[VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it?
Sorry, My reply was to be off list. I still goof. Tony --- On Fri, 11/20/09, Anthony Spezio wrote: From: Anthony Spezio Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it? To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Date: Friday, November 20, 2009, 9:28 AM --- On Mon, 11/16/09, Don Ordes wrote: From: Don Ordes Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it? To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Date: Monday, November 16, 2009, 10:35 PM Tying shows, like Tony says, are different in how they handle tiers and vendors and selling. Here's my short history: I've been tying at Casper shows since the early 80's, so expenses were no big deal, and I could sell to my heart's content. The 1st out-of-state show I was invited to tie at was the Internat. Sportsman's Expo in Denver in 1995, by Pete Parker. One $$ 'bennie' at that show was a nice personalized ExOfficio Fishing shirt, and the ISE logo on it was a calling card at shows that one had 'arrived' at celebrity status. It was explained to me that tying in the video theater there was a status symbol in the front range arena, and wearing the shirt was your 'badge'. The second benny was my free private tying table, where I could sell anything I wanted (sold lots of flies and took orders). Led to another benny: Ed Rice, the owner, saw my flies at the table and invited me to tie at the San Mateo Show a month later- all expenses paid, plus a free booth (not table) for me to tie and sell, and Cheryl to assist me. I earned it with five 12-hour days on the job. Sold tons of Fantasy Flies and took a lot of orders and met a lot of folks. Pete told me that was the only time he had ever seen Ed pick up tier expenses for any show. Another neat benny for the Denver Show is that I've been featured twice in the Denver Post Sports section at ISE time. Great publicity for my Fantasy Flies. The next show I was invited to was the next year FFF conclave at the Outlaw Inn in Kalispel, MT. Assistance - block of cheaper rooms and lunch tickets. Sold lots of flies there too. And met a ton of real celebrities, one of whom was Lefty. After that, the Green River Fly Swap had me tie at their show for 7 years (after which they lost their city funding), paying an appearance fee ($$), mileage, and picking up the room. Also got a free double booth as the main co-attraction along with (different years) Jack Dennis, Mike Lawson, & Gary Lafontaine. Got to sell boucou flies. Got free concession food and drinks, coffee, etc. Plus the red-carpet treatment. Have tied at the Denver ISE every year since. Get a new shirt each year and free entrance for me and Cheryl. Last year they gave Cheryl an honorary shirt just for being stuck with Buggs. So what's that- about 14 ISE shirts now? LOL Different shows come with different bennies. Chuck gave me me the front door booth for the first year, and then a double tying table each year after that. He usually gets good room deals, and Cheryl gets free entry. I like tying for Chuck as he realizes how important the tiers are to his show. He has a special low price for his show shirts. I have about twenty fly-show fishing shirts now, way too many to wear. The West Denver TU years ago (2001+/-) gave me the celebrity booth with Tom Whiting and paid expenses for me to tie until the locals got upset, and so I quit that show- too much politics. Made a lot of good friends there, tho. I've tied across the country from Florida to Cal. to New Orleans to New Jersey to Holland - dozens and dozens of shows of all kinds in between. It's all been good- no complaints really- just burned out. It's always a decision made freely to tie or not to tie. The show I'll never forget was Holland, and the hospitality and generosity and comradery and... If I accepted every show invitation and was fabulously wealthy like Mark R., I'd be doing a show every weekend too, and fishing my way in between. Wait... Cheryl just said "No way, Hose' ". So I've decided now to stay at home, tie, and drink beer with Buggs and Dr. D, and make DVDs. Burp! DonO - Original Message - From: Anthony Spezio To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 6:32 PM Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales I stand corrected on Shows and Conclaves. To me they are all shows., I have been tying at shows since 1989, Conclaves 1994. Doing demo tying since 1987. Have tied on and off from 1945 to 1988. Tony --- On Mon, 11/16/09, Mark Romero wrote: From: Mark Romero Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales To: "virtual fly box" Date: Monday, November 16, 2009, 5:50 PM
[VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it?
