I’ve been wondering whether many of us have too high of expectations for attendance at shows…

Think about other shows, which I have not attended, much like the vsat majority of the populace who have not gone to these shows either [whether high-end audio or not].

Take for example an auto show or pet show.

As a bystander, I think I might want to go to one of these shows sometime – but a few things hold me back:

1. Difficulty of finding parking (and the expense of parking)

2. Crowds. Too crowded to get to see and do what I might want to do there.

3. A lot of hype. A lot of people trying to convince me what it the best X, Y or Z.

4. Cost. Hidden costs of food and drink and costs at the gate.

5. Wondering if it is just going to be boring. Nothing really cool to see.

If I was marketting a show I would try and address each one of these issues – let people know ahead of time what to expect – though there is not much one can do about #2

So thoughts:

People like passive entertainment – so perhaps a large room could be set aside, large enough to hold 1000+ people, and demos could be wheeled in and out all day long – with a little shpeel before and after. And let people freely come and go.

A pictorial show directory – so people can look for things that LOOK cool and search them out….

But at the end of the day – most shows are going to have the industry and hardcore hobbiasts in attendance – and that goes for CEDIA, CES, HE, and most other shows I have attended. They usually have provisions for the public – often offering free tickets to the exhbitions – but I would estimate less than 1% are John and Mary Q. Public.

Stereophile had their usual show report – they have about 10 people covering the show, but 3 or 4 seem to do most of the work.

This is their show, so we should expect a great show report from them, right?

It is here

Let’s see, the rooms that we could expect to SOUND the best, because they usually sound the best, weren’t mentioned: for example the Lamm room, Zu Audio, etc.. Were they there? You can’t tell from their report.

So, although their show report is getting better, it is still a New Product Annoucement Brochureware Extravaganza,

…and it is evolving to include the Audio World Manufacturer Photo ID Index.

🙂

Positive Feedback has a small show report as well. It is here

This report talks about the sound. This makes it worth reading.

Everything didn’t sound great. This makes even more worth reading.

In fact, it looked to me like Marshall Nack didn’t like anything all that much, and describes why. Cool.

Wish he had dug deeper and spent more time with the sphereical Cabasse speaker – or better, I hope we get to hear them sometime, and not just SEE them at the shows we DO get to.

Enjoy The Music has a few small photos and some room descriptions up. You can find it here

The photos are too small for my taste – but their show reports add more photos and cover rooms that no one else covered….

Allmodcons did a report over at the Asylum.

It is here

His point, repeated, that the hobby is closing in on itself in terms of age (add sex and race too) is something that is becoming all too obvious these days….

Trelja did a great report. His reports are getting bigger… 🙂

It is here