Studebaker
Member
Mike, I must say great job. I will let everyone else tell there story.
MF10
- Thread starter Studebaker
- Start date
dealtimeman
Everyday is Saturday.
I agree was a good show and a good time!
Joe Appleby
Supportive Member
These are some thoughts as I allow my liver to recover. As much as I enjoy the board, there is no substitute for face to face exchanges of information. I am fortunate to now have new several contacts that I can resource. Thanks to all who helped answer my questions and made Joe Q. and I feel welcomed.
A special shout out to all who left me literally alone with a live band and 3 women to dance with.
A special shout out to all who left me literally alone with a live band and 3 women to dance with.
Desk Jockey
Member
I will say that its the people that make or break a board and Mikeysboard members are the greatest! It was nice to finally meet you Joe and sorry about leaving you! ; )
Man can Luddy rock or what? He was ripping it up on that doobie brothers (no not Vawters board brothers).
Great event, great people. Sooo glad I went!!!!!!
Man can Luddy rock or what? He was ripping it up on that doobie brothers (no not Vawters board brothers).
Great event, great people. Sooo glad I went!!!!!!
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ruff
Member
Great event. Great folks.
Which one of them nifty movers on the floor was Joe Appleby?
Which one of them nifty movers on the floor was Joe Appleby?
KevinL
Supportive Member
Very good time. Thanks Mikey and all the speakers.
Nate The Great
Member
Mind blowing................. (AmyGeorge)
I had a good time, met a few more people and learned a thing or too....
Many thanks to Chavez for letting me room with him and only having maybe 9 hours of sleep since Thursday... lol
Franklin
Member
Have to admit. Had a Great time. For my first trade/forum, everything I expected and MORE. Met some great colleagues and now Im really confused on which new truckmount to purchase later. lol. Looking forward to attending next year. Just want to say i feel for all those who put all those raffle tickets in for the BrushPro...lol I only entered 1. Was great to put a face with a post.
Mikey P
Administrator
I guess I'll go in a timeline..
Working with Saiger, Lockheart and Lippold pre fest was loads of fun. Laughs all day and picking each other's brains on cleaning and biz. Highly recommended to do rideAlongs
While the Uber Rug f*gs were not too impressed with the back to basics approach but the Rug curious loved Artisans simple but effective system.
The party/dinner following was a hit as well. Like a family reunion but without the fights or drama.
The event went off without a glitch mostly thanks to Mr Bill Yeadon. Bill did an incredible job of keeping the event running on time, conversations flowing, interesting and fresh. Each and every class were huge hits and the attendees new how truly lucky they were to have made the trip out. Thank you Bill!
and HUGE thanks to the speakers and vendors who I highly doubt I'll ever to out do in futures events. It was truly amazing to see and hear about the caliber of discussions that took place. Nothing for sale, nothing cliche or tired. Just the highest quality people and companies letting it all hang out for the attendees to collect those proverbial nuggets.
Joe Appleby, Tom King and Mark Saiger knocked it out of the park in the Morning Sessions. I let others share about what was said and done but their trifecta performance was probably the best 6 hours at any carpet cleaners gathering ever. Demien Lucero and the Amazing Adam Hale Show were cherries on the cake.
The Jeff Cross Verity Hour has me hoping to go to his full meal deal asap.
Industry Super Stars Rick Gelinas, Scott Warrington and Brian Thomson delivered the goods in style and with great authority. Big big thanks to Scott for bringing all those hand tools. Everybody had a favorite but no true consensus on a grand winner. Thank you Rick for cleaning up the bar carpet after the Hot Water goons made their mess and thank you Bryan for knocking off a layer on the tile hall way.
The Water Damage boys cleared all misconceptions about their slice of the industry and really wow'd the crowd. Richard and Mike were nervous as heck but came off as the true pros that they are. Keith and Mark were excellent as well. Really impressive. I'm glad I got to sit through most of it.
