Personal Thank You - DetailFest 2011
Now that that the dust has settled I'd like to take a few pixels to say thank you to a few people...
Max McKee
First to Max for being a visionary, a risk taker, an entrepreneur and a genuinely nice guy. DetailFest is the only show of its kind here in the United States. Each year Reps and sometimes the owners and even presidents of car appearance companies assemble in one place and make themselves available to the public in a venue created, hosted and paid for by Max and for this I want to personally thank him. It was the 4th Annual DetailFest that I attended that started my relationship with Max and now my career. Thank you Max.
I'd also like to include just a few highlights of Max's "firsts" for this industry as they relate to this last weekend's DetailFest
Autogeek's Show Car Garage Studio
The Show Car Garage Studio and Classroom is one of the newest additions to Autogeek and by default to DetailFest where we're able to showcase,
- Products
- People
- Companies
In a very comfortable, air-conditioned room large enough to hold over 30 people and a full size car with plenty of room left over for a Boom Camera, product supplies, workbench, and tools. Very cool and no one else in the industry has anything like this all thanks to Max.
Live Broadcasts
Broadcasting "Live" over the Internet, our detailing classes and other activities is a first for DetailFest and along with broadcasting our Detailing 101 and 102 classes is a first in the industry among a very large pool that includes some very large companies that have not ventured down this road or taken the risk and investment to do so. So hats-off to Max for leading this industry by example. It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, copies him since he's been the trailblazer for this new evolution in the online world of education combining discussion forums and Live Video Streaming to help others reach their car care goals.
Autogeek's What's in the Garage? TV Show
Max, together with the talented people at Masters TV are the first to attempt to bring the world of detailing or "Surface Enhancement" to the masses via our own TV show that will be predominantly sponsored by our Vendors. This means introducing the Joe Consumers and Joanne Consumers of the TV World to products that we all tend to take for granted; products like Flex, Pinnacle, Optimum, Poorboys, Lake Country Pads, Menzerna, Wolfgang, RaggTopp, 303 Products, Diamondite, and Metro-Vac.
When you consider that most of the audience in the TV world only knows the names of the product you find OTC or Over The Counter at your local auto parts store. Max is introducing a brand new world of specialized, premium quality products to a demographic group of people that are hungry for new products that will help them get show car results for whatever their detailing project might be.
The TV show together with our Autogeek Staff, e-mail, 1-800 number, Live Chat, Discussion Forum, How-To Articles, How-To Videos, Online Classes, Detailing 101 & 102 Classes here at our Studio in Stuart, Florida, we're confident that along with our HUGE inventory of Best in Class products and tools, we're ramped up and ready to help thousands of people be successful in their garage.
Then embedding how-to features inside each show which is new to the "Car Guy TV Show" world as most of the embedded features are how-to do things like, bend and cut brake lines, or install a new set of mufflers, etc. Nothing wrong with those types of how-to features in fact I watch them and learn from them for my own car projects, but Max thinks these audiences are ready for something we can all do and that's wash, wax and have fun making our cars shine! So here's another example of Max playing Pioneer and blazing a new trail into the TV world.
All of Autogeek's Vendors
3M - Aztec - Black Wow - Covercraft - Cyclo - Detailer's Pro Series - Deltran - Diamondite - Dodo Juice - Dr Color Chip - Einszette - IAP - Flex - Flitz - Griot's Garage - Grit Guard - Lake Country - Lexol - Meguiar's - Metro Vac - Mothers - Muc Off - Optimum - P21s - Poorboys - Pinnacle - Premium Finish Care - Raggtopp - Menzerna - Wolfgang - XMT
Hey what can I say, if it weren't for all of you there couldn't be an Autogeek!
DetailFest Classes VIP Guest Vendors
I hope I didn't leave anyone out. I think I had a chance to say hello and talk to most of our Vendors and the opportunity to conduct educational classes with the following,
- Bob Eichelberg from Flex USA
- Rick Goldstein from RaggTopp Products
- David Ghodoussi from Optimum Polymer Technologies
- Jason Rose and David Pedre from Meguiar's
- Chris and Doug Lamb from Grit Guard
- Steve Gay from S100
- Rick Vaal and Sam from Premium Finish Care
VIP Guest Pro Detailers
A HUGE thank you to Renny Doyle and Joe Fernandez for clearing their busy schedules to attend this year's DetailFest as our VIP Guest Pro Detailers, suffice to say, everyone that had an opportunity to listen to either of these two gentlemen speak or watch them in action was fortunate and the comments on our forum and in public at DetailFest back this up.
