I personally don't see the AXPONA show as a conflict and as pointed out, the next weekend is Easter. In the near future there will be a show every other week trying to suck $3000 out of the small manufacturers pocket and obviously they cannot all survive. I think the concept of a free local supported show is extremely powerful and will bring us back to the basics in audio and leave the bulk of the BS that exists today behind.
I don't want to see it go into May for two reasons, First the Lone Star Audio Fest is the 13-15th and in essence it is the inspiration for this so that is the last show I want to infringe on. Second as the weather gets better, many of our minds leave audio.
I think moving it up a week earlier to the 7th brings it too close to the Montreal show which is a bigger draw for people in the northeast, but April 29th 30th and may 1st seems plausible.
Going beyond that weekend I think we would need to look at mid september for the next possible dates. Then we would need to stay a month before RMAF.
The ultimate goal is to have this be completely self promoted... If you plan on getting a room, you need to tell people. If you know of a local small manufacturer, you need to tell them. I don't see this as a show in the traditional sense of the word where you go to hawk your product. As I mentioned earlier there are plenty of places to do that and they will be happy to charge you dearly for that privilege. The lack of financial commitment will allow a number of people who are sitting on the fence to get into the mix and people already in the mix to try something new with little to no risk.
Look at it this way. Take two guys, to split a room for two nights and you are at a little over $100 each. During the day set up a system and have fun or go out and listen to other rooms and have fun. To cover the cost of the room bring your spare stuff records, cables or whatever and set up a table. Have 4-5 local friends who don't have a room do the same and it becomes a partial audio flea market. Leave a list on the door of what is available inside and a cell number or time when you will be in the room and buyers and sellers can meet up without being tethered to a room for 8 hours. These "non-audio" rooms will nicely fill the spaces between the audio rooms and you could actually leave with some $$ in your pocket. The key is to get people there. With nearly 100+million people in the northeast corridor I don't expect traffic to be a problem as long as people know about it.
Beyond the traffic, the thing that will help the small guys is the "online press" covering the event. I see this more like a (very) large meeting of friends with a common passion than groups of fanboys getting together.
dave
