Ep.212 w/Lyn Lake-Show Promoter "Putting on a card show"

Transcript

all right happy to have this next Gentleman on the sports card shop at Moco the guest line I've known him many

many years uh he's a busy guy he just did a relocation as well and he's the

promoter of the shows I do here I call my home shows uh here in Syracuse uh

happy to be joined by Mr Lynn Lake Lynn welcome thanks John pleasure to be here thanks

for having me yeah no no problem we just uh you know we just uh completed or you

just completed I just showed up and and got to sell a few things but uh the the collectors Fest the mega show uh number

85 huge show you're the biggest one uh you do uh each year it's kind of a a

combination of Not Just Sports Cards but toys games and almost anything uh

collectible you did a great job bringing in uh attractions with the uh Ghostbusters car uh car I saw some Star

Wars folks rolling around walking around Storm Troopers R2D2 I almost felt like I

was on the set of a new movie um you know uh SGC in in you know

coordination with both of us allowed me to bulk sub uh and that was that debuted

uh at this show uh as well but uh you know one thing I want to talk talk about

you Lynn that's that's a bigger show right your biggest but even your other shows at 110 tables right this people

think you know you just you unlock the doors and that's all you do and and

collect admission uh and and as someone who's done a few shows as a promoter

nothing on par with the likes of you but thinks it's easy uh and I think we both

know me more from the dealer side of the table um that it's not as easy kind of I'll

talk a little bit about that talk about the show that you you just put on and all that good stuff

sure well we started promoting shows back in 1986 my senior year in high

school and I was part of a baseball card collecting Club in Cortland New York and

they were looking at doing a show and I was doing taking a business class and I had to write a business plan on how to

create a business so I decided to do it on running a baseball card show and that's kind of how we got started after

that first show The unfortunately the card club didn't really continue we lost

some members so I decided to continue doing shows and that's when CNY promotions was formed Central New York

promotions and so the collectors Mega show that we just had we do it every December it's our largest show we

combine as you said the sports memorabilia side along with our toys and comics and gaming and we had 248 tables

we had over a thousand people through the door which is our third largest show that we've had in attendance

um and uh it had a tremendous response I think not only from the vendors uh most of the vendors said they had a

tremendous show and we brought a variety of different things in we have Lawrence Mountain from Syracuse legend that came

in and signed autographs and we had a baseball author there from the wrote a book about the Utica blue socks

um we had you there uh hosting with SGC uh taking cards to be graded which was

awesome something we've never done at our shows we've tried to get uh some grading companies there but it's tough

now because it cost them a lot to travel yeah and they really want to do the real big shows the Nationals or the big

Regional shows and I get that for us that's our channel is big but it's not

big for them so by having SGC represented there through you was a great attraction and of course we also

had the Ghostbuster car and a Tardis and we had several uh comic book artists there and uh it was a really really good

really good attraction um our our regular shows uh collectors Fest which is 110 tables in our Toy Fest

which is also 110 tables it's a little bit smaller show but we still get a decent crowd so back in March of this

year we had Devin Singletary from the Buffalo Bills there and we had over 800 people through the door which is great

when we don't really have a big name guest or an autographed guest we usually average between 350 to 500 people

depending on the weather in the season um and then back in April we had Eric

dievendorf former Su player as well and we've had some other guests um we there

are other shows in New York state that bring in real big names and bring in 10 15 20 guests My Philosophy is I think

that that's for my shows that's too much because it takes a lot of money away from the vendors and the vendors are a

big part of the show and they're the attraction as well so this way you know we bring in one guest maybe two leave

some money in the pocket for the collectors so that they can spend at the vendor tables also meet somebody and get an autograph

um as far as planning shows it's I've already started planning for 2023.

um I have all my shows are at the New York State Fairgrounds so I'm competing against other show dates as well to try

to lock in a building so the dates that I had this year two of them I couldn't get the same weekends next year because

uh somebody else beat me to it and signed up you know and I started planning my shows for next year back in

