UPEC 2012: Had a great time at UPEC!! (Was:Time to load the car!)
Oldbitcollector (Jeff)
Posts: 8,091
Ok, gang. UPEC weekend has arrived! Time to load the car! Here's what to expect and what to bring.
First of all, we are meeting in a new location. Lombard, IL. The facility has free wireless internet access, and the folks in charge are going out of their way to make sure we are happy with the location. Fairfield Inn and Suites insisted that in spite of our willingness to come set things up the night before, they will have 80% of it done before we get there. (Volunteers and expo team thank you!)
Friday night, the expo team should arrive around 5pm-6pm. We'll unload the finish the setup. We have been invited to use the cafe area outside of the expo room for a late-night, meet and great.
Satuday, expo will open at 9am. There is plenty of table space. BRING YOUR PROJECTS! We want to see what you've been working on!
Saturday details:
You should be pre-registered (http://www.propellerpowered.com/expo).
Lunch, snacks and drinks will be provided to registered attendees.
Freebie Table! The ever popular freebie table will be setup. Time to clean out the shop! Bring those chips and parts that you've been planning to use for the last year and know you'll never use them! We ask that folks participating in the freebie table remember to exercise "Good taste and Good judgement" at all times.
Raffle! We'll be collecting items for the raffle with all proceeds going to Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, a local charity. A representative will meet with us and is excited to hang out and see what you guys are bringing! Donations to the raffle have already been provided by Parallax, Chuck George, and Gadget Gangster.
Speakers! Ok, gang, you don't have to be an expert speaker! We are a good group to practice on! Bring you projects and excitement and meet with me at 10am to get on the speaking schedule. We'll have a projector and wireless mic setup. If you are presenting a product, present a project based on it, not a sales pitch. I promise you will sell more.
Projects: Did I say bring your projects? Prepare to have a great day with your fellow propellerheads!
OBC
First of all, we are meeting in a new location. Lombard, IL. The facility has free wireless internet access, and the folks in charge are going out of their way to make sure we are happy with the location. Fairfield Inn and Suites insisted that in spite of our willingness to come set things up the night before, they will have 80% of it done before we get there. (Volunteers and expo team thank you!)
Friday night, the expo team should arrive around 5pm-6pm. We'll unload the finish the setup. We have been invited to use the cafe area outside of the expo room for a late-night, meet and great.
Satuday, expo will open at 9am. There is plenty of table space. BRING YOUR PROJECTS! We want to see what you've been working on!
Saturday details:
You should be pre-registered (http://www.propellerpowered.com/expo).
Lunch, snacks and drinks will be provided to registered attendees.
Freebie Table! The ever popular freebie table will be setup. Time to clean out the shop! Bring those chips and parts that you've been planning to use for the last year and know you'll never use them! We ask that folks participating in the freebie table remember to exercise "Good taste and Good judgement" at all times.
Raffle! We'll be collecting items for the raffle with all proceeds going to Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, a local charity. A representative will meet with us and is excited to hang out and see what you guys are bringing! Donations to the raffle have already been provided by Parallax, Chuck George, and Gadget Gangster.
Speakers! Ok, gang, you don't have to be an expert speaker! We are a good group to practice on! Bring you projects and excitement and meet with me at 10am to get on the speaking schedule. We'll have a projector and wireless mic setup. If you are presenting a product, present a project based on it, not a sales pitch. I promise you will sell more.
Projects: Did I say bring your projects? Prepare to have a great day with your fellow propellerheads!
OBC
Comments
It's just 15 miles from the airport. Kind of a toss up between renting a car and taking a taxi..
Video feed again for those of use too poor to travel?
Jim
OBC
But now work is in the way and my car is in the shop.
I have a whole box full of freebie stuff (mostly hackable or semi-hackable devices) that I want to get rid of, too.
Have fun without me!
Sorry to hear you will not make it this time.
We were also going to Chicago on Sunday to stay with some family. Big parade, huge amount of people (750,000 or so),
Now not going anywhere the city. EXPO then hit the road out of town.
