o VCF East did not seem welcoming to hybrid exhibitor/seller folks like myself. While I have not attended the last few fests, the 2 I attended I was placed in the consignment room, which was a poor fit for many of us (Bob Applegate selling his new reproductions, the Model M KB restoration guy and a few others next to the pile of broken machines and stacks of old software titles). In all the fests, there are those who just want a sales table and some sell old stuff. but it felt demeaning to lump everyone who was selling something into 1 space, and a tiny
Oh man you missed it the last two years! The sales area is much larger, and hopping. And still the cool system where you can leave your stuff there and VCF takes care of it.
o I was not a fan of the exhibit/sales floor being closed for presentations. Yes, it presents some logistic challenges to run an exhibit or a sales table when a popular speaker is giving a
VCF isn't so large that the vendors and exhibitors aren't interested in the talks. You might see a large loss of attendence to the keynotes if the two are open together. If the keynote starts off while everything is closed then things open up but keynotes continue then you will have a huge exodus of people attending the keynote. This will look rude. Keynote being solo event also "forces" some people that might only be there for the sales or some particular subject to get a little education and it might expand their horizons!
o I especially abhorred the "we're closing at 5PM and not coming back to the show until tomorrow" mentality. Mind you, I am sure the VCF-E venue imposes some usage and scheduling restrictions, and I can understand any of that, but the tone was overbearing.
Open back up later for a mixer / gaming / party kind of thing after dinner? My possie usually does dinner then hits the Silverball Museum in Asbury Park. It's fantastic! I don't know that I personally would want to give that up but interesting point you make! Maybe more of a mixer type thing?
o Everything seemed so military in planning. None of the other shows I attend (and I attend VCF-SE, MW, Tandy Assembly, World of Commodore, CRX, CoCOFEST!, and have previously attended C4EXPO and LUCKI EXPO) seemed so regimented in comparison. Possibly some of this list may not think highly of VCF-MW, but it's pretty loose and every year it seems to have just enough
Every event has it's own flavor. I help with a large event that has a computer museum and arcade and stuff (23,00 attendees in 2020, over 1200 volunteers and staff) and with it -- the militarization tends to be department by department. The one where the department head is a lawer seems to be the most regimented. Unfortuantely the people that sit at the top of the event see that and want to duplicate it across other departments, and it might suck the fun out of it and they might shed volunteers. Some point in the middle is best. Well planned means easier execution day-of!!! Keep planning meetings short and sweet, use agenda lists and move through them quickly!!!! I cut the rest of your post but you made a lot of great points and pointed out a lot of good things to look at. It is important that each event has it's own feel but there is nothing wrong with drawing inspiration and building upon ideas. - Ethan