With the NYC Pen Show a fond memory, we are in the stages of planning next year. I know, you are thinking “is she crazy, it is only a week since the close of 2002”. Well, it is not too early. Remember we are in New York where something is always happening. The dates for the next show have to be firmed up immediately otherwise we won’t have them.

On Monday morning after the show the first stop is in the Helmsley Sales Office to check availability of dates for September 2003. We were able to secure September 19, 20 and 21, 2003. Now we can breathe a sigh of relief and go home to crash from the activities of the past weekend. As most of you already know, the New York City Pen Show was born out of the National Pen Show in Somerset, New Jersey. The original show was the vision George Schneider and Stuart Fischler some 15 years ago and sold to Berliner Pens along the way. Two years ago it was offered for sale and Steve and I bought the rights to the show from Berliner Pens, with the intention of bringing it to New York. Everyone said it could not be done, that others have tried and it is just impossible to host a show in New York City. They were wrong. New York is an unyielding place to negotiate in.

Last year, 2001, was our first show and we hosted it at the Hilton Hotel, a wonderful location. We were booked solid, with over 160 tables sold and actually had to contract for an additional room to accommodate all of the vendors that wanted to be part of the first New York City Show. We were elated and excited and the dates were nearing, September 28, 29 and 30th, 2001.

You know the rest. The City was attacked, the two most precious and prominent buildings were literally erased from the landscape. We had to make a decision, cancel the show or go forward. It was a very hard decision to make. We made it, the show went on, and most of the vendors came and supported us. There were even those who had not planned on coming to New York, called and asked if they could join us and be a part of this show. We welcomed all and together got through an awful time in New York and the country’s history.

When the show was over and we tried to talk with the Hilton Hotel for dates for the following year, they would not commit to dates prior to 6 months before the show. We were taken aback. We could not wait that long for a commitment. If they sold our space to someone else, then we would have little or no opportunity to find another location. We had several meetings with the Hilton but they stood their ground, we were just not large enough. Now we must find a new hotel for the 2002 pen show. After weeks of telephone calls and visits to various hotels we were fortunate to secure the New York Helmsley Hotel. The location was great, the hotel was beautiful, the exhibit space was strangely laid out and a bit too small, but workable and started negotiations with them. It was the best decision we could have made. No, the hotel is not ideal, but the General Manager, the Banquet Manager and the Sales Manager are all outstanding people to deal with, accommodating and approachable. They were willing and still are to listen to our needs, help us with the details and accommodate the group in every way they could. The space consisted of a large ballroom, with a smaller room attached and three separate meeting rooms on the other side of the floor. How would we make this work for us? We were renting every available space on the third floor. That would give us use of the hallway too. If we filled the hallway with vendors then the attendees would stroll through all of the rooms and it would work. With 160 tables reserved last year and room for only 120 tables this year, it seemed workable.

We spent weeks negotiating with the hotel for the $149 room rate (a bargain in NYC) and more even more meetings for the floor rental. New York is an expensive place to arrange a conference and that is what we were attempting to do. We had to guarantee a certain amount of rooms to the hotel, then we had to guarantee a certain amount of money to the banquet department, we knew the drill as we had the same constraints at last years show. We started calling all of the vendors who came to the 2001 show and asked if they were planning to join us again. Most answered in the affirmative and we contracted with the hotel, confident that we would sell out and the space would work.

The show just ended this weekend. It was a success, with good attendance, and a good flow in the space. There were 90 plus tables sold. Luckily, those who committed were an even mix of vintage and new pen dealers and the variety and quality of the writing instruments and memorabilia on hand was outstanding. Many of the dealers and vendors that had verbally committed following the 2001 show would not attend this show. The economy was suffering, business was down and expenses were high. The room rate of $149 is only $20 a day more than the next highest show (the Los Angeles Pen Show held at the Manhattan Beach Marriott).

Now, Steve and I were knee deep into trying to make the expenses more palatable, i.e. discount parking for vendors and attendees, discount coupons for events, restaurants and shopping, locating and listing restaurants in all price ranges. It was a lot of leg work, and we finally were able to negotiate with a parking garage near the hotel for overnight discount parking, and the New York City & Co., convention center was very helpful and set up a meeting with American Express who supplied us with a list of discounts to be used during the course of the show dates. We also contracted with the hotel to have a wonderful breakfast (just ask anyone who attended) for both exhibitors and all access pass holders on both Saturday and Sunday. We felt this would dissipate some of the cost of attending. After badgering and begging food services at the hotel to offer a reasonable lunch package, the hotel offered a boxed lunch at $20.00 per person, while expensive, it was reasonable for a hotel, especially in New York.

The next hurdle was allocating funds for advertising. As you might know, advertising is vital to the success of a show and we had contracted with Pauline Russell who was our publicist. She is amazing and works very hard, but New York is not any other city and making the papers, or TV in a city that host’s event after event is next to impossible. It is sometimes hard to remember that to the rest of the world, we are a small niche group. We advertised in some of the major papers and also in the New York Law Journal and the N.Y. Press, PenWorld Magazine and Penna Magazine. Unfortunately, the production of the PENnant fell behind schedule and we were unable to place a show ad or flyers in their recent mailing. The advertising paid off with a steady flow of attendees all three days. Our goal today is to start early with advertising and increase ads as time grows near the show dates.

Steve and I have read the reviews of the show, spoken to most if not all of the vendors and received many phone calls from those who were present and it is agreed that the show was a success, will grow and continue to grow with time. New York City has the largest pool of potential show attendees bar none, in the entire world. It also attracts collectors and exhibitors, as it is lovingly referred to as “The Capital of the World”. Yes, it is expensive to run a show in New York, yes it is a lot of leg work, a lot of negotiations, at lot of concessions; and yes, it is the only show held within the confines of a large city, and in the end it could be one of the largest and most respected combination new and vintage pen show.

If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to contact us. We are interested in anything anyone of you has to say regarding the show and how you think it could be improved upon.