This past Thursday - Saturday, I attended the IHobby RC Convention in Chicago. The 1st 2 days were for hobby dealers and Saturday and Sunday were set for consumers. I wrote yesterday about Ipods and their causing the lack of social interaction, and today, I wanted to write about the hobby and its social and competitive promotion.
During the show, I spoke to people who are passionate about RC. We had over 2k people come visit us at the show. It was an amazing opportunity to discuss many aspects of RC, and one dad told me that he has been modeling for 25 years +, and now he and his son build models together a few hours a week. It was really cool to see a father and son with similar interests, and really enjoy being together. The dad told me that he liked the private time where he could enjoy the building and detail work, while the time flying and working with his son and their friends really made the hobby social as well.
Over the 2 days I was at the show, I experienced this phenomenon many times, watching families, including grandparents, walking the show and talking about cars, planes, helis, and mostly, having a good time being together. I was amazed at how good I felt about being in the hobby, as it is rewarding to work in a business that can bring such accomplishment and joy to our consumers. I also like the fact that RC is a family activity, and this weekend my son, daughter and I are meeting with 2 other families to race our trucks at a local park. Who knows, we may see you there.
Tomorrow I will write about the products from Ihobby.
