So I thought I should get some details about this year’s Winter Outdoor Retailer show down before they completely escape me… I’d been looking forward to the show for some time and managed to prepare a bit better this year, self-promotion-wise. For waaay too long my portfolio site had been nothing other than a single page production with a contact form and no real links to my work. Long story short, I managed to get something somewhat organized up and running before heading down to SLC to walk the aisles of the Salt Palace with my friends Dean and Eric. I also came down with a stack of postcards with my contact info and a little illustration that will hopefully be the theme of a future post.
I drove the four hours straight into town and picked up my badges before heading in and saying hi to Graham at the CiloGear booth. I’ve been helping out CiloGear for a few years with a variety of web projects and it was nice to get to meet some of the full-time crew from Portland. Making just a quick circuit though the booths in the main climbing area I picked up a handful of stickers before escaping out into the suburbs of Herriman to Dean’s house.
The next morning we met an old high school friend Eric back at the show and basically worked our way through nearly the entire main floor, checking out the goods at the various booths, talking to vendors, and handing out my postcard to folks who were interested. It was fun to watch people try to figure out the illustrations and I managed to pick up a good stack of cards from potential future clients. We dropped our business cards into as many glass fish bowls as we could find in hopes of bringing home some good schwag. At the Rock & Ice booth I managed to win the three of us each a copy of Steve House’s latest book, by answering a handful of trivia questions. I also picked up the Shepard Fairey poster for 180º South which now looks pretty sweet on my wall. They had a copy of the 180º South book at the Patagonia booth and it’s definitely going to be added to my collection once it comes out.
Friday night Dean and I went climbing at the Momentum gym south of downtown. They were having a competition that night so we had to wait a bit, but it was fun to watch a few really good climbers peel off the routes for a bit before doing the same ourselves.
Saturday afternoon we headed back into the fray and hit the smaller businesses off the main floor, picking up more samples and stickers and handing out cards. A highlight was running into Jim Bridwell and sharing my postcard – he really liked it – and it only got more interesting when I helped him figure out how to take photos with his new cell phone.
I also saw Tommy Caldwell and Timmy O’Neill, but I don’t think they needed any help with their cellphones.
Overall it was a productive weekend – catching up with friends, a handful of solid contacts for projects and collaborative efforts, and plenty of gear to look forward to…