything set up. A one point Gary left to pick up Paul Hans from LAX. Bob Parks would be arriving from the Bay Area. This would give us four people to staff the booth. It also meant that each of us would have plenty of time during the Show to look around and view the other exhibits.
The booth went together fine and eveything was set. We organized our handouts and I took pictures of the booth. Even so, the catalogs did not arrive.
Friday was the opening day of the Show. The booth looked great. The location was great. The only missing element was the catalogs.
An hour before the Show opened at 10:00 AM, an UPS delivery driver stopped at our booth with a cart full of boxes. He said he had a delivery for AeroTech. Gary signed for the boxes. It was the catalogs!
We tore open one of the boxes and pulled out sveral catalogs. The two of us proceeded to review it page by page. We thought it turned out pretty good. Next, we had to insert the Motor Matrix sheet into each catalog. The Motor Matrix was a list of all the motors (single-use and RMS), their specifications and which ones worked in the AeroTech kits.
The Show opened and our booth received alot of attention. We passed out quite a few catalogs and answered many questions.
Other hobby rocket companies were present, too. Impuse Aerospace and THOY had booths. MRC had a window display of the Concept II products. Estes had a booth (More about Estes later).
One of AeroTech's biggest distributors, California Hobby Distributors (CalHobby), had asked if we would give a presentation to their sales staff during the Show. The AeroTech buyer for CalHobby was a fellow named Alan Iwig and he really thought AeroTech rocketry was the next big thing. Alan was a very positive, energetic person who in the past had been a Captain in the USAF and was assigned to Project Blue Book (He told me some stories but that's not for this thread).
I was to give the presentation away from the exhibit hall at a hotel where CalHobby had rented a meeting room. I made sure that plenty of the new product had been shipped to Alan early to be placed around the room. This was a very big deal as CalHobby had been around for about fifty years and was respected in the industry. CalHobby only selected six to eight companies to give presentations to them so alot was riding on me to get this right. Each presenter was given 45-60 minutes to make their presentation and answer questions. I was ready.
It was great. I really had my 'A-game' that day. My presentation ended up lasting nearly two-hours. The interest and excitement level from the CalHobby sales staff and management was high. They asked other presenters to wait. After my presentation, Alan told me I hit one out of the park. He told me I did a great job, even the company owner/president was impressed with the product and my presentation.
I went back to the exhibit hall and reported on what happened. We all felt like things were really going well for AeroTech. We were one of the few companies exhibiting new product at the Show. Both the indutry and public days saw many people stop to see what was happening with a company named AeroTech.
The Show ended Sunday afternoon. We felt pretty good about our efforts. Several buyers for hobby distributors told us to expect order for the new product shortly. Paul and Bob took off while Gary and I took down the booth and packed all the models, etc. Gary and I then drove from Los Angeles back to Las Vegas. Even though we were tired out we were psyched and kept talking about the Show and future product ideas.
The week after the Show, we started getting orders for the new products and re-orders for the original products. Things were going to get busy for us.
Oh, about Estes. That will have to wait until my next installment.