Don, I never got a thing from Chuck at any of the shows I did for him. When he cut us down to half days at the booths, I could not sell enough flies to pay expenses. I had to decline invitations. After two I declined, naturally I was dropped. I just can't travel like I used to so it really don't matter. Tony --- On Mon, 11/16/09, Don Ordes wrote: From: Don Ordes Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it? To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Date: Monday, November 16, 2009, 10:35 PM Tying shows, like Tony says, are different in how they handle tiers and vendors and selling. Here's my short history: I've been tying at Casper shows since the early 80's, so expenses were no big deal, and I could sell to my heart's content. The 1st out-of-state show I was invited to tie at was the Internat. Sportsman's Expo in Denver in 1995, by Pete Parker. One $$ 'bennie' at that show was a nice personalized ExOfficio Fishing shirt, and the ISE logo on it was a calling card at shows that one had 'arrived' at celebrity status. It was explained to me that tying in the video theater there was a status symbol in the front range arena, and wearing the shirt was your 'badge'. The second benny was my free private tying table, where I could sell anything I wanted (sold lots of flies and took orders). Led to another benny: Ed Rice, the owner, saw my flies at the table and invited me to tie at the San Mateo Show a month later- all expenses paid, plus a free booth (not table) for me to tie and sell, and Cheryl to assist me. I earned it with five 12-hour days on the job. Sold tons of Fantasy Flies and took a lot of orders and met a lot of folks. Pete told me that was the only time he had ever seen Ed pick up tier expenses for any show. Another neat benny for the Denver Show is that I've been featured twice in the Denver Post Sports section at ISE time. Great publicity for my Fantasy Flies. The next show I was invited to was the next year FFF conclave at the Outlaw Inn in Kalispel, MT. Assistance - block of cheaper rooms and lunch tickets. Sold lots of flies there too. And met a ton of real celebrities, one of whom was Lefty. After that, the Green River Fly Swap had me tie at their show for 7 years (after which they lost their city funding), paying an appearance fee ($$), mileage, and picking up the room. Also got a free double booth as the main co-attraction along with (different years) Jack Dennis, Mike Lawson, & Gary Lafontaine. Got to sell boucou flies. Got free concession food and drinks, coffee, etc. Plus the red-carpet treatment. Have tied at the Denver ISE every year since. Get a new shirt each year and free entrance for me and Cheryl. Last year they gave Cheryl an honorary shirt just for being stuck with Buggs. So what's that- about 14 ISE shirts now? LOL Different shows come with different bennies. Chuck gave me me the front door booth for the first year, and then a double tying table each year after that. He usually gets good room deals, and Cheryl gets free entry. I like tying for Chuck as he realizes how important the tiers are to his show. He has a special low price for his show shirts. I have about twenty fly-show fishing shirts now, way too many to wear. The West Denver TU years ago (2001+/-) gave me the celebrity booth with Tom Whiting and paid expenses for me to tie until the locals got upset, and so I quit that show- too much politics. Made a lot of good friends there, tho. I've tied across the country from Florida to Cal. to New Orleans to New Jersey to Holland - dozens and dozens of shows of all kinds in between. It's all been good- no complaints really- just burned out. It's always a decision made freely to tie or not to tie. The show I'll never forget was Holland, and the hospitality and generosity and comradery and... If I accepted every show invitation and was fabulously wealthy like Mark R., I'd be doing a show every weekend too, and fishing my way in between. Wait... Cheryl just said "No way, Hose' ". So I've decided now to stay at home, tie, and drink beer with Buggs and Dr. D, and make DVDs. Burp! DonO - Original Message - From: Anthony Spezio To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 6:32 PM Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales I stand corrected on Shows and Conclaves. To me they are all shows., I have been tying at shows since 1989, Conclaves 1994. Doing demo tying since 1987. Have tied on and off from 1945 to 1988. Tony --- On Mon, 11/16/09, Mark Romero wrote: From: Mark Romero Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales To: "virtual fly box" Date: Mond
[VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it?
