If AKfest09 was moved...

More likely to attend in 09?

  • Yes

    Votes: 36 35.0%
  • No

    Votes: 45 43.7%
  • Makes no difference to me

    Votes: 22 21.4%

  • Total voters
    103
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I think this is where Indiana came up with the slogan "Crossroads of America." I don't know if we are still using it. It seems we bridge the dense east with the sparce west from this point of view. The twin cities were an 8-10 hr drive for me and st louis was a little shorter I think. SO Iowa isn't a bad drive for me......But Michigan is closer.

Regardless.....I will be at the next AK fest unless we move it to North Korea or something....There's always Indianapolis!!!!:D

Kokomo...
 
Well if you decide to ever consider changing the venue location to Minneapolis we could have my wife put together a deal at her hotel.

What do you mean, "her hotel" ?

Please clue us in on possible deals?

Better yet, would "her hotel" let us do the type of show that Grumpy does in Detroit?

Enquiring minds and all..... :D





Retro
 
It's much appreciated that someone other than Dave is offering to shoulder the burden of putting on the next Fest.

It seems to me that the major issues/needs are, in order of importance:

1. It must be essentially in the same town as the person in charge. This job takes daily/weekly follow up.
2. It must be in a city with a major airport hub. If not, airfare will skyrocket.
3. It must be within driving distance of enough members who will provide equipment for and set up the members' listening rooms. No member is going to ship his equipment. If this isn't made a top priority, members' listening rooms will evaporate.

Those are the deal killers. Everything else is much less important. Manufacturers' reps are quite used to humping equipment around the country. As far as attendees are concerned, any move of the host city will be farther for some, closer for some...it'll be a wash.

For me personally, it doesn't matter a bit. I'll be there next year no matter where it is. For the majority of attendees, I think leaving it where it's at would be the absolute best choice.
 
Her hotel - place of employment - [ she's the assistant GM ] has conventions all the time...sci fi conventions, craft conventions, small group events, etc. etc. The roomrates are dependant on the weekend, the number of rooms reserved, and any guest services negotiated. She said if we were to have booked this weekend, for example, [ which is historically quiet at this location ] roomrates would have been $99 or less if it were a very large group.

Anyway....it's not like AK Fest will end up in Minneapolis since it's the Grumpy's show but if the MN tri-state folks ever wanted to put something together locally in a more formal setting, it's feasible.

And for the record, there would be no financial benefit or gain on my wife's part for referring a group of any size to the property. Just offering some inside help if we ever needed to coordinate something locally.
 
I sincerely do not believe that moving the fest at this time is something that we should consider.
Nancy

Being from the Detroit area, I think it's fine where it is. And knowing the hard work the Grumpy family must put into this (and remember, they started the whole thing) - let's just leave it be for now.
 
Her hotel - place of employment - [ she's the assistant GM ] has conventions all the time...sci fi conventions, craft conventions, small group events, etc. etc. The roomrates are dependant on the weekend, the number of rooms reserved, and any guest services negotiated. She said if we were to have booked this weekend, for example, [ which is historically quiet at this location ] roomrates would have been $99 or less if it were a very large group.

Anyway....it's not like AK Fest will end up in Minneapolis since it's the Grumpy's show but if the MN tri-state folks ever wanted to put something together locally in a more formal setting, it's feasible.

And for the record, there would be no financial benefit or gain on my wife's part for referring a group of any size to the property. Just offering some inside help if we ever needed to coordinate something locally.

Well, to be honest, I believe the location in South Minneapolis satisfies ALL of Fisherdude's 3 criteria points he mentions:

"1. It must be essentially in the same town as the person in charge. This job takes daily/weekly follow up.
2. It must be in a city with a major airport hub. If not, airfare will skyrocket.
3. It must be within driving distance of enough members who will provide equipment for and set up the members' listening rooms. No member is going to ship his equipment. If this isn't made a top priority, members' listening rooms will evaporate."

The Minneapolis/St.Paul airport is just a few miles away right on interstate 494, along with such places as Valley Fair (huge amusement park), The Mall of America, and the Minnesota Zoo. All within 20 minutes of the hotel.

I'll just bet the Minneapolis/St.Paul area (50 mile radius) has just as many active AK members as the Detroit area, and I know we would have a large contingent of filled listening rooms from the area, myself being one of them.

The Hotel room rates appear to look the same and they have 500+ rooms available.

As far as someone being in charge, there are probably several of us in the area that would be willing to step up and help do what it would take to make this happen.

I believe EVERYONE would agree that it would still be "Grumpy's Show" and we would just be here to lighten his burden if called upon.

We may be able to add some local new vendors to the Fest such as Magnepan, The Needle Doctor, etc., and I know there are a bunch more audio manufacturers in the Minneapolis area as well. We'd also be darn near as close to Chicago as Detroit is for the vendors coming out of that city.

Well, this is just something else to think about????




Retro
 
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Being from the Detroit area, I think it's fine where it is. And knowing the hard work the Grumpy family must put into this (and remember, they started the whole thing) - let's just leave it be for now.

This would be the "only" point of moving the Fest, all the hard work that Grumpy and his family put into it every year, maybe they would like a break? If Grumpy and family don't need a break and everything is cool with the hotel and the dates, I agree, keep it in Detroit. I'll be there wherever it is.



Retro
 
Unless things changed a LOT in the next 12 months, more than likely that would knock me out of the running.
 
I agree with you Retro.....it's feasible should Grumpy and his family ever want to take a break. And if that were ever to transpire, maybe MPLS would be a feasible locale?

The hotel layout would work great for the listening rooms... The cabana rooms [ I think that's what they're called ] have patio-like doors which empty into a common area and it would be very accessible to everyone in attendance. Vendors could set up in the common areas and have their auditions take place there or in designated rooms.

And like you said, there's plenty of us locally to coordinate the goings on and solicit the local vendors...Cheapo / Applause Records, Electric Fetus, Midwest Speaker, Best Buy:sigh: Just kidding, folks [ although BB's Director of Marketing is my high school buddy ]!

Should duty call, I'm there with the rest of us soldiers!:thmbsp: But til then....Detroit it is.
 
Well, to be honest, I believe the location in South Minneapolis satisfies ALL of Fisherdude's 3 criteria points he mentions:

"1. It must be essentially in the same town as the person in charge. This job takes daily/weekly follow up.
2. It must be in a city with a major airport hub. If not, airfare will skyrocket.
3. It must be within driving distance of enough members who will provide equipment for and set up the members' listening rooms. No member is going to ship his equipment. If this isn't made a top priority, members' listening rooms will evaporate."

...Well, this is just something else to think about????


Retro


I forgot to mention that it can't be under nine feet of snow in June.:D
 
FWIW there's a really nice Louis Sullivan designed bank and a nice Art Museum in Cedar Rapids. Sound good to me.
 
The AK Fest is Detroit based and I like that, good for their economy, nice highways and a wonderful city. It started here, why change a winning combination?

I loved the 10 hour drive to Motown and it deserves to grow there, Detroit can host a great audio fest! It's not that bad for us east coast people. Just as it's gathering attention, why on earth jeopardize it's future? It's reputation is now established!

Let Ms Grumpy and her old man do their magic!
 
I'd like to attend next year. As for location, a few years back I'd say anywhere is fine. But now since I don't travel well anymore, I even opted out of this year's event.

But here's wishing it keeps growing, and with good fortune some day it's taking over a convention center in Vegas for a week.
 
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