The vendors were thrilled to have so much action out in the parking lot. The past 5 Connections have not seen that activity. Aerotech, Butler, Masterblend, Prochem and Sapphire all enjoyed the buzz around their trucks. Rotary extractors, 3 Zippers, lots of wands, and countless upholstery tools to play with under the blue skies and perfect temperatures in a park like setting. Everybody loved it. The DukGuard Duo were a big part of the Fest with BUNCH of attendees going home with a new (free) pet. Very nice to have them there and so active with the crowd.
The BBQ dinner and lunches were well received as was the on site tavern. We lucked out with no rain as it would have been a hot humid mess in the room had it poured.
The DukGuard Duo were a big part of the Fest with BUNCH of attendees going home with a new (free) pet. Very nice to have them there and so active with the crowd.
Those that took the time to look around my fair city fell in love and I can't count the requests to bring it back here again next year.
More comments and video to come
Thanks again to EVERYBODY who helped make it THE best and MY best fest yet!
Working with Saiger, Lockheart and Lippold pre fest was loads of fun. Laughs all day and picking each other's brains on cleaning and biz. Highly recommended to do rideAlongs
While the Uber Rug f*gs were not too impressed with the back to basics approach but the Rug curious loved Artisans simple but effective system.
The party/dinner following was a hit as well. Like a family reunion but without the fights or drama.
The event went off without a glitch mostly thanks to Mr Bill Yeadon. Bill did an incredible job of keeping the event running on time, conversations flowing, interesting and fresh. Each and every class were huge hits and the attendees new how truly lucky they were to have made the trip out. Thank you Bill!
and HUGE thanks to the speakers and vendors who I highly doubt I'll ever to out do in futures events. It was truly amazing to see and hear about the caliber of discussions that took place. Nothing for sale, nothing cliche or tired. Just the highest quality people and companies letting it all hang out for the attendees to collect those proverbial nuggets.
Joe Appleby, Tom King and Mark Saiger knocked it out of the park in the Morning Sessions. I let others share about what was said and done but their trifecta performance was probably the best 6 hours at any carpet cleaners gathering ever. Demien Lucero and the Amazing Adam Hale Show were cherries on the cake.
The Jeff Cross Verity Hour has me hoping to go to his full meal deal asap.
Industry Super Stars Rick Gelinas, Scott Warrington and Brian Thomson delivered the goods in style and with great authority. Big big thanks to Scott for bringing all those hand tools. Everybody had a favorite but no true consensus on a grand winner. Thank you Rick for cleaning up the bar carpet after the Hot Water goons made their mess and thank you Bryan for knocking off a layer on the tile hall way.
The Water Damage boys cleared all misconceptions about their slice of the industry and really wow'd the crowd. Richard and Mike were nervous as heck but came off as the true pros that they are. Keith and Mark were excellent as well. Really impressive. I'm glad I got to sit through most of it.
The vendors were thrilled to have so much action out in the parking lot. The past 5 Connections have not seen that activity. Aerotech, Butler, Masterblend, Prochem and Sapphire all enjoyed the buzz around their trucks. Rotary extractors, 3 Zippers, lots of wands, and countless upholstery tools to play with under the blue skies and perfect temperatures in a park like setting. Everybody loved it. The DukGuard Duo were a big part of the Fest with BUNCH of attendees going home with a new (free) pet. Very nice to have them there and so active with the crowd.
The BBQ dinner and lunches were well received as was the on site tavern. We lucked out with no rain as it would have been a hot humid mess in the room had it poured.
The DukGuard Duo were a big part of the Fest with BUNCH of attendees going home with a new (free) pet. Very nice to have them there and so active with the crowd.
Those that took the time to look around my fair city fell in love and I can't count the requests to bring it back here again next year.
More comments and video to come
Thanks again to EVERYBODY who helped make it THE best and MY best fest yet!
Desk Jockey
Member
dealtimeman
Everyday is Saturday.
Nervous is an understatement!
I now know for a fact I hate talking in front of poeple!
I now know for a fact I hate talking in front of poeple!
Desk Jockey
Member
You did great. Once you relaxed I couldn't shut you up! 
Mikey P
Administrator
Im gonna with 125 people over the two days.
