ICCE Update

I got in late yesterday from the show.

I had a good show although I brought a couple home. I made some great contacts and made arrangements for some "continuing education" in the bear future to broaden my meager skills.

My wife and I spent some quality time, not only together, but with some dear friends at the show and afterward.

Our hotel was very nice and accommodating as was the show facilities. It was pricy but nice. One has to sell knives to enjoy such extravagance without a cloud of financial worry hanging over head. I did OK, but am concerned about next time and the ones who did not cover their show. Valet parking and tips add up pretty quick. All this said, I was impressed with our pleasant service and friendliness of the staff of both hotel and the show facility. Good food available any direction.

The show facility was nice but the maker table space was very narrow. I purchased and carried my own chairs to be able to be a little more comfortable but could not use them due to the cramped space. I heard this complaint by many who were there.

While knife collectors were there, their attendance was low, in my opinion. I appreciate every collector that came and encourage more next time. I think the advertising was weak but really dont know what all was done in that regard in the local area or how much advertising was done in publications or which ones. Perhaps I should say, the affect of the advertising was not very apparent. The crowd was about 1/3 of what I would have expected. Again, that said, I talked myself dry every day. Hardly had time to sit down. Talking is good and all part of the show and I really enjoy it, but for the purposes of this thread, I think buying was slow.

I think the supply tables to maker table ratio was about right. I picked up some stag and some other materials that I will be using.

I AM glad I went. I WANT to go again. I HOPE the buying crowd increases. Scale of 1-10.....imo the show was a 5 or 6.
 
I attended on Friday. I was coming with a little different prespective, I'm a new maker and wanted to see some of the best in the buisness work and meet them and attend the seminars (which were a maze to get to). I had no prior large scale knife show experience. I have to say thanks for all of the table holders that took the time to explain things to me, encourage me and just take the time to BS with me. I had a great time and enjoyed it very much. Now I know that dont pay the bills for you guys but I sure did appreciate it.

I would have to agree the marketing was non existant. I'm a local KC guy probably live only 15-20 minutes from the venue if I was not on the forums or Instagram I would have not know about this show. I'm not sure if that is the intent for the show to draw in locals or not I know it sure couldnt hurt to throw up a bill board or radio add or even get a couple makers on the local TV station to do a bit.

I see way more advertising for our local knife and gun show they host out by KCI airport.

I sure hope the show continues and grows.....especially since I live so close :)
 
We had a fine show, really enjoyed the hotel and area. I think its the most interesting city Ive been to at a show. It was spendy but I've spent more and made less before. I delivered a couple there and sold a couple, only brought home a slippie but also took a few orders that ensure a good show next year. Foot traffic was steady and not crowded but just enough to have some time if somebody wanted to stop and chat. There was no time for sitting down and my feet hurt but this was my favorite show to date.
To see most all of my knife maker and collector friends again was great. Some flew in from other parts of the planet to take part. Some took pictures and texted them back overseas for friends and clients. Kaye and I were invited to a private show late on Thursday night in Barry Lee Hands room complete with drinks and snacks. His bed was covered with cutlery of all shapes and sizes. A wonderful way to make new friends, makers and collectors and handle all the knives.
I suggest booking early to reserve a room in the show hotel, there were groups of enthusiasts everywhere after hours.
 
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Continued (sorry for the delay - on business travel last week) . . .

Here are a few (lousy) pics . . .

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The ICCE Awards Soiree on Thursday night before the show


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A first group of entrants for the Best Damascus Award


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A second group of entrants for the Best Damascus Award (which was won by Bill Burke for the 3rd knife from the left in this picture)


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Close-up of Ed Caffrey's folder (I had the pleasure to dine with Ed and a group of others on Friday night)


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Close-up of Jon Christensen's Damascus folder


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Another (crappy) picture of Russ Andrew's excellent Damascus & Fossil Walrus Bowie


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Another one of my favorite knives of the show, this one by Bruce Bump


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Another knife that Bruce had on his table. Can't see from my bad picture, but it is engraved and has some gold. I believe that it won Best Collaboration


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Four knives from the great Tom Overeynder's table. The second one from the left is based on his friend Joe Kious' famous "pocket locket" design which I understand he received permission from Joe's widow to make. The third one from the left was a gorgeous knife which had been carved by Amayak Stepanyan. The knife on the far right has engraved and gold inlaid dragons by Joe Mason


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Last but not least, as picture of some knives by Mike Ruth, Jr.
 
Chris Montgomery said:
Ken, I had hoped to meet you but somehow missed the chance.

. . .

Chris
Click to expand...

Chris, let's be sure to make that happen next time. I would really like that.

Chris Montgomery said:
{Two Pics Omitted}



A couple more that were outstanding from my perspective.

Chris
Click to expand...

Thanks for contributing to this thread. Your picture of Russ' knife is much better than mine.


As for the Tony Bose trapper (really, a serpentine trapper) above . . .

