Wednesday, October 13- Jim and James are joined by Mark from EGW, the EWN team while LIVE at the American Gas Association Conference in Orlando, FL.
Quick Links:
Mark LeBlanc on Linkedin
Ashley Jesko on Linkedin
James Cross on Linkedin
Jim Schauer on Linkedin
Adam Tracy on Linkedin
Greg McReynolds on Linkedin
Episode Transcript
[0:00] music] [0:00] [0:20]
Jim: Welcome everybody to this episode of Coffee with Jim and James live from… [0:00] [0:23]
Jim & James: Orlando, Florida AGA. [0:00] [0:26]
Jim: Here we are, James, cheers to you and a great conference. [0:00] [0:31]
James: First conference together since Coffee with Jim and James. [0:00] [0:34]
Jim: Yes. [0:00] [0:35]
James: First ever. [0:00] [0:36]
Jim: Yes. [0:00] [0:36]
James: Live recording. Both in the same room, all those things. [0:00] [0:42]
Jim: It, it’s first today. It’s a bunch of firsts. [0:00] [0:44]
James: A bunch of firsts. We’ve had great conference already. [0:00] [0:47]
Jim: Some great coffee to drink tonight. Don’t we? [0:00] [0:52] James; I’m good. [0:00] [0:52]
Jim: I’m drinking water. That’s all we’re going to say. [0:00] [0:55]
James: We are live from the reception. A welcome reception at AGA. Er, really had a great morning this morning. [0:00] [1:02]
Jim: Yeah. [0:00] [1:02]
James: Seen a ton of people that we haven’t seen. [0:00] [1:04]
Jim: It’s wonderful. [0:00] [1:05]
James: Honestly for me it’s a lot of the people that we’ve had on the show I didn’t know previously like you do. [0:00] [1:10]
Jim: Yeah. [0:00] [1:11]
James: And so, for me, this is like meeting them again for the first time. [0:00] [1:15]
Jim: Yeah, because you met them virtually, and now you get to see them in person. For me, I haven’t seen a lot of these people live in almost, probably 18 months, two years. [0:00] [1:24]
James: Yep. [0:00] [1:24]
Jim: A lot of people have changed, er, a lot of people changed for the better. Mark LeBlanc, you know, his past time from AGW, we all know. [0:00] [1:33]
James: It’s fine. Come on in. [0:00] [1:35]
Jim: Yeah, Mark, it’s good to see you. Come on, come say hello to the audience, just pop in. Come on. [0:00] [1:45]
James: We got plenty of room. [0:00] [1:47]
Jim: Mark, please introduce yourself to the audience, the cameras right up there. [0:00] [1:51]
Mark LeBlanc: Mark LeBlanc, EGW, Mississippi, Louisiana. [0:00] [1:55]
James: Coolest mustache in the room. [0:00] [1:58]
Mark: Thank you. I was worried about, I was worried about, er, my mask messing up my mustache, but I have it on. [0:00] [2:09]
Jim: It’s alright. [0:00] [2:10]
James: How’s the show going so far? [0:00] [2:11]
Mark: Good, it’s good to see everybody. Well, it’s, it’s a, nice getting back to normal. [0:00] [2:26]
James: Feels good. [0:00] [2:26]
Mark: Seeing friends and colleagues. [0:00] [2:26]
Jim: Isn’t it. Isn’t it good. [0:00] [2:26]
Mark: It is, say hello to everybody. [0:00] [2:26]
Jim: I can’t stop looking at his mustache, though. [0:00] [2:28]
James: It’s really a bit special. [0:00] [2:31]
Jim: Yeah, it is. [0:00] [2:42]
James: What’s EGW got going on this week. [0:00] [2:42]
Mark: Oh man, we got a ton. So, we don’t have a booth here but a lot out vendor partners are here, I’d say. So, yeah. Spending time in each booth, saying hello to our partners and just, er, yeah. [0:00] [2:47]
James: Loving it. [0:00] [2:47]
Mark: Just enjoying the show. Good, good being here. [0:00] [2:51]
Jim: Well, I’ve known Mark for years. It’s great to see him. I haven’t seen him in two years, but, you know, Sam sees him on Facebook. She shows me stuff and everything, so, we connect. So, it’s, it’s great just to, er, be with friends once again. It’s almost, this is almost like a reunion. [0:00] [3:06] Mark; Yes. [0:00] [3:06]
