More than a Month on the Road

Post 10

Life is good! Becky and I have been at this Get Out More thing for over a month now. I would say without a doubt that every show we give keeps getting better. We feel more natural and with that more at ease on stage. The reception from our crowds is overwhelmingly positive with the audience both excited about what they have learned, along with the free gear most people inevitably take home. Every show people come up to ask us questions about gear or about our personal adventures. Many people simply come up to shake our hands, thank us and tell us how much they enjoyed our talk. What I appreciate the most is when people tell me how motivating our presentation is. On three separate occasions I’ve had someone from the audience tell me just how motivated they are now to get outside this summer and hike or to use the new gear they bought. 

When we go into a retailer where we will give a presentation, our mind set is that we are their guest. We realize every venue will be different and we are willing to adapt or work around any needs or requirements they may have. Thankfully most venues are great hosts and overly accommodating to us. I can’t say enough about how much we enjoy the Mast General Stores in Tennessee and North Carolina. Talk about bending over backwards for us. Like I said before, we know that we are their guest at these stores but the Mast Generals make us feel like family. Their marketing contact Deb has made herself available at each of their stores to ensure that we are taken care of. Also all their wonderful employees make us feel very welcome. At each show the store offers discounts on all regular priced items for people who attend the presentation. This shows their dedication and enthusiasm of hosting the Get Out More Tour at their stores every year. 

On the other end of the spectrum and thankfully there has only been two or three of these stores, unfortunately we feel more like a hassle or inconvenience than a welcomed guest. I don’t want to sound arrogant or ungrateful but stores should be fighting for the opportunity for people from Backpacker Magazine to come to their store, entertain their customers(for free) and drive their sales. Again at the risk of sounding egotistical, it is not worth our time or the sponsors time and money to come to a store that doesn’t put forth the effort to promote and bring in at least 50 people to these shows. In my opinion, anything less is a clear sign of lack of effort. We give away hundreds of dollars worth of gear, that alone should be enough to draw people. 

Thankfully this is a very small amount of stores. The vast majority are wonderful!