International Fastener Expo 2022 – Canadian Bolt Bar

The show is over and event went by so fast, maybe it is a Vegas thing.  Between the booth setup, welcome reception, unofficial meetings at the Eye Candy bar, two days working the show, the dinners and getting things back home it was an action packed few days.  I want to thank the Fuller and Pacific Bolt teams for doing a great job working our combined booth.

In 2021 probably at a PacWest event the idea of the shared Fuller and Pacific Bolt “Canadian Bolt Bar” was born, the exact details now escape me but I expect Trevor and myself were sitting at a bar and alcohol may have been involved.  The plans were put together quite early but we decided to execute as late a possible to make it more interesting, time goes fast when you don’t pay attention.  We got it all done thanks to everyone at Fuller and Pacific Bolt working hard, the bar counter was built, designs made and modified multiple times, banners printed and the boxes constructed and painted.    We got it all done just in time to get the two pallets with shipped pretty well the last day to make it in time, even though we have done the show a few times when you don’t do it for a couple of years it just seems harder.

Monday in Vegas, we get to our booth and the setup is wrong with half the carpet missing and our pallets are not there.  Carey got there early and he managed to get that fixed, however where is our display.  Karin got on the phone and finally we found out that our pallets are in in Vegas on a truck somewhere, our 8AM delivery instructions somehow got missed and we were #5 on the delivery list.  It is supposed to arrive around 2:00pm which does not give us much time if we want to make the 6pm welcome reception.  At around 2:20 Karin gets a call from the trucker that he is here but the Freeman guys are not letting him delivery to the dock, all I hear is “Don’t leave…. I am coming there” and off we go running to the docks.  We see the truck at the other side of the loading docks and our black boxes are coming off the truck, what a relief.  We still make it to the reception if things go well.

We unload the boxes and our respective teams just got to it.  The Backdrop is put up, chairs assembled, the bar base are measured out and set up, countertop is assembled and all the little stuff is attached and set up.  It took just over 2 hours with about 8 of us to get it all done, definitely quicker than we though.  The booth is set up and looks great, the stress level is way down.  Off we go to clean up and then the welcome reception.

The first fun thing to do, after getting pretty worried that our booth was lost it was nice to just relax a bit.  Free drinks and some small snacks, how can you go wrong.  It was nice to have a chance to talk to so many colleagues and friends that we had not seen for such a long time.  I had some nice conversations and there definitely was lots of hugging going on.  We got a nice spot in the front couch to hang out, the two hours definitely went pretty quick.

After a quick dinner we ended up at Eye Candy which usually is the fastener hangout.  Again, time went very quickly with meeting so many people that you had not seen in such a long time.  Tuesday morning was getting closer quickly and it was time to get some sleep and get ready for opening day.

After dinner Karin and I went up to the room to freshen up, the plan was to go the after party at Eye Candy as usual.  I made the mistake of lying down on my bed for a minute and I was out.  At 11:30 I woke up and major FOMO set in, what good times am I missing?  The thought lasted for a second and then I just went back to sleep.

Wednesday morning, I feel great as this was probably the most sleep I ever had in Vegas and I was ready to go.  A quick breakfast sandwich and a coffee walking over to the show just in time for the opening bell.  On day one there was coffee everywhere, on day two when you really need it there was none to be had, I make a note for next year to maybe have some coffee early.  People started showing up although traffic was way down from the first day.  At 10AM the bar opened again although it was bottled beer and no breakfast cocktails, maybe we will switch that up a bit next time.  We were busy until the very end, people from the other booths started visiting us and we still had some good conversations.  The bar officially closed around 4 and we started braking up our booth.  We got it done in just about one hour which was great.  Some minor confusion with getting the pickup done but it all worked out in the end.

It was a long few days, working a trade show is hard, you try to pack everything into such a short time frame.  Everyone was really happy and we decided to go outsidethe hotel to Town Square where you can get Happy Hour $3.50 beers and some food.  We finally got to relax and just hang out, talk about the show and all the funny stuff that happened over the last couple of days.  After dinner the young ones went out for more fun, Karin and I had enough and just went back to the hotel for a quick drink at the bar and then just rest.

Thanks to Trevor, Carey, Luke and Jordan from Pacific Bolt and Angela, Brent, Carola, Karin and Samantha from Fuller as well as Kevin and everyone else at home base who helped to make this event a great success.

Hans Fuller