[vcf-midatlantic] VCF West 2022 Report

[Jeffrey Brace]

Sorry this is late. Corey and I flew there on Wed 8/3 and returned 8/8 and
have been busy getting back to life responsibilities.

I ran the consignment area using the new POS system that was first used at
VCF East by Jeff Salzman, Alex Jaccocks, Jonthan Sturges and the
consignment crew. There were some major setup problems and delays, but when
I got it working it worked fantastic! Very fast checkout most of the time.
Good thing because there was a line of 100 people waiting for it to open!
Lots of stuff sold and lots of money came in.

Corey handled the Front Desk and gave a talk as well. VCF had to switch
from PayPal to Square due to shipping problems of our PayPal credit readers
and due to PayPal buying iZettle and having to buy new readers. Square
seems better and works well.

Lots of great exhibits. I didn't have much time to look at them, but they
looked fun. The talks are currently being processed and edited and should
be available within a month or so.

*Now for Erik Klein's Report on the show:*
*===============*
*For starters, I wanted to repeat that this was, by far, our biggest event
ever.  11 speakers and 48 exhibitors are both records over the 25 years of
the VCF.*

*Beyond that, we had a great turnout with over 1,100 people enjoying the
event over the  course of the weekend.  I'm sure Covid fears and related
concerns probably shaved a bit off of that total, but it's still quite
impressive.*

*That is a testament to how much our hobby has grown and to how creative
and compelling your exhibits and talks are.*

*This event couldn't happen without your passion, commitment and support
and, for all of that and all of your time and effort, I thank you!*

*I'd also like to thank all of the volunteers who came out this weekend to
keep things running smoothly.  You looked tired by the end, but it was a
happy tired, and I really appreciated all of the help you provided.*

*Yeah, we definitely had a few issues with consignment.  The new system is
experiencing some growing pains but we learned a lot and I'm certain it
will be a LOT better next year.  Please accept my apologies for the lines,
the waits and the other inconsistencies.  Debugging is in progress.*

*With this email I'm going to take a few days off from VCF, but, like you,
I'll be back at it in no time.*


*All the best, in vintage computing and elsewhere,*
*=====================*




=========================================
Jeff Brace
VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President
Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner
Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity
https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>
jeffrey at vcfed.org