Jim: It’s almost like a 20‑year class reunion, and, er, I’m ecstatic. [0:00] [3:12]
Mark: I took part in this show, remember? [0:00] [3:18]
Jim: Yes, er, yeah, I think it was New Orleans? [0:00] [3:19]
Mark: Yeah. [0:00] [3:19]
Jim: The 192, the195. [0:00] [3:20]
Mark: Yep. [0:00] [3:42]
James: I’ll copy with that. [0:00] [3:42]
Mark: We [inaudible 03:26]. [0:00] [3:43]
Jim: Oh, I never miss that one. [0:00] [3:46]
James: We did Coffee with Jim. [0:00] [3:42]
Jim: We might just have to do tea. [0:00] [3:42]
James: We just can’t wait for us to set all this up. [0:00] [3:42]
Jim: Won’t happen, it’ll be on my phone. [0:00] [3:42]
Mark: So, we changed venues for that this year, we’re at the Health in Riverside. Generally we’re at the Crown Plaza, but we have a venue change, more space. [0:00] [3:45]
Jim: Little bit off the beaten path down by the river. [0:00] [3:47]
Mark: Yeah, hotel is working with us. We’re going to have some shuttles, might even go down to a quarter. [0:00] [3:53]
Jim: Yeah. [0:00] [3:54]
Mark: Keep it safe. [0:00] [3:55]
James: I’ve heard a lot of people saying they are going to see this and, er… [0:00] [4:04]
Mark: Alright. [0:00] [4:08]
James: I think we can do this safely and get off it. I think this is good SGA. [0:00] [4:11]
Jim: Yep, two weeks. We’re going to do SGA, and Charlie, you gonna be there? [0:00] [4:16]
Charlie: I’ll be there. Okay. [0:00] [4:24]
James: We’ll take care of it ourselves. [0:00] [4:24]
Jim: We’re good. [0:00] [4:25]
Mark: Thanks for having me. [0:00] [4:27]
James: Mark, good to see you. [0:00] [4:29]
Mark: Good seeing you all. Say hello to Sam. [0:00] [4:37]
James: Absolutely. [0:00] [4:38]
Mark: See you all later. [0:00] [4:40]
Jim: Thanks, Mark. [0:00] [4:35]
James: Feel like we’re going to be checking in on cell phones. I really do, Ashley’s behind the scenes checking it out. [0:00] [4:47]
Jim: Miss Bonia has brought over a VIP from a, a major operator up there. [0:00] [4:53]
James: We like things like that, that’s for sure. [0:00] [4:55]
Jim: And, er, James, why don’t you hold on? Well no, I guess he’s being taken care of. [0:00] [5:01]
James: He’ll be fine, he’ll be fine. We got the, er, the big guns on them. [0:00] [5:16]
Jim: Yeah, I, er… [0:00] [5:16]
James: Precise it’s in here. [0:00] [5:16]
Jim: I’m getting the look though. She probably, er, needs us to say hi. [0:00] [5:16]
James: We’ll say hi. Honestly, I’m gonna get actually on, whether she wants to or not. Hey, Ashley come join me. It’ll be fine. We’re live. What’s the matter? It’s now white claw with Ashley and James, still in the shot. It’s actually bigger. Ashley, we’re gonna have to cut a big chunk of this out. [0:00] [5:46]
Ashley: [laughs] Alright. I’m boss, so I could. [0:00] [5:51]
James: Tell us again what your goal is for this conference? [0:00] [5:56]
Ashley: Er, my goal would be to capture as much of the AGA experience. We can it send it back home to those virtually who were not able to… [0:00] [6:07]
James: Those who weren’t sweating. [0:00] [6:08]
Ashley: Yeah, yeah, there is that too. Right above us is like a 10,000 watt heat lamp that… [0:00] [6:15]
Jim: Is that recording? [0:00] [6:16]
James: Yeah, we just, we pulled Ashley in. [0:00] [6:23]
Jim: Plug it in. [0:00] [6:23]
James: Fine, they’ll do better. Maybe it’s meant to be. [0:00] [6:28]
Ashley: Coffee with Ashley and Jim. [0:00] [6:29]
James: We were just talking about… [0:00] [6:31]
Jim: Ashley and James. [0:00] [6:32]
James: …how much work Ashley had put in the setting up this booth and how much we’ve sweated over the last two days because of these heat lamps. [0:00] [6:40]
Ashley: Yeah. [0:00] [6:40]
James: That the great Lord has provided for us. [0:00] [6:53]
Ashley: So nice of them. [0:00] [6:55]