Yeah, I kind of liked that one too. Especially after Tony drew my name for it. :D

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For those who were not there . . .

Tony brought six knives, five of which were different types of single blade knives (one of them a swing-guard), and this one two-blade trapper, all of which were sold by a drawing using one big box. When it came time to draw on Friday afternoon, I would guess that there were maybe only about 15 people present, which is amazing when you consider all the people who attend his draw at Blade. It was a LOT of fun.
 
Ken, I had no idea that you got drawn for that lovely Bose knife. I am happy to hear that is yours. Congratulations!! As it is one of my favorite patterns, I was a bit taken by it.

Thank you for posting your images and your perspective of the show. Perhaps if you make it to Arkansas I will meet you there.

Chris
 
Some final (?) observations as a collector who actually traveled to attend the show, and see and buy knives.

What I liked:

Knives! Makers actually brought knives to show and to sell. A refreshing change from some other shows, including Blade and even in some cases, the Arkansas Show. I go to knife shows to see, and maybe purchase, custom.handmade knives. And this show provided those opportunities in spades.

The timing. There is no perfect time, but IMO this was about the best it could be. Far enough from Blade, but not too close to the holidays.

The location (Kansas City). Perfect, IMO. Nice weather; friendly; not too big or too small; centrally located; some of the best BBQ I ever ate.

The location (Downtown). Close to good restaurants; easy to get anywhere you want with Uber. I liked it.

The lineup. ABS and Guild members together in one show focused on "Custom & Handmade Knives" (which is coincidentally, the name of this forum :)).

The size. Just about right (IMO). Blade is too big and 90% of it is of little interest to me after the first time I saw it all. Maybe they could add another 20-30 makers if they could find room. Otherwise, just about right to me.


What I did not like so much:

The hotel. The room rate was quite reasonable for a downtown full-service Marriott (IMO), but they gouge you for every little other thing . . . e.g., $10/day for low bandwidth Internet ($7 more for "medium bandwidth"); $18/night self park in the garage. And worse, the rooms themselves are quite dated - as in, the 1970s. You could barely get a ghost-filled analog TV signal in my room - forget about HDTV! In 2015 at a Marriott hotel, this is just not acceptable, IMO. You could get better at a Motel Six.

The hotel. Too big and everything spread too far apart across two towers separated by a street that you cross via a covered overpass. And the signage did not help. I found it difficult to find where different things were located, and I heard others with similar comments. Maybe there is no other good option in downtown Kansas City, but at least I think the signs can be improved upon a lot.

Signage on the show floor. If there were any pillars or tall signs labeling the rows, I did not see them. Even though the room was not that large, it was still fairly difficult to find a particular maker's table.


What I Think Can Make it Better:

Beverages/Snacks. AFAIK, there was no place in the show area to get anything to drink or eat or even snack on. IMO, this is a huge missed opportunity. A cart with bottled water, sodas, juices, etc. would have done good business. Adding some snacks . . . hot dogs, chips, fruit, nachos, pre-made sandwiches, popcorn . . . whatever, would be even better. Hell, even a vending machine with water and sodas would have been nice. I know that I was not alone on this.

Local Promotion. Maybe there was more of this than I think, but I did not get the impression that a major effort was made to attract business from "walk-ins' in the Kansas City area.

Some More Makers. On a personal level, many of my favorite makers who are Guild and/or ABS members were not there. I would say that of my top 20 favorite Guild/ABS makers, probably only half were at the show. I do not think my favorites are that far out of the mainstream . . . I would guess that this would be the case for most collectors that I know. Also, I could be wrong, but it seems to me that a number of high end makers who I would have sworn used to be Guild members do not show up on their membership roster anymore for one reason or another.

More Collector Support. I would say that in general the makers did their part to make this show a success. And as a collector, on one level it was nice to have "pick of the litter" on so many nice pieces. But in the long term, no show like this can succeed without collectors who are willing to come to the show and open their wallets. So I hope that more of you will consider coming to the next show. I think you will have some fun even if you don't buy a thing. But of course if you happen to find a treasure (or three) to take home with you, then so much the better!
 
Nice synopsis. It would appear very honest and astute. :thumbup:

Thanks, Ken!
 
Ken, thanks much for putting in the time to provide us who were unable to attend with some additional insight. So important for such an important inaugural show.

Bob
 
With the hard work that it took to get this show organized and off the ground the two organizations deserve much respect and thanks. It's an event that was wished for by many for a long time. Now with the buzz being created by multiple threads here and folks talking in general I feel the future is bright and the feedback given has been with the shows best interest in mind. I have no doubt that the folks in the positions to make decisions are paying attention and will use the feedback to make the show the best that they can. I really believe that good things are coming for this show in the future.

I appreciate the hard and thankless/unpaid work that went into it and hope that nobody felt that any of the comments were intended to be disparaging. If everyone that voiced an opinion put in a little effort to promote the show it will be epic.

Chris
 
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