Getting Ready For The Schmooze
Well, I think I'm ready for this. I used a mapping program to print triptiks from my home in Lansing, NY to Columbus, I got a pack of Coke for the trip (and a box of Cheerios), and I cleaned the car. The weather may not be as good as I thought it was going to be, so I'm glad I got the studded tires mounted. That mapping program even printed out directions to the Holiday Inn at the Airport where the Schmooze will be taking place!
For the past several years the Shareware Industry Awards Foundation has sponsored the annual shareware meeting, the Shareware Industry Conference (SIC). A number of authors can't make it because it is too far to travel. The past two years the SIC was in Scottsdale, AZ, so it is nice that the less formal Schmooze is in Ohio where more folks from the middle can make it.
I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones, and to seeing if we all can't come up with some new ways to make our shareware businesses grow.
On Friday we'll be taking a tour of CompuServe, which is headquartered in Columbus, and over the long weekend we'll also be meeting with Dominique Watkins from America Online. I don't know if any of us really know what will come out of the weekend, but we're all game to find out.
Tomorrow I spend eight hours and nine minutes (according to the mapping program)
driving to Columbus, but I'll try to get a report on the evening's activities posted.
Thursday
Well, my mapping software was right on the money. It said it would take eight hours and nine minutes to get here, and by George, that's what it took!
As I walked into the hotel I ran into author Russ Irwin, and found George Abbott (author), Jan Abbott (Executive director of the ASP), and Bill Sturgell (who organized this meeting) in the lobby. So there were people to start schmoozing with right away.
Bill had some great T-shirts made up for Schmooze attendees, and he printed out some maps of the area with the locations of restaurants recommended by Eric Isaacson highlighted on them.
Nothing is organized for today, so we chatted in the lobby of the hotel for a while and waited for more people to arrive. It wasn't long before Richard Holler(Author Direct upload service) joined us, and (former vendor and shareware luminary) Bob Ostrander, and (author)Eric Isaacson, and (author) Rosemary West.
Eric, Rosemary, the Abbotts and I went to a wonderful restaurant called Sinbad's where we all ordered chicken-kabobs with humus and tabouli (but we did order different drinks...).
The talk soon turned to funny, or odd technical support calls we have received. Rosemary offered the theory that it is more difficult for people to articulate what they are doing on their computers under Windows than DOS, because it is a graphical interface - so they don't think of what they are doing in words. Naturally, this makes telephone support calls harder, because you can't help solve a problem until the caller tells you what it is.
I don't know - I know that many people are so involved in where they are in their problem that they just don't tell you how they got to the problem. In other words, they'll tell you what the screen looks like now, but forget to tell you what they did to make the screen look this way.
This was an interesting discussion, because it didn't just degenerate into tales of funny support calls (like the one Harold Holmes, who is arriving tomorrow, told the other day about asking a woman to send him a copy of her disk so that he could try to see what she was seeing on her system -- only to get a photocopy of a floppy disk in the mail!)
When we got back to the hotel we adjourned to the lobby to chat some more. The lobby of the Holiday Inn is set in little living room arrangements with chairs and sofas around tables. More new arrivals tonight like Roger Arias (of FormGen). We gossiped about various people we know in the industry, and the topic of the ASP Ombudsman came up. This is the person that you can go to if you are in a dispute with an ASP member that isn't being resolved. We all agreed that he has really helped resolve problems quickly, and although there aren't many complaints it is great that he takes care of them.
All in all, it's great to see my shareware friends again, and I'm excited about the weekend. It is especially nice for me to see George and Jan, because I haven't seen them in several years. Jan was an enormous help when I ran ASP's booth at COMDEX last year.
Tomorrow we will be going on a tour of CompuServe in the morning, and meeting with
Dominique Watkins of AOL in the afternoon. And more schmoozing!
Friday
Today has been packed! This was probably the most formally planned day of the Schmooze, and things have been hopping here since about seven am when I went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I brought a paperback, but it wasn't needed because several people were also there for an early breakfast.
More people arrived today, and most of the gang went across town for a tour of CompuServe. The first impression when you see their building from the highway is that it is massive. We were greeted in the lobby by Tad Green, who is involved with the on-line shareware registration service (SWREG) there. He started with a short video about the company, and then demonstrated the new version of the CompuServe software. Many of the authors were not impressed, preferring the off-line capabilities of TapCIS and OzWin, but there were some nice features, and the new task list looks like you can automate some tasks.
We were disappointed that they would not show us their computers (for security reasons, they said), although they did show us the corporate gym. We also saw their network department, which reminded me of a combination of Mission Control and the control room in a nuclear plant. This is where hey trouble shoot any problems the network might have.
The list of restaurants that Eric Isaacson's friend gave him is astounding. We have had nothing but excellent food since we got here, and we haven't nearly worked our way through the list. I suppose I should walk home to New York State to work off some of the weight I am sure I am gaining this weekend.
Everyone here has giveaways. I've been giving out my "cat on a mouse" keyrings, Gary Elfring brought keycap fonts, Tom Guthery brought a CD of one of his popular "Animated" series of learning games, Bill Sturgell had Shareware Schmooze T-shirts made, and also gave away Blue Collar Software pens.
