Axpona observations
Here's a list of some things that jumped out at my wife and I other then how the rooms sounded. We attended Saturday and Sunday, a total of 11 hours of show going, so I can't speak for Friday.
The attendance was high. Quite often, the rooms were packed. So much so that unless you were willing to hang in the hall for sometime you either had to come back to a particular room or just miss it. That's the drawback for being successful. Sunday morning, before noon, was the best time. We had a number of rooms to ourselves and that was nice.
On that note, last year the attendees were given a lanyard with an Axpona card attached. You could plainly see who bought a ticket and was supposed to be there. This year, either to save money or maybe to distinguish between attendee and exhibitor, we were given wrist bands. Was someone actually watching to see if everyone had one on? My wife was wearing long sleeves both days and you couldn't see her band at all. No one stopped her and asked to see it. I paid close attention and I noticed a number of people that I didn't see wearing a band. What was to keep someone from just walking in and stepping onto a show floor without paying?
The German Physiks room was a disappointment. I was expecting to hear amazing sound and to learn about what made up that million dollar room. Instead we got a promotional speech for the guys high rez recordings.
The fire alarm that went off again was obviously someones idea of how to be a moron. I only wish you wern't such a chicken shit 'cause there were a few thousand people that wanted to beat the crap outta you.
Unfortunately, the auction was a bit of a mess. Why advertise a 6 to 9 block of time when there were only enough items to fill 35 minutes? My wife and I ate dinner at 5 so as to be there at 6 for the start. We didn't want to wait till 9 to eat. So, because there was some bad planning on how to get your auction number after you had pre registered (which made no sense at all) it didn't start till 6:30. Then, there were mix ups in the listings. The ads for the auction were for the items pictured and "many, many more!" Where were the 'many, many more'? Even with all the screw ups it was over by 7:20. If it started at 6 it would've ended by 6:45. The folks that were handling this at the show were all very nice and the auctioneer was doing a nice job. Just needed some better planning.
The last item is about Quintessence Audios raffle. It was very nice of them to do it. It was made clear that winners needed to be present so why in the hell do you fill out a card and then not be there? The guys pulling the cards had to go thru one after another, after another, after another etc trying to find people in the room. Most of those cards were people from out of the area. I'll bet the moron that pulled the fire alarm filled out a card and wasn't there.
Over all, my wife and I enjoyed being there just as last year. We met some very nice people doing the exhibiting. We learned a number of things and we heard some wonderful sounding equipment. Thanks to all that made this possible and we hope it returns.