May of this yeah 4203. um other things that are involved is you

know the building comes as a shell you've got to rent tables and chairs and set them up and tear them down uh

insurance insurance is very costly um advertising advertising has changed

so much over the years you know we do a lot with social media but we also do direct emails and direct mailings from

the people who come to our shows so these are people we know that have been to the shows and so we do direct messaging to them

um and then we do a coupon where they bring back their flyer or their email to get a dollar off admission that that

helps track you know where people are finding our information so it does take a lot of planning like you said you

don't just show up and unlock the doors and boom everybody's there it's it's months and months of planning

yeah and I'm I'm glad you touched on some of that stuff Lynn because people you know and and and and and their

defense right it's not necessarily their job to know all this stuff but I do think people sometimes who attend shows

don't realize you know all the work and and and you know Logistics and and stuff uh that

uh go into putting on the show like you said uh you have to plan that far in advance for the following year while

you're doing putting out shows in the current year and even even then you're not guaranteed like like you said to to

get always the dates you want you know uh for those who aren't from Syracuse uh

they won't uh uh I'll Enlighten them if you're from Syracuse this isn't breaking news but obviously like you said you

have it on the the fairgrounds property that's where the New York State Fair is held every year uh for I believe like 14

or 16 days uh you know in the summer so uh you know those dates are obviously

off the table and uh and dates around it too right even though that's when the fair is actually going on uh they have

to get that set up and if you take you know a 248 table shows hard to have you

ever been to New York State Fair you realize the work that has to go on so that starts even probably uh as even

setting things up not the planning the planning like you say probably years in advance but even for the fair uh months

in advance as far as putting uh installing different things and getting you know that property ready for

millions of people or you know million people and 14 to 16 days of events and

shows and and you know vendor setups and all that stuff that goes with it so

that's you know I sometimes they hear people complain like why why isn't there more summer shows or around these dates

and and those are some some of the reasons why right then you get into the winter season which has really just

begun you're you know you're in New Mexico now and I'm you're not getting the white stuff we we are here when uh

you know which I'm sure maybe you missed it a little bit for probably probably not not too much so

um you know so it's it's then you got winner right and you got dealers you and

you I'll let you speak to this you know deal I'm fortunate I live 4.5 miles from

the fairgrounds so I'm a bad example but you got dealers traveling in from hours away if not uh further some may stay

even in in hotels so there's it's easy for me to say hey do a show in January

or February you know um because I don't have to travel much but you know winners in central New York

can be depending on the year can be uh harsh and uh and uh you know people

don't always like the you know as long as people live here they always complain about temperature so when it gets cold

people don't always like to come out so having a show in the winter um is not as easy or maybe as successful

as people would would you know present it to be I I know I rambled on there

just a little bit you know touching on what I said like dealers traveling in in those those summer and winter dates and

you know you're working against someone else's schedule we did try a couple of Summer shows and

they just didn't do well summers are in Central New York are so short with kids in school and going off to college and

they start earlier in August and um you want to spend as much time as you can Outdoors or vacationing and they

just didn't do well so we decided to stick with just the uh fall and spring times we did do some you know their very

first one at the fairgrounds was in February it was February 2nd of 1990 we had 3 200 people through the door

um and we didn't have any autographed guests and that was our first big one we have done smaller shows throughout and there wasn't really a lot of big shows

in Upstate New York down by the city there were but so we gave it a try and it was it went

awesome and then it just kind of took off from there we tried this summer right after that brought in a couple wrestlers Tony Atlas and George The

Animal Steele and a couple others and the attendance just wasn't great so we decided after that just to stick with

fallen in springtime because in central New York you just never know what the weather's going to be like yeah heck

it's springtime some I remember it snowed in in on Mother's Day uh one year so I joke Syracuse is the only city you

can use your air condition and your heater potentially in the same 24-hour uh time span so uh that's that that'll

describe the weather for for anyone that doesn't know you you had mentioned that I now live in New Mexico I've moved out here back in

May of this summer basically to be closer to family my daughter and grandsons live out here we wanted to be

closer to them but I still plan on doing the shows I've been doing them since 1986 and I still have uh plans to do in

uh 2023 I have seven shows planned between collectors Fest Toy Fest and the mega show so I'll still be traveling

back uh to New York to do those shows and I still have roots in central New York yeah and that's one thing I want to say

you know when I when you send out that email you know to all the vendors kind of uh making us aware of your move and

that it was still going to be business as usual well the first thing you read when someone's moving from New York to

