A week ago, Ryan and I went to the NACA conference in Lancaster, Pennslvania to hopefully get gigs for our 3 bands. Here’s video of our experience with a few fun facts about having a booth at a conference:
1. Food Is Key
Having something to eat at the booth is key to having a popular booth. While a couple of booths had candy, we had the freshly baked vegan cookies of Scott Alexander. The fact that they were vegan was a huge selling point too. Since there is a ton of junk food available in Lancaster, many of the visiting students were burnt out on it. But its not everyday that you can try a vegan cookie, and hell it may even be good for you.
We still got weird excuses about food allergies and stuff. Honestly, they probably thought we laced the cookies with drugs or something, we’re pretty strange looking dudes. Add to the that the fact that two out of three of us in the booth were dressed in costume.
2. The Kazoo Paradox
While 90% of the college students are delighted to receive a free kazoo (one of our promo items), only 10% of that group know how to play one. I’ve always thought that kazoos were the most intuitively designed instruments. I was wrong.
As it turns out, people tend to first try to play the kazoo backwards (using the air hole as a mouthpiece). They then figure out the correct orientation only to fail by simply blowing air through it. Next, they blow harder, thinking that more air may create some kind of sound. Fourth, they take the kazoo out of their mouth in frustration. Finally, someone says “Just hum something.” Bingo!
3. Hall & Oates Are No Longer Popular
When pitching our cover project Wild Bonerz, I kept using the fact that we cover Hall & Oates as a selling point. I got a lot of blank stares. As it turns out, if you were born in 1990 or later you probably have no idea who Hall & Oates are, but you probably know the songs. Instead I should have mentioned the fact that we cover Michael Jackson since he just recently, ya know, died. Sorry Hall & Oates, but one of you will have to die to reclaim your spot in popular culture. Sad.