That is the Achilles heel of these events - they grow. My suggestions are:
Pre-announce the number of time slots. Simply shortening the demo time slot is not a solution. You will very, very quickly run out of physical space. This years venue was undersized for attendence, or it would have been had the typical doorprize/swapmeet table contents showed up. Limit to X number of demos, and stick to it.
Carefully consider allowing the event to be a platform for people. These generally go into extended Q&A sessions, which will eat into available time. We are all interested in hearing what people have to say - but we also have to be cautious about how that affects the overall schedule. If offering the event as a platform, be sure to schedule it in and encourage the speaker to be ready, and encourage the listeners to wait until later to bombard with questions. I recommend scheduling such presentations in just before or after lunch.
Start right at 8:00AM, schedule a couple breaks and a lunch - encourage people to eat at or near the venue itself. As organizers, be sure that you are last to leave and first to return, and stick to the schedule. You can genuinely fit a lot of presentations in between 8:00AM and 6:00PM if scheduling is maintained. That can be difficult as our socialization tends to be one of the most important reasons we go to these things
Try to reserve the room until 9 or 10 PM the day of the event and turn it over to the attendees after the formal session to manage a second round of informal listening. Be sure they understand house rules such as alcohol, noise, or cleanup. I only have one rule for that: everyone who wants to play gets a turn in the sandbox.
Finally, and this is always a sensitive one - sometimes you have to be the big mean boss and tell people to shut up. I became very good at using my big voice and shushing the hell out of my DIY brethren - you will get there as well. Nobody takes it personally, and truthfully everyone appreciates it.
You guys have a good start with this one - keep the momentum going, and be sure to listen to what people are saying about what they want. Each of us wants something different out of these, and trying to cover everyone's desires is what can derail these things. I know it sounds like I am advocating an IowaDIY/DakotaDIY approach to the event - but that is because it has proven to be an effective format. However, your event will evolve on its own, and it is important to realize that absolute control is ultimately less possible than simply steering it by imposing a few rules and letting people have a good time. I believe it better to initiate another event elsewhere than to try and accommodate much more than 40-45 people unless you secure the room for an extended time frame. Running a show is physically exhausting, isn't it?
I completely enjoyed myself, and even though my weird social anxiety has me needing to leave quite often to reset, I very much enjoy the company and the crowd. Depending on what is going on next year, I will of course show up again!
I guess I would suggest starting right at 9:00. The first pair demod, Wolf's Zingers, didn't start playing until 9:45ish. The one pair per person would be a good idea too. I didn't expect to have both of my projects demo right off the bat and hope that didn't prevent someone else's single project from playing. Otherwise there's not much you can do when so many speakers show up.
Ditto to what Ben said about the chatter. At a few points it was just flat out rude and disrespectful. No need to name names, they know who they are.
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the event this year. The turn out was insane! I've been the past 3 years before and it was never close to this. My first year there were probably 8 people on Friday night and maybe 15 on Saturday.
We've already started considering changes to next years format to make it better. I think the general consensus (myself and Dan included) was that we need to cut down on the amount of time each speaker plays. We are thinking about shooting for 6 minutes total with 3 minutes each house and personal tracks instead of 5/5 min. Based on how big the event was this year, which was very unexpected, and comments on the Facebook group that more people are planning on attending next year, there is some discussion about making this 2 days. The other option would be to guarantee only one spot if you bring more than one speaker and reserve the end of the day if time permits to play additional.
Unfortunately we didn't really get to conduct the crossover test we were hoping for. We had some issues with the switching unit and also had no time on Saturday anyway. We'll try again at some point in the future with this.
If anyone has any suggestions on changes they think would make the event better, let us know. We are open to feedback. This definitely doesn't have to be the same format as other events and we are up for trying other things, like maybe not even having a house track.
Hi Kerry,
Thanks again for a great event. I've also hosted large events so I know how much work it is.
Regarding changes in format, I agree with Wolf, JR and Craig. Limit total entries to about 30 with one entry per person unless time permits. That has worked really well for many years. If you want to reduce the play time, I'd suggest 4 minutes for house and 4 minutes for designer music. That would still allow adequate time to demo the speakers strengths and weaknesses. Please don't convert to the MWAF format. For me, it's all about the music and MWAF just doesn't work in my opinion.
Pictures?? I only have one picture done so far. Will post more tommorrow. For this one, I used an action sequence technique (often used by pro sports photographers) to capture the roof toss. Just as Mark released the speaker, I burst my camera at 5 fps until the speaker hit the ground.
Excellent idea Bill and great shot!!
I have to ask though....what the heck is that "speaker" ??
Was that a functional design? Was its name Speakerman?
Bryan, I put the Meniscus picture disc in the mail today, you should get it Fri or Sat. I didn't ask Mark for the name, but based on the bright red cape, my guess would be Super Speakerman.
Forgot to mention. Thanks to Dan P for the Vifa D75MK-21 three inch midrange units. They were on the free table slated for the garbage can after the show. I tested all three on DATS V2 and all the VC's are in good shape. They have a very broad, low Q resonance of approximately 300Hz. Have not measured them with OmniMic yet, but the DATS V2 sine sweep sounded very good on all three.
Regarding the format, I would be in favor of a single 10 minute house track for everybody. No personal music at all. I like to compare my speakers to others and I get confused by all the variation.
Had a good time at the event. Love all you guys. Also that little $100 dollar SB acoustics kit sounded really good with really cheap drivers. I'd buy that for a dollar...... x100
I know where Bill is coming from as I like to compare speakers too. But I think I'd go insane if I had to listen to the same 10 minutes of music all day. I like the suggestion of 4 minutes of house tracks and 4 minutes of personal tracks.
