It’s a Conference not a Show - 2023 Chicago Planner Conference

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

When I decided to make the trip out to Chicago for Fountain Pen Day, I had no idea that, at the same time, the Chicago Planner Conference was also taking place. I knew about the conference, but since it was long sold out (I think it was sold out in a day!), I hadn’t really given it much thought. At the FPD event at Atlas Stationers, I ran into Francisco Lopez from Hinze Pens who asked if I would be interested in helping him teach a Fountain Pens 101 or 201 class at the Chicago Planner Conference (CPC), and of course, I jumped at the opportunity!

Hello, Chicago Planner Conference!

The lobby was a popular gathering spot.

Unlike a pen show, planner conferences (or “plannercons”) are less about selling products (though there was a marketplace for shopping too) and more about the planning community coming together to meet each other, listen to speakers, attend workshops and even exercise their creative muscles at “Make & Take” events. All of those events and workshops are included in the $375 CPC ticket price, which is quite a bit more than for a pen show, where an average weekend pass runs $40-$60. I had a bit of sticker shock initially, but once I saw the list of classes that were available, it totally made sense. Pen show classes typically cost around $75 per class and if you were to fill your weekend with multiple classes, it could definitely approach or surpass that number. Some of the conference’s topics included “Inbox/Outbox: Organizational Planning”, “Rock your digital planner”, Surviving the Hustle: Entrepreneurial Panel” and of course, “Fountain Pens 101”, and this is where I come in 🙂

Francisco and I spent an hour talking about fountain pens with a group of 50 attendees. Most of them weren’t fountain pen users; in fact, some had never touched one before, while others may have used one when they were kids, or were told that they couldn’t use them either because they were lefties or had a weird grip - that made me sad and angry because that can’t be further from the truth!

Francisco kicking off the class with a brief history of fountain pens.

Without boring everyone with too many details, we covered why fountain pens are great (no need to dip, writes without added pressure, ink options galore), parts of the FP/nib/feed, what is a converter and how to use it, how to write with a FP (which side is up, both tines should touch the paper, etc.) and then we inked up the fountain pens provided by Retro 51 and put pen to paper! It was great to have Francisco there because we could both walk around the room to answer questions and demonstrate things at the tables.

Francisco walked around and did demos for half the class, while I taught and demo’d for the other half.

Someone asked “So what do you do if you want to have more than one color to write with?” and this was my response: “ink up more than one pen!” 😃 60 minutes flew by and I wish we had at least another 30 minutes because we barely had time to answer questions. Everyone seemed to be excited to have learned and tried something new and had a new writing tool to play with.

All smiles with their new Retro 51 fountain pens!

After the class, one of the attendees gave me this awesome cookie!

Unlike pen shows which are open during show hours, CPC closes down the marketplace during the various sessions/workshops. Vendors get to take a break as well as attending or leading sessions too. I had maybe 10 minutes in the marketplace before the class,, but I made sure to take some pictures!

Jenny Galfi (IG:extrafinepennerd) watched the Hinze Pens table while Francisco Lopez was teaching the classes. Their table was in the hallway right outside the ballroom.

There were a few other vendors in the hallways. There were also some cute picture booth setups with props too. None of my hallway pictures turned out well, oops.

This is the entry to the ballroom.

View of the right side.

View of the rest of the ballroom.

As you can see from the pictures above, it is not a particularly large ballroom and there are wide aisles and lots of space. I would guess that there were roughly 30 vendors. I was in the marketplace very briefly before the class and I think that many of the attendees had already made their way to the second floor to head to their classes, which was why the aisles weren’t jam packed.

Cheryl Ball was representing Rickshaw Bagworks at CPC. They made special pouches and pen sleeves for the event. (PC:Marty Henderson.)

Marty and Kimberly Henderson (and their 3 daughters) were showcasing Retro 51 pens. It was great to see some familiar faces!

Coralie (right) with one of her helpers at the CoraCreaCrafts table.

OMG, look at all these awesome cat stickers from An Actor Plans. They are based on Mabel, the cat!

The actor behind “An Actor Plans” is Melissa M. Crabtree (not pictured, but her helper is!) makes Broadway-themed stickers, washi and other goodies.

JoJo of JoJo’s Pretty Paper Shop sells stickers, cards and notebooks - all made from her own original art.

Raspberyl Designs had all sorts of fun sticker sheets for decorating your Hobonichis, journals and planners.

