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We've all been in the industry so long, that people are leaving us.
Of the photographers, the only one that I ever had a meaningful conversation with was Buster. It had nothing to do with the TES Trade show that we were at. He overheard me at lunch tell one of the servers that I was gluten intolerant, and he struck up a conversation that his little boy was as well. So I shared some food experiences with him.
I do say hi to Mari at each event, even though I haven't been to an event for two years. As an American. Schengen keeps growing, which makes it more difficult to get to a show in Prague, to a show in Spain, to a show in Bucharest, to a show in Portugal, now that they're all in Schengen, and we Americans can only be there 90 days every 180 days.
I am trying hard to get to the next TES in Marbella. Like with the Cascais show there isn't an airport there. So there's going to be additional logistics. But there will be a shuttle bus from Malaga, which is a wonderful airport, so the cost won't be as burdensome.
When we took the Mojohost bus between Xbiz Berlin and TES Prague back around 2017, he did ride the bus with us to take Photos. We stopped for lunch along the way, and I did show him an interesting multilevel platform in the middle of a plaza, which would be great to take a group photo. But by then he wasn't interested.
The last time I saw him was at AWSummit in Bucharest a couple of years before. I ordered an Uber to get to another part of the show. When it arrived, he got in with me. I looked at him with a double take, but he acted like he was entitled to ride in the taxi with me for free.
That I have never understood.
To this day, I really don't understand the need for the photographers to be parading in and out of the seminars, opening and closing the doors, disrupting the speakers and the attention of the audience while walking down the aisle to get close enough to take a couple of pictures, that never get properly credited to anyone other than big names eventually, anywhere, anyway.
Two years ago at TES Prague, which is the last show I've been able to attend because of the new Schengen countries, and increased costs due to the decline and devaluation of the USD compared to the EURO, I did give a presentation which to this day is a high point of my attending Trade shows going back to 2011. Thanks to Walter and Andreas.
Mari came in to snap a couple of photos. She recognized me from shows going back to the fall Bucharest show in 2018, but was nice enough to stick around for a couple of minutes and to smile and take in some of my presentation. Afterwards, later that day or the next day, Mari stopped me in the lobby to tell me that she enjoyed it, but more importantly to tell me that she had never heard me speak in public other than to say hi to her, and that she had no idea that I was a public speaker with background in radio and television!
I really do want to make it to Marbella in March it is three months away so I have three months to try to find an additional €1500.
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