I met a lot of really nice and knowledgeable people and was equally surprised that nearly as many were completely ignorant of what they were exhibiting. When I could tell more about a piece of equipment just by looking at it than they knew about it, it demonstrated to me that the buyer needs be alert at high end stores just as much as at a big box one. The sales staff may well be clueless.
That's a pretty astute observation. I always looked at conventions like that as a way to network with people. When I used to go to those things, it was more about who was there then what was there.