I didn't know about the parade. I wanted to head to the museums and zoo and the parade would have blocked me.
OBC
Drive to Lombard - check
Kick back at the motel - in progress
I can also be reached @ 814-460-8571
The expo location will open for setup and guests at 9:00am in the 665 building located toward the back of the Fairfield parking lot.
Look for the building with the rotating door. Follow the hall to the elevators at the end and take them down to the lower level (LL).
Follow the hallway around to the back side and you'll find us in the A&B sections.
Be sure and grab a good breakfast from the hotel, then join us for the expo! See you there!
OBC
The facility was much more elegant that previous ones. Was a little worried that there wouldn't be any new people, but there
were actually quite a few. I think all the new people got a free Quickstart (courtosy of Parallax, I presume), so that was very generous.
Sold quite a bit of stuff, so thank you to all my new customers!
Thank you Jeff for putting together another great show, I don't think these would keep going without your time and effort! The location was also very classy. The hotel and meeting rooms wre very nice. I even like the physical location, only about 4 miles from Fry's Electronics (new Fluke multimeter!) and 16 miles from American Scientific and Surplus! Both places that a gadget person can get in big trouble with......
I am planning on being there at Norwalk, hopefully I'll have a lot more programming done on the robot by then.
Bob
We got back to NE Ohio sometime around 6am this morning. I'm nursing a LARGE mug of coffee and just finished recording The Prototypers this afternoon. We had a GREAT time with all of you at the show. ALL of the projects and demonstrations that were brought showed your excitement for the Propeller and what you do with it. The new location is a real winner, and we'll definitely plan to keep this as our official location for UPEC events in the future.
We raised $518.00 for AAIM http://www.aaim1.org/ which will be used to get people and materials into the Chicago schools to raise awareness about the dangers of driving while intoxicated. (This is almost no other outside/government funding for this, so we were able to do some great for the community). I only regret that I didn't have a chance to try Phil's (AAIM volunteer) intoxication goggles, but had fun watching all of you who did. Big thank you to Parallax, Chuck George, and Gadget Gangster for amazing raffle prizes!!
If you tune into the Prototypers later this afternoon, we have the show online where I go into details about the entire event and more!
OBC
John Abshier
Here's a few photos I took during lunch and later in the day when things slowed down a little.
Bryan took a bunch in the morning. I'll add them when he sends them over tomorrow.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3ys23hciobpftc5/5aqP6ey_l1
OBC
Didn't miss the creepy elevator in Ottawa though!
You guys did a great job organizing it, the prizes were great! The lunch was excellent.
The room was the perfect size and I heard everything thanks to the PA system.
Just wish my project was running.
Thanks Mr Oldbitcollector and your family to!
The fact we were closer to Fry's was also a plus. I was able to control myself and only lose about $100 at Fry's this time. Unlike the $600 I lost at the Fry's in CA for the 2010 Expo...lol
I look forward to these expos every year. Thank you Jeff and all the others that pour your heart and sweat into these events to make them what they are. It does not go unnoticed. :-)
I should have thought to blame the intoxication goggles! They really do work!
Thanks for letting my show off my stuff.
It was fun to see all the great work folks are doing.
I'm particularly interested in seeing the progress on the $50 educational robot that can carry 50 pounds.
Thanks to Jeff and his loyal group of helpers. Super event, as always.
Saw several new faces and made lots of new friends. Good to meet some members of CHIBOTS this year.
Hope some of them show up here on the forum.
In the afternoon I got some much needed help with a spin program of mine. Thanks bunches Jim.
One little change put into use all though the code shrunk it down to 53% of original size.
And it is much easier to use and edit now.
After the planned trip to Fry's Electronics on Sunday we took a little side trip to American Science and Surplus (Geneva, Illinois).
Thanks DiverBob for that suggestion. I had never heard of the place. Now it is on my list of must visit sites.
Have not checked yet to see if I have any good photos. If I do, I'll post them soon.
Roger.