New Mexico that's quite a jot right he's like the future to show right what's

happening is this uh is this saying hey this has been a great run but I'm I'm

moving on to some other things you know uh and then as obviously you read it more and you realize like uh you're

still gonna do it and being well and then I was thinking that you know I wasn't sure I remember getting a letter

I'm like okay it's going to do it from New Mexico I didn't realize you were coming in each time which is which is

really cool I thought you were just gonna like try to do it remotely and I'm I was thinking man that that's going to

be I I gotta you know curiosity I'm like can you pull that off but you know uh

you there is a lot of stuff that goes into setting up uh the room or the building uh with tables and having that

all uh you know designing it right you you know you use uh multiple buildings

in the fairgrounds depending on on the show so you have to sort of accommodate

and re you know redesign the the floor plan and who's is going to be aware now

you know I'm a dealer right you got everyone uh always wants it their way so now you got

different egos maybe hey can I be here I didn't like it there I need to move and

and so you're dealing with all these gears you know speaking of it you know speak to kind of the vendors and the

dealers some of those things you encounter and and also how far do something like for me I'm close but for

some of the other guys I set up with where are some of these dealers even coming in from the to come here to

Syracuse and set up sure all over New York State we have some vendors from

Pennsylvania and Massachusetts that do come in um even up far up north I've moved from

the Potsdam New York area and there's two vendors that came from farther north uh from there that come down and do the

show so it's uh it's great that you get that variety I mean each show we do have

we do have a lot of the same vendors each show but then we also do get a variety of new ones

um when you were talking about the the building and the show so what gets challenging is one of the same I do the Toy Fest on a Saturday and then the very

next day I do the collector's Fest on the same weekend so we set up the building on Friday and then we do the

collector The Toy Fest on Saturday and we do have about a dozen vendors that do both shows they do have product

that meets the uh for what the clientele is looking for the collectors are looking for it each one but then you're

moving out the toy vendors on Saturday night and a lot of toy vendor or the sports uh vendors want to move in

Saturday night and into Sunday so the table configuration stays the same but you are moving some things around where

vendor had three tables and then the collector Fest vendor that's coming in has two in one

um so there is some change over so that that makes for a really long weekend and then usually by 6 a.m Monday morning I'm

on a flight back West to get back home so it makes makes for a long weekend but it's it's it's something I enjoy and

it's a lot of fun to do and you know I get a chance to meet a lot of nice people collector-wise and vendor wise

um yeah no doubt speak you don't have to you don't have to sell anybody out but you

know vendor wise how often do you have a dealer someone like myself or someone else

either complain or want to be moved next show or hey if I don't have a different

location I'm not I'm not coming or accommodation like how how much of that

you know is it always smooth or do you ever have you know different things that pop up like that it pops up so I try to

send a survey out after every show to get feedback from the vendors this past show I had 98 vendors set up at it and I

only got four responses back from my uh you know questionnaire to get feedback from people but a lot of times people

come up to me and say Hey you know I like your show but where I was just didn't work for me can I uh can it be

somewhere else or I have a vendor that has the exact same product as being next to me can I be moved you know of course

everybody wants to be near the front door but not everybody can be um so you try to you try to accommodate

everybody and then you want everyone certain people want electricity electricity is only available around the outside walls there's they're not in the

islands um so it's you try to do your best I send a questionnaire before each show to

say hey what you know do you need uh do you want your tables in a straight line do you want um electricity uh where do you want to

be set up any special request and for the most part it it works out you try your best and then if I can't I try to

reach out to the vendor and said hey I know you request did this but I can't I can't meet it for this reason and and

let them know ahead of time so there's no surprises the morning of the show yeah and again I really wanted you to

touch on that just so so people get to understand the process there's you know you're you're working on two sides of

the table in a sense right you got collectors you're you're uh responsible for putting on a good event and then you

have the other side of the table uh with the vendors and it's it's tough to win uh the whole room but uh you know and

like you said you know dealers are traveling in from from out of state as well as uh you know even far distances

within New York state so there's a lot that you you know you're responsible for and you're trying to you know uh be

accountable to uh you know you spoke about autographed guests and uh you know

when I remember when you first started it was pretty one it was almost at least one if not multiple uh at every show

um and then I you know I don't want to speak for you you can correct me if I'm wrong I think you know back then you know compared to