I want to thank Francisco Lopez for giving me the opportunity to share my love of fountain pens with 50 enthusiastic planner folks. I had an absolute blast and wished I could have spent more time talking with folks, getting to know how they use their planners and answering any FP questions they may have. And of course, to do some shopping too, lol.

Thanks for having me, CPC!

It was a whirlwind but a great way to close out the year. This is it for pen travel for 2023, so until next time, stay safe and stay inky!

2023 Dallas Pen Show Recap

After my last recap, which was my longest article ever, I wanted to make sure this one didn’t follow in the same footsteps :-) And because I wrote a recap on the 2022 Dallas Pen Show, it should be pretty short. Why? Because it was very similar to last year. Which was a nice change of pace, since both the DC and SF shows were significantly different from 2022. Read on to see what I’m talking about.

Like last year’s Dallas show, I worked behind the Franklin-Christoph table. Both days were fairly busy with Friday traffic a bit lighter so I was able to walk around a little bit.

Always a pleasure to work with Dustin and Audrey from the Franklin-Christoph crew and spread the F-C love.

Many of last year’s vendors were in attendance again this year and maybe a few more (66 listed on the website this year vs 58 last year.) It was nice to see familiar faces from other shows, but also folks that only go to this show were back again. Once again, Dromgoole’s (from Houston, TX) took residence in the whole back corner of the main ballroom. Many of the distributors were on hand - Coles of London, Kenro, Pilot - as well as vintage pen dealers, modern makers and more.

This is one of the few two day shows on the US pen show circuit (Friday and Saturday;) most shows are Fri-Sun, with a few starting Thursday afternoon. Friday hours were from 10am-8pm and Saturday hours were 9am - 5pm. I was definitely happy to head home on Sunday given the long day on Friday. This year, it felt a little slower to me than last year, but not by too much, with Friday being less crowded than Saturday. This allowed me to check out some of the other tables during the show.

Once again, the Dallas Pen Show was held at the DoubleTree Hotel Dallas, Galleria, in two adjoining ballrooms, with the silent auction, Pen World and show registration desk outside.

I did not bid on this Retro 51 at the auction but I wanted to!

A view of the small ballroom from the corner of Franklin-Christoph (right) and Karas Kustoms (left.)

Our pen show neighbor, Karas Kustoms, had special pens made for the Dallas Pen Show, like this one, which have special box covers for each show!

Our neighbor to the right was Vanness Pens and they had exclusive pens from Nagasawa! I have always preferred the flat topped Pro Gear and Pro Gear Slim, but that blue 1911S is calling my name…

The main ballroom is an odd upside down L- shaped room with Dromgooles in the far back left corner and lots of vendors spread out in this room.

Speaking of Dromgooles, this corner was like its own store, with more products than some shops! It was pretty busy the whole time.

Dromgoole’s newly released Retro 51 Giddy Up set and matching pen sleeves from Rickshaw Bagworks. True story - Marty Henderson collaborated with Retro 51 on the design of this exclusive!

Adam Velker and Karen Langley from Retro 51 and the Giddy Up guy (whom I affectionately call Larry) - Michael Dromgoole, please get your dad a shirt like this!

You can’t say Retro 51 and not think of Marty and Kimberly Henderson standing in front of a table full of Retros! They also had some products from Rickshaw Bagworks, and you can also see Jesi Coles working at the Dromgoole’s Ink Wall.

Shu-Jen Lin (left) and Kelly Henick were busy at the Taccia tables all weekend - with their gorgeous array of pens, that’s not a surprise!

Like last year, there were four seminars, all held on Saturday - Flourishing with a Fountain Pen, Sketching with Fountain Pens, Basic Fountain Pen Repairs, and Pens for Kids. It would be great to have some classes on Friday as well.

I love that the Pen Collectors of America (PCA) runs the Scavenger Hunt for kids and holds a seminar that teaches kids how to use and take care of fountain pens!

Danny Fudge of The Write Pen is well-known and respected in the vintage restoration world.

A customer is testing out their nib after Matthew Chen worked on it.

Because Friday is such a long day, peaks and lulls are expected. There was the morning rush when the show opened and for a couple of hours until folks leave for lunch or take a break. Then it picks up again in the mid-afternoon, and then there’s another lull until the after-work crowd comes. This year, it felt a bit slower on Friday than Saturday, though not all the vendors felt this way.

This is the “right” side of the main ballroom, looking back from the other end of the room.

I’m always happy to see Shawn Newton at a pen show and I finally remembered to pass along some pens for his scholarship foundation.

