And that's a wrap.

"benjrblant" (benjblant)
03/20/2020 at 12:52 • Filed to: None

Laid off today. That concludes just under 2.5 years of working with the tradeshow/exhibit industry, detailing and engineering projects for a number of shows, including automotive, pharma, etc. Hard to believe that just two weeks ago I had more work than I could handle in a week.

Pictured: one of the last components I detailed for a show.

DISCUSSION (24)

Chariotoflove > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:03

Think it will come back later? Or is this goodbye?

TheRealBicycleBuck > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:05

Sorry to hear that. Let’s hope you will bounce back soon.

Sovande > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:06

Where are you located? I have an old friend who has worked for an expo company in the DC area for years. She is some kind of vp, I think. I'd be happy to reach out.

I was pretty sure my job was safe too. I doubt that will be the case in another week or two.

benjrblant > Sovande
03/20/2020 at 13:07

I’m in Denver. You can drop me an email at (username) @ gmail if you feel inclined.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:08

You do that? I work for Freeman mostly in graphics and rigging. We did a private jet show at the airport and then we were off. They are even talking about making Moscone Center an emergency site if they need it, so no shows there!

benjrblant > Chariotoflove
03/20/2020 at 13:09

I think that industry will return. I’m doubtful if my position will.

Chariotoflove > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:09

benjrblant > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
03/20/2020 at 13:10

I do! Well, did. I worked for one of the larger national show houses with quite a few automotive clients. I did detailing/engineering for booths for about two years, estimating and pricing for about 1/2 year.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:13

That sucks man.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:19

March 3rd I was in california and it was business as usual. Now it’s just shut down.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:20

That looks so much like the Freeman warehouse here, but the ladders aren’t ours so I knew it wasn’t. We have a pretty awesome shop here, I don’t do that but it’s huge, CNC etc... We have a massive graphics printer and plotter now which can make things pretty nice. We wrap whole buildings so everything is big. Phil Miller runs our wood shop, he is amazing, I could never do that stuff. I just rigged this booth a couple shows, RSA I think it was, all the tree branch things were wood and w e had to suspend it all from the truss above with adjustables. The branches all locked into a central trunk with slots. The problem was that they designed it to be done from the ground up, I would have suspended everything from the truss and then raised it up and slid the truck under and in place somehow. Instead we had to use pulleys and ladders to build it!! Idiots!! Please don’t design stuff like this!! I like the truss motors to do all the heavy lifting!! We couldn’t bring a scissor lift in the booth either because it was a digital screen floor:

Kinja'd!!!

I mostly do graphics now but sometimes I get pulled back into rigging. Other crap I do:

Kinja'd!!!

functionoverfashion > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:22

Oh, man I’m sorry. I think this is a sign of things to come across the board, unfortunately. There’s just nothing going on.

I think of my job in IT at a university as pretty safe, but not if there are 50% fewer students next year, or zero.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:23

I’m really sorry. You’ll soon be in good company — I feel many of us will soon be out of work.

E90M3 > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:27

Sorry to hear that. Unlike my untimely departure, I’m sure this much less expected.

facw > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:27

Sucks. Hope things turn around. Sadly I’d expect conventions to be one of the last things to return (I learned my lesson about not hand sanitizing constantly while exhibiting). But we’ll get there eventually.

benjrblant > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
03/20/2020 at 13:29

Sounds about right. I used to do the detailing and engineering for that stuff.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:33

Sometimes I can see why they had to do something but other times we are like, WTF, why did they decide to build it this way, to give us lots of late night hours??

benjrblant > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
03/20/2020 at 13:42

It’s not nearly as complex as a car, but the thought processes in detailing them could be comparable at times. It’s a balance of cost, construction, element simplicity, and engineering time. It’s always easy to look at something once it’s done and see the need for improvement, but there could be a dozen other factors driving that decision which may not be apparent. I can say that personally, we received so little time to detail some projects that many things had to be rushed out the door. I’d have revised everything if given the budget and time to do so.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 13:56

Well we told the guy our idea from a rigging perspective and he said they were going to make it possible to raise and lower the whole upper structure without the trunk, so some lucky people will get it next time. I don’t do it very often anymore, but I always wonder why they don’t ask an old I&D guy in the industry what he thinks would be better to do for set up, it can cost thousands of dollars more to build if it’s a bitch to put up. If I have a 2 man rig team it’s like $ 1k/hr easy, and this one had us and six other ground people.

Danimalk - Drives a Slow Car Fast > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 14:02

Bummer dude. I’m on the design side of the industry and we are definitely feeling it. Big staples like Freeman is furloughing lots and lots of employees, and I think GES is doing the same. Everyone seems to be hoping it blows over quickly and they can bring all those people back on.
We’ve been forced to put all our focus on digital and virtual events, which are cool, but not exactly a 1 to 1 replacement for big conferences and events.

Hope things bounce back for you!

ranwhenparked > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
03/20/2020 at 14:18

Our children or our children’s children might live to see things recover one day, so there’s that consolation. 100 years from now, this will be a page in the 10th grade 21st century history textbook.

66P1800inpieces > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
03/20/2020 at 14:56

I see you out on the boom. I previously used them when in construction. Thank fully when they were needed for large warehouses we topped out at 60ft lifts. I much preferred articulated 45 ft booms as I could creep up next to walls instead of the long arm hanging out there. We almost got a job at a refinery or something and would have needed articulated 180ft booms. No way I was doing that although another guy at work had a previous job working on antennas a couple hundred feet high so nothing phased him.

Worst was when I first started working for the company and we putting cameras in a truck depot. Those 60ft booms had something like a 600lb limit, I was probably 160, but the guy I was partnered with thought he was 375, in reality he was 6'8 and easily 450-500. For shits we extended the boom horizontal and he was almost tipping it. Now that I think of it we also did time lapse and internet cameras for buildings being built in the city. I think I did 40 stories (this was tethered to the building on a para-pit of some type).

Also did cameras in elevators, they have it go down a floor and you get on. I remember going to the 20th floor to where the carrier cable junction box was to do the final connections. Super trippy looking up an empty elevator shaft.

Nothing > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 15:06

That really sucks, I’m sorry to hear that.

Rufant > benjrblant
03/20/2020 at 16:59

Very sorry to hear that mate. You surely won’t be the first or the last.

Time for a bike ride!