prices nowadays to to get those uh things accomplished is a lot different I

think uh the autograph industry sort of uh boomed Crescendo to uh as well and

and you know players and and retired athletes uh you know those prices to

have them come out uh go up and you know it's not just paying them you know to

sign autographs you've got to get them uh there unless they're already local to Syracuse there's there's travel involved

to to bring those uh you know athletes or celebrities uh uh in so uh and then I

know you know you kind of went away from that and understandably so but you again like you've talked about you've recently

uh kind of brought brought some guys uh back in and it's not you know it's nice

to see a game kind of talk about the Dynamics of an autographed guest for for a promoter

sure um back when we were doing the autograph guess more frequently

um back then the the prices were a lot cheaper and more affordable and then all of a sudden I wouldn't I don't want to

say all of a sudden but then they started doing more shows downstate down by the city where they were paying more

uh to appear at the shows or getting more money to appear at the shows and then all of a sudden they realized hey I

can get this amount of money so then they were charging us Upstate more money

and it wasn't uh in a price realm where we could afford to do it and we had a couple miles in the central New York

area that that are no longer open that would sponsor bringing in some former Yankee players and offer free autographs

so if the mall can do it why can't CNY promotions do it or XYZ promoter do it well the models have a little bit more

deeper pockets they might be getting a sponsor or somebody to do it um so it does change

um I did have uh the opportunity um we had Stone Cold Steve Austin uh do a

private signing with us it was the day after he won the heavyweight championship belt and he was in Syracuse

doing a Monday Night Raw TV taping and so we were able to get him into a a

signing the only thing that cost us for him was a hotel room and then we paid him by piece for signing autographs

um we've had other Yankee players and then I've had some people uh Hall of Frames has brought in a player and 24 7

is brought in a player um and they've uh uh brought him into the

show and we've provided the uh the space for them and uh the advertising and then

they keep all the money from the autographs and uh and do the mail order and stuff like that so we we've offered

that opportunity as well but autographed players you know players appearances even non-sports is getting real popular

um from TV actors um to sign you know coming in and signing autographs and uh their prices

aren't cheap either and you got to pay for the their airfare in their hotel you're hoping that that they don't have

another obligation that comes up for that they're contractual for uh for their TV for TV you know taping or

movies or whatever they're getting into so it's it can be challenging luckily for the most part I think I only had one

or two that had to cancel at the last minute or no shows way back when um because those things do happen but

yeah we stopped doing it because we started losing money at it and the prices got to the point where it was

just too high so we decided that you know not not to do it any longer because I work I work 50 plus hours a week by a

full-time job and trying to do web you know mail orders and and do all that and have stuff on the line it's just it's

very time consuming and for those that can those promoters that can do it you know God bless them and you know that

works for them but for CNY promotions right now that just doesn't work for us yeah and you make a great point right

you can lose money on these deals based on some what these costs are right and and where do the car costs have to be

like passed on to it's it's the consumer right so you can get player a superstar

and pay whatever that fee might be but then you gotta uh you know pass that on

to the consumer you you know you paid more now I gotta ask this is it do I

want to do that and you made a great Point too right the more that goes to the autographed side of the house the

most likely less going to uh you know sales at the table so you got to find

that that balance and even getting an autographed guest right there's no

guarantee how many uh you know autograph tickets uh will will sell so you it you

can lose almost before they get there uh you know it's it's is a lot more risk involved I think with

the autographed guest uh type of deal than just the show itself and so you

gotta you gotta be smart you got to be strategic and think about what's this going to cost or what's this going to

cost the consumer and is it worth it for for everybody right myself the celebrity

the athlete and the people you know the people attending uh my shows there's a

lot of Gears uh right there the only guarantee money is to the guests that he

or she is guaranteed to get x amount of dollars and regardless if you sell one autograph or 100 autographs or whatever

but the guest gets paid ahead of time and then it's your job to try to make that money back which doesn't always

work yeah yeah no doubt so uh I you know like you said you've kind of done it a

little bit more again recently I think the the attendees of the show like that

I even and speaking from the Dealer's side I I I like it because it you know it brings more people through the door

right and that's I mean that's that's what a card show uh is should be about

right for for everyone uh involved so you know you spoke about how you got

into into show promotion I'm gonna put you a little bit uh you know

on the hot not the hot seat but put your uh catch you off guard do you remember your very first show do you remember