Also, thank you for playing the role of Judges at our Car and Truck show this year. A lot of people don't know this but neither of you found out you would be our Judges till the last moment and for this I apologize. It's really hard to be a Judge because no matter what you do it's almost impossible to make everyone happy. Thank you for tackling the job head-on and doing a GREAT job!
Thanks Joe and Renny!
Friends of Autogeek
We had a number of long-time Friends of Autogeek volunteer to help out with all the behind the scenes work before the show and then all the while during the event, this would include,
- Ed
- Jim
- Scott aka Killrwheels
- Ernie
- Laura
- Little Max
To all of these people another HUGE THANK YOU!
Autogeek Staff
Max always talks about how here at Autogeek were a family unit that succeeds due to teamwork and I think it's safe to say anyone that attended and saw how smoothly the entire show over the entire weekend was conducted knows the only way this can happen is through dialed-in teamwork.
- Todd
- Nick
- Will
- Travis
- Ana
- Kendra
- Lucas
- Bob
- John
- Jill
- Danielle
- John
- Jeff
- Chris
- Colin
- Nichole
- Penny
- Kelly
- Dwayne
- Bobby
- Doreen
- Alfonso
- Barbara
- Ashley
- Yancy
- Meghan
- Jason
Bruno Massel and Matt Steele
It was truly a special DetailFest to have two rising superstars in the TV world of "Car Guy Shows" to be here and lend their support and a helping hand. Bruno and his Dad were here on Friday setting up and then putting in just as long of hours as the rest of us making sure everyone that attended had a stellar experience and Matt, what I can say about Matt, he's always the superman of friendliness and helpfulness no matter what the task. Plus the AWESOME display of Monster Truck and Mud Buggies on Sunday was just over the top incredible.
Meghan and Jason
These to key staff members here at Autogeek are the glue that binds us altogether. Behind the scenes in a sea of chaos, they are calm, cool and collected, piloting the Autogeek Ship through the turbulence so everything thing and everyone can relax in a sea of calm.
Yancy
I refer to Yancy as "The Man of Many Talents" and it's true, the guy is so talented that I'm confident there's nothing he can't do and do it as good or better than anyone else. One thing for sure, he's always making me look good and that's a tough job.
Operation Comfort
Hardly had a chance to talk to anyone outside of the classroom and 3 people I wish I could have spent more time with were Robert, Alicia and Jacob from Operation Comfort.
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
After losing my right leg in 1986 in a boating accident it has helped me to always value my health in all aspects and the hard work you're doing to bring attention and support to anyone suffering from Leukemia and Lymphoma is so valuable, thank you Ken Coe for all your hard work at DetailFest this year.
Jamie Laliberte and Sara Long
Jamie and were Sara were our Event Announcers and they did a wonderful job of keeping everyone abreast of everything going on, thank you!
MastersTV
The Master's TV Team was here in full force filming segments for a variety of different TV shows including,
- Ted Jones
- Linda Jones
- Butch McCall
- Sherry-Price McCall
- Brendan Bining
- Scott Vestal
- Kathy Fisher
Food and Refreshment Vendors
I did not have the chance to partake of any of the offerings from our vendors but from everything I heard from others the food was delicious! So thank you for all your hard work to help make DetailFest a success.
Stuart's Finest
The entire weekend was completely free from any trouble thanks to on-site oversight by the Marion County Sheriff's Department.
Forum Friends
What can I say but what I've been saying for as long as I've been on the forums and that it's always great to finally put a face to an Avatar or a Forum Nickname, I can't even begin to name all the great forum friends I finally had the opportunity to meet and shake hands with and since I don't want to leave anyone out I'll just leave it at...
It was a genuine pleasure meeting you all!
Local Car Enthusiasts
Because I'm a "Car Guy" at heart and have met so many fellow car enthusiasts in the local area and their family and friends, I would be remiss to leave out saying thank you to all my friends from the "sunny" Stuart area as it's always great to see you and talk car talk...
David and Behemoth
Thanks David for letting me borrow Behemoth, your gargantuan truck is a blast to drive around.
The Critters
What can I say... these guys are always great!
Tommy Winch
I didn't get a chance to hear you play as we had 4 classes on Sunday but everyone said you were awesome!
If I've left anyone out I apologize ahead of time, it's just so many great people that made this a landmark event this year and to be honest, I have to dive back into my daily job duties...
So thank you to everyone involved with making our 6th Annual DetailFest a huge success!
I very rarely use the Bowdown Emoticon and even when I do I rarely use 5 of them... but for this occasion... 5 it is...
:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:
