I'd like to take this time to thank all that showed up at the Expo, Shared their work and Ideas and allowed me to put a face to the People I chat with and get help from, from this forum. I would also like to thank OBC, for allowing me the chance to be part of my first Expo ever. I showed off my version of the mini Lap Top, and what I done with it, and I really was supprised with the great responce I recieved from You that came. THANKS!!! Special thanks to Chip Gracey and Paul Baker. Hope the People at Parallax enjoy the name tags and Lanyards. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!!
This was just the kick in the butt i needed to dig out and dust off my prop. :P
I even broke down and bought a decent soldering station so that I could make cool things like everybody else.
My nephew stole the hat I won, he had to sleep with it on last night and wore it most of today, lol.
I'd also like to thank everyone for showing up! This was the first electronics show I have been to, let alone be a part of, so I wasn't sure what to expect. (altough I did go to a Atari users group when I was young (sorry OBC, had to mention that ))
Thank you to all that made purchases. I had a couple new products there that I had not even documented yet, but brought them along, If you bought one of these.... hold tight for a couple days while I write up the documentation/assembly instructions.
p.s...... I'm writing this Sunday night from the Best Western....Yes, I still haven't left Norwalk.
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Brian
uController.com - home of SpinStudio - the modular Development system for the Propeller
PropNIC - Add ethernet ability to your Propeller! PropJoy - Plug in a joystick and play some games!
What a great experience the expo was! It was a pleasure to meet people and I wish I had met everyone.
Jeff (OldBitCollector) did such a·wonderful job of getting everything together and leading the·whole show. If we at Parallax had properly pictured what was going to go on, several more of us would have come. I'm really glad that I made those late arrangements to accompany Paul Baker. I just wish Jeff Martin and Beau Schwabe would have been there, too, as they would have loved it and been inspired, as well. It was like going back in time to when everything was fresh. As I told Jeff, it reminded me of·the 1980·West Coast Computer Faire that my dad took me to when I was 12 years old.·My dad·always recalls how the whole place smelled like tomato soup from everyone's B.O. This one smelled fine.
One thing that really made an impression upon me at the expo was the EXCEPTIONALLY WHOLESOME nature of·everyone involved. This was very different from a trade show. The Propeller seems to have found the nicest people. There were·not only inventors and tinkerers present,·but fathers with sons, and·even homeschoolers! I·can hardly express·what positive feelings I had about the group. It was like a church social, or something. What a strange and wonderful occurrence over a chip!
Jeff, thanks a lot for making it all happen. I think it was very edifying for everyone involved. You are a natural host. I look forward to another one of these.
There must be something about the Prop that brings out the best in people.
The pacing was excellent. A demo... time to talk. Giveaways... demo... more time to talk.
For me the absolute best moment of the meeting wasn't Chips talk (although it was a close second[noparse]:)[/noparse] The absolute best moment was watching the Bean help TPW (who looks to be about 11 or 12) get his brand new LCD display working.... and then give him a challenge "can you make it scroll." About 10 minutes later there was TPW with his dedication "Propeller" scrolling across the screen.
There was a lot of discussion about the history of computing... and two little glimpses of the future, the Prop II... and the mental picture of a jr. high school contest for Propeller projects.
A thought for Chip... save something for the Prop III[noparse]:)[/noparse] You are going to have to stay ahead of the competition and they are a bunch of thieves.
For everybody else... look at the CORDIC method... it's a simple enough concept... but one you need to grasp if you want to understand your assembly code for the PROPII.
Congrats and thanks to everyone.
Rich
Baggers... you should have been there. Your fan club was[noparse]:)[/noparse] In your opinion... should a 12 Euro computer have a second Prop dedicated as a graphics co-processor?
Let me add my thanks to OBC for pulling this together. Thanks also to those who joined me for supper on Friday. It was a great lead in to Saturday's event. It was great meeting everyone both on Friday and Saturday.. Thanks to Parallax for supporting the event. The drive back to Maryland was as long as the drive out (7+ hours), but with an early start I was home by 3.