like the details were you nervous were you like scrambling like wanting it to

go well can you you know share as much of from the first show you've ever you ever put on and what you can remember

yeah it was 1986 it was at the cortlandville mall in Cortland New York um it was in a little strip mall and we

had Johnny mines there we uh through the baseball card club and uh we I had gone

to a couple of other shows in the central New York area um just to kind of see what they were about and to try to solicit vendors you

know social media wasn't what it is now back in 1986 so it was going to shows

and you know typing up on a typewriter or uh you know you know the old-fashioned computers a flyer and you

didn't have the graphics and stuff so it was it was different than than it was now trying to find vendors and and

whatnot but uh I remember it was a good experience I left a good taste in my mouth and wanting to you know try it

some more so we uh we started doing a monthly show uh in the fruit we called the first Sunday show in Ithaca New York

we did a bi-monthly show in Cortland we went up to the Auburn Finger Lakes mall we we did a show in Watertown

um so that's kind of where we kind of called it Central New York promotions because they were all in central New York and that started in 1986 and then

late 1989 uh there wasn't really any big shows going on it really Drew people

from all over so we did our first show at the fairgrounds and we sold about 150

tables I think it was and we had an incredible response just for and we just did one day I have a lot

of people ask why don't you do two-day shows and so I look at you know when we do a small show in one day and we get

350 400 450 500 people if you did two days are you really getting more people

or are you just taking that 500 and dividing it by the two days yeah but you're doubling your expense uh you've

got another day of uh rental for the building and the chairs and tables and and everything else so it doesn't really

change much and so we uh we just did you know done one day and the collector's

Mega show we did from 9 30 to 3 and by Court by 2 30 three almost three o'clock

the building I wouldn't say cleared right out but there wasn't as many people in there because they all came early

um and that's what we're finding a lot of people are coming early on and we've been lucky all three of our fall shows

the Buffalo Bills have not played on that Sunday yeah the Thursday night game Sunday night

game or Monday night game so that that plays a lot into it hope you know if you're not a Bills fan but you've got

you know you follow other teams do you you're gonna you know you're gonna come early and that's why we started our

shows at 9 30. and uh that plays into effect yeah no doubt not while I'm not a Bill's

friend I know we conversated at the last show um if the bills are at home and at like

a normal time slot you know one 1 30 hits at the show and we live in a heavy

bills area it kind of clears out so when you get those uh nice breaks I'll call

them you know or good bounce right where the the bills have already played on a Thursday night or they're not scheduled

to play Monday night or they're scheduled for Sunday Night Football where all times when the show's uh not

going on I always I I you know I don't know if I'm imagining it but you can you

sort of can feel and see uh the difference uh there and if they won if they played Thursday night and they won

that game right uh those those fans are coming to the show maybe in a better mood and and spending a little bit uh

more money uh as as well so you've done this you know

doing something quick Matt you've done this 37 uh basically 37 years a year

does I mean is it does it get easier or is this just each new iteration kind of

present new new obstacles new challenges the shows have definitely changed um

pre-covet and then definitely after covet um yeah like I mentioned earlier when I

first started there wasn't the uh the social media and the internet you know now we used to do a lot of newspaper

advertising and if uh somebody's listening on here that works at a newspaper I apologize but newspaper

advertising just doesn't work for me any longer it's uh they just don't uh have

the paper every day and you gotta hope someone reads it and it's very expensive so we do a lot of paid advertising on

social media and that that has really helped we did uh paid advertising uh for

this last show um in the Buffalo Market Rochester market Syracuse Market Binghamton and

