@terminills

As the founder of AmiWest, I can tell you it will be work. I started with contacting Amiga
dealers to see who would come.Then I turned to Amiga but they are no longer in the picture so contact Hyperion/Trevor.Then find any clubs still around and see if you can get some help from them. The main thing is to find a place that is central to the east coast so not that far for anybody. And the time of year is important,which is why I picked summer. Easy to travel then and if they have families, it can be turned into a vacation.Good luck !

@alanwall

Well kudos to all the hard work that you, and everyone else involved, have put into it over the years to make possible.



What would the expectations for everyone that would be interested in attending? Meaning - just a comfortable space with lots of tables, chairs, ac outlets, and internet and just let what happens, happens? (with a few break-out sessions, so to speak)

Or

Red carpet, hotel, food served,etc.

My thoughts are keep it simple at first, expenses to a minimum..the basics. Keep it loose and fun. If it grows into something bigger.. great. If we are talking about 25-40 people - that would be the approach I'd take.

Last edited by Debaser on 29-Oct-2011 at 01:08 AM.

@alanwall

Thanks for the advice.

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@Debaser

well the first year was a problem due to almost all the big hotels were in a remodel cycle
so the only place that promised a place was not the Ritz but did get the job done. 785 paid
guest which has paid for the show ever since.We had 1 large room for vendors and 3 rooms for demos/seminars.Since the first year attendance has gone down,and for several years
the new show managers picked a Ritz type show with low turn out.
So keep it simple at first and let it grow.And demos/seminars/ALL the Amiga types should be shown

@Debaser

Quote:

Debaser wrote: What would the expectations for everyone that would be interested in attending? Meaning - just a comfortable space with lots of tables, chairs, ac outlets, and internet and just let what happens, happens? (with a few break-out sessions, so to speak)

Yeah, that kinda stuff.

Nothing fancy, but more than the back meeting room of a restaurant.

Some type of banquet, pizza, chicken, wings, that kind of stuff would be fine
with me at least, plus drinks. Just a chance to get away from the distraction of
the equipment and....talk.

Anyway, a East/Mid meeting sound good to me.

@terminills

*bump*

#6

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@Mechanic

I think a space that could give us some flexibility would be best too. ie. not throwing us out at 6PM(such as a public librarty),etc. but avoiding a hotel banquet room this go-round due to *expense* and BS to deal with...

But then again at a hotel/motel we could count on internet (though usually slow via come crap LRE/CPE solution) and front projector access. Or heck, just gain a set of connecting hotel/motel rooms... that would be kinda funny. I don't know, anyone have any ideas?

Then there is a likely location debate :) And wherever it is set for, I'd hope that we'd have a someone from around there that could act as a location point-person. Obviously, we are not going to make everyone happy in regards to location - but hopefully have it make sense.

@alanwall

Quote:

well the first year was a problem due to almost all the big hotels were in a remodel cycle so the only place that promised a place was not the Ritz but did get the job done. 785 paid guest which has paid for the show ever since.We had 1 large room for vendors and 3 rooms for demos/seminars.Since the first year attendance has gone down,and for several years the new show managers picked a Ritz type show with low turn out. So keep it simple at first and let it grow.And demos/seminars/ALL the Amiga types should be shown

785 rooms? wow. i wonder if there even that many active amigans left in the US. what i wouldn't do to see a show like that or the 'world of amiga' shows in europe. amiwest is a great get-together, and since it's the only one still extant this side of the pond, i wouldn't want any east-coast show to detract from it.

maybe if we hitched on to VCF east or something.

-- eliyahu

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@terminills

Amigas at the Vintage Computer Festival East?

Vintage Computer Festival East 8.0

Are you involved in this?

#6

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@terminills

I'd be interested and willing to help out. I was the president/founder of CAUG the Cecil Amiga Users Group (Cecil County MD) we had people come from MD, NJ, DE, DC, and PA. Ancient history now of course.

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Amiga @ the Big Apple.

Could be a nice trip for many europeans.

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@all

There was quite a bit of interest from Québec and Ontario so let's join force!

Cheers!