Chip talked about the origins of his inspirations and that sometimes what came out of him seemed to be genuinely inspired by something greater than himself.
The meeting was just a few miles from the birth place of Edison... Edison's first words on the telephone..."Mr. Watson... come here." And TPW showed up.
One can never know, but the idea that Edison was there watching is interesting to consider..
rjo_... I will deffo be at the UK tour [noparse];)[/noparse] no matter how busy work gets [noparse]:)[/noparse] and what's wrong with a 12 Euro computer having a dedicated graphics co processor? [noparse]:D[/noparse]
When I arrive in Norwalk, I too found it interesting that the city labeled itself the "birth place of invention". We should make it a tradition to hold the Expo there to keep with the them. Everyone can invent. Everyone can create. Everyone can share and help others out in their inventions.
Thank you all for the continued kind words..
You guys are going to make me hard to live with.. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
As I'm sure is happening at Parallax this morning, Rebekah are debriefing the expo
in our office. Some issues discussed here at Orrtech are size, (whether we should
take the gym and room, or the room and the lobby.) The food. Pre-registration
(to make tags easier on us.)
One of the challenges we have discussed is the fact that no one really understood
the feel of the Expo until you got there. You do now.. [noparse]:)[/noparse] I knew that would happen,
which is why I did the first very simple, (and very nervous) demo to set the tone.
Rebekah, Brad and I have a year to plan now.. Expect great things in 2009.
And guys.. If you put together a Mich expo, please add our team to your list
of attendees.
Thank you OBC and team for organizing the expo. With out all your hard work it just would not have happened.
Thank you Parallax for all your support. You guys made the expo a hit and were an inspiration to me.
And thanks to all the people who demoed. It would not have been much fun without you.
I have wanted to get started on the Propeller for a while now, and finely got the oppertunity.
Thanks. Can't wait for the next year.
-Seth
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The pessimist is never disappointed.
OBC, thanks SO much for the expo! I really loved it and will really be looking forward to next year! Everybody there was really nice and I really enjoyed meeting everybody there!
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I am 1011, so be surprised!
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tpw_man said...
OBC, thanks SO much for the expo! I really loved it and will really be looking forward to next year! Everybody there was really nice and I really enjoyed meeting everybody there!
Keep up the good work young fellow! You will have a bright future if you stay with this.
I suppose next year your signature will change from 1011 to 1100....
I had such a great time at the expo. I'm really glad I made the trip.
It was great to meet everyone in person.
And I would like to thank everyone that purchased some of my products.
I have attached the datasheets for the mini keyboards and for the large 4 digit LED displays.
Thomas (TPW_Man) you were the most amazing thing I saw at the expo. I look forward to seeing great things from you. But don't get too burned-out on electronics, find some other hobbies too.
Bean.
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"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you·have."·· Thomas Jefferson
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."·Dumbledore from Harry Potter
With OBC's blessings, I'm going to post a few comments and suggestions so that everyone can either join in or jump on.
In no particular order,
The pace of the meeting was perfect. But there was a problem in transition out of the breaks... mostly I think because of a problem in the PA system that OBC recognized and will fix for next year.
I really liked having the vendors in the same space. I have been a vendor on many occasions and while everyone else was in the meeting, I was stuck outside in my booth wishing that I was inside. AND if the booths are outside you have to stay in your booth because every once in a while a customer comes along trying to avoid the crowd.
So... please keep the vendors in the same room.
BUT there should be a "lights out" in the vendor area as soon as the moderator begins to talk... I found myself in a conversation ... oblivious to the fact that Jeff was talking.. so, either a lights out or a gavel or a siren would be a good idea.
Have a round table session early in the meeting... invite all of the vendors... give them a complete introduction. Allow plenty of time for questions. I would have loved to have asked more questions of the Bean, but every time I went by his booth, he was busy.
