#AmiExpo Comments
7 messages in this thread
Too bad you missed R.J.! He was GREAT! The demo of the dancing fools was,
well, unexpected and sensational! He is a great speaker and has alot going
for him. He also imparted his spirit into most of the attendees.
As for the seminars, I do not see the $5 thrown away as any big deal. My
point is that for a little more money, it could be presented much more like
a workshop rather than a seminar. If I want to see what people do, I could
look at the video tapes or pick up some public domain disks.
The problem that the vendors had could potentially be from the game people.
When the EA booth is crowded and looks like a retail store, no one pays
attention! With all the great software that they have put out, I expected
to see a booth, not a table with products stacked around.
If the Expos continue to be done in a non-professional atmosphere, the
retailers and distributers will not show. If that happens, there's no way
that a single user could ever buy enough to equal them. I am not blaming
the vendors for the most part. They did what they could.
I just don't want to see the Ami treated like the "toy" that non-Ami people
think it is!!!
In June, I attended the 11th International Commodore Show in London. It
was quite an experience. About 15000 people attended. There were about
200 exhibitors, in four exhibit halls (two floors). The business and
professional software was on one floor; the entertainment things on the
other. The boots measured approximately 10 x 20 feet, or some multiple of
that. True, it included all Commodore computers – not JUST the Amiga, but
the Amiga was certainly the most prominent. It got pretty wild down on the
entertainment floor, but upstairs in the business area it was better. And
all three days were so crowded that you just about had to count on waiting
and working your way up to any booth you wanted to see. I was really
impressed. Of course, COMMODORE puts on that show – not some exhibit
company.
But then, Commodore U.S. puts on NO shows. So 'some exhibit company' has
to.
Your points are well-taken. It indeed would have been nice if a
little more effort was put into some of the seminars; in particular, I was
a little aghast that the one on MIDI sequencers didn't even include a MIDI
keyboard hookup. I also share your fears about a proliferation of games
giving non-Ami converts an excuse for continually dismissing the Amiga.
However, the only people I would think would be swayed completely away from
it from such observations might be business users, and that's an uphill
battle anyway. The rest of us realize that games put a machine through its
most difficult paces, and you can an awful lot about the capabilities and
weaknesses of a machine by how well such games play, though the end pursuit
may seem a bit silly. (Did you catch the exploding 3D Barbie in the
3D-goggles booth? Now THAT's weird!)
There was certainly room for improvement, no doubt. However, as a
member of an organization that's putting something similar on in Dayton on
the 20th, I know how difficult it is to do everything right, so I may be
more tolerant.
I don't suppose anyone videotaped RJ's performance, eh?
AmiEXPO wanted me to host a seminar – to talk about other people's 3D
products, from all the vendors that didn't want to exhibit at the show. I
opted to stay in my booth. Spending two hours talking about other people's
products is not my idea of good business sense.
John,
Especially spending time talking of others products AND NOT GETTING
PAID?????????
ARE THEY CRAZY??????
Jerry