The Smallest Things are the Biggest Things

Happy Saturday,

Coming at you this Saturday on the heels of attending my very first PGA Show. This annual event at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, showcases all areas of the golf industry.  Picture a GIANT conference center filled with the people & products from all aspects of the game - such as PGA of America Golf Professionals & LPGA Golf Professionals, golf course owners, directors of golf, golf coaches and instructors, golf industry professionals, golf buyers, golf media, and (so many) exhibitors with everything from golf shoes and apparel to the latest golf equipment, simulators, course support and more. 

There are more people and elements behind the golf industry than you can imagine!

Knowing this would be a bit overwhelming, I went into the week with a couple of self-imposed guidelines:

• Get to know and talk to as many people as possible. My life philosophy is that every connection is valuable in some way or another.

• Go outside my comfort zone… in this case, explore areas of golf I might normally not consider. (Important nuggets of information come in the least expected of places.)

• Collect a ton of information - for future story and content needs, background information about the game, and foresight into future trends.

• Make the most of the week.

With those things in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the conference, so much so that I surprised myself. I met amazing people (watch for their stories on my Instagram) and saw the coolest new products, equipment, gadgets, and (OMG) clothing and shoes. It was a golfer’s version of Disneyland. (Minus the ears and screaming children.)

As I wandered from booth to booth, I found myself naturally drawn to some brands, while others I bypassed in a “great but just not for me” way. Nothing personal to those brands - at golf shows (and in life), we like the things that light us up. Agree?

But regardless of my personal picks, I noticed a trend when it came to booth popularity:

The most highly visited booths had products/services with unique elements, features, or details and exhibitors who were truly passionate about their products.

However, I didn’t realize this because I’m an expert golf show analyst.  This revelation came in an unexpected way when I received a Facebook message from a family friend:

“Abbey, our son Danny is at the PGA Show - he’s at the Original Penguin booth.”

Now, I’d never met Danny, but his mom’s family and my family go way back…so of course I wanted to meet him.

As I approached the Original Penguin by Munsingwear booth, I  saw that Danny was with a client, so I waited in the wings. As soon as he was finished, Danny turned to me and, without an introduction, knew who I was and enthusiastically greeted me as if he’d known me forever.

Danny Blaesing in front of the Original Penguin booth.

We started talking about the enormity of the show and then settled into a conversation about his sales job at Penguin and the appeal of their clothing line. I told him I found the Original Penguin clothing to be beautifully and classically made, but it was the gorgeous and unexpected details that really sold me. (The cool zippers especially caught my attention.)

Danny knew exactly what I was talking about and said, “I agree - these clothes are phenomenal, and really - it’s the smallest things that are the biggest things when it comes to the design of the brand.”

At this moment, I reached for my phone to take notes, realizing that Danny was going to share some pretty profound ideas. (As a writer, you just know when you’re talking to someone who’s going to provide inspiration for future writings…)

I repeated what Danny said back to him, “Danny - that was really profound.  The smallest things are the biggest things.”

He continued to talk about his job, and how he truly loved the apparel he was selling and the opportunity to make his clients happy.   

“But there’s more,” Danny told me. He was oozing with passion at this point, and I wanted to get the name of his hiring agent and give him a high five. “Since I love my job so much, I’m 100% dialed into the conversations with my clients. I want them to know they have my complete attention - they’re my priority when I’m talking to them. That small idea is a big thing for me and goes a long way in gaining the trust of clients.”

DANG. Could Danny have just cracked the code to sales success, PGA Show success, and success in life? Can Danny’s quotes be used in employee training videos?

The more I thought about it, the more Danny’s idea of small things being the big things expanded beyond zippers and client conversations.

For example…at the conference, I witnessed this idea in…

• The personal touches vendors made at their booths - such as the offerings of really cool swag, bowls of mints and chocolates, and their ability to strike up meaningful conversations with those who stopped by.

• The mini-conference wins through small interactions, like when a conversation with a vendor led to the realization we were both Marquette grads and a twenty-minute trip down memory lane.

• The small wins came again when I heard founders passionately share the origin stories of their businesses. I could see and feel their genuine desire to have their products bring joy to their customers.

• I felt a personal win when I ran into an old colleague on the way to dinner and had a surprise reunion/catch-up. Encounters like this added to my overall great experience.

• Eating solo at a restaurant bar brought on a great conversation with an exhibitor and gave me new insights into the world of retail, plus a great conversation about life in general. Fun and interesting!

• Meeting up with fellow writers and meeting new colleagues renewed my love of networking and collaborating, and meeting long-time editors and clients in person for the first time was a small thing but huge considering how we’ve all felt the effects of the pandemic in various ways.

• Finally, discovering new products and ways the golf industry is opening up the playing field to people of all physical abilities (shoutout to VertaCat especially) clued me into a new area of golf writing I’m ready to explore.

I could literally go on and on talking about numerous other “small” encounters and discoveries that left a big impression on me.

All of these small things added up and made this an incredible and inspiring week. I’ll be back next year, not because the PGA Show is such a big event, but because it’s a big event full of small and exceptionally important things and fabulous people all dedicated to bringing more people to this fabulous game.

Now, maybe you’ve read this newsletter, and you’re thinking, “Well, that’s all great, Abbey. But golf just isn’t my thing. What gives with the focus on golf?”

I respect that and will reply with this… it’s not only about golf. We all have the opportunity every day to sprinkle our lives with small gestures, efforts, and communication that can impact others in big ways.

Let’s go find them.

Wishing all of you the chance to find the smallest moments to make your life as big as possible.

Hit’em straight,

Abbey