It’s not every day you get to hear knives getting sharpened! Stephen Howell of The Sharpest Edge was busy working on all sorts of knives and pointy objects and making them nice and sharp!

I was so excited to see these acrylic seam rippers that I forgot to note which vendor made them. My dad was a tailor and these reminded me of him. Just goes to show that you never know what cool things you’ll find at a pen show!

I was SO tempted to get this hat! It reads “Handwriting Police, Vigilance for those who correspond by hand”, except no vigilance is needed if you’re corresponding by hand! Just don’t use a ballpoint or pencil - KIDDING!

Folks from the local calligraphy guild, Kaligrafos were writing people’s names in calligraphy and selling items made by guild members.

I love shows that are dog-friendly. They always brighten up the room and it’s funny to hear folks’ voices go up a few octaves when talking to dogs. “Who’s a good dog, yes, you! You’re a good dog! The best dog!”

Look at this adorable doggo in the arms of Audrey Matteson of Franklin-Christoph! There was much squealing since this cutie was such a soft and sweet pup!

Last year after the long Friday show day, people gathered at the bar area until well past midnight but there was a lot less of that this year. It was definitely a long and tiring day. There is always more post-show hanging out on Saturday night because everyone was finished with the show! They had already packed up their tables, had their dinners and were ready to relax, catch up with friends and play with pens.

If I had to give this show a report card, it would have a similar score as last year because it was an overall solid show and the schedule and vibe remain the same. I had a good time, as did many of the vendors and attendees that I talked with. A few folks liked the longer but fewer days, and while I would’ve preferred three shorter days, it was nice to be able to head home on Sunday for a change. The attendees didn’t seem to really notice or mind the long Friday, but it may have impacted their after-hours experience since the vendors were usually exhausted afterwards.

In the end, despite having a bit more time to roam around the show, I didn’t take as many pictures as I intended to. That’s often because I get wrapped up while catching up with friends or doing my own shopping (it’s still my birthday month, right?).

My haul included an awesome undated calendar filled with calligraphy exemplars by the Kaligrafos calligraphy guild, the latest Visconti Rembrandt-S Lavender, a denim Girologio 12 pen case, a beautiful swirly Franklin-Christoph 46L, and a Nagasawa exclusive Kobe Affection Kyomachi Legend Blue 1911S from Vanness Pens (so much for being on #teamflattops, lol.)

And the perfect bookmark to commemorate this show, written by Saah from the Kaligrafos guild.

Thank you, Dallas Pen Show, for your southern hospitality! I think this is my last show for the year (but never say never!). I’ve finally caught up on sleep, which means it’s time to write some pens dry. Until next time, stay safe and stay inky!

Reflections from a Pelikan Hubmaster

Last Friday, I had the honor of being the Hubmaster (“HM”) for the Palo Alto Pelikan Hub for the second year in a row. I wanted to share some thoughts as a Hubmaster so folks get some insight into what that means, especially if you’re thinking of volunteering as HM next year.

If you haven’t heard about the Pelikan Hub before, here’s an article from last year that talks about it in more detail, but in short, it is a Pelikan-sponsored, volunteer-led pen meetup that happens on the same day at locations all around the world.

Pelikan requires individuals to register/sign up for a Pelikan Hub. New for this year was a two-step process (I don’t know why). The first step in late April/early May was filling out a Save the Date application to participate in the Pelikan Hub. A couple weeks later, you received an email inviting you to complete the registration process with a username and password, allowing you to change your selected hub city down the road (up to a certain date so they can ship the right number of gifts to the right locations).

I don’t think there was a location drop down menu, just a blank field for you to enter a city/region that you want to attend. Assuming at least 7 people signed up for that location and that one of them also checked the box to say “I volunteer to be a Hubmaster”, Pelikan approves that Hub location. This allows them to know who will organize the local Hub as well as where to ship the Pelikan goodies. If no one volunteers to be a Hubmaster, Pelikan will email folks that signed up for that location, informing them that there is no Hubmaster and if no one steps up, there will be no Hub there.

Once Pelikan sorts through all the registrations, they notify the volunteer that they are the Hubmaster for their location. If there are multiple volunteers who want to be Hubmaster, Pelikan decides who gets to be HM, but I presume that what you write in the registration comments is taken into account. I also think that experience as prior Hubmaster will likely give you an advantage, even if you were the HM in another city/state, but that’s just a guess. Pelikan sends the HM a list of the registered attendees along with their email addresses. At this point, it is up to the HM to get in touch with their attendees.

