OK, I read it all. VEGAS. Cheap rooms, cheap food, cheap airline tickets from anywhere on the planet. Plenty of wandering tourists could also PAY ADMISSION, imagine that.
My marketing sense kicks in now. If you want to expand, you have to take the show on the road. How many east or west coasters will NEVER attend a Fest just due to distance? It's one of those "If I'd only known it was this much fun I'd have been going for years". You bring others into the fold so they can fly out east the next year. Bring their equipment when the Fest is close, fly in to enjoy when it's not. Just do a three part rotation, east, central, west. East, central, west. Nuff of that.
Vegas has it all, even the wary would go figuring they could find something enjoyable to do if the Fest didn't fill their needs 24/7. Three days, yes, full schedule on paper and online in advance would be a must. However I have to agree, had it been a nicotine Fest I'd have never returned and likely regretted attending in the first place. I'm spoiled now that my state doesn't allow smoking in restaurants, bars, work places, bowling alleys, etc. How nice it is to go out and actually BREATHE. I've fogotten that it's not that way everywhere.
Charge yes, AK members get a discount if they support AK financially, ADVANCE TICKET DISCOUNTS. That would help to set a budget. Lots of great ideas from FisherDude above, did that include a session on reading schematics? I can see the need for a big screen with a remote camera broadcasting the soldering, coning, etc. How about an eBay session on buying, selling, photographing, and all that?
Vegas has more cheap buffets than you can shake a stick at. You all could load up a van in Chicago and road trip out to Vegas with the gear... But I'll tell you if we aren't all exposed to a Fest we'll never take that first step and attend one. The critical mass phenomenom may be simply due to location and convenience. I could personally write the trip off as a business expense and may consider it next year depending on how the year progresses, but if it were nearby it would be a much easier decision. 'Just get 'em in, then they'll be hooked'. The rest will take care of itself.
Just some thoughts from the Left Coast.