Engraving Clinics Hosted by Brewer Sales

I attended three engraving clinics hosted by Brewer Sales on Sunday July 31, 2007 at the Moody Gardens Hotel & Resort in Galveston, TX.

8:00 – 10:00am Xenetech Users’ Clinic
Presented by Jimmy Dubose (Xenetech, Baton Rouge)
The Xenetech Users’ Clinic gave me a good idea of what the Xenetech interface looks like and it’s special features for laying out text and artwork. I don’t own a Xenetech engraving machine but it was interesting to see the Xenetech software in action.

10:30am – 12:30pm Corel X3 Projects
Presented by Roy Brewer CRM (Engraving Concepts)
I picked up some good tips at the Corel X3 Projects clinic. Roy Brewer gave the presentation and I always feel that Roy is honest and genuine about the information he presents. Some of the tips I gleaned from his presentation are:

• Tips on how to import different file types into Corel Draw and what problemsmight occur. Like how to reduce the number of nodes when importing an AutoCAD file.
• Roy showed us how to work with bitmaps in Corel Draw – like how to remove that darn white box.
• He also showed us how to use the Smart Fill in combination with the Create Boundary tool to quickly create outlines for cutting out complex objects.
• Many other useful Corel Draw features were presented.

1:00 – 4:00pm Building a Laser Engraving Business – 101 Things to do with a Laser
Presented by Mike Dean (aka “Mr. Epilog”) & Roy Brewer
The last presentation on building a laser engraving business gave me ideas on different ways to make a profit with a laser or rotary engraver. During the discussion, creating and acquiring logos came up and someone mentioned brandsoftheworld.com. This is a great website it you need a vectored logo.

Randy Allen is the salesman who sold me my laser and did a very good job of making everyone feel welcome and kept things on schedule.

2007 Texas Trophy and Awards Show

 

The 2007 Texas Trophy and Awards Show took place July 27-28 at the Moody Gardens Convension Center in Galveston, Texas. There were about 50 booths advertising items ranging from laser engravers to trophys and plaques to embroidery items.

We visited about half of the booths on Friday. We visited the Engraving Concepts booth and saw an RMI laser system that delivers precision, non-impact marks on plastic, metal and other materials. They even engraved our names on our cell phones.

         

We attended the party on Friday evening right outside the exhibit hall with music and free food and then went to the hotel bar area where we listened to some good music and met another couple that had been attending the show. They were very nice people who have a business called Wall’s in Pleasanton,TX.

We picked up where we left off on Friday and went through the rest of the booths. We visited the JDS booth as we have done quite a bit of business with them in the past.

The rest of the photos we took of the event can be found HERE.

Like the past shows, this one offered a great opportunity to meet the venders and gather information on new and existing products.