A freebies table... what a great idea. How about an exchange table... for stuff to be traded.... would be a great way to meet people.
Keep the meeting linear... one talk at a time.
Reserve a day for instructional talks... classes (ugh)... charge a small fee for the courses... a great way for vendors to make a few bucks, help their customers, hawk products, etc.
Go international... with concurrent meetings connected by the internet.
Stay in Norwalk.. great heritage, easy to find, close to activities for the kids, cheap hotel rooms, right on the interstate, minutes from Cleveland, a great small town feel, etc. etc. etc.
A few weeks earlier would be good. Both of my kids had started back to school... so rather than a family vacation spread over a week or so, it turned into a round trip (16 hour drive) over a weekend... I'm exhausted[noparse]:)[/noparse]
I'm sure there is more... but that's it for now.
Again... a great idea, a great follow through... thanks to everyone that made it happen.
I fully agree on keeping the vendors in the same room, they are as big a part of this as us non-vendors, maybe more. I get the feeling that many of them would have been there even if they could not sell their products.
I also agree on a warning system that a new speaker has started. Once people realized that a new session had started the background noise died down, but until then.... Anybody know where OBC can get a Chinese Gong?
I like the vendor round table idea. It took me half the day to figure where Ucntroller was and what they sold. By that time half of their product was sold, but I still was able to get a SpinStudio Mainboard and two I/O boards.
Instructional talks, what a great idea! Just the thing to get some of us procrastinators off of dead center (some of us have even put off buying the t shirt). Maybe a hand's on session using the Propeller Education Kit. Also tutorials with code handouts or references to where the code is located on the net (maybe this forum).
Cheap hotel rooms! Sorry, I have to disagree here. I paid over $90 a night for an Econo Lodge and that was with my senior citizen discount. I wonder if we could get a group rate at one of the other establishments by designating them as our official hotel.
The hotel room price had to do with the proximity to Cedar Point.
(a family vacation destination.) We will have more time to work
out this problem for next year. (and we'll work on it!)
I'm curious how many actually took advantage of the local attractions?
Certainly, with the data from this expo and how many stayed in town, we can work out some deal with one of the local hotels. We now have data and if we do a preregistration, then we can reserve the amount of rooms needed.
Part way through the day I though about an educational/beginners class. I noticed in my converstations that there were several people who would have benefited from that. Just a class to say "this is a Prop", SPIN is a language, etc. The class could have done a quick LED Demo on the Prop Board that everyone had.
I think this will eventually grow large enough that there may be multiple classes or things to attend. Perhap next year we can keep it linear, but that depends on how much it grows.
I just posted PDFs of the slides from the three presentations I created for the Prop Expo. One presentation I showed, "Building an LED System", one was running continuously at the Brilldea table which basically shows the product. The third was the one I was unable to show becaue I needed to return to MI. This presentation is on the electronics market in Shenzhen, China. Check this one out. There are all sorts of pictures of the electronic goodies that can be bought there. Sorry that the video aren't PDFable.
I think it would be great if we could book a hotel so all the people are in one place.
It would be really cool if the hotel had a place to have the expo too.
Instead of a "Free" table, how about a "donation" table with the funds going toward the expo expenses.
Bean.
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"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you·have."·· Thomas Jefferson
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."·Dumbledore from Harry Potter
A little feedback from me (not sure if I handed in my feedback slip);
Loved the project demos, where folks came up and presented their projects. I forget the name of the guy that did the video telemetry overlay for his motorcycle, but that was a great example.
I'm sure that some of the guys who brought their project to display on a table had to explain their project several times over, it might have been easier for them just to present. Maybe next year they'll be more will be inspired to do so.
Loved having vendors. It was awesome to talk to them, get a special sales price, etc.
Overall, well worth the trip for me. Gave me a better idea of the inventory I should have to support your projects, got new ideas from attendees, got ideas for the west coast convention, and had a good time. For a 1st convention, couldn't have gone much better.
I did go to Cedar point. I saved a bit on motel as I priceline'd it a few days before. A single hotel would be nice to keep cohesion, but it will make the registration fee a little higher, doubless.
'Tracked' conventions have some benefits (more relevant content for attendees), but then it's harder for everyone to meet everyone else. I'd vote against it until there are hundreds of attendees
OBC - these conventions can get really big - It takes a few years, but the Pinball expo I go to every year has 1,000's of attendees, speakers series', movie premiers, tournaments, etc. The guy who organizes the expo actually makes enough money from the expo to quit his day job!
One recommendation for next year, T-shirts. Have the public submit designs, run a vote for best design, and get a few dozen printed. You might be able to have a vendor sponsor the shirts & give them out, free, to all attendees.
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OBC- My son and I took advantage of the local attractions. Less than 10 minutes from our Hotel was Kalahari - billed as the USA's largest indoor water parks. I spent 3 nights at the Best Western, I recommend them highly. The rates were a little higher, but there was a very nice indoor pool and hot tub that they kept open until 11pm, Wireless internet, continental breakfast..... I can't say enough good things about them. I used Expedia to make the reservations, Friday and Saturday was expensive, but sunday night only cost me about $55.
I think I've got the whole family onboard for coming next year, maybe we'll stay for a week!
The location was perfect for me. It was a 400 mile drive from NY, but only 2 highways. I had a GPS with me, but didn't even turn it on on the way home.
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Brian
uController.com - home of SpinStudio - the modular Development system for the Propeller
PropNIC - Add ethernet ability to your Propeller! PropJoy - Plug in a joystick and play some games!
@ Jazzed - no, I only sell kits. People can do with them as they please. Some have talked about building something for their bar or restarunt. Others are building dance floors or animated art for their home. Other yet just want to build what I did. And some did art for the Burning Man festival. It is all very neat to see how many different ideas there are out there.
I haven't had any sales in China either, but I source various parts of the kits from there. China is a very interesting market, I could go on about it for a while, but that would be a whole other thread.
My contribution to the energy crisis was to see if I covered my entire living room with mirrors if I could light it with just one light bulb... no kidding.
After I got one wall almost done, I admitted to myself that it was just about the worst idea I had ever had. I bought one of Tims kits ... which should allow me to cover the jagged strip of bare wall that remained when I changed my mind.
rjo_ said...
Reserve a day for instructional talks... classes (ugh)... charge a small fee for the courses... a great way for vendors to make a few bucks, help their customers, hawk products, etc.
I agree. I had never touched a prop before, so it would have been really nice to have someone show me how easy it is to use the prop.
Just doing some of Dave Scanlan's tutorials would have been great.
Then again, this expo was the tops, but being showed how to use the prop would have been more... topper?
-Seth
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The pessimist is never disappointed.
Comments
I even broke down and bought a decent soldering station so that I could make cool things like everybody else.
My nephew stole the hat I won, he had to sleep with it on last night and wore it most of today, lol.
(and just managed to hurt himself with the propeller toy in the pack. he's 14. don't ask. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Thanks Ken!
He also really likes Bean's solar cells...
OBC
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New to the Propeller?
Getting started with a Propeller Protoboard?
Check out: Introduction to the Proboard & Propeller Cookbook 1.4
Updates to the Cookbook are now posted to: Propeller.warrantyvoid.us
Got an SD card connected? - PropDOS
Post Edited (Oldbitcollector) : 8/25/2008 4:05:21 AM GMT
Thank you to all that made purchases. I had a couple new products there that I had not even documented yet, but brought them along, If you bought one of these.... hold tight for a couple days while I write up the documentation/assembly instructions.
p.s...... I'm writing this Sunday night from the Best Western....Yes, I still haven't left Norwalk.
