BLADE Show '24 Observations.

Halfneck

Halfneck

Joined
Jun 30, 2005
Messages
4,242
As usual I attended BLADE this year, as I have every year since it moved to Atlanta - advantage of living in Georgia and having friends maybe 20 minutes from the venue.

One of my friends that usually always attends with me commented that this year might be the last. Admittedly he has a bad temper, but a lot of his complaints are valid and mirror my own. The complaints have nothing to do with the knife makers & companies, but with the venue & attendees.

Parking: It seems every year the cost of parking goes up & gets more complicated. There was a $10 lot, but the line would stretch out onto S. Cobb Dr, and it fills up quickly. The other lots are $20. It used to be you could park at a nearby shopping center & walk over. You do that now you are likely to get towed. Additionally, you can't pay cash. The $10 lot you pay by card as you leave. The $20 lot the attendant hands you a card with a QRF code and you pay with your phone. My buddy has a crappy phone that would not read the code. He was about to say "F### It" and leave, but I had my son pay his parking & he just gave him $20 cash.

Ticket Admittance: My son & I had paid for our tickets online, my buddy was just going to buy a ticket that day. We went looking for where to redeem our code and get him a ticket. We found a long line stretching back from the ticket area and down some stairs. As we were thinking my buddy is going to have to wait in line, we found out that was actually for prepaid tickets. There were not enough employees with QRF scanners to verify the prepaid tickets. My son & I actually felt bad because the lady we asked about the line went ahead & scanned ours ahead of A LOT of people. This was on Friday around 11:20, we noticed a reversal in this on Saturday morning.

Venue Sales & Employees: When we got inside my buddy was in need of a drink. So, he went to one of concession stands and got a shot of bourbon & a bottle of water. He goes to pay & it was card only, no cash. As he goes to complete the transaction the 15% tip was greyed out and the lowest he could go was %18. Granted I didn't see if there was a custom option where he could put in any amount. Later in the show he went to another concession stand for a can of coke. He went to pay the lady standing there $5 and she shoved the money back and barked out "No cash" to which he threw the soda back and said "No coke!". I'm not against tipping, I worked a bartender for years, but no cash option & the attitudes of the employees I dealt with were not deserving of more than a basic tip.

Children: I'm not against kids at BLADE, that's how the next generation of knife-nuts gets born. That's how my oldest son inherited it. Most of my enjoyment of the show this year was watching him, out of college & with his own adult job money, be able to buy knives. That said, some parents need to do a better job of keeping track of their spawn. I watched a kid, maybe 5 or 6 years old, snatch a custom maker's $700+ knife off his table while his parents were almost 2 tables away. Could have ended up as an ER visit for stitches and an unexpected knife purchase.

Backpack Awareness: A lot of attendees are wearing backpacks. Be aware of where your backpack is as you navigate through the crowd. I, my son, and my buddy, got bumped into by several as the wearer would turn, or shift through the crowd. I watched one person wearing an overpacked assault pack turn back to look behind him & bump into the arm of a guy holding a maker's knife at a table. I get bringing a pack - you can carry snacks, & drinks so you don't have to pay the vendors. Maybe you have stuff in there you're looking to trade or sell. Just have the situational awareness while wearing it not to bang into the other people there.


Just my opinions from what I observed. I still love attending BLADE, getting to handle different knives, maybe make a purchase or two, and visit with friends.
 
Sounds pretty similar to my list of complaints about most venues for most events these days. :)

Happy to hear there are lots of knife lovers looking to feed the industry.
 
I haven’t been to the Blade Show in a number of years. The last time I was there traffic was horrible, I had to bribe someone for a parking space, food at the venue was impossible, and the lines getting in were long and tedious. The blade show was great but the venue can’t handle the capacity.

N2s
 
I’ve never been to Blade Show but I have been to Shot Show in Vegas. The company I work for has a booth there every year and I went last year to help out. Everything described above sounds exactly like Shot Show. It’s definitely hard to enjoy everything when the crowds are so big and everyone has no spacial awareness.
 