This afternoon we met with Dominique Watkins of AOL, and the meeting was very productive. The shareware authors were grateful that he came to consult them (especially since the CompuServe representative canceled at the last minute - many found it telling that with their headquarters in town that they couldn't send someone, while AOL sent Dom all the way from Virginia!).
Next was a meeting with Roger Arias of GT Interactive Software. Interestingly, GT bought FormGen, which was built from $500 of shareware earnings into a multi-million dollar company. Roger makes the ASP CD-ROM, which is now marketed by GT.
A lot of Schmoozing is going on, and of course that means folks are working on deals and interesting business prospects. I never know how these things are going to turn out - part of me is afraid that I'm having too good a time and not doing enough business, but I think some promising possibilities came out of today's schmoozing.
Paul Reaver is here today, better known in this forum as ASP Paul. It was great to see him in person. The only forum assistant I actually see anything of is usually John Skurka (ASP John) who lives in the next town to mine. So it's fun to see Paul and I hope to spend some time with him after I post this report.
Bill Sturgell did a nice job organizing this meeting. Despite the laid back lack of scheduling, everyone is having a good time, and we are discussing some serious issues. The schmoozing goes on non-stop (I understand that two of the schmoozers went until 4am this morning!).
Now I can mention that earlier in the day we all took up a collection so that tonight,
after I posted my Friday report everyone presented Bill Sturgell with an award for
organizing the Schmooze. It is a lovely clock with a plaque on it commemorating his great
contribution. He was surprised, and the Schmoozing happily continued well into the night.
Saturday
Today was a lot less structured than yesterday - there was no structure at all, so it was strictly schmoozing today. We all tended to break up into two schmoozing groups: the schmokers and the non-schmokers!
Working as a shareware author has always seemed amazing to me. In my case I work in an office in my house in the woods, yet I am connected to the world by my trusty modem and a simple phone line. I have made many friends both among fellow shareware professionals and customers, from everywhere imaginable.
The great thing about meetings like this is that I get to see these people in person, and over the year I have made some lasting friendships. Normally we don't have the time at more structured meetings to just hang out, so today was a great pleasure.
A few new folks tooled in today, including Will Daniel, editor of the ASP's newsletter, ASPects. Some friends left today - I was sorry to see George and Jan Abbott go this morning.
We just got back from the one scheduled event of the day: dinner at a Polynesian restaurant. The food was amazing (well, it was: it did things, like the smoking volcano shrimp salad...). ASP Chairman of the Board Tom Guthery stepped out for a cigarette, so we told the waitress it was his birthday (it isn't). After dinner you should have seen the look on his face when three Polynesian waitresses sang "Happy Birthday" while banging on gongs and presenting him with a cake. It is the most novel way of getting someone to quit smoking I've ever seen!
Harold Holmes has been looking for a new name for one of his products, so I've bombarded him with about thirty ideas (some serious, some just plain silly). Meanwhile it snowed a bit today, affording Rosemary West (a California girl) a rare treat (I loaned her my gloves).
I think the weekend has energized us all. I'm going to get back to the schmoozing now. I'll finish on Monday, as I'll be driving home all day tomorrow. The weather report looks iffy, but not too bad for driving (I hope).
By the way, I've been filing these reports at the end of each day fairly late (for me),
and Rosemary has told me that my spelling has suffered (I also have to unplug the light in
my hotel room in order to plug in my computer, so it's a bit hard to see the keyboard).
I'll go over these reports with a spelling checker next week when I get home.
Sunday
Today was a sleep-late day for those of us who were left, or most of us: I noticed some of the schmokers were at breakfast when I got there. I was concerned about leaving so there would be plenty of daylight as I drove near lake Erie: Cleveland was socked in with about a foot and a half of snow last night, and I expect driving by Erie, PA is going to be rough.
Still, it was hard to leave - breakfast extended to nearly eleven as we said our good-byes (and chatted about nearly everything else). There is already talk about repeating this event next year. It's possible there will be more than one Schmooze, although my preference is for one, because it's hard for folks to do this too many times in one year.
I got the left-over birthday cake from my van to give to Tom, but it ended up going to a friend of Eric's whose birthday it really was yesterday! Then a quick final check to make sure I didn't leave my car keys under the bed, my final good-byes (a lot of people are still at breakfast!), and I'm off.
During the eight-plus hour drive home I reflected on what a great virtual world this is: that we can make friends from all over the country, or the world, and stay in touch by modem so when we actually do see each other it we just pick up where we left off as if we see each other every day.
It is also a testament to the theories about "networking" to improve your business - these meetings inevitably lead to deals and opportunities that help everyone and expand the industry.
It was very nice to have an unstructured event this year to go along with the very
structured Shareware Industry Conference. I think the events compliment each other very
well. Bill Sturgell did a very nice job of organizing this thing, and he seems to have had
a blast doing it. In fact, a great time was had by all!
Dan Veaner
EmmaSoft Software Company, Inc.