Albany area we spent about twelve hundred dollars and we had a huge reach and the nice thing with Facebook

advertising and Instagram advertising you can see uh and see the reach and the

responses and you know how many opens and likes and shares and uh that that

really paid that those average advertisings paid for themselves and like I said we have over 500 collectors

on our email list and our mailing list that we do direct mail to and direct emails to and those are people you know

that have come to your shows before so we'll send them information about um but the shows the shows have changed

a lot you know the cost keeps going up for everything uh Insurance um rental of tables and then with me

flying in now you know the cost of airfare and hotel and then I have a friend I have three three four other

friends that help me so I uh I give them a couple bucks and maybe a hotel room and some meals to help me

um so the expenses do add up but the shows the shows have changed a lot uh and the collectors have changed they're

smarter now than they've ever been before you've got they're walking around you know with with their cell phones and

they look things up right then and there um which which is great it's great for the hobby

oh more shows now you know back in the day there wasn't as many shows but now right along 90 from east to west uh

you're gonna have a show in New York state if not two every weekend um that's that's going on so that that's

good for the collectors too um which is great for the hobby um during covid

um people were getting those extra checks those covid checks and people started turning around investing into the Hobby and buying and you were seeing

more people going to uh shows and buying product and and collecting but also

investing and hoping to you know get get some of their money back on that um so the shows have really changed and the

hobby has changed a lot but I think for the most part for the good yeah yeah and and nothing's a Utopia

right it's never going to be exactly perfect um or go exactly as always as planned

but I you know if there's more UPS than than Downs or more good stories than bad stories that's that's uh what you hope

for so you know we talked about uh you know the mega show collector's Fest number 85 and somebody you know uh I I

kind of tipped you off that your sign on the door uh was going uh sort of viral

becoming sort of a a hobby hat button topic for those that watching the video

I want to put this on the screen uh Lynn and for those listening I'm gonna read it this is you know on on the door

coming in uh to collectors Fest um it says notice only vendors that have

paid for tables at Today's Show May sell items at Today's Show collectors may

sell items to the vendors that have paid for tables at today's show but may not sell items to other collectors in the

building now I saw you know a card porn who's a very followed account uh in the

hobby uh posted this and he he could post a picture of a mouse and he'd get

200 comments that's just how how many far but so we posted this and more or

less said you know what do we think about this uh I don't know where he got it from I don't believe he was at your

show personally so someone must have sent it to him and said you know maybe upset

um you know we have a new era of collectors that come in with their cases I don't find I've bought stuff uh from

those folks um but you know some of the negative comments that I saw pertaining to this

were like oh at least you know right off the bat leaves a bad taste in a

collector's mouth or you know does the promoter even want people coming there

it's almost like this big you know fat rule before you come in that's kind of a

Debbie Downer uh from as someone who's done a lot of shows in myself I know

where this is coming from um just you know speak to that for you know when I saw when I saw the sign and

found out you know hey this is from the collector's Fest you know I took my

dealer stance and I commented like this is to protect really everybody uh too

long to to even comment on that right so uh I'll I'll I'll hand it over to you as

as the promoter like you know where this sign comes and it's not new I just found

out talking to you before we even recorded this this you know this is a sign you've had up well you'll say how

long but it's not a new sign uh but I've never seen it because I come in like a dealer's interest on on the the preset

up day in the setup so I'm not not walking through the same door so I I don't always see the side but kind of

talk about you know what what the the meaning of it is I think that's where

some of the misunderstanding is with some folks sure so what's what makes a successful

show a good experience by both The Collector and the vendor if they have good experiences they'll keep coming back so

that sign that's nothing new I've had up uh about a year before covet uh then

during covers everybody knows the show's kind of came a lot of things came to a stop for about a year and a half

um and then we kept putting it up so it's nothing that I'd put in advertising it's nothing that I've put on my Facebook page or my social media or my

website but just at the show so I've had several vendors that have come to me and complained and one one complaint

let's say John I come up to your table and I'm looking at this Michael Jordan rookie card you and I are negotiating

and this other collector comes up and says hey I can give that to you for half price cash right now

and so you as a vendor who spent a lot of money to be there that day just lost

out on that sale now let's say that happens numerous times so from a collector's standpoint when you're when

you're talking about selling stuff to other people you didn't set up and sell you know paid money to be there you paid

an entrance fee um but that's to for the right and privileges to come in I have a lot of

expenses involved uh in promoting that show the vendor has a lot of money tied

up in the tables and then if you have friends or someone to come to help you you got to pay for it so it's it's to

it's really so that uh it protects the vendor and The Collector so if a collector comes in and now let's say The