i sent that last email before i had read this from Don.lol. Reason it came through twice is beyond me.other than the fact the first time i sent it.the last three sentences had gotten chopped off.so i tried to send just those three sentences again and the whole thing went through a second time.STILL sans the last three sentences. So here they are for the final time. To do shows is to be committed. What comes with the territory, is what comes with the territory. Case Closed. From: f...@tribcsp.com To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it? Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:35:25 -0700 Tying shows, like Tony says, are different in how they handle tiers and vendors and selling. Here's my short history: I've been tying at Casper shows since the early 80's, so expenses were no big deal, and I could sell to my heart's content. The 1st out-of-state show I was invited to tie at was the Internat. Sportsman's Expo in Denver in 1995, by Pete Parker. One $$ 'bennie' at that show was a nice personalized ExOfficio Fishing shirt, and the ISE logo on it was a calling card at shows that one had 'arrived' at celebrity status. It was explained to me that tying in the video theater there was a status symbol in the front range arena, and wearing the shirt was your 'badge'. The second benny was my free private tying table, where I could sell anything I wanted (sold lots of flies and took orders). Led to another benny: Ed Rice, the owner, saw my flies at the table and invited me to tie at the San Mateo Show a month later- all expenses paid, plus a free booth (not table) for me to tie and sell, and Cheryl to assist me. I earned it with five 12-hour days on the job. Sold tons of Fantasy Flies and took a lot of orders and met a lot of folks. Pete told me that was the only time he had ever seen Ed pick up tier expenses for any show. Another neat benny for the Denver Show is that I've been featured twice in the Denver Post Sports section at ISE time. Great publicity for my Fantasy Flies. The next show I was invited to was the next year FFF conclave at the Outlaw Inn in Kalispel, MT. Assistance - block of cheaper rooms and lunch tickets. Sold lots of flies there too. And met a ton of real celebrities, one of whom was Lefty. After that, the Green River Fly Swap had me tie at their show for 7 years (after which they lost their city funding), paying an appearance fee ($$), mileage, and picking up the room. Also got a free double booth as the main co-attraction along with (different years) Jack Dennis, Mike Lawson, & Gary Lafontaine. Got to sell boucou flies. Got free concession food and drinks, coffee, etc. Plus the red-carpet treatment. Have tied at the Denver ISE every year since. Get a new shirt each year and free entrance for me and Cheryl. Last year they gave Cheryl an honorary shirt just for being stuck with Buggs. So what's that- about 14 ISE shirts now? LOL Different shows come with different bennies. Chuck gave me me the front door booth for the first year, and then a double tying table each year after that. He usually gets good room deals, and Cheryl gets free entry. I like tying for Chuck as he realizes how important the tiers are to his show. He has a special low price for his show shirts. I have about twenty fly-show fishing shirts now, way too many to wear. The West Denver TU years ago (2001+/-) gave me the celebrity booth with Tom Whiting and paid expenses for me to tie until the locals got upset, and so I quit that show- too much politics. Made a lot of good friends there, tho. I've tied across the country from Florida to Cal. to New Orleans to New Jersey to Holland - dozens and dozens of shows of all kinds in between. It's all been good- no complaints really- just burned out. It's always a decision made freely to tie or not to tie. The show I'll never forget was Holland, and the hospitality and generosity and comradery and... If I accepted every show invitation and was fabulously wealthy like Mark R., I'd be doing a show every weekend too, and fishing my way in between. Wait... Cheryl just said "No way, Hose' ". So I've decided now to stay at home, tie, and drink beer with Buggs and Dr. D, and make DVDs. Burp! DonO - Original Message - From: Anthony Spezio To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 6:32 PM Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales I stand corrected on Shows and Conclaves. To me they are all shows., I have been tying at shows since 1989, Conclaves 1994. Doing demo tying since 1987. Have tied on and off from 1945 to 1988. Tony --- On Mon, 11/16/09, Mark Romero wrote: From: Mark Romero Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales To: "virtual fly
[VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it?
