Bloggers' Visit to Festool HQ 2017

[Stone Message]

Hi Everyone

A couple of months ago I received an invitation from Festool HQ to travel to Germany to join an event aimed at bloggers and YouTubers. I had little idea what to expect and there was no agenda published in advance. I also had no idea who else might be attending and so it was all quite a mystery.

The Festool Bloggers event took place 19th to 21st July 2017 and I am now in the process of gathering all of my video and still pictures together. Let me say now that I was really privileged to be invited and it has been the most brilliant experience.

I will make a YouTube video as soon as I can but now I want to share this with you to set the scene....

My plane tickets and accommodation were provided free of charge by Festool as were all meals during the 2+ day event.

I started by meeting Phil Beckley at Heathrow airport:

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Unfortuneately our flight was delayed and we arrived just after the welcome speech and introduction from the Festool CEO, Christian Oltzscher. When Phil and I walked into the room he did not need to be briefed but greeted us by our first names as though we were old friends. If you have not met him I must say that he is a very kind and gentle man despite being at least a Sys 3 taller than me:

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The other guests were from a number of other countries including Germany, France, USA, Turkey, South Korea and Russia. I have asked for a copy of the attendance list which will arrive next week and so I may have missed out a country or two and will only put in names once I know how they should be spelt !

The main day, 20th July started at 8 am when Phil, our driver for the day, invited us on board his bus:

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We spent the morning in Festool HQ in Wendlingen seeing demonstrations of much of the kit that we know already. Despite owning some of these tools I still picked up some good tips from the demonstrators led by Georg van dem Bussche and Frank Jaksch.

I just wonder what Frank was worried about:

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Then we got back on board Phil's bus and drove into the middle of (a very lovely) nowhere, a picnic spot in the hills about a 20 minute drive from Festool HQ. There we were divided into 3 groups with stands that reflected the cordless theme:

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One stand was dedicated to the new cordless sanders and  [member=41214]Phil Beckley[/member] I do hope to be able to do a video about these sometime soon !

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We did have a little bit of fun testing out the new prototype Festool Segways but I was not allowed to film this for confidentiality reasons and also they had not yet been painted green and grey ! Perhaps Phil will fill in this gap for me.

That evening we had supper in a country restaurant in an historic farm complex. Phil led the entertainment:

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The following day was the factory visit to Neidlingen. We were privileged to be welcomed by the daughter of the Festool founder Frau Stoll. She is the most charming lady who knows everyone by their first name and made us all feel very welcome:

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I cannot finish this first post without mentioning Tyler who had stowed away on an old steamer into Rotterdam and hitch-hiked his way to Wendlingen just to be with us:

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That is not a beer in his hand - he was just waiting to have his kidney function test.

More will follow from me and other attendees and I hope to get a video done very soon.

Peter

 

[rljatl]

Great job, as always, Peter.  Love your sense of humor.  [laughing]

That Phil really is a jack of all trades, isn't he?

 

[Stone Message]

Great job, as always, Peter.  Love your sense of humor.  [laughing]

That Phil really is a jack of all trades, isn't he?

Hi Rob

Yes, I have known for a long time that Phil is always having to do a lot of juggling of things at Festool UK but now he has been outed !

Peter

 

[rljatl]

Could not help but notice the laminated/phenolic MFT top in one of the pictures. 

Wonder if that is something new or just a one off for show purposes?

 

[six-point socket II]

Hi Peter,

thanks for sharing this awesome event with us! I followed Festool's Instagram Stories very closely during these days looked like all of you had a blast.

Very cool!

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Cheese]

Very nice Peter  [thumbs up]  am looking forward to the updates.

 

[mopo]

Could not help but notice the laminated/phenolic MFT top in one of the pictures. 

Wonder if that is something new or just a one off for show purposes?

I noted that as well. It looks to be made of plywood, not MDF.

 

[jimbo51]

I don't suppose anyone asked about the progress on determining why the Kapex motors are failing. Curious minds want to know.

 

[Stone Message]

Could not help but notice the laminated/phenolic MFT top in one of the pictures. 

Wonder if that is something new or just a one off for show purposes?

I noted that as well. It looks to be made of plywood, not MDF.

I would be guessing that it is lighter than MDF and that it part of their travelling roadshow kit.

Peter

 

[Stone Message]

I don't suppose anyone asked about the progress on determining why the Kapex motors are failing. Curious minds want to know.

There was no mention of it as far as I know.

Peter

 

[Phil Beckley]

Could not help but notice the laminated/phenolic MFT top in one of the pictures. 

Wonder if that is something new or just a one off for show purposes?

I noted that as well. It looks to be made of plywood, not MDF.

I would be guessing that it is lighter than MDF and that it part of their travelling roadshow kit.

Peter

....it is waterproof and stands up to the rigours of the Roadshow exhibition kit.
rg
Phil

 

[bobfog]

Looks like an interesting trip, should do wonders for increasing advocacy of the bloggers and reviewers to return the favour!

 

[Phil Beckley]

Looks like an interesting trip, should do wonders for increasing advocacy of the bloggers and reviewers to return the favour!

Hi
It was an interesting visit for them.... [smile]
All the attendees have complete editorial control over the post Festool experience 2017 and Festool paid for the hotel, travel and the food - all standard stuff and not excessive in anyway.....they also visited some areas not normally permitted and the only control was a request for no images to be taken ...on with the report Peter
rg
Phil

 

[TylerC]

It was such a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Peter! Thank you for this wonderful recap and the great photos.

 

[Stone Message]

It was such a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Peter! Thank you for this wonderful recap and the great photos.

Hi Tyler

It is great to be able to get to know some of the people that one meets on the FOG.

Peter

 

[Stone Message]

I am just starting to do the video editing and decided to give Phil a hard time - I suspect he will be able to get his own back !

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Peter

 

[Phil Beckley]

.....such as this  [wink]....i missed the one when the Segway took total control of you  [scared]
[attachimg=1]

 

[Stone Message]

Hi Phil

I did not know about that picture...

So full disclosure - I felt it important to help the younger riders to know how to handle a Segway crash. So, I fell off 3 times, demonstrating a number of recovery techniques which included the "Rotex recovery" and the "Vecturo flip" both to avoid 3 or more Segways colliding in a "Domino Disaster".

Peter

 

[Phil Beckley]

Hi Phil

I did not know about that picture...

So full disclosure - I felt it important to help the younger riders to know how to handle a Segway crash. So, I fell off 3 times, demonstrating a number of recovery techniques which included the "Rotex recovery" and the "Vecturo flip" both to avoid 3 or more Segways colliding in a "Domino Disaster".

Peter

....i have several images I can come back at you with, like this one.....'err, were are the brakesssss......'  [scared]

 

[six-point socket II]

It really looks like you guys had a blast, very cool!

Kind regards,
Oliver