Collector gets a bad card let's say it's a trimmed card or it's a fake yeah you know who where does that

liability does it come back on me as the promoter I'm not the one you know so by me having that up there kind of protects

me as the promoter uh as a vendor if a vendor comes in and sells some bad cards then I can come back to the vendor and I

can help facilitate that with the collector as well uh I know this is kind of an extreme example but you pay an

admission to come into my shows does that give you the right to do it well you pay admission to go into an SU basketball game does that give you the

right to go in and sell Su merchandise or you pay admission to go to Disney I know that's a far extreme example and

people really don't do that but as part of a hobby it takes both of us to grow

and people come in if you want to trade cards or whatever and I'm sure people are still doing it but yeah it's

something that if you're taking away from the vendor you're taking away from the show and then it hurts the show and then what happens down the road if we

don't have the shows anymore does that does that have a negative effect on the hobby as well so it's and I'm not the only show

there's other shows that I've seen them advertised uh that do that so this isn't new this isn't just CNY promotion's

doing it nobody else is doing it um yeah it's something that yeah we want to keep seeing their hobby grow I have

seen some shows that are two-day shows that on the Saturday night they'll have a sponsor that'll come in and they'll

have a an area where they'll have tables set up and they allow the collectors come in and trade and sell amongst

themselves so we don't we don't offer that it's not to say that in the future we may not and

any collectors that are uh watching this I would love your feedback I would love

to hear from you and if you have any suggestions on what we could possibly change or make make it work

um for everybody okay but yeah at the same time I want to protect everybody involved yeah all

great points I want to even piggyback a little further you know I've done a lot of shows I've done probably a good

percentage of your shows I've done other shows um you mentioned a story where you know

someone maybe is negotiating with the dealer for a card and then a fellow collector comes uh up and sort of

interrupts to say to the the other collector hey you know I have that card

out I can do a lot better right that's just number one that's bad etiquette it shouldn't happen but you know etiquette

exists because not everyone follows it right and so that that's going to happen as far as I'm aware I've never seen it

happen in front of me I'm not saying you know it wasn't done sick you know more privately but I've never

noticed it that way but if I had I'm sure how could you not be disappointed

or upset about about that right you're losing a potential sale especially if you feel like you're pricing it fair to

begin with right like you're not you're not necessarily gouging somebody too

um and it a lot of things you said right you you have an onus to the dealers and

and the collectors both and um you know it's a one-day show maybe if you it was

a two-day show like you we're you know that's the thing you you a great Point

by you Lynn is you know these trade nights they're great events right A lot of them are sponsored by Panini and tops

um but they sort of the the trade nights themselves have sort of blurred the lines of that collector dealership you

know we're in New York state right and and I I don't think I have to tell you this you already know we're we're always

number one or two in the heaviest uh tax states right and so the state wants

their sales tax uh and uh all of applicable taxes that go on with putting

on an event and so you know there's a liability to let people put out tax

numbers just do all these uh transactions and you know I don't I don't know whether they're reporting

income or not that only they know uh truly right but probably a a percentage

of these sales are not uh being reported it kind of puts you you know if New York

State thought this was like rampant they could go to you and say hey you know you're you're allowing this uh you know

at your shows you're putting on and can just make you know make life difficult

for you uh potentially you know uh so there's a lot of a lot of different uh

irons in in the fire and so the only thing I said I defended the the sign uh

I think it's it's common sense when you look at it from you know a lot of

different angles and not just be short-sighted the only thing I said maybe it could have been worded a little

bit you know better but uh you can say that about a lot of the signs and a lot of things that was my only uh thing but

as far as what it what it's the message it needs to convey and why it exists I

agree uh you know 100 100 as a dealer and as a consumer even as a collector

they've just attended a show not setting up that right uh there's just there's

those those lines sometimes I think those trade nights uh blur them and and

you know and in eBay too where everyone's a seller right everyone has

an eBay store everyone has something uh listed on eBay and so I think that

that's made that stuff harder to sort of get a handle on but uh go ahead and I

know you're gonna say something no I was just going to say the you were mentioned about the New York state tax number and

the vendors that's one of the things that is required to set up and sell and before each show because of the

advertising I do online I get so many people that say hey I'd like to do your show how much are tables and my first

question is do you have a New York state tax number and over 75 percent of them come back oh no I'm just a collector I

want to get rid of some stuff I don't I don't need a tax number well New York State thinks differently you do have to

have one in I'm in a New York State Building and facility so I even I need to make sure even more so that everybody

is in line with that because you never know when you might get a visit

um from that New York State collect tax collector uh and audit people so I just I make sure everybody's got a tax number

because that's very important yeah and I can tell you something that doesn't happen at every show or in every state

because I have a couple people that I'm friends with that aren't don't have a

tax number and they're like hey I set up at this show I I did this you know I did this in sales and and I know they don't

you know and it and they just didn't no one record you know said hey you need that and so they set up so I'm not even