At the same time, Pelikan sends an email to the attendees, informing them of the Hub location. They don’t tell them who their HM is, and there is no further communication from Pelikan. I saw lots of posts on IG and FB from folks all over the world who were frustrated because they hadn’t heard a peep about their Hub, they didn’t know who their HM was, couldn’t reach out to find out if the Hub was still happening, where it was, etc. I understand that some HMs were trying to secure a location before sending out an email but this frustration and radio silence could have easily been avoided with a simple email, even if it’s just to say “Hi, I’m Kimberly and I’ll be the Hubmaster for Palo Alto. Stay tuned for more info!”

In July, Pelikan notifies the HM with a tracking number for the Hub gifts and other supplies. This year’s gifts included Pelikan-branded paper pad, a bottle of the Ink of the Year, and a postcard of the upcoming M600 Art Collection - Glaucoma Cambon, and the Hub supplies included a Pelikan Hub banner, Pelikan-branded name tag labels, permanent markers (for the banner), a sign-in sheet and a gift for the HM. Last year, since it was the first Hub since the pandemic, Pelikan did not include any ink. People were glad that Pelikan resumed giving inks as part of the Hub gifts. Note that people generally did NOT like seeing photos of the gifts because they felt like it should be a surprise, and that people should want to go to the Hub regardless of what the gifts are, etc.

The Pelikan Hub banner and gifts from Pelikan.

As HM, my biggest challenge was trying to find a place to host the event. Last year, we had 18 people attend the Hub, but this year, I had 31 people. I wasn’t sure that the same location would be able to fit that many people, so I spent a lot of time looking around. Finding a venue can be fairly easy if you have a 7-person Hub, but if you’re the HM for a big hub like Denver or Berlin or Quezon City (50+) or DC where there were 100+ attendees (!!!!), it can be an extra daunting task. The only places you’re not allowed to have a Pelikan Hub are those with a religious affiliation, aka no churches, mosques, temples, or related property.

There was some drama around some hubs that charged a fee to attend. Pelikan Hubs are supposed to be free events, so this caused quite a stir. I think that it’s important to realize that free event spaces aren’t always easy to find, especially if you have a large group and that HMs aren’t given any stipend or allowance to pay for a venue (and I don’t think it’s Pelikan’s job to do so either.) Asking their attendees up front for input on costs (of venue and/or food) would go a long way in avoiding any ill-will or drama.

Here are some ideas for venues: Restaurants - some places will allow private parties without a fee if you spend a certain amount. Community centers Libraries Outdoor parks/picnic areas Food courts at shopping malls Company conference rooms (depending on the company’s policies, of course)

After I was notified that I was the HM for Palo Alto, I sent an email to everyone on my list (I BCC’d because not everyone wanted their emails shared) introducing myself and letting them know that I was looking for a larger space because we were looking at a 30+ person Hub this year. I also asked folks to confirm their attendance and if they were interested in me buying pizzas for dinner. I also told them that I would not be shipping or delivering Pelikan gifts if they could not attend the hub (more on this later). I sent another email once I confirmed the location and a couple more times before the actual hub. I included parking information, the agenda (hint: there was none) and other important information like you don’t need to have any Pelikans, bring anything you want to destash, giveaway or sell, bring your favorite notebook, etc.

Every HM runs their Hubs differently - some choose to make gift bags with gifts in addition to the Pelikan ones, some have ink testing stations, or sample stations, or door prizes, or slideshow on Pelikan history, etc. Some HMs ask vendors to provide goods for raffles or giveaways. There is no right or wrong way to run a Hub - as I said earlier, it’s about getting people together to celebrate pens, and a great way for Pelikan to get some publicity and good will out to the pen community. If you’re looking for ideas for next year, both the Pelikan Hubs Facebook group as well as the Pelikan_Passion IG (Hubs 2023 stories) are filled with pictures and posts from Hubs around the world if you want to see how the different groups varied in size, location, activities, etc.

Since I was coming off the heels of a travel-filled August and SF Pen Show, I wanted to keep the PA Hub low key. I already had Hub goodies and other things I wanted to raffle and give away. Someone had brought a sample set of all of the Iroshizuku inks to give away, so I snagged those for a raffle prize too. I came up with some Pelikan questions - some about the Hub, some about Pelikan models and even some about me (Which was my first Pelikan? (Pelikan M200 Smoky Quartz) Most recent Pelikan purchase? Pelikan M215 Blue Stripe), and every correct answer gave them a raffle ticket. After we had pizza and held the raffle, we took a group photo, people roamed around the room, showing off their pens and trying other people’s pens, looking at people’s sell binders, picking up freebies that people put in the destash pile. It was a fun time, so much so, that as usual, I forgot to take photos during the Hub. Oops. :-D

Got the banner hung up!

