IMTS
For me, the initials stood for I am Missing That Show.
But as I started thinking more deeply about this piece, I began to change my mind.
The world has changed so much since the last show in 2018. COVID killed big exhibitions for two years and they are just beginning to reconfigure themselves for a lingering COVID world. Train stations near my home are half-filled these days. Downtown Chicago has lost its allure with the threat of violence looming every evening. The Chicago Police Department cannot fill its ranks, but the Bears opening game the Sunday before IMTS is being played at Soldier Field, a stone’s throw from McCormick place. It will be filled to capacity.
I had personally decided many months ago that I wasn’t attending IMTS. It seemed like most of the folks I asked whether they were coming said “no” or “I doubt it.”
The reasons were what you might expect.
“It’s not worth the money.”
“Many of the traditional exhibitors are not showing.”
“The internet and Zoom have replaced it. I can see what I need to see on YouTube.”
“Nobody from abroad will come because of vaccination restrictions.”
These rationales are all partially valid reasons to stay home, but as I’ve thought more about it, and pulled up memories from IMTS shows in the past, I’ve decided that the show is still vital for me, even if my knees and ankles will scream for ice when I head home.
Why go?
Above it all is talking to the people. It’s a conversation with the guy from Louisville who is staying near where I live and taking the Metra train wearing his credentials. He will talk about his 20-person machine shop and the sudden influx of work from the mining industry.
It is connecting with the salesperson from Citizen who wants to show me the latest improvements in Swiss lathe machining and hopefully tell me he has been enjoying my writing for years.
It is meeting the third generation of a family I’ve done business with for 40 years. The family sold out to a private equity company a few years ago, but they still own a piece of the company and run it.
I’ll be waiting for that serendipitous moment when something totally unexpected connects with something uniquely Lloyd and 2 + 2 will equal 11. If I show up at IMTS, I know it will happen. If I save my knees and don’t challenge my bad eyes, I know I will miss that special moment that might change my life.
***
Monday night, I will attend the IMTS cocktail party and dinner downtown for the Machinery Dealers National Association (MDNA). I’m fearful I won’t recognize a lot of the attendees and many of the people I know will look terribly old. My brother Jim will be there, I imagine, who I see infrequently since we dissolved our partnership.
At the dinner in 2018, I talked to a Chicago dealer over a Coke, and it culminated in us buying a Hydromat from him a couple weeks later.
It’s IMTS. It’s a special opportunity to meet people face to face, voice to voice. You don’t get that many chances in life to do that today.
I don’t want to lose the amazing moments that I know will happen. It would be such a mistake to miss them, just because some people told me that it wasn’t worth the effort to show up.
Question: What are the best moments you’ve had at IMTS?
16 Comments
While this isn’t an answer to your question, my Dad always said that “shows don’t cost, they pay”. He is right for the same reasons you noted. Finding a supplier, a machine, a tool, a workholding fixture buried in a corner of a booth, an idea, a customer or a mere coincidence that can happen during a show can have huge benefits. He also told me that by not going, there is a 100% chance that this won’t happen.
3 things stick out in my mind attending the shows.
1) The big Mazak display they had one year with unattended machining with wire guided carts moving castings from machine-to-machine. I believe the giant cell was eventually for the Mazak plant in Kentucky. Crushed rock had to be brought in to build up the floor to place the wires that the the unmanned carts could track.
2) Talked to the guys at a massive Giddings & Lewis display with vertical boring mills. The G&L guy told me that $1 million was budgeted for IMTS and they blew thru that number before the show began.
3) Outside of the main hall was a touch-screen monitor that you call up information for restaurants and events in the Chicago area. First time I had ever seen a touch screen. I thought it was pretty nifty. Definitely a sign of things to come.
Good decision, Llyod. Face to face in-person is still the best way to understand what’s going on and make things happen. If I hadn’t attended EMO in 2005 and met one of our future partners in the magazine bar feeding business, we might have never reached our potential. Come to Edge Technologies’ booth and we’ll create some amazing moments!