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Brian
uController.com - home of SpinStudio - the modular Development system for the Propeller
PropNIC - Add ethernet ability to your Propeller! PropJoy - Plug in a joystick and play some games!
SD card Adapter - mass storage for the masses Audio/Video adapter add composite video and sound to your Proto Board
Jeff (OldBitCollector) did such a·wonderful job of getting everything together and leading the·whole show. If we at Parallax had properly pictured what was going to go on, several more of us would have come. I'm really glad that I made those late arrangements to accompany Paul Baker. I just wish Jeff Martin and Beau Schwabe would have been there, too, as they would have loved it and been inspired, as well. It was like going back in time to when everything was fresh. As I told Jeff, it reminded me of·the 1980·West Coast Computer Faire that my dad took me to when I was 12 years old.·My dad·always recalls how the whole place smelled like tomato soup from everyone's B.O. This one smelled fine.
One thing that really made an impression upon me at the expo was the EXCEPTIONALLY WHOLESOME nature of·everyone involved. This was very different from a trade show. The Propeller seems to have found the nicest people. There were·not only inventors and tinkerers present,·but fathers with sons, and·even homeschoolers! I·can hardly express·what positive feelings I had about the group. It was like a church social, or something. What a strange and wonderful occurrence over a chip!
Jeff, thanks a lot for making it all happen. I think it was very edifying for everyone involved. You are a natural host. I look forward to another one of these.
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Chip Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
The pacing was excellent. A demo... time to talk. Giveaways... demo... more time to talk.
For me the absolute best moment of the meeting wasn't Chips talk (although it was a close second[noparse]:)[/noparse] The absolute best moment was watching the Bean help TPW (who looks to be about 11 or 12) get his brand new LCD display working.... and then give him a challenge "can you make it scroll." About 10 minutes later there was TPW with his dedication "Propeller" scrolling across the screen.
There was a lot of discussion about the history of computing... and two little glimpses of the future, the Prop II... and the mental picture of a jr. high school contest for Propeller projects.
A thought for Chip... save something for the Prop III[noparse]:)[/noparse] You are going to have to stay ahead of the competition and they are a bunch of thieves.
For everybody else... look at the CORDIC method... it's a simple enough concept... but one you need to grasp if you want to understand your assembly code for the PROPII.
Congrats and thanks to everyone.
Rich
Baggers... you should have been there. Your fan club was[noparse]:)[/noparse] In your opinion... should a 12 Euro computer have a second Prop dedicated as a graphics co-processor?
Ron
The meeting was just a few miles from the birth place of Edison... Edison's first words on the telephone..."Mr. Watson... come here." And TPW showed up.
One can never know, but the idea that Edison was there watching is interesting to consider..
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http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite
·
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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com·- Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, uOLED-IOC, eProto fo SunSPOT, BitScope
www.sxmicro.com - a blog·exploring the SX micro
www.tdswieter.com
You guys are going to make me hard to live with.. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
As I'm sure is happening at Parallax this morning, Rebekah are debriefing the expo
in our office. Some issues discussed here at Orrtech are size, (whether we should
take the gym and room, or the room and the lobby.) The food. Pre-registration
(to make tags easier on us.)
One of the challenges we have discussed is the fact that no one really understood
the feel of the Expo until you got there. You do now.. [noparse]:)[/noparse] I knew that would happen,
which is why I did the first very simple, (and very nervous) demo to set the tone.
Rebekah, Brad and I have a year to plan now.. Expect great things in 2009.
And guys.. If you put together a Mich expo, please add our team to your list
of attendees.
OBC
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New to the Propeller?
Getting started with a Propeller Protoboard?
Check out: Introduction to the Proboard & Propeller Cookbook 1.4
Updates to the Cookbook are now posted to: Propeller.warrantyvoid.us
Got an SD card connected? - PropDOS
Thank you Parallax for all your support. You guys made the expo a hit and were an inspiration to me.
