Post Show Recap and What Comes Next

Hey,

Hey.

Hey, that's it. Sash, what are you doing over there, man? You were supposed to leave that expo hall floor like a week. I've been sitting here by myself drinking asking everyone where is everyone, but I got lost. I know that's not the case. You ran out of beer. I witnessed it. Yeah, I did. I did. Thanks for tuning in today. Uh our first episode after the fence show. So, we're going to do a recap. I'm barely getting my voice back, so I don't know if you can still hear a little a little raspy. So, first uh first day kind of back on the podcast. We're kind of excited. Uh I wanted to recap it. If you don't know, it's Sasha uh director of Founders Fence. I thought we're going to get we're going to circle back to that. We're going to circle back to that. So, so before we get into it, Sash, what have you been up to since uh Friday, last time I saw you, man? I'm still here. Um I'm still recovering. Um so, yeah, we're right now as as you know, we'll discuss a little bit about the adventure that I'm on, but um yeah, we're up here. The the show was so good. We've got so much um phone calls and positivity that we just the whole team we're just trying to catch up and get back to the calling everyone. we've met in the new contacts we made at this show. So, yeah, it's been full on. Yeah. So, uh let's talk for a minute about your booth because, uh I don't think anybody's ever pulled off something like this at one of the fence shows or a show that I've been to. Uh you said, "Hey, Brian, can I get a bar?" Um I remember having a conversation and I'm like, "Yeah, you know, I'm thinking you're going to order one from uh you know, from the hotel and like everybody else did, but uh that was no go on that for you. Uh look at this. Look at this bar you built. So, is this the first time this thing's ever been anywhere?" Yeah, 100%. Uh, our creative director, um, Brett, you know, we sort of sat down, me and Brett, when he designed like come up with this brain idea. Hey, let's do a bar. Let's have fun, right? And everyone that knows me knows that I love to have fun. You know, I I I bleed fence. And um, yeah, what was meant to just be a pop-up bar turned into a legit bar in five crates. We were the last to fill the crates at the end of the show, but it was worth it. It was such an amazing time and um yeah, we pulled it off, right? Oh, man. Did you pull you hit it out of the park? I mean, that was crazy. I mean, it was almost look like uh you made it look like I built a big bar in the middle. It was like uh it was phenomenal. And the detail of this thing, it was like it was marble. You had little you had detail on the chairs. I mean, I don't think anything was missed on this thing. And that thing lit up. Look at the lights. I mean, you could see this from anywhere in the expo hall. Yeah. No, we were, like I said, it was uh it was a long time coming. So, you know, all the hard work that you and your team put in to bring the people in, we wanted to introduce founders to everyone with a big splash and we tried our best, right? I think I think think we tried our best to pull it off and you kept telling us to turn the lights off at 4:30, but um we were out of beer every day, so I think we did something right, you know. Yeah. Couple cakes. I think you had people lined up the whole time, which was really cool. And they weren't just uh you know, they they weren't just lined up just to uh come talk to you. They were hanging out. you're interacting with everybody else at the bar and stuff as well as uh you know so they would come and meet with you and they would uh chat and you you guys would exchange information scan some QR codes or whatever you were doing but then they would hang out and talk to everybody else. So I Yeah, it was like just again I can't say thank you to the FWA team and yourself like the attendees were amazing you know I had a couple of barflies literally every day sit in the corner I was getting like hang on a minute and then I got to talk to them they were fencing guys are like hey dude we just love sitting here and that was awesome you know we got to meet was amazing too we got to meet a lot of people from all all areas of America right it wasn't just west We, you know, we had New Jersey, Florida, um, just all over the states, which was just, it was, it was really amazing, you Yeah. People ask a lot. They're like, "Hey, is this a regional show?" And I'm

Like, "Not at all." Because, uh, I mean, you you scan one badge and it could be from California, you scan the next because in New York, next one's in Florida, Iowa, Ohio. I don't think there was a state uh in the US where people didn't come from. Uh, oh, what about what about JC Jury? I see them saying hi. their booth. Were they even there? What? Yeah, their booth was lit up, man. This show, like I said, like just from me from an excitement point of view, the this show was Yeah, we were so busy and I wanted to go smash some cars that you' put up. We didn't even get a chance to eat. Like, it was just nonstop. It was a great It was a great show. Everybody took it over the top. Like JT Curry and Look at that. get to do that. No,

