[vcf-midatlantic] Swap Meet feedback: How did it go?

[Sentrytv]

Jeff

I admit that I didn’t go for too long to the other buildings after setting up my table.
As a vendor, I really did not get to see everything there.

I guess you didn’t notice that I was selling some radio equipment, not much,  but I did bring some.
1/3 of my table space was devoted to that stuff.

Many of the people that I know, who are hams, asked me if this was going to be a hamfest and I said:
“not exactly, but There will be vendors with radio equipment, I just don’t know how much”.

If this were a spring outdoor event, I would have brought much more radio related equipment.


Mike Rosen


Sent from:.
My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.

On Feb 28, 2022, at 12:55 PM, Jeff S via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:

I had a level of concern over how this first indoor event would turn out,
especially when it was spread across separate rooms.

I can't begin to guess how the public traveled throughout the event. There
was a lot of traffic, I just don't know if people deliberately went to all
three locations, or even knew where those locations were if they didn't go
to all of them. If we do another indoor swap meet, let's hope we can keep
it as self-contained as possible. This time around, 9032A COULD have been
arranged as an outer loop of tables with vendors sitting between their
tables and the windows, and an inner loop of tables with vendors sitting
inside the ring of tables. I think we could have gotten a few extra vendors
in there. If I recall, we only had a vendor or two in the women's  bunk
room. We may have been able to consolidate the vendors into one building.

But when multiple vendor locations are a necessity, we should split the
"free pile" across all locations. It'll be an incentive to get the public
to visit all the rooms if they weren't otherwise considering it. Those who
came to a FREE event to get only FREE stuff, probably did not stop in the
other two locations.

Of course, with our outdoor version of the event, those ideas are moot.

We need some feedback from the actual vendors themselves, not just those on
this mailing list. I was talking to one vendor at the workshop who came
from Vermont to sell his stuff, AND he got some things he desired at the
swap meet. Those kinds of stories are great to hear, and makes the event a
worthwhile endeavor.

We should also gather as much feedback as possible from the HAM radio
vendors since we invited them to participate. There was one vendor in 9032A
that was a tried and true HAM radio vendor. It looked like he sold some
stuff, and I hope he did well, but his inventory seemed disparate in nature
from the vintage computer vendors around him. I hope to see more HAM radio
vendors in the future, and their feedback now will help us cater to that
hobby in the future.

Let's make this the BEST D&MN event of its kind in this side of the world!

Jeff Salzman

On Mon, Feb 28, 2022 at 10:58 AM Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:

> Just looking for feedback from everyone.
> 
> What went well?
> 
> What can be improved?
> 
> Feel free to reply to this or send me a private message.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> =========================================
> Jeff Brace
> VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President
> Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner
> Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity
> http://www.vcfed.org/
> jeffrey at vcfed.org
>