The parking thing was kinda ridiculous. On Cumberland Mall's website it says open public parking, but Saturday the mall cops decided to enforce a "if you leave mall grounds you will be towed." I walked over for lunch, they asked if I was parked in the mall lot, I said "maybe, you'll never know...." (I wasn't parked there, but whatever.) It used to be that hotels offered a shuttle service, but that has evidently stopped.
 
Halfneck said:
As usual I attended BLADE this year, as I have every year since it moved to Atlanta - advantage of living in Georgia and having friends maybe 20 minutes from the venue.

One of my friends that usually always attends with me commented that this year might be the last. Admittedly he has a bad temper, but a lot of his complaints are valid and mirror my own. The complaints have nothing to do with the knife makers & companies, but with the venue & attendees.

Parking: It seems every year the cost of parking goes up & gets more complicated. There was a $10 lot, but the line would stretch out onto S. Cobb Dr, and it fills up quickly. The other lots are $20. It used to be you could park at a nearby shopping center & walk over. You do that now you are likely to get towed. Additionally, you can't pay cash. The $10 lot you pay by card as you leave. The $20 lot the attendant hands you a card with a QRF code and you pay with your phone. My buddy has a crappy phone that would not read the code. He was about to say "F### It" and leave, but I had my son pay his parking & he just gave him $20 cash.

Ticket Admittance: My son & I had paid for our tickets online, my buddy was just going to buy a ticket that day. We went looking for where to redeem our code and get him a ticket. We found a long line stretching back from the ticket area and down some stairs. As we were thinking my buddy is going to have to wait in line, we found out that was actually for prepaid tickets. There were not enough employees with QRF scanners to verify the prepaid tickets. My son & I actually felt bad because the lady we asked about the line went ahead & scanned ours ahead of A LOT of people. This was on Friday around 11:20, we noticed a reversal in this on Saturday morning.

Venue Sales & Employees: When we got inside my buddy was in need of a drink. So, he went to one of concession stands and got a shot of bourbon & a bottle of water. He goes to pay & it was card only, no cash. As he goes to complete the transaction the 15% tip was greyed out and the lowest he could go was %18. Granted I didn't see if there was a custom option where he could put in any amount. Later in the show he went to another concession stand for a can of coke. He went to pay the lady standing there $5 and she shoved the money back and barked out "No cash" to which he threw the soda back and said "No coke!". I'm not against tipping, I worked a bartender for years, but no cash option & the attitudes of the employees I dealt with were not deserving of more than a basic tip.

Children: I'm not against kids at BLADE, that's how the next generation of knife-nuts gets born. That's how my oldest son inherited it. Most of my enjoyment of the show this year was watching him, out of college & with his own adult job money, be able to buy knives. That said, some parents need to do a better job of keeping track of their spawn. I watched a kid, maybe 5 or 6 years old, snatch a custom maker's $700+ knife off his table while his parents were almost 2 tables away. Could have ended up as an ER visit for stitches and an unexpected knife purchase.

Backpack Awareness: A lot of attendees are wearing backpacks. Be aware of where your backpack is as you navigate through the crowd. I, my son, and my buddy, got bumped into by several as the wearer would turn, or shift through the crowd. I watched one person wearing an overpacked assault pack turn back to look behind him & bump into the arm of a guy holding a maker's knife at a table. I get bringing a pack - you can carry snacks, & drinks so you don't have to pay the vendors. Maybe you have stuff in there you're looking to trade or sell. Just have the situational awareness while wearing it not to bang into the other people there.


Just my opinions from what I observed. I still love attending BLADE, getting to handle different knives, maybe make a purchase or two, and visit with friends.
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The parking was insane the first day. We waited in line forever to park only for the garage to fill up. It was probably 30 mins latet we actually got to park. On the plus side we did get to see a cyber truck which was pretty cool.
 
Halfneck said:
It used to be you could park at a nearby shopping center & walk over. You do that now you are likely to get towed.
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How can they enforce this? I saw mention of this policy before the show and I wondered how the police could track it. Even if they were trying to watch every car that parked and where the drivers walked to, just walk into the mall first, and then go out the other side and over the pedestrian bridge.
navman said:
It used to be that hotels offered a shuttle service, but that has evidently stopped.
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The Sonestra hotel that I stayed at was running a shuttle. I only used it once though.
 