And thanks to all the people who demoed. It would not have been much fun without you.
I have wanted to get started on the Propeller for a while now, and finely got the oppertunity.
Thanks. Can't wait for the next year.
-Seth
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The pessimist is never disappointed.
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I am 1011, so be surprised!
Advertisement sponsored by dfletch:
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Keep up the good work young fellow! You will have a bright future if you stay with this.
I suppose next year your signature will change from 1011 to 1100....
Robert
It was great to meet everyone in person.
And I would like to thank everyone that purchased some of my products.
I have attached the datasheets for the mini keyboards and for the large 4 digit LED displays.
Thomas (TPW_Man) you were the most amazing thing I saw at the expo. I look forward to seeing great things from you. But don't get too burned-out on electronics, find some other hobbies too.
Bean.
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"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you·have."·· Thomas Jefferson
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."·Dumbledore from Harry Potter
www.iElectronicDesigns.com
With OBC's blessings, I'm going to post a few comments and suggestions so that everyone can either join in or jump on.
In no particular order,
The pace of the meeting was perfect. But there was a problem in transition out of the breaks... mostly I think because of a problem in the PA system that OBC recognized and will fix for next year.
I really liked having the vendors in the same space. I have been a vendor on many occasions and while everyone else was in the meeting, I was stuck outside in my booth wishing that I was inside. AND if the booths are outside you have to stay in your booth because every once in a while a customer comes along trying to avoid the crowd.
So... please keep the vendors in the same room.
BUT there should be a "lights out" in the vendor area as soon as the moderator begins to talk... I found myself in a conversation ... oblivious to the fact that Jeff was talking.. so, either a lights out or a gavel or a siren would be a good idea.
Have a round table session early in the meeting... invite all of the vendors... give them a complete introduction. Allow plenty of time for questions. I would have loved to have asked more questions of the Bean, but every time I went by his booth, he was busy.
A freebies table... what a great idea. How about an exchange table... for stuff to be traded.... would be a great way to meet people.
Keep the meeting linear... one talk at a time.
Reserve a day for instructional talks... classes (ugh)... charge a small fee for the courses... a great way for vendors to make a few bucks, help their customers, hawk products, etc.
Go international... with concurrent meetings connected by the internet.
Stay in Norwalk.. great heritage, easy to find, close to activities for the kids, cheap hotel rooms, right on the interstate, minutes from Cleveland, a great small town feel, etc. etc. etc.
A few weeks earlier would be good. Both of my kids had started back to school... so rather than a family vacation spread over a week or so, it turned into a round trip (16 hour drive) over a weekend... I'm exhausted[noparse]:)[/noparse]
I'm sure there is more... but that's it for now.
Again... a great idea, a great follow through... thanks to everyone that made it happen.
Rich
I fully agree on keeping the vendors in the same room, they are as big a part of this as us non-vendors, maybe more. I get the feeling that many of them would have been there even if they could not sell their products.
I also agree on a warning system that a new speaker has started. Once people realized that a new session had started the background noise died down, but until then.... Anybody know where OBC can get a Chinese Gong?
I like the vendor round table idea. It took me half the day to figure where Ucntroller was and what they sold. By that time half of their product was sold, but I still was able to get a SpinStudio Mainboard and two I/O boards.
Instructional talks, what a great idea! Just the thing to get some of us procrastinators off of dead center (some of us have even put off buying the t shirt). Maybe a hand's on session using the Propeller Education Kit. Also tutorials with code handouts or references to where the code is located on the net (maybe this forum).
Cheap hotel rooms! Sorry, I have to disagree here. I paid over $90 a night for an Econo Lodge and that was with my senior citizen discount. I wonder if we could get a group rate at one of the other establishments by designating them as our official hotel.
Ron
Just kidding.. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
The hotel room price had to do with the proximity to Cedar Point.
(a family vacation destination.) We will have more time to work
out this problem for next year. (and we'll work on it!)