Jim: If you looked at that time lapse, or whatever that’s called, that video that we did, you’ll notice that you two are working feverishly and I’m just standing around like I’m in the supervisor role pointing furiously at stuff. [0:00] [6:57]
James: lt was some of our best moments. [0:00] [7:03]
Ashley: Greg played a big role in that too, right? [0:00] [7:04]
James: Greg, Greg was very much, shout out. Greg has been a rock star. [0:00] [7:10]
Greg: OK, man. [0:00] [7:11]
James: I’m not even sure any of us trusted him, but he went with it and then we had to because he knocked it out the park. [0:00] [7:22]
Ashley: I think it turned out great. [0:00] [7:22]
Jim: The funniest episode of this is, er, all that I got a week ago, saying that the trade show booth was coming to Sami’s and my home in West Palm Beach, Florida, and that I was going to play with the show, and I’m thinking not a big deal. That’s not a problem. Well, I go out to the front driveway and there’s literally half the garage discovered in boxes, and I’m like, I don’t know how to get it there. We go, Sami and I go to the National Car Rental. No shout out, but thank you John. [0:00] [7:52]
James: No, free sponsors. [0:00] [7:53]
Jim: That’s right. We find one. We were actually measuring SUVs to get the result. There wasn’t many because of COVID shortage, we get the biggest one possible. It barely fits, the most stressful thing possible. [0:00] [8:05]
Ashley: [laughs] [0:00] [8:07]
James: We’re recording, but that’s fine. When you put stuff on where I told you to never put anything again. [0:00] [8:20]
Jim: Adam, Adam just got in trouble. Adam just got stolen. [0:00] [8:23]
James: They see if you’re going to make a statement. [0:00] [8:26]
Ashley: Come on, Adam. [0:00] [8:26]
Adam: Don’t put her on the band. [0:00] [8:31]
Ashley: Put it back on the table. [laughs] [0:00] [8:31]
Jim: Need a little sign up there that says, “Don’t put it on,” you guys. [0:00] [8:34]
James: Please don’t lean on our, our faulty camera here. [0:00] [8:37]
Jim: Had to get some VIP passes. [0:00] [[8:40] crosstalk] [0:00] [8:41]
James: Adam Tracey everyone. [0:00] [[8:42] crosstalk] [0:00] [8:41]
James: I like to put on… [0:00] [8:41]
Adam Tracey: that’s a good look. Something very casual, that’s also fun. [0:00] [8:41]
James: Makes me sweat. We were just talking about the heat lamp over our heads. We don’t have a lot of content. [0:00] [8:41]
Adam: OK, that’s fine. I’ll tell you for me to talk to you… [0:00] [8:42]
James: Sorry to hear that. I’ve heard of tons of awesome conversations. I think people are super receptive. Let’s get to the message we have to speak. [0:00] [9:29]
Adam: I think honestly, because I decide to show up fashionably late, meaning like a day‑and‑a‑half late, I’ve been here for a couple hours now. [0:00] [9:37]
James: We’re right on time. If you go by how the booth will work with us. [0:00] [9:41]
Adam: But, I can’t say enough about the attention of little bits. People want to talk. It really is good to look at. It’s the same booth we see all the time. [0:00] [9:53]
James: No offense, guys. We love you all. [0:00] [10:00]
Ashley: That’s a general. [0:00] [10:01]
James: Step up the game, because we ain’t playing. That’s in general. [0:00] [10:06]
Adam: Most people would say. [0:00] [10:08]
Jim: Really? [0:00] [10:10]
Adam: That’s right. [0:00] [10:10]
James: [inaudible 10:07], you mean? [0:00] [10:10]
Adam: Yeah. I just videoed Bob. [0:00] [10:10]
James: There, you can have this one. [0:00] [10:11]
Adam: How we doing? [0:00] [10:12]
James: We’re on, we’re on live. [0:00] [10:15]
Adam: We are? [0:00] [10:17]
James: We were just talking about [inaudible 10:16] [0:00] [10:39]
Jim: How we’re killing it at AGA. [0:00] [10:39]
James: We were, we were just talking about the booth and how much of a draw it is. [0:00] [10:39]