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@terminills

Not to discourage you but there hasnt been a successful east coast show since the 90s.. even Kermit Woodall couldnt bring east coast amiga shows back and that was years ago....

But, with the new surge of Amiga NG people maybe a small show would be cool..

@terminills

A few advices:
- do not do it alone, you need to be something like 10-15 people involved in such project
- look around you. There are probably small user groups that could be interested to join: retro computer groups, Atari/Mac/Haiku/whatever user groups that can be interested to show what they do
- contact computer shops as well, they might be interested to swap some services/help with free advertising

On the Alchimie show in France, we reached 200 people last year. Everybody spent a nice moment sharing ideas and having fun.

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Hello (Amiga)world!

Robert B. told me about this thread; he is a veteran of the Vintage Computer Festival East, which I produce.

Here's the background ..... in 2004 I co-founded a user group called MARCH - Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists. MARCH members collect, restore, and exhibit computers from the 1960s-1980s, and we're heavily focused on getting the systems into operating condition. As such, just like Amiga fans, we also go to great lengths to obtain books, manuals, parts, software, etc.

MARCH has three major activities. 1., we run a very active mailing list. 2., we operate a bricks-and-mortar, hands-on computer museum in Wall, New Jersey; the museum is co-located at the larger InfoAge Science Center. 3., we host the annual(-ish) VCF East. (Locals: VCF is not the same as the Trenton Computer Festival -- that is "T"CF; which is strictly a modern PC show.)

This year, VCF East 8.0 is scheduled for May 5-6 at our museum. There are lectures and workshops both mornings, and exhibits both afternoons.

Our lecture and workshop schedule, which is still being expanded, is here: http://www.vintage.org/2012/east/session.php.

You'll notice that the keynote on Saturday is by Dr. Thomas Kurtz, who co-invented BASIC. Also, Commodore's Bil Herd will be involved that morning, and there's a good chance of Dave Haynie also attending.

The afternoon exhibit hall will have 20-30 booths, with everything from DEC minicomputers to S-100 homebrews to 8-bit microcomputers, plus punch cards, teletypes, tape drives, etc. -- all up and running!

In addition, there will be other things to do throughout the days. We're having a book sale, consignment, food, museum tours, prizes, etc.

Details about the event are frequently updated at http://www.vintage.org and we also have a social networking page at http://www.facebook.com/vcfeast8 -- we'd be grateful if you all "like" the page and share it on your walls so that other people can learn about it.

Proceeds of the event benefit our museum, which is a non-profit and run exclusively by volunteers. We all joke that our jobs and families interfere with our hobby/museum time. :)

Nobody should use distance as a reason not to attend VCF East 8.0: ever year people come from other states, time zones, countries, and even continents! (Some also seem like they're from other planets, but that's for a different thread!)

Nor is cost an issue: getting into VCF East 8.0 is just $10/day, $15/weekend, and free for kids. There are many inexpensive motels/hotels nearby.

But if anyone here wants to participate in the show, i.e. by putting on an exhibit, then contact me for details (info is below.)

Meanwhile, if anyone would like to join MARCH, then please do! Most of our members are in the triangle between Hartford, Pittsburgh, and D.C., and we have a strong focus on the local region, but all are welcome to join. We do have some members in New England, the midwest, southeast, etc. .... our club doesn't even charge any dues .... we exist solely on VCF revenue and donations. Even our museum collection, which is perhaps the largest and most comprehensive on the U.S. east coast, consists entirely of donated items.

Our web site (which is kind of lame) is http://www.midatlanticretro.org -- the online database there is massively incomplete; it contains maybe 5% of our collection. Making a database is easy .... entering records is easy to avoid. :)

But on the site you will be find a link to our discussion group, etc.

Our group has a tradition of being very open toward new members, as long as they don't think "vintage" means a 386 running "old school" DOS 5.0 .... we don't do anything much newer than Amigas and Newtons. On the other extreme, one of jewels of our collection is a 1965 militarized UNIVAC. You get the idea

Any questions/comments -- please post, or feel free to email me (evan-at-snarc-dot-net) or call me at 646-546-9999.

- Evan K.

Last edited by evank on 29-Jan-2012 at 05:57 AM.

@terminills

bump.

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