Sounds like the Sportsman's Expo in Denver really treated you well. Chuck Please see our fly fishing hand made furled leaders at: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/you_wear_it_well_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_ipgZ - Original Message - From: Don Ordes To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 10:35 PM Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it? Tying shows, like Tony says, are different in how they handle tiers and vendors and selling. Here's my short history: I've been tying at Casper shows since the early 80's, so expenses were no big deal, and I could sell to my heart's content. The 1st out-of-state show I was invited to tie at was the Internat. Sportsman's Expo in Denver in 1995, by Pete Parker. One $$ 'bennie' at that show was a nice personalized ExOfficio Fishing shirt, and the ISE logo on it was a calling card at shows that one had 'arrived' at celebrity status. It was explained to me that tying in the video theater there was a status symbol in the front range arena, and wearing the shirt was your 'badge'. The second benny was my free private tying table, where I could sell anything I wanted (sold lots of flies and took orders). Led to another benny: Ed Rice, the owner, saw my flies at the table and invited me to tie at the San Mateo Show a month later- all expenses paid, plus a free booth (not table) for me to tie and sell, and Cheryl to assist me. I earned it with five 12-hour days on the job. Sold tons of Fantasy Flies and took a lot of orders and met a lot of folks. Pete told me that was the only time he had ever seen Ed pick up tier expenses for any show. Another neat benny for the Denver Show is that I've been featured twice in the Denver Post Sports section at ISE time. Great publicity for my Fantasy Flies. The next show I was invited to was the next year FFF conclave at the Outlaw Inn in Kalispel, MT. Assistance - block of cheaper rooms and lunch tickets. Sold lots of flies there too. And met a ton of real celebrities, one of whom was Lefty. After that, the Green River Fly Swap had me tie at their show for 7 years (after which they lost their city funding), paying an appearance fee ($$), mileage, and picking up the room. Also got a free double booth as the main co-attraction along with (different years) Jack Dennis, Mike Lawson, & Gary Lafontaine. Got to sell boucou flies. Got free concession food and drinks, coffee, etc. Plus the red-carpet treatment. Have tied at the Denver ISE every year since. Get a new shirt each year and free entrance for me and Cheryl. Last year they gave Cheryl an honorary shirt just for being stuck with Buggs. So what's that- about 14 ISE shirts now? LOL Different shows come with different bennies. Chuck gave me me the front door booth for the first year, and then a double tying table each year after that. He usually gets good room deals, and Cheryl gets free entry. I like tying for Chuck as he realizes how important the tiers are to his show. He has a special low price for his show shirts. I have about twenty fly-show fishing shirts now, way too many to wear. The West Denver TU years ago (2001+/-) gave me the celebrity booth with Tom Whiting and paid expenses for me to tie until the locals got upset, and so I quit that show- too much politics. Made a lot of good friends there, tho. I've tied across the country from Florida to Cal. to New Orleans to New Jersey to Holland - dozens and dozens of shows of all kinds in between. It's all been good- no complaints really- just burned out. It's always a decision made freely to tie or not to tie. The show I'll never forget was Holland, and the hospitality and generosity and comradery and... If I accepted every show invitation and was fabulously wealthy like Mark R., I'd be doing a show every weekend too, and fishing my way in between. Wait... Cheryl just said "No way, Hose' ". So I've decided now to stay at home, tie, and drink beer with Buggs and Dr. D, and make DVDs. Burp! DonO - Original Message - From: Anthony Spezio To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 6:32 PM Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales I stand corrected on Shows and Conclaves. To me they are all shows., I have been tying at shows since 1989, Conclaves 1994. Doing demo tying since 1987. Have tied on and off from 1945 to 1988. Tony --- On Mon, 11/16/09, Mark Romero wrote: From: Mark Romero Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales To: "virtual fly box" Date: Monday, November 16, 2009, 5:50 PM Tony, if i remember right Jeff said you could have a "conclave" wit
[VFB] Re: Show tying and sales, and 'bennies' -is it worth it?
