What is the one piece of advice you would give about attending AXPONA?

I dressed casual this Friday morning. For me, it’s sweatpants, a t-shirt with an University of Iowa pullover and ball cap. And typically, from my experience at CES shows and Stereophile shows at the Parker House in downtown Chicago, it’s best for me to limit my exposure to not more than 2 hours of insanity with hitting listening rooms.

Besides, does anyone have familiarity with all of the gear in the room that includes the particular item of interest to them? I don’t.

A better strategy is to buttonhole the principles of the gear in which you’re most interested and try to gather a better understanding of that gear.

It is like hitting tasting rooms in Napa Valley: 4 tasting rooms is the max for me if I’m driving in wine country.

At least the public bathroom arrangements were well thought out on the upper floors.

And consider ditching your jacket in the car or at the coat check before going to the upper floors. The room A/C won’t be on in any listening room. And those rooms will have a lot of warm bodies present and very warm audio gear operating. 

OP: good luck attending and fighting the masses on the weekend days!

Parker House? Could you mean the Palmer House? Enjoy the show. Once again, I chickend out again (Hey! Got to get on that crab grass before it's too late!).

It’s been sometime since I attended. Therapy sessions only concluded in late-2000. Could have been the Palmer House. 

Some of the rooms will be crowded nearly all the time. Wait until the end of the day, particularly on Sunday to catch the most popular rooms. People get tired and call it a day a couple hours before the show closes. I had the best listening on Sunday afternoon.