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LSAF 2010 Planning [message #59505] Wed, 24 June 2009 08:29 Go to next message
AudioFred is currently offline  AudioFred
Messages: 377
Registered: May 2009
Location: Houston
Illuminati (1st Degree)
Shane, are you planning to set the dates for LSAF 2010? I suggest we plan it for about the same weekend since that one doesn't seem to conflict with any other audio events. Also, let me know if there's any way I can help.
Re: Reports from LSAF '09 [message #59506 is a reply to message #59505] Wed, 24 June 2009 09:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
DRCope is currently offline  DRCope
Messages: 160
Registered: May 2009
Location: Brooklyn, CT
Master
Can we get it off of Father's Day weekend for next weekend? That couldn't have helped turnout, either exhibitors or attendees, this year.

Setting the date early and promoting the crud out of it will help, too. I'd be happy to help.
Re: Reports from LSAF '09 [message #59507 is a reply to message #59505] Wed, 24 June 2009 09:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18669
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
I liked the original date (first weekend in May) because it was a little cooler. Audiokarma kind of stole that weekend two years in a row, so rather than spoil it for everyone by having two shows on the same weekend, we moved. I still object to that, and think it was absolutely stupid for a group meeting so far north to take the early date - we should reverse them and put AK in June/July and leave LSAF for the early May timeframe. But we can't control the behavior of others.

You may have some influence though, Dave. I remember you were the one most vocal the last couple of years, (rightly) saying the two shows shouldn't be held on the same weekend. When AK chose to schedule overlapping our dates, you said something. Audio Note likes to be at all the shows, and you said so. My thinking is you are probably in the best position to make the case with grumpy at AK. If you can persuade him to schedule his show later on the calendar, we can put ours back where it always was since 2005.
Re: Reports from LSAF '09 [message #59508 is a reply to message #59507] Wed, 24 June 2009 10:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
DRCope is currently offline  DRCope
Messages: 160
Registered: May 2009
Location: Brooklyn, CT
Master
I'll give it a go and I'll do it soon before he gets a date set/stuck in his mind.

Any chance of making Sunday a "real" day? I think that would be important in getting addt'l folks both showin' and goin'. It makes it easier to justify traveling a significant distance and doin' the set up/tear down work to have a second day. (I'm not talking about me wavering or complaining here, I'm talking about getting people off the fence who might not see sorta-Friday-night and Saturday as enough show time to get them excited about coming. The exhibit cost ($0) is certainly not slowing them down, nor is the room rate!

Wayne, can you pick up the posts from the point where we stopped reporting on 09 and started discussing '10 and move them to a new a thread called somethin' like "Discussing/Planning LSAF '10 !"

If not, I'll just copy all of them in one and start it to let people know it's happenin' and gain their input.
Re: Reports from LSAF '09 [message #59510 is a reply to message #59508] Wed, 24 June 2009 10:51 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18669
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
Agreed about splitting the topic - Done deal.

About Sunday, I sort of agree, sort of not. Pros and cons.

The pros, as I see them, are for long distance travelers, like yourself. You're already making the trip so an extra day of showing makes sense. The trip home cuts into Monday anyway, so why not stay through the whole weekend. Makes sense to me.

The cons, as I see them, are mostly for the locals. Most of the people that have less than a days drive like to tear down on Sunday and start the drive back. That way they are able to get home and unloaded by Sunday night, ready to start the work week Monday morning. Most have taken off Thursday and Friday already, so this lets 'em open up shop on Monday.

I tend to fall into the latter camp. I would prefer to get back by Sunday afternoon, ready to work Monday morning. But I do see the attraction of keeping the show going on Sunday, and I also realize that the best days of public showing are weekend when the local attendees are usually off work and able to show up at something like this.

Another problem for Sundays is this: If we post a schedule that says we're going to have the show running through Sunday, but then 80% of the exhibitors leave, we may leave some attendees very disappointed. That happened a couple years, we scheduled the show to run through Sunday so some people thought they could come out on Sunday afternoon and see something. But by the time they arrived, most had left. There were still a few rooms open, but not many. That's why we started posting a schedule that said "Sundays optional". It was largely driven by the reality of what was happening.