I’ve worked in the manufacturing industry my entire career, and I’ve only missed 3 IMTS events in the past 30 years.
My personal highlight was taking my son in 2012. He liked it, and ultimately got a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
My youngest son had a small shop in 2012. I took him and his eyes were the size of basketballs as he walked past the past the fighter jet with the cut away in the entrance to the show. As he has serious back trouble, we walked until 4PM and he said we had to quit but he babbled about that show weeks. I doubt that either of us will get to see it again, but if our health were to get a serious rehab, don’t get between us and the doors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My favorite moment at IMTS was maybe 20 years ago when Iscar was promoting something new with a professional female body painter from Europe painting a beautiful model who was topless!
It caused such a ruckus that management made the model cover up and then allowed the rest of her demo to continue.
That aisle was continuously clogged as the word spread throughout the exhibitors.
It certainly was an effective gimmick!
Dan, it was the Chameleon branded inserts from Iscar. I will never forget that one!
They don’t do it like they used to! Booths need to be more fun these days.
Dan
That was ’98; my first trip to the show. I missed the first couple days, but when I went through there were
3 models, I think, each painted like a chameleon. Beautiful artwork, beautiful models, but the naughty bits were covered. As the culture was changing by then, pinups and such were pretty much prohibited in the shops I had been in.
I voiced my surprise to an Iscar rep standing by, and he told about the first day, the ruckus, and management
stepping in. I don’t think anyone would dare that today.
I was most impressed though by seeing a Hydromat running for the first time. Didn’t know rotary transfer was a thing. Blew me away.
I have been an active participant in working IMTS as a Distributor Sales Engineer, & Distributor Owner since 1972, only missed 2020 due to cancelation. I have watched many builders disappear, and emerging builders grow to prominence!!
I agree that Shows don’t cost, they pay!
I’ve made it to IMTS twice over the years.
I try to attend the EASTEC show up in Taxachusetts here on the east coast most years.
EASTEC show has enough to see for a day trip from NYC area.
Hop on the Port Jeff Ferry to Connecticut and straight up I-91.
On the way home, have a beer with the fellas on the Ferry to relax, recap and soothe the sore feet and legs.
Looking around my desk, I realize I haven’t been to a show in a while since I could use a new ball cap and I’m am almost out of pens…
Glad I never smoked, ’cause they don’t make nice ashtrays anymore…
😀
Regarding IMTS, y e a r s a g o, I took an engineering colleague from Germany to check out IMTS.
Turned out he knew a bunch of the European exhibitors.
And that night, one of the European servo drive motor manufacturers took us to a high end restaurant in Chi Town. We started with escargot, and I had one of the best Steak dinners I have had. After some fine wine, we had such a great time after we got them past the European formalities.
These people worked together for years and years and were not on a first name basis. I quickly explained that’s not how it is here in the Good Ole US of A.
BUT, my best Tool Show moment was at EASTEC:
Again, years ago, when I was much younger and looked like some kid, I asked about the price of a serious CNC on the show floor, trying to negotiate a deal, and was treated like I was just some sort of shop floor apprentice playing games.
Until the local rep recognized me and let everyone know I had a real shop with CNCs and was a real potential customer.
It worked out in my favor, because it made my haggling even more relentless and I got a really really great deal!
That machine is still my primary CNC and is still going strong more than 20 years later.
My favorite moment is talking with one of the legends of our industry who typically finds his way to our Marubeni Citizen booth. He may have bad eyes and failing knees, but his mind is still sharp as a tack.
As a shop owner, my favorite year is when I figured out to go unshaven, in a T-shirt and shorts. Then turn my name badge around so my name and title couldn’t be read.
Everyone left me alone so I could explore the equipment in peace!
Thumbs Up!!!
Same here
And abuse the sales people who don’t know much…
😀
Hi Kevin, Mark, two of my favorite people in the business. Both of you always connect with me when I call to plumb your vast knowledge and experience. One of the reasons I stay in the game is that men like you elevate my days when we talk. You are both special to me.
Lloyd
It is Marc not Mark. You both leave your mark.
Lloyd