Some of the questions about the fest answered

[grumpy]

I know many had questions about the fest and here are a few answers and stats.


Here is some of the basic show information.
The most unique aspect of every AKfest is that it is sponsored and organized by Audiokarma.org, which has no vested interest in the
audio business other than the love of audio equipment and music and bringing these hobbyist together.


Total # in attendance - 657
Total # of AK members - 178
Total # of rooms - 41
Total # of Exhibitors - 30
Total # of Member listening rooms - 9
Total # of swap rooms - 2

27% of the people who attended this years AKfest were Audiokarma members.
Hundreds of door prizes were given away totaling over $10,000.00. Many of which were donated by the exhibitors.
Saturday night was live entertainment by Laith Al Saadi, a phenomenal guitarist. His concert was attended by more than 100 AKfest attendees.

Many companies debuted new equipment:
Classic Audio Reproduction Debuted their new T1 Speakers, loaded with field coil drivers retailing at an estimated 30K
Hawthorne Audio and Whiplash Audio both showed their Speakers for the first time.
McIntosh brought out their new mono block and a new integrated for the first time.

All of the prizes were claimed. I will need to get permission from each of the winners to post their names and will do so once done.


Grumpy

[dgwojo]

657 - what a great turn-out!! :yes:

[grumpy]

It was a great turn out considering all the BS involved with the change of venue and such.

Thats about 150 more then the previous year. :thmbsp:

[Arkay]

That's an impressive number of attendees, given the nature of the event.

It surprises me a little that only 27 percent of the attendees were actually AK members. If you take out exhibitors and family members of members and exhibitors, how many people were "locals" or "visitors" unrelated to members and exhibitors?

I'm also surprised at the ratio of vendor exhibitors compared to member's rooms. Seems the audio vendors really see this as a marketing opportunity (not a bad thing)!

Congratulations on a successful Fest, and although many of us who might havew wished to come were unable to attend, your work on behalf of audio enthusiasts, and for those who can/could attend, is appreciated. :thmbsp:

[Wigwam Jones]

It surprises me a little that only 27 percent of the attendees were actually AK members.

That also kind of punctures the theory that 'everyone knew each other' and therefore outsiders were made to feel unwanted, too. If that few were AK members, then the chances were high that listening rooms contained mostly people who had never met each other, I'd say.

We AK members need to be handing out AK business cards with the URL on them at future fests. I met more than one person who said "What's AudioKarma?" and I explained and they glazed over. Shove a card in their pocket, they might remember long enough to log in once they get home.

[luvvinvinyl]

We had cards on the registration desk, but your idea of handing one to each person is the active solution to the problem. Thanks.

[dnewma04]

Very nice numbers, 30% growth is impressive. Before long, we'll have another couple of floors of exhibitors. :)