These are examples of technology failures. When previously ordinary tasks become too burdensome to fathom and endure. With respect to ordinary consumer transactions, technology has failed and will continue to fail as complexity increases. In many cases, technology and the way that ordinary consumers engage it, has exceeded optimal complexity, such that the costs in too many cases exceed the benefits. For example, it took my brother 2 hours to complete an online change of address with his pharmacy the other day. A superior technology would involve a phone call to a person who could have pulled his papers from a metal file cabinet and manila folder and made the change in pencil or ink. That would have taken about 3 minutes and would have rendered greater satisfaction for my brother (consumer). Technology must be made to serve humans, not the other way around. If technology inconveniences me, it has failed. A technology failure! Get used to the term.
 
The "inconvenience test" is my standard for assessing the utility of a technological innovation. I do not buy objects or encounter technological phenomenon for the purpose of being inconvenienced. Unless the benefits of the marginal inconvenience exceed the costs, of course.
 
Dutch87 said:
How can they enforce this? I saw mention of this policy before the show and I wondered how the police could track it. Even if they were trying to watch every car that parked and where the drivers walked to, just walk into the mall first, and then go out the other side and over the pedestrian bridge.

The Sonestra hotel that I stayed at was running a shuttle. I only used it once though.
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Part of the issue on parking came about after they built the nearby Braves Stadium. This caused every business in the area to become hyper-vigilant about parking. At $20 to park you're almost better off using Uber or Lyft if you're not staying too far away.

And I forgot to address another issue in my original post

Vendor Passes: It used to be the vendors got passes to hand out to friends, family, customers. Not only did this get you in early on Friday, but you also got in FREE. After a few years of that, you then had to pay - though it was less. Then it was about the same cost-wise, but at least you got in early on Friday. Then you no longer got in early. Then this year they severely cut-back to the number of passes they gave out. Normally I'd get a pass through Spyderco, or occasionally one of the knife makers I'm friends with. This year no one had any extra it seemed.

Basically, it just seems like the venue is getting greedy.

Again, I love BLADE show - it's like a knife-themed holiday for me. If you've never been I highly recommend it.
 
For large venues with concessions that are spread out have a lot less loss by using credit cards only. No employes skimming the till or someone strong arm taking the till. Also less liability insurance.
 
Tjstampa said:
For large venues with concessions that are spread out have a lot less loss by using credit cards only. No employes skimming the till or someone strong arm taking the till. Also less liability insurance.
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I’m waiting for the day when some kid uses his own phone app to charge the card and they skim that way. I could definitely see that happening in a paid parking lot situation where there is no real product being sold.
 
navman said:
The parking thing was kinda ridiculous. On Cumberland Mall's website it says open public parking, but Saturday the mall cops decided to enforce a "if you leave mall grounds you will be towed." I walked over for lunch, they asked if I was parked in the mall lot, I said "maybe, you'll never know...." (I wasn't parked there, but whatever.) It used to be that hotels offered a shuttle service, but that has evidently stopped.
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It was really bad this year. We pulled up Saturday morning early in my friend's truck into that shopping center parking lot across from the Galleria, and we drove over to the entrance to that covered bridge that crosses over to the Galleria. The entire lot was nearly empty because it was like 9:00AM. We immediately see neon vested security personnel stationed all throughout that main parking lot, and understand immediately who they're looking for. So, we high-tailed back over to the covered parking garage next to that big store, and parked there. We come walking up (all of us are wearing backpacks and knife brand shirts, it's no secret where we were headed) and one of the security guards steps up and asks where we parked. We said "Uber driver dropped us off" and we continue walking and I, at the back of our pack of four guys, hears this security nitwit radio ahead to the two guards guarding that bridge entrance like "Four males in backpacks, they said they were dropped off" like we were an advancing party cleared for a high security area, instead of just some dudes walking through an effing parking lot. That rubbed me the wrong way, but I did feel better knowing we parked there for free and they couldn't do anything about it because we weren't obvious about it. Walked around all day, came back to the truck, and we left.
 
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