I'm curious how many actually took advantage of the local attractions?
OBC
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Part way through the day I though about an educational/beginners class. I noticed in my converstations that there were several people who would have benefited from that. Just a class to say "this is a Prop", SPIN is a language, etc. The class could have done a quick LED Demo on the Prop Board that everyone had.
I think this will eventually grow large enough that there may be multiple classes or things to attend. Perhap next year we can keep it linear, but that depends on how much it grows.
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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com·- Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, uOLED-IOC, eProto fo SunSPOT, BitScope
www.sxmicro.com - a blog·exploring the SX micro
www.tdswieter.com
The presentations are in the resource section:
http://www.brilldea.com/resources.html
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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com·- Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, uOLED-IOC, eProto fo SunSPOT, BitScope
www.sxmicro.com - a blog·exploring the SX micro
www.tdswieter.com
It would be really cool if the hotel had a place to have the expo too.
Instead of a "Free" table, how about a "donation" table with the funds going toward the expo expenses.
Bean.
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"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you·have."·· Thomas Jefferson
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."·Dumbledore from Harry Potter
www.iElectronicDesigns.com
·
Loved the project demos, where folks came up and presented their projects. I forget the name of the guy that did the video telemetry overlay for his motorcycle, but that was a great example.
I'm sure that some of the guys who brought their project to display on a table had to explain their project several times over, it might have been easier for them just to present. Maybe next year they'll be more will be inspired to do so.
Loved having vendors. It was awesome to talk to them, get a special sales price, etc.
Overall, well worth the trip for me. Gave me a better idea of the inventory I should have to support your projects, got new ideas from attendees, got ideas for the west coast convention, and had a good time. For a 1st convention, couldn't have gone much better.
I did go to Cedar point. I saved a bit on motel as I priceline'd it a few days before. A single hotel would be nice to keep cohesion, but it will make the registration fee a little higher, doubless.
'Tracked' conventions have some benefits (more relevant content for attendees), but then it's harder for everyone to meet everyone else. I'd vote against it until there are hundreds of attendees
OBC - these conventions can get really big - It takes a few years, but the Pinball expo I go to every year has 1,000's of attendees, speakers series', movie premiers, tournaments, etc. The guy who organizes the expo actually makes enough money from the expo to quit his day job!
One recommendation for next year, T-shirts. Have the public submit designs, run a vote for best design, and get a few dozen printed. You might be able to have a vendor sponsor the shirts & give them out, free, to all attendees.
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Concentrate on understanding the problem, not applying the tool
I think I've got the whole family onboard for coming next year, maybe we'll stay for a week!
The location was perfect for me. It was a 400 mile drive from NY, but only 2 highways. I had a GPS with me, but didn't even turn it on on the way home.
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Brian
uController.com - home of SpinStudio - the modular Development system for the Propeller
PropNIC - Add ethernet ability to your Propeller! PropJoy - Plug in a joystick and play some games!
SD card Adapter - mass storage for the masses Audio/Video adapter add composite video and sound to your Proto Board
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--Steve
I haven't had any sales in China either, but I source various parts of the kits from there. China is a very interesting market, I could go on about it for a while, but that would be a whole other thread.
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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com·- Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, uOLED-IOC, eProto fo SunSPOT, BitScope
www.sxmicro.com - a blog·exploring the SX micro
www.tdswieter.com
After I got one wall almost done, I admitted to myself that it was just about the worst idea I had ever had. I bought one of Tims kits ... which should allow me to cover the jagged strip of bare wall that remained when I changed my mind.
It should look great[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Post Edited (rjo_) : 8/26/2008 11:52:30 PM GMT
I agree. I had never touched a prop before, so it would have been really nice to have someone show me how easy it is to use the prop.
Just doing some of Dave Scanlan's tutorials would have been great.
Then again, this expo was the tops, but being showed how to use the prop would have been more... topper?
-Seth
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The pessimist is never disappointed.