Back from Vegas: Big Wins, AI Tools & Tough Decisions

Hey Future Owner,

I’m back from Vegas and owe you two days’ worth of updates. Let’s break it all down.

Day 1: Keynotes, AI & the Trade Show Floor

David Pogue & the AI Keynote

The day started with a keynote from David Pogue. I didn’t expect much, but he was actually really entertaining. My biggest takeaway? A tool called Drag-It AI (or something like that). It lets you take existing pictures and manipulate them—dragging and rotating objects to different angles.

Not many tent rental companies have great photos, so I’m thinking about leaning into AI and video creation more. This could be a game-changer for marketing. Overall, a great keynote. That’s two for two in my ARA Show experience.

Walking the Show Floor & Chair Hunting

Once the trade show floor opened, I walked all of it. My main focus was wood grain resin chairs—comparing quality and seeing who had the most realistic-looking options. Right now, I’m leaning toward the Natural color from Tent and Table (Buffalo, NY), but I also got a quote from Chiavari Company (Florida). Their quality seemed better, but the shipping costs were wild.

Haven’t made a final call yet—TBD.

Content Creation & Sexy Tents

Now that I’m getting more comfortable with Canva, I took a ton of pictures with marketing in mind. There were also some seriously sexy tents at the show that I think could be viable options for us. No decisions yet, but the wheels are turning.

Conversations & the Meatloaf Sandwich Guy

At the end of the day, I struck up a conversation with a small event rental company from California and then met a guy working in AI robotics. He’s part of a company building a humanoid (a new term I learned) and developing another robotic AI product that’s still in progress.

Honestly, I might have just met the next Sam Altman and not even realized it. Also, he was eating a meatloaf sandwich, which I thought was an odd meal choice. So yeah, I know he’s something special. 😂

Day 2: Shipping Snafus, Fees & Final Purchases

Tracking Down a Missing Tent Top

I got a late start to the day because I was tracking down a tent top that was delivered to the wrong location. I desperately needed it for a job the next day (Saturday). Spoiler: It showed up, so I don’t expect any surprises when I check the warehouse.

I was dreading the customer’s reaction if we didn’t deliver what was promised, but thankfully, I dodged that bullet.

Extrovert Mode: ON & the Labor Fees Debate

Once I got back to the show, I walked the entire floor again, talking to as many people as I could. Now that I’ve decided to be an extrovert, I hope this new skill serves me well.

At a town hall event, the topic of labor fees came up—again. It’s something I’ve been wrestling with internally. Ugh. It’s a battle. I’m going to dive deeper into customer psychology to figure out how to present it better. I’m probably overthinking it, as I tend to do, but... “I can’t help myself when I’m with you… ohhh… ‘cause I love it!” 🎶

Final Tent Purchases & That Crabcake

I finalized an outstanding order with Fred’s for our first 20x30 high peak tent—which I’ve heard is a popular size. I also locked in a 30x45 pole tent from Intentional Tents. Both of these already have jobs lined up, so it feels like a solid investment.

To close out the show, I had an awesome crabcake from a food truck. Before I knew it, I was back home, in bed, struggling to sleep because my brain was still processing everything.

Key Takeaways & Next Steps

✅ Test AI tools – Experiment with Drag-It AI for marketing images and videos.
✅ Make a decision on chairs – Tent and Table vs. Chiavari Company.
✅ Analyze labor fees – Find the right way to present them to customers.
✅ New tents secured – Ready to roll for upcoming jobs.

Vegas was a whirlwind, but it delivered big on insights, connections, and future plans. Now, it’s time to put it all into action.

Talk soon,

Ramon