Ready for Year Two
As I enter my second year at the helm, I embrace LDI. While I used to attend just to have drinks with all the long lost friends from the business, I now embrace a whole lot of new friends, They are called marketing people. For years I barely knew they existed. I kept my distance from them other than giving out an occasional interview. Nowadays I converse with at least 20 of these folks per day and it’s just another network of people to work with. I like them all, even the ones that took a job without having knowledge of how to spell.
Doing PR work for a company trying to peddle lighting gear is not easy. Heck, peddling gear is not easy unless you have that proverbial silver tongue. But marketing guys, they have to put out press releases on their products almost daily. If somebody buys four BMFL’s, I got a girl who’s gonna let me know about it. There’s some new Chauvet product lighting a bridge, I heard about it six months ago. And get updated regularly. If there’s a cruise ship out there that does not have 20 tons of Elation Gear decorating it, they need a new marketing guy, ‘cause I haven’t heard about it.
I’m looking forward to next week when I hit Vegas. I get to hang with my friend Terry Lowe. He’s the cat that hired me, owns this fine magazine. He allows me to ramble on and keep talking to all you folks out there. I’ve known this guy for ten years, but it wasn’t until we had a few beverages in Europe this year that we realized we got along like old army buddies. Same goes out with catching up with the vendors themselves.
Making It All Happen
It’s funny how so many of these entrepreneurs are similar in personalities. They all have huge egos — which you need to run a large company and be the number-one salesman. But at the same time, the majority of these folks are great people who I can hang out with outside of the business. They know that I’m not a typical editor (I admit I’m whacked), yet they still choose to remain my friend. I like to think it’s not because I can do them a favor or vice versa. It’s because our business is one that breeds happy people.
As I walk the floor of LDI next week I will see tons of you. I think LDI is different from all the other lighting conventions. This is the ONE. The one we all strive to attend. Not just because every piece of technology worthy of a look is in the house, but because our real friends are as well. And of course the Parnelli Awards, don’t want to miss the chance to rub elbows with you there. So all you marketing folks and vendors of gear keep an eye out for the jolly fat editor with the camera roaming the aisles. Pull me aside and show me what ya got. I want to know you and whatever gear you’re hawking.
For Nook’s introduction to the Oct. 2015 issue of PLSN, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy9wzjlEqc4