They are the Vifa D75MK-21 three inch midrange units. I talked to Dan very briefly about them when I was hoisting them away. He said they were custom mounted in waveguides. I googled the model number but could not find a spec sheet. Fs is about 200-300Hz, but the peak is very broad. As Wolf said, they will need a chamber. I will certainly be using these in a future build.
They are the Vifa D75MK-21 three inch midrange units. I talked to Dan very briefly about them when I was hoisting them away. He said they were custom mounted in waveguides. I googled the model number but could not find a spec sheet. Fs is about 200-300Hz, but the peak is very broad. As Wolf said, they will need a chamber. I will certainly be using these in a future build.
I will not comment on the organizational stuff; plenty of you have run similar events and know far better than I do what does and doesn't work in terms of crowd/noise control and number of entries. But I will just say as a first timer; I find the house track useful, but like Ed I think I would go crazy if there were no personal tracks. In fact I would love the personal tracks to be mandatory, and not just a second house track.
One other thing I wonder about: what effect would reversing the order (formal event first, informal after) have? I wonder if it wouldn't keep things moving to know that there would be a whole evening to ask questions, discuss the builds etc?
Thanks, Ani. I totally botched Mark's first speaker toss. My buffer filled up and I completely missing the flight down. But I nailed the 2nd one, which was similar to an Olympic javelin throw. Mark walked back out of frame a little bit and got a running start. He then stopping near the edge and released the speaker like a javelin. You can clearly see Mark's outstretched arm as he launches "Super Speakerman" into the air.
There's some cool speakers at that event! Any info on the white ones with the burgundy fabric covers?
I snapped this pic right after Martin set them up, with the intent of stopping back later for more shots. But because there were so many presenters, these small speakers soon got buried behind another row of speakers (see pic). I could not get a clear 2nd shot without moving speakers around. (As a general rule, I do not move or touch speakers without the designer's permission.)
As you can almost make out in the attached pic, the speaker name is "SST" with RS150T-8 and Airborne RT4001. The attached 2500x2500 jpeg name card is slightly pixelated, so I will have to go back to my raw file for the best resolution. I'll also dig through my inventory and see if I can find another shot of this one without the grill cloth.
Whoops. Marvin's speakers (not Martin). I found a pic with the grill cloth removed. Bryan@MAC, could you add this one to the group? I should have included this one as well, but missed it. Thanks. Bill
Comments
You guys have a good start with this one - keep the momentum going, and be sure to listen to what people are saying about what they want. Each of us wants something different out of these, and trying to cover everyone's desires is what can derail these things. I know it sounds like I am advocating an IowaDIY/DakotaDIY approach to the event - but that is because it has proven to be an effective format. However, your event will evolve on its own, and it is important to realize that absolute control is ultimately less possible than simply steering it by imposing a few rules and letting people have a good time. I believe it better to initiate another event elsewhere than to try and accommodate much more than 40-45 people unless you secure the room for an extended time frame. Running a show is physically exhausting, isn't it?
I completely enjoyed myself, and even though my weird social anxiety has me needing to leave quite often to reset, I very much enjoy the company and the crowd. Depending on what is going on next year, I will of course show up again!
Ditto to what Ben said about the chatter. At a few points it was just flat out rude and disrespectful. No need to name names, they know who they are.
I have to ask though....what the heck is that "speaker" ??
Was that a functional design? Was its name Speakerman?
Bryan, I put the Meniscus picture disc in the mail today, you should get it Fri or Sat. I didn't ask Mark for the name, but based on the bright red cape, my guess would be Super Speakerman.
Forgot to mention. Thanks to Dan P for the Vifa D75MK-21 three inch midrange units. They were on the free table slated for the garbage can after the show. I tested all three on DATS V2 and all the VC's are in good shape. They have a very broad, low Q resonance of approximately 300Hz. Have not measured them with OmniMic yet, but the DATS V2 sine sweep sounded very good on all three.
Regarding the format, I would be in favor of a single 10 minute house track for everybody. No personal music at all. I like to compare my speakers to others and I get confused by all the variation.
Picture of the free table with D75MK-21's:
InDIYana Event Website
https://www.jfcomponents.com/
They are the Vifa D75MK-21 three inch midrange units. I talked to Dan very briefly about them when I was hoisting them away. He said they were custom mounted in waveguides. I googled the model number but could not find a spec sheet. Fs is about 200-300Hz, but the peak is very broad. As Wolf said, they will need a chamber. I will certainly be using these in a future build.
InDIYana Event Website
https://www.jfcomponents.com/
Thanks, Ani. I totally botched Mark's first speaker toss. My buffer filled up and I completely missing the flight down. But I nailed the 2nd one, which was similar to an Olympic javelin throw. Mark walked back out of frame a little bit and got a running start. He then stopping near the edge and released the speaker like a javelin. You can clearly see Mark's outstretched arm as he launches "Super Speakerman" into the air.
InDIYana Event Website
I snapped this pic right after Martin set them up, with the intent of stopping back later for more shots. But because there were so many presenters, these small speakers soon got buried behind another row of speakers (see pic). I could not get a clear 2nd shot without moving speakers around. (As a general rule, I do not move or touch speakers without the designer's permission.)
As you can almost make out in the attached pic, the speaker name is "SST" with RS150T-8 and Airborne RT4001. The attached 2500x2500 jpeg name card is slightly pixelated, so I will have to go back to my raw file for the best resolution. I'll also dig through my inventory and see if I can find another shot of this one without the grill cloth.
InDIYana Event Website
Whoops. Marvin's speakers (not Martin). I found a pic with the grill cloth removed. Bryan@MAC, could you add this one to the group? I should have included this one as well, but missed it. Thanks. Bill