I had occasion to be working at a booth at the NAB Convention in Vegas last week. 4 out of 5 of the staff were people who I report directly to depending on the project… but they’re pretty cool guys and said, “bring your yoyos; when it slows down you can g’head and throw and hopefully grab the attention of passers-by!”
Armed with my SPYY Punch Line, I went ahead and did just that. I’m not going to say I gathered regular crowds or anything like that, but plenty of people stopped by for chats. Notable stuff:
One fellow stopped by who is pretty new to modern yoyoing and had his Maverick with him, which I gladly tossed around for a bit; he tried out my Punchline and I gave him a quick lesson in binding. Good conversation for several minutes about yoyo and I even got to talk about our software.
A fellow exhibitor has two sons that throw 1A… one is apparently a One Drop fan, while the other prefers a brand that is “a bunch of letters together”; although he didn’t recognize the name “Caribou Lodge,” I assume it’s CLYW. Could be wrong. Had a pretty good talk about yoyo with him, too.
A great many people asked if I’m a professional yoyo demonstrator. I think the most complicated tricks I did were Magic Trick, Matrix, Kwyjibo, and Gondola, with some other linking tricks in there from time to time. I didn’t bother with Spirit Bomb much because I kept missing. When they stopped to chat about it, I assured them that there are people 20x better than me out there, but that I appreciated the compliment. Goes to show how far removed from the “unfamiliar with yoyoing” perspective we are sometimes!
One colleague in particular asked me to do a fingerspin to whipping bind several times, but his favourite was still “walk the dog”.
Several people asked if I had yoyo giveaways (trade show swag)… I only wish I had! Then again, inexpensive yoyos are sometimes more of a detriment than a help for getting someone fired up for yoyo.
Taught two more colleagues how to bind… they weren’t very successful, but it was hilarious how they’d be like “agh, I give up” and give back the yoyo, only to come back a few minutes later, “OK, I want to try again.”… it’s pretty addictive when you start seeing success!
You could see the “I’m not very impressed” look on only a select few people’s faces, so that was pretty cool, too… it’s funny when you see that look, because as they’re passing by you matador up to a thumbspin and bind back to leave them with a final impression.
More than anything, I was just really glad to be out there in a very public place, basically practicing my thing… made the days pass very pleasantly in-between “real work”, and as many people as there were stopping by, there were probably three times as many that still thought it was pretty cool but just didn’t want to stop to chat.
If you were one of the people who stopped by in Vegas (or if your dad was the exhibitor I mentioned!), reply to this thread! If you’re somebody who has recently spread some yoyo love, share your story (I know we get these threads from time to time, but if you have something recent since last time one of them came around, let’s hear it!).
I can’t wait till you conquer Spirit Bomb!! It will be a glorious day. We will all feast. I got such a nice chuckle when you mentioned you didn’t try Spirit Bomb infront of the people hahahaha… Too funny.
Haha! I did try it from time to time when there was no particular audience, but when someone really put me on the spot I selected tricks I knew I could nail. Most commonly Gondola or a mini-combo of Kwyjibo to Jade Whip!
Ah, thats pretty nice. I never get that much of a crowd when i throw in public, but yea people are still interested, i get a talk from time to time, never had the pleasure of teaching someone a tik or anything though, havent met anyone who has passed double or nothing and never met anyone who carries their yoo with them. 2 reasons im guessing is because virginia isnt populated with yoyo players and cuz im 13 xD
I’m known as the “yoyo guy” at my school, and I have tried teaching people, unfortunately not many people stick with it. It’s funny, even when I’m at places beside school, random people will say “Hey, you’re that yoyo kid!” Probably because I will yoyo anywhere, any chance I get.
Pretty much same with me, except my friend and I are known as the yo-bros. It’s funny because he got me into throwing in the first place, and now I’m teaching him XD
This is something I’ve thought about quite a bit: there’s “good” and then there’s “yoyoexpert good.” I think too often we get hung up on the fact that we might not be “yoyoexpert good,” when to 95% of the general populace we are mindblowingly “good.” Just this week I was throwing in front of some high school kids. Nnow, I still consider myself very much a novice, but they were really impressed as they watched me bust out matrices, kwyjibos and ninja vanishes. One of them even said “you must like, win yoyo competitions” (if only). Anyway, just food for thought.
This made me laugh! Sounds like me every time I try a new trick, which isn’t as often these days.
Keep spreading the yoyo love, Greg. I will try and do the same.
When they stopped to chat about it, I assured them that there are people 20x better than me out there, but that I appreciated the compliment. Goes to show how far removed from the “unfamiliar with yoyoing” perspective we are sometimes!