Jim: Yeah. [0:00] [10:39]
James: It’s been a canvas of… How would you describe it, Adam? A canvas or… [0:00] [10:39]
Adam: Monotonous. [0:00] [10:39]
James: Monotonous. [0:00] [10:39] [crosstalk] [0:00] [[10:40] laughter] [0:00] [10:39]
Adam: My brother’s come to like… [0:00] [10:39]
James: Where are we poaching? [0:00] [10:39]
Adam: Yeah, where we at? Are we at work, are we, are we on vacation? Like this, it’s different, you know. [0:00] [10:39]
James: It’s different. We’re talking about already having some awesome conversations, and, man, up, listen, nobody know, it’s different. [0:00] [10:39]
Adam: Yep. [0:00] [10:39]
James: Feels good to be back. [0:00] [10:39]
Adam: Yeah, for sure. It’s good to be back. It’s good to see to energy, what it’s all about. AGA conference, it’s always very well attended, very outgoing. Same time, you get a lot of, in my experience, you get a lot of people that kind of linger by the booth, see what you got, not necessarily looking to… [0:00] [11:20]
James: It’s almost like we’ve had two years to think about a lot of things, weird. [0:00] [11:25]
Adam: I know how that works. [0:00] [11:26]
James: I love it. I love it. Alright. [0:00] [11:29]
Adam: Yeah, you seem great. [0:00] [11:36] [crosstalk] [0:00] [11:36]
James: Hey, we gotta run. [0:00] [11:36] [background conversation] [0:00] [11:36]
James: We’re live. I mean, kind of live. We’re not really, right? [0:00] [11:39]
Greg: Oh, right. Hello. Everybody. My name’s Greg McGrilles. Come on pretty strong on these things so y’all better give me a sheet to brief. [0:00] [[11:46] laughter] [0:00] [11:48]
Greg: Make sure you give me a sheet. [0:00] [11:49]
James: No, no, nobody does. [0:00] [11:50]
Greg: Big hug, McGrilles. Hello everybody. [0:00] [11:52]
James: How’s your conference going? [0:00] [12:09]
Greg: Well, this is one of my favorites because you get to see so many people at once, and you got, everybody knocks it out of the park with their booths, so, it’s always a really fun conference to come to, and, er, I’m kind of a people person. Um, unlike James, and, um, I’m just kidding, James. [0:00] [12:13]
James: He’s a horrible podcast person. [0:00] [12:15]
Greg: Yeah, he’s a podcast… [0:00] [12:16]
James: Never make a podcast person. [0:00] [12:17]
Greg: I’m not, I’m not as popular, as most of you probably don’t know me. But, as you know, as our eye candy here at AWN, James, and so. [0:00] [12:28]
James: I’m going by Tubbs today. [0:00] [12:29]
Greg: I mean… [0:00] [12:30]
James: It works both ways. [0:00] [12:30]
Greg: Mr. Tubbs, and the camera makes him look 15 pounds larger. I just want you to know that. [0:00] [12:36]
James: I know, everyone is be surprisingly shocked. [0:00] [[12:38] laughter] [0:00] [12:57]
James: They’re like, “Wow, that’s a shock.” [0:00] [12:57]
Greg: James is 185 lbs., and he’s 6’4″, and just… [0:00] [[12:57] laughter] [0:00] [12:57]
Greg: And, I’m 36 years old myself. But, yeah, this is fun. And, I think you’re really, our booth is fun. We got the fun shirts and, um, I think the way we’re engaging with people is fun, and we’re absolutely, we do. [0:00] [[13:06] background conversation] [0:00] [13:09]
Greg: Hey, hey. [0:00] [13:11]
Ashley: Oh, whoa. [0:00] [13:13]
Greg: Whoa, it’s fans. At least get a, it’s Jim’s shower. I thought someone was throwing tomatoes at us to get us offline, but, yeah, this is, this is cool. [0:00] [[13:22] crosstalk] [0:00] [13:22]
Greg: Let’s see if we can replay. [0:00] [[13:26] background speaker] [0:00] [13:26]
James: It’s reflected. [0:00] [13:28]
Greg: I can go ahead with my head now. There we go. Oh, I guess it’s my time is up. He just ratted me out. [0:00] [13:37] James; Knock it out. [0:00] [13:39]
James: Thank you guys. [0:00] [[13:40] music] [0:00]