That was fun back there. And then we ended up making a track on the ground uh that kind of people were running around and uh you were the only way you could get one of those uh uh RC car derby uh feno derby shirts was to actually win one of the competition. So people were just back there constantly racing and then man I can't tell you how many people can I have a car? Can I have a car? I think at the end a couple people actually we did a couple races where if you won a race you got a car and uh they were I don't know how they got them back. I mean these things would take up some room in the suitcases but yeah you don't need clothes who who we're friends and ladies Yeah. H how about that opening ceremony? I I I you know I don't think Have you ever been to a show that had an opening ceremony like this before? No. No. And like it was like okay we saw Elvis cruising around and then all of a sudden the thriller song comes up. Michael Jackson's out there and then all of a sudden where did those people come from was just like [screaming] Yeah, we had them in the audience. They were out there with badges. They look like fencers. Yeah, that was awesome. This was cool. Yeah. They definitely don't move like fences. They move a lot better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Can you imagine us out there? Especially after uh the end of the day hanging out at your bar inside. We should have done a video at the end of that. But you had a truck outside as well, right? There it is going in. Look at this. Watch this crowd. I mean, watch the energy. Look at the energy from people going in. That guy's running. That was Rob Noble. Looks like people were running in and the vibe was just on fire. Oh, no. It was the energy in that place was just it was awesome. That was so much fun. I mean, watching everybody come in. Look at the smiles on their face. They haven't even met anybody yet. This is And this is the energy I think you can only pull off uh by connecting with the fencers and and I guess you'd almost have to be a fencer yourself to understand uh you know what it's like. And it was just amazing to uh you know, to get to see the smiles on the faces coming in. No, but you had a you had a truck outside, too, didn't you? Yeah, we uh we managed to uh find a truck somehow and you know you we put it out the front and sort of made a little bit of a statement that you know by the way there's a truck out the front and if you want a beer come and see us at Founders Booth. Yeah. So, you know, it was look like again, I can't say thank you enough to you and your team um for making it, you know, putting that effort in cuz I look, I have no idea what it takes to run a show. Um I can barely run a business, you know, um let alone put that bar together. So, you know, that atmosphere you created from, you know, the beginning to the end, um you know, hats off to you and your team. You you made it easy for especially me, you know, us the founders, we got nothing but praise for you and your team. The show was for us the atmosphere. Look, for me, these shows can, you know, they take time. I I can't imagine on your end, but all the vendors out there that were there at the show, I know what it takes. It's not easy to to, you know, what did JC do even have anyone at work? Like I had I brought their whole team. Over a thousand fence lines. Over a thousand fence sign lines they had up. I think that look at that. That was the JC Gury party, wasn't it? Yeah. That was that that party was sick. That was awesome. That was uh it was amazing. Right when you walked in, that's how you start a show off in Vegas, wasn't it? Yeah. No, no, it was amazing. you know, for anyone to have have the success and and the longevity of JC Jewelry, it just blows my mind. You know, I don't, you know, if I make it to 75, I I'm doing well, right? So, for them to have a company that's that's done and they're like they're part of the staple of fencing, you know. Um, it was just awesome. Yeah, it was it was phenomenal. So, but but I mean you I know you do a lot of thanking us, but we can't thank you. I mean to do the sponsorship and go ahead and look at that. That was the I think we were the first show to probably ever

Get uh told by the hotel we actually had to open the expo hall doors up to let people in because uh we were starting to block the escalators. There was just too many people in the lobby which was awesome. But uh you know we can't thank you guys enough. I mean to go and buy the sponsorship and and I mean anytime anybody saw something up there it wasn't cheap and it wasn't free for you either to do all that. So that was really cool uh you know to go and spend all the money and and put on uh that kind of entertainment in that show. So, what made you think of the bar instead of just filling it up with iron panels like everybody else does? Well, you know, I think most people that know me and uh we'll get to know how like a little bit more of our founders um Brett and myself, look, we we know all of us know what we sell and what we do, right? But at the end of the day, a fun show like what you guys put on needs to have a fun booth. And we just wanted to have fun, you know, look at our like, you know, dumb things like our menu. We had a bar menu which had our products on it, right? You you know what we do? We had that little like, dude, there's there's four crates we never opened because you know us fencing people, we got tape measures, but we're like, oh, this booth will fit in. And it's like, oh man, this booth takes a whole this whole bar takes the whole booth. So, we just wanted everyone to know that, hey, look, we're here. We're here to have fun, work hard, and represent the industry and service service the industry. And what better than to sit around and, you know, sit around the bar, have some fun, and get to know each other because I feel like that's what the show is about, you know? You're not only though the director of Founders Fence, you're also the vice president of the World Fence Federation. So, when am I going to see you next? When am I going to see you next? Well, Birdie tells me we me and you are taking a little trip overseas very shortly. Yeah, me too. I'm so Brian, I'm so excited. Um, again, it's a great honor and privilege to be part of the World Fence Federation. Um, and I'm really excited because I think we're all divided for all different reasons. Like, this is not the podcast to sort of bring things. So, who cares, right? But if we can bring bring us all together and and just go, "Hey guys, we're all in this together from one corner of the world to America and we know America's, you know, one of the blessed countries in the world, if not the most blessed country, but there's also other countries out there that, you know, do what we do." And look, I'm super excited. I have no idea um how I'm getting on the plane, but I'm getting there somehow. Well, we're going to be taking off. We're going to be going over there. We've got we've got stuff lined up with a lot of the largest distributors and some manufacturers. And we're going to be going to Fenc over there as well, one of the conventions they got there. So, it's going to be a roller coaster of a ride next week. But, we got lots to discuss on this episode. This episode's actually going to get broken up into four segments. So, uh this is going to be part one. We're also going to be talking about demo days, which is going to be coming up in April. We've got the fence cruise coming up in February. We've got a lot of exciting stuff. So, everybody stay tuned. This is part one of a four segment. So, tomorrow we're going to have another 15 minutes to share with you, but today we're going to wrap up part one. If you want to hear more about Saucer's journey over to Founders Fence, what we're going to be doing in the UK uh next week, stay tuned tomorrow, same time, same bat channel. We'll see you guys tomorrow. Love it.