Tying shows, like Tony says, are different in how they handle tiers and vendors and selling. Here's my short history: I've been tying at Casper shows since the early 80's, so expenses were no big deal, and I could sell to my heart's content. The 1st out-of-state show I was invited to tie at was the Internat. Sportsman's Expo in Denver in 1995, by Pete Parker. One $$ 'bennie' at that show was a nice personalized ExOfficio Fishing shirt, and the ISE logo on it was a calling card at shows that one had 'arrived' at celebrity status. It was explained to me that tying in the video theater there was a status symbol in the front range arena, and wearing the shirt was your 'badge'. The second benny was my free private tying table, where I could sell anything I wanted (sold lots of flies and took orders). Led to another benny: Ed Rice, the owner, saw my flies at the table and invited me to tie at the San Mateo Show a month later- all expenses paid, plus a free booth (not table) for me to tie and sell, and Cheryl to assist me. I earned it with five 12-hour days on the job. Sold tons of Fantasy Flies and took a lot of orders and met a lot of folks. Pete told me that was the only time he had ever seen Ed pick up tier expenses for any show. Another neat benny for the Denver Show is that I've been featured twice in the Denver Post Sports section at ISE time. Great publicity for my Fantasy Flies. The next show I was invited to was the next year FFF conclave at the Outlaw Inn in Kalispel, MT. Assistance - block of cheaper rooms and lunch tickets. Sold lots of flies there too. And met a ton of real celebrities, one of whom was Lefty. After that, the Green River Fly Swap had me tie at their show for 7 years (after which they lost their city funding), paying an appearance fee ($$), mileage, and picking up the room. Also got a free double booth as the main co-attraction along with (different years) Jack Dennis, Mike Lawson, & Gary Lafontaine. Got to sell boucou flies. Got free concession food and drinks, coffee, etc. Plus the red-carpet treatment. Have tied at the Denver ISE every year since. Get a new shirt each year and free entrance for me and Cheryl. Last year they gave Cheryl an honorary shirt just for being stuck with Buggs. So what's that- about 14 ISE shirts now? LOL Different shows come with different bennies. Chuck gave me me the front door booth for the first year, and then a double tying table each year after that. He usually gets good room deals, and Cheryl gets free entry. I like tying for Chuck as he realizes how important the tiers are to his show. He has a special low price for his show shirts. I have about twenty fly-show fishing shirts now, way too many to wear. The West Denver TU years ago (2001+/-) gave me the celebrity booth with Tom Whiting and paid expenses for me to tie until the locals got upset, and so I quit that show- too much politics. Made a lot of good friends there, tho. I've tied across the country from Florida to Cal. to New Orleans to New Jersey to Holland - dozens and dozens of shows of all kinds in between. It's all been good- no complaints really- just burned out. It's always a decision made freely to tie or not to tie. The show I'll never forget was Holland, and the hospitality and generosity and comradery and... If I accepted every show invitation and was fabulously wealthy like Mark R., I'd be doing a show every weekend too, and fishing my way in between. Wait... Cheryl just said "No way, Hose' ". So I've decided now to stay at home, tie, and drink beer with Buggs and Dr. D, and make DVDs. Burp! DonO - Original Message - From: Anthony Spezio To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 6:32 PM Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales I stand corrected on Shows and Conclaves. To me they are all shows., I have been tying at shows since 1989, Conclaves 1994. Doing demo tying since 1987. Have tied on and off from 1945 to 1988. Tony --- On Mon, 11/16/09, Mark Romero wrote: From: Mark Romero Subject: [VFB] Re: Show tying and sales To: "virtual fly box" Date: Monday, November 16, 2009, 5:50 PM Tony, if i remember right Jeff said you could have a "conclave" without tyersnot a "show." But either one without tyers wouldn't be worth my time and trouble to attendhe's right, you could hold a conclave without tyers.but you'd never get anywhere near as many people to attend. And what's a conclave with out a show anyway.it's the show the drwas the people, and the tyers that make the show..for me anyway. i've been goin' to the shows since '92 and tyin' at them since '97.and i'd never go to a show that didn't have tyers. -- Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009