I'm not even saying it's their fault or or that they're terrible people but some

states uh you know or or some states some promoters aren't probably uh uh on

top of that like you said New York State uh likes their money let's you know let's be honest they may not like me

saying it in that toner fashion but it is what it is and so uh they're gonna be

a little you know a stricter uh and and guarded with the rules and how stuff's

conducted within their confines so you know which which he alluded to so

well then I appreciate you you're coming on you know like you said you know be

careful what you wish for but you know any suggestions you know Lynn said hey get you know get a hold of them let them

know what maybe you want to see what you don't want to see um but simply saying like the signs you

know stinks or stronger language there's a reason for that you're not trying to be a meanie or the Grinch that's not

that's not what that's about but uh again I I appreciate you coming on and I

I knew I knew the answer to that question as a dealer but I think sometimes people need to hear that uh

you know from the person themselves so I appreciate that give out where people

can see see find CNY promotions what's coming uh down the turnpike and and what

you're up to take your time sure so uh we got our 2023 uh shows all

scheduled and ready to go um we uh most of them are filling up uh almost full

um our first one is going to be on Sunday March 19th which is collector Fest 86. it's our 86 collector's best

show and uh our first our next toy show is on Saturday April 22nd that's our Toy

Fest number three we just started the toy fest so we have much lower numbers for that but you can get more

information on our website at CNY promotions.com there's no W's and our

Facebook page is you can look up CNY promotions our Toy Fest Facebook pages

Toy Fest backslash Syracuse and then we just launched uh this month

our Instagram page our Twitter page and our Tick Tock page no I'm not doing any

dancing or singing it on Tick Tock but it's something that we've launched there's not much on those three pages uh

Twitter Instagram or Tick Tock we're just launching it so we're just kind of starting that but those are all

understand why promotions as well that you can find those and we look forward

to seeing everybody at the show and if you have any suggestions you have any ideas for us you can reach me on my

email address which is collectorsfest at CNY promotions.com and I respond to all

emails might take me a couple days to get back to you but I do respond and I just want to give a shout out to sports

car Nation for hosting uh and accepting SGC for the card grading submissions

that will be at all of our collector's Fest shows all five of them in 2023 John Newman Will Be Manning those stations

and that's something new John had a lot of card submissions at the last show we're looking forward to having even

more in 2023 it's a great service get your cards graded and then get them back

and SGC is one of the quickest turnaround times uh around so you'll see

John at all five collectors Fest so stop in and see him and drop those cards off and get them graded and SDC is a very

reputable company yeah I'm gonna say that better myself I'm gonna have to hire you to do my my ads now and and

again before we we say goodbye it was a lot of fun uh and also uh Kudo you know

hats off to SGC for allowing it to to happen as such without you know they had

to give a thumbs up or we wouldn't we wouldn't have the opportunity so it all started with them kind of giving us the

the green light like you said we hope to continue that I had people contact me Lynn after the show like hey I couldn't

make it or even people at the show uh like oh man I didn't realize you were

going to be here doing this I would have brought cards so um I think now people will kind of put

two and two together and know in advance and maybe bring stuff um and and you know usually you get

better each time you do it I even learned a few things about the process uh in in doing it that will the next

time we do it at your next show uh it'll be a little more streamlined than it even was uh uh in its uh debut and uh

for both me and and and the consumer uh as well so uh I look forward to it I

look forward to the shows uh in general and and and uh you know continued

success thanks well thanks for having me on I appreciate it love talking about the hobby you know we're here for the

collectors and the vendors and we want to see the hobby to continue to grow uh which is great for everybody it's a

great hobby to be involved in and I just want to wish everybody a happy and safe holidays thank you

thanks Lynn you're back take care

Ep.212 w/Lyn Lake-Show Promoter "Putting on a card show"

Lyn Lake

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