I did manage to get everyone in the photo!

The flock that I brought to the Hub, including the Pink M600 which was inked up with the Pelikan Ink of the Year, Rose Quartz.

All in all, based on feedback from the attendees, people had a good time and enjoyed meeting new people and playing with each other’s pens. So I count that a success!

A few things I wanted to call out:

People didn’t know about Pelikan Hub - You can’t sign up for something you don’t know about, right? If you’re in the group of folks who didn’t know about the Hub until it was too late, there are a couple options to get more information for future Hubs. (1) Follow Pelikan_Passion on Instagram or (2) Pelikan Hubs on Facebook. You should start seeing information about the Hub around the May timeframe. If you’re in-the-know about Hubs, share it with your pen friends/followers/subscribers/pen group members/Slack/Discord/IG, etc.

Hub locations are unknown during registration - When you are signing up for Hub, Pelikan doesn’t have a listing of cities until a couple weeks AFTER registration is complete. So, if you lived in the Bay Area, for example, you might not know that there were Hubs for San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose, Oakland or East Bay. So how would you know what to enter if you didn’t have a list? A lot of people didn’t know that’s how this worked - all they knew was that last year’s Hub was 2 hours away, so they didn’t even bother registering!

Pelikan, if you’re reading this, figure out how to implement this better in the registration process.

If you know 7 or more folks who want a Hub in another city, make sure you all enter the same thing when registering for a Hub, like “San Rafael, CA”. Date/time not very convenient - Friday night at 6:30PM isn’t the best time for a lot of people to meet. They have jobs and families that they may need to take care of before going to Hub. And that doesn’t even include rush hour traffic. After this year’s Hub, I asked my attendees if they had a preference for Friday or Saturday and if the latter, whether they’d prefer a day or evening location. Most of them said they would much rather meet on Saturday. I also intend to provide this feedback to Pelikan so that maybe we can have a Hub weekend instead of it being Friday night at 6:30pm. I know of at least one Hub that asked to hold theirs on Saturday instead because it was easier to find a venue for their large Hub.

Hubmasters aren’t unknown until they reach out - I think that Pelikan should let the attendees know who the HM is for their Hub. They don’t have to give out their email but they should at least know their name. I saw so many posts asking “Do you know who the HM of XYZ City is?” Of course, the onus is still on the HM to reach out (and to do so early and more than once), but knowing who their HM is upfront can avoid a lot of confusion. What about people who didn’t register but want to attend? - This is entirely at the discretion of the HM. Several people were unable to attend so I knew that I would have room for extra folks, so I let them know they could attend but I might not have gifts for them since Pelikan doesn’t send extras. But…

Extra Pelikan gifts - Since some folks couldn't make it, I decided to give unregistered attendees the gifts. What if you still have extras? This is my opinion only, but I feel that, as HM, you’ve already volunteered your time and effort to put on the Hub, so you don’t have to expend more energy to deliver or ship the gifts, unless you want to. I repeatedly told my attendees that I would not be delivering or shipping anything but that I would bring them to our weekly posse meetups for the next several weeks for them (or a friend) to pick up. You can also donate them to a destash table, save them as gifts for next year - whatever you want.

Ask for help/volunteers - Just because you’re the HM doesn’t mean you have to do everything. My introductory email asked for volunteers for setup and cleanup as well as options for venues. Ask for volunteers to figure out food (finding a restaurant or picking up pizza), donating stuff for a raffle, etc. It was great to have a person check people in and give them their gifts, so I could focus on finishing setup, etc. Obviously, the bigger the Hub, the more you’ll need volunteers but even if you have a small Hub, ask the group for things they want to destash or to come up with Pelikan trivia, etc.

HAVE FUN - Remember, if you’re the HM, have fun! You don’t have to make it a big event with lots of activities, unless you want to! You just have to get people together, pass out goodies and enjoy each other’s company! And if you’re not the HM, have fun! This is a great opportunity to meet other pen enthusiasts and see/try pens you might not get to see otherwise (especially if there aren’t any pen shows in your area).

As I said before, it was an honor to have been a Hubmaster again this year and have already begun brainstorming ideas for next year’s Hub! Until next Hub, stay safe and stay inky!