T Monahan
Supportive Member
Very well done!
I too was glad to put a face to a name (Or alias)
Regarding Mike's remark: "While the Uber Rug f*gs were not too impressed with the back to basics approach but the Rug curious loved Artisans simple but effective system."
I would say, that a significant number of rug cleaners/washers were there on the tour to consider what Artisan was doing in Santa Cruz. Others were just curious what was going on without any interest in starting a rug cleaning operation - just hanging out together. Yet I believe ALL can learn something. Many told me they did. Either not to do it at all, or do it differently, or realize you can start out with just a wash floor and essentially no "expensive" processing machinery or equipment and begin a rug washing business. It doesn't matter if your doing millions of dollars or only 1000's, there is always something that can make an impression that will get you thinking about how you do things.
I went back the next day to speak with Aaron and Margaret. They enjoyed the privilege of having the huge group in their facility.
By the way, they were excited to have an odor free rug and intend to test the process that was shown to them on other subsequent urine contaminated rugs.
I too was glad to put a face to a name (Or alias)
Regarding Mike's remark: "While the Uber Rug f*gs were not too impressed with the back to basics approach but the Rug curious loved Artisans simple but effective system."
I would say, that a significant number of rug cleaners/washers were there on the tour to consider what Artisan was doing in Santa Cruz. Others were just curious what was going on without any interest in starting a rug cleaning operation - just hanging out together. Yet I believe ALL can learn something. Many told me they did. Either not to do it at all, or do it differently, or realize you can start out with just a wash floor and essentially no "expensive" processing machinery or equipment and begin a rug washing business. It doesn't matter if your doing millions of dollars or only 1000's, there is always something that can make an impression that will get you thinking about how you do things.
I went back the next day to speak with Aaron and Margaret. They enjoyed the privilege of having the huge group in their facility.
By the way, they were excited to have an odor free rug and intend to test the process that was shown to them on other subsequent urine contaminated rugs.
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Mikey P
Administrator
Tom also had this to say on FB
which was very, very much appreciated.
now I'll be sweating the next year over how to put on a show even half as good.
which was very, very much appreciated.
now I'll be sweating the next year over how to put on a show even half as good.
Mikey P
Administrator
I embarrassingly forgot to touch on Ray Burnfield's very entertaining and educational vacuum cleaner talk. Great job Ray, I'll be thinking I'd what you said when I'm running my Shark and Kirbyville tomorrow..
I also forgot to mention Rob Anspach. Unfortunately I missed his Social Media speech so I hope others can come to
Thanks to Cu for the Zipper retrofit, it was a very nice addition to the show.
I also forgot to mention Rob Anspach. Unfortunately I missed his Social Media speech so I hope others can come to
Thanks to Cu for the Zipper retrofit, it was a very nice addition to the show.
billyeadon
Supportive Member
Well I am glad to be home after a long week starting with SFS in Atlanta and ending with an incomparable MF 10 in beautiful Santa Cruz. Having been to hundreds of conventions over the years this one stood out for many reasons.
We had great speakers that were seasoned such as Tom King, Mark Saiger (those two both graduated from the Evelyn Woods speed reading courses) Jeff Cross with his great information and his signature funny videos to keep everything balanced. We had the King of encap and potential Tour de France cyclist Rick Gelinas, along with Scott Warrington explaining the mysterious world of fabric cleaning based on almost 50 years of cleaning. Bryan Thomson not only explaining how to clean hard surfaces but also demonstrating on some of the grungiest floors in the western hemisphere.
There was a coming out party for the next great presenter Richard Chavez ably partnered with Michael (can you say hyper ventilate) Lockhart on restoration. Keith Collins provided sage advice to the many people who thought they knew everything about restoration franchises. And Mark Saiger (does he ever sleep) showed some unbelievable pictures of restoration jobs. Of course he had another 30 hours of power point ready to go if we ran out of subject material.
Rob Anspach explained much of the mysteries of social media while tossing out copies of his latest book. The next morning Tom King, Jeff Cross, Mr. Single Truck guru Steve Marsh, and Mikey hisowndamnself took social media to a new level while preventing the crowd from burning Ms. Angie and Mr. Yelp in effigy.