My suggestion is if we find a core group of exhibitors willing to commit to staying through Sunday, we'll post that in the schedule. We'll basically re-open Sunday. I don't think we should try to force exhibitors to stay, although I suppose that's an option. We could make it a condition for showing. I don't think that's the best way to do it though - I think we should just put it out there and see if we can find enough exhibitors willing to stay through Sunday.
Re: LSAF 2010 Planning [message #59514 is a reply to message #59505] Wed, 24 June 2009 17:24 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Shane is currently offline  Shane
Messages: 1117
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
AudioFred wrote on Wed, 24 June 2009 08:29
Shane, are you planning to set the dates for LSAF 2010? I suggest we plan it for about the same weekend since that one doesn't seem to conflict with any other audio events. Also, let me know if there's any way I can help.



That's something that we need to decide. I'm going to be sending out emails to all who exhibited this year to hopefully get some feedback on what we could do different, including dates. I'd like to go ahead and set up something with the hotel we were at by the end of the summer.

Any suggestions for questions will be appreciated.
Any volunteer help would be even more appreciated.

I'm thinking:

What dates, promotions, raffles, adverts, talks, steering committee help, etc......

I'd really like to see about 30 rooms showing. Not so many you can't get a decent listen in each room over two days, but not so few as to make it not worth coming to for the exhibitors.
Re: Reports from LSAF '09 [message #59537 is a reply to message #59508] Fri, 26 June 2009 13:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bob Brines is currently offline  Bob Brines
Messages: 186
Registered: May 2009
Location: Hot Springs Village, AR
Master
Two things: Friday needs to be a "real" day with exhibits open til 9pm. Closing down at 6pm means that anyone with a real job can't do Friday. No big deal to us retirees, but I'd like to see people with real money wander through. Same thing with Sunday. Closing down by 11am means that anyone who goes to church can't make it, and this is the South. The big deal about Sunday is that it might make sense to and out-of-towner to stay Saturday night and still have something to see on Sunday.

Just my opinion.
Bob
Re: Reports from LSAF '09 [message #59538 is a reply to message #59537] Fri, 26 June 2009 14:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Shane is currently offline  Shane
Messages: 1117
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
So we have a vote for arriving Thursday afternoon to set-up, then a full day Friday (till the hotel tells us to shut down Twisted Evil ), a full day Saturday, a full day Sunday, then pack up Monday morning.

Correct me if I'm mistaken Bob?

This seems plausible to me, especially if we book a date late summer. That would give people plenty of time to take a few days of vacation (which is what I have to do) and put away the couple extra nights of hotel/food expenses.

I know that with the truncated schedule we have I never feel like I spend enough time just relaxing and listening to each room.
Re: Reports from LSAF '09 [message #59540 is a reply to message #59538] Fri, 26 June 2009 21:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bob Brines is currently offline  Bob Brines
Messages: 186
Registered: May 2009
Location: Hot Springs Village, AR
Master
Pretty much. In my case, I'll leave home early Friday and be up by 2-3pm. The point is that I think that we missed a lot of traffic Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

Bob
Re: Reports from LSAF '09 [message #59541 is a reply to message #59540] Fri, 26 June 2009 23:07 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18669
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
I always show up Thursday night and am ready to go first thing Friday morning. So I'm good with that. Staying open later Friday night is also cool with me, I usually have my door open Friday evening as long as I can. But Sunday is the harder one to please everyone on, I think.

It's a great idea to have everyone stay open Sunday, as that's a weekend day that most visitors will find convenient. But like I said, the problem is you can't really force exhibitors to stay through Sunday. Then the problem is that if rooms start to close and we've told the public that the show is running all day Sunday, people may be disappointed to find a room they hoped to see has packed up and left. How do we handle that?

The first two years, I personally stayed all day Sunday. Most other rooms didn't. I thought it made the most sense to be open Saturday and Sunday, since that's when most walk-ins will show up. But most other rooms left, I think probably for the reasons I mentioned earlier, Sunday was a travel day for them.

At those first couple shows, there were some people that traveled long distances to come just on Sunday, and they only got to see people loading out. They naturally asked why we had a published schedule showing open Sunday, when really we weren't open that day. I didn't have a good explanation for them except that we planned to stay open, it's just that some rooms couldn't. Trouble was, "some" was actually "most".

I think if we get consensus from everyone that we stay open Sunday, we can put it in the schedule. But the way this show is done, with no real obligations to anyone, I'm not sure how successful we'll be at that. My experience has been you can't even know who will be here at all until the last few days before the show. That makes it hard to honestly commit to Sunday. We have to publish a schedule that the public can count on months in advance, yet we don't know a real count of rooms until days before the show. How do we handle that?
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