Taking Shyla to the Florida Audio Show
Growing up in this industry my parents hit a point in VPI where they stopped going to shows. All shows were essentially suspended for VPI / the Weisfeld Family for the longest time. Around the time I was in Middle School, my parents started to go and bring me to shows with them. It wasn't until later in life I realized my parents stopped going to shows because they didn't want to leave my brother and me behind. As they were able to bring us they went back and gave both my brother Jon and me the experience (for better or for worse) of Audio Trade Shows.
For this year's Florida International Show, I was torn. I had every intention of missing the show but we had roughly 10 VPI turntables running in various rooms. With that many tables, I had to go to help support and set up the rooms. Lucky for me Shyla came prepared and determined! Shyla wanted to help me set up the cartridges. This excitement started when I was in the Falcone Acoustics room and she found out I was mounting a "Shyla" cartridge. She immediately asked if she could do the setup. Not want to ruin a teachable moment of youthful enthusiasm... I let the soon to be 6 years all mount the cartridge leads and put the finger lift and screws in. Shyla NAILED IT and mounted that cartridge! I cut her off when she was looking for an alignment jig, but I'm thrilled she did as much as she had with that cartridge.
As a parent and second-generation owner of VPI, I was beyond proud and happy to see Shyla's focus and enthusiasm. From there we continued with setup in various rooms and Shyla was a trooper. She kept me on task and focused. When she started to fade on the turntable setup side I found an old/discarded phone of mine from yesteryear with a full battery and an empty SD card. Shyla started doing her version of an Audio Show Rep[ort from a smaller point of view. It was another example of how inviting everyone into this amazing industry regardless of age, gender, or other can make all the difference in the growing possibilities.