A first for me after nearly 40 years was watching a presentation on vacuum cleaners. Ray Burnfield did a great job on the history of vacuum cleaners as well as the importance of vacuuming which seems to be lost on most of our industry.
What really separated this event from many others were the speakers who avoided the oh so over used power point and spoke from experience, heart, and passion. This included Damien Lucero who spoke of the trials of getting himself off the truck and replacing not just the wand but his emotional connection with the customer. Adam Hale blended perfectly humorous content with professionally presented, emotionally raw motivation. Some day we may all say we knew Adam when he was just one of us before he made the big time.
But if I had to give an award for best presentation (envelope please) it would go to Joe Appleby. Joe mixed in humor that can only be laughed at 20 years after the events. His real life examples over the last 30 years could not be made up nor could it be taken from any book on employee relations. I though Joe was channeling Mel Brooks. If Joe's goal was not to spend 7 days a week on the golf course I think the National Speakers Bureau would sign him up tomorrow.
The hardest thing for me was to have to tell the presenters to wrap up their talks because each was so interesting that I could have listened for hours.
I have to give a special shout out to Amy Lorance for being a real trooper. Being a female in this industry is tough enough but hanging with the Mikey Boarders is above and beyond. She just keeps coming back every year and I expect secretly has a Mikey tat. Way to go Amy.
Seeing old friends such as Doyle Bloss (who could run any convention, speak on any topic, or fix your TM all in the same morning) Lee Stockwell, Fred Boyle, and of course the ruggies, Tom Monahan, Bryan O'Haleck, and Brian Hanna always is worth a trip across the country. You have to ask yourself why these guys after spending almost a half century in this industry still like to attend an event like Mikeys Fest? I guess you need to show up next year to find out why.
If you feel like this industry is your chosen career and not just something you are doing till you find a real job, then you need to start making plans for MF 11.
We had great speakers that were seasoned such as Tom King, Mark Saiger (those two both graduated from the Evelyn Woods speed reading courses) Jeff Cross with his great information and his signature funny videos to keep everything balanced. We had the King of encap and potential Tour de France cyclist Rick Gelinas, along with Scott Warrington explaining the mysterious world of fabric cleaning based on almost 50 years of cleaning. Bryan Thomson not only explaining how to clean hard surfaces but also demonstrating on some of the grungiest floors in the western hemisphere.
There was a coming out party for the next great presenter Richard Chavez ably partnered with Michael (can you say hyper ventilate) Lockhart on restoration. Keith Collins provided sage advice to the many people who thought they knew everything about restoration franchises. And Mark Saiger (does he ever sleep) showed some unbelievable pictures of restoration jobs. Of course he had another 30 hours of power point ready to go if we ran out of subject material.
Rob Anspach explained much of the mysteries of social media while tossing out copies of his latest book. The next morning Tom King, Jeff Cross, Mr. Single Truck guru Steve Marsh, and Mikey hisowndamnself took social media to a new level while preventing the crowd from burning Ms. Angie and Mr. Yelp in effigy.
A first for me after nearly 40 years was watching a presentation on vacuum cleaners. Ray Burnfield did a great job on the history of vacuum cleaners as well as the importance of vacuuming which seems to be lost on most of our industry.
What really separated this event from many others were the speakers who avoided the oh so over used power point and spoke from experience, heart, and passion. This included Damien Lucero who spoke of the trials of getting himself off the truck and replacing not just the wand but his emotional connection with the customer. Adam Hale blended perfectly humorous content with professionally presented, emotionally raw motivation. Some day we may all say we knew Adam when he was just one of us before he made the big time.
But if I had to give an award for best presentation (envelope please) it would go to Joe Appleby. Joe mixed in humor that can only be laughed at 20 years after the events. His real life examples over the last 30 years could not be made up nor could it be taken from any book on employee relations. I though Joe was channeling Mel Brooks. If Joe's goal was not to spend 7 days a week on the golf course I think the National Speakers Bureau would sign him up tomorrow.
The hardest thing for me was to have to tell the presenters to wrap up their talks because each was so interesting that I could have listened for hours.
I have to give a special shout out to Amy Lorance for being a real trooper. Being a female in this industry is tough enough but hanging with the Mikey Boarders is above and beyond. She just keeps coming back every year and I expect secretly has a Mikey tat. Way to go Amy.
Seeing old friends such as Doyle Bloss (who could run any convention, speak on any topic, or fix your TM all in the same morning) Lee Stockwell, Fred Boyle, and of course the ruggies, Tom Monahan, Bryan O'Haleck, and Brian Hanna always is worth a trip across the country. You have to ask yourself why these guys after spending almost a half century in this industry still like to attend an event like Mikeys Fest? I guess you need to show up next year to find out why.
If you feel like this industry is your chosen career and not just something you are doing till you find a real job, then you need to start making plans for MF 11.
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Franklin
Member
Yea Doc I only put one ticket in. i actually put one ticket in each. Thats why I was so surprised when my name was called I was overwhelmed, in shock, stunned, starstruck, bewildered, flummoxed, stupefied, dazed, floored, befuddled, discombobulated, dumbfounded, astonished, astounded, amazed, perplexed, and over all in wonderment...LOL
Mikey P
Administrator
Send me your home address so I can send out a pallet of Guiness.
Bill I can't thank you enough for all your efforts, time and skill. You played such a large part of making this event so great. No one could have done it so well. (especially Toburen
)I'll be talking to Dave Howard about making this a regular deal.
Desk Jockey
Member
It was in the stars!
Jeremy N
Supportive Member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2006
- Messages
- 936
I don't know, if he wouldn't have been there I'm sure I would have won the brushpro. I'm sure of it!
PDES-SC
Member
Not a carpet cleaner or rug f*g - I still learned a lot and enjoyed the day and food. Planned to return on Saturday but things got in the way (being close to home does have disadvantages). Met some damn good people, did some good networking, and had a fun time. Thanks for a great time Mikey and the gang.
I missed out on some Duks but will be getting a few for my gear.
I missed out on some Duks but will be getting a few for my gear.
Joe Appleby
Supportive Member
That is the best compliment I've ever had. Bill, "May The Schwartz be with you"
Desk Jockey
Member
I thought you were going to be my salvation Joe when I heard you say you weren't an experienced speaker like Tom and Mark.
But as my luck would have it you spoke like a pro. You can't imagine how disappointed I was in you!
Good thing your presentation had so much value in it, that it compensated for the extra anxiety you caused me!
But as my luck would have it you spoke like a pro. You can't imagine how disappointed I was in you!
Good thing your presentation had so much value in it, that it compensated for the extra anxiety you caused me!
The Great Oz
Member
I have to admit that Joe had me laughing and thinking about some of the hiring mistakes I've made. By far the highlight of the show for me was seeing Michael's presentation though, once he got his standing ovation he started to projectile sweat. I didn't know that was possible.
I have no doubt the attendees all are, or will be, successful in whatever form they want to be. As a group they just have the smarts and sense of humor required. If you think these guys are witty on the board, you have to meet them in person. (Ofer is way more fun to argue with face-to-face)
PS: I was impressed that Aaron at Artisan had figured out: Knowing the name of the rug isn't as important as being able to observe how it's made so you can clean it safely; Knowing exactly the right amount of equipment and skills for the type and volume of cleaning they do presently.
PPS: Great job on the fest Mikey.
I have no doubt the attendees all are, or will be, successful in whatever form they want to be. As a group they just have the smarts and sense of humor required. If you think these guys are witty on the board, you have to meet them in person. (Ofer is way more fun to argue with face-to-face)
PS: I was impressed that Aaron at Artisan had figured out: Knowing the name of the rug isn't as important as being able to observe how it's made so you can clean it safely; Knowing exactly the right amount of equipment and skills for the type and volume of cleaning they do presently.
PPS: Great job on the fest Mikey.
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Desk Jockey
Member
