Sorry, but I don’t accept any of your points as valid - here’s why:
1/ criticising an audio show for being predominantly white, middle aged, men is a cheap shot - all a show can do is represent the demographic interested in the subject.
2/ the headphone room was quieter because it takes ages to have a proper listen to a number of headphones. I listened to three (could have been four) and I was in there for fourth minutes. Also, you are quite wrong to imagine that ‘young’ people are only interested in headphones. I would also add that the cheapest headphone combo I listened to was £900.00.
3/ there is no issue with the banners in terms of sound and when one was actually there they were easy enough to read - you can always look a little closer…
4/ as at many shows, some rooms were being run (paid for) my manufacturers. If you make speakers, for example, it is hardly in your interest to promote the rest of the system!
5/ the music was far more varied than usual for shows. Also, you can always ask for specific tracks and most rooms were happy to oblige. Of course there was music I disliked but that’s inevitable. I’ve been to shows where it’s been nothing but Dire Straits and ****y Jazz.
6/ you aren’t obliged to follow a fat bloke about and such individuals were very much in the minority - rather a bizarre criticism.
7/ in reality there was nothing wrong with the lighting - it was the middle of a bright sunny day after all.
1 - I love “cheap shot” responses. An instant way to publicly show you’re joining in a rush to criticise but haven’t really grasped the issue. The
whole point was that if this is the demographic then the future of such events will ultimately be in question. We already know from the insisted that the people who buy and the people who come to shows look different in many respects. For the sake of shows that should contribute to be a concern.
2 - I’ve since spoken to two people at the event for both days as one is reporting for several publications. They confirmed that over the two days there was generally less interest in the headphones space and numbers were roughly around fifty percent of what the other rooms were getting. Perhaps you’d like to highlight for everybody where I said that young people are “only” interested in headphones? If you’re going to bother with a detailed response please at least put some effort into not then hallucinating what it is you’re commenting on.
3 - please look at the video, if you have at all. Many of the banners were located in positions where it would simply be physically impossible to look closer without risking touching, knocking or moving kit. And let’s be frank here. If you can’t locate a banner where it can simply be seen and read then what on earth are you doing? If the text in your banner is so small it would be a struggle to see it regardless then, again, you don’t know what you’re doing.
4 - you have completely misunderstood the point to which you respond. Indeed you have got it exactly backwards.
5 - again you miss the point. The music “in the video” absolutely couldn’t demonstrate the variety but it’s hard to imagine it was too far off given the sheer number of rooms videod. Nor was my point that they should play music I like. I also have no doubt that you could indeed ask for specific tracks or play your own stuff. My point was that this is never
advertised. Shows have spent years being increasingly ridiculed by the outside world for playing a limited selection of music and many have a desire to change that. None of them ever advertise the fact. Basic and ludicrous. I know literally hundreds of people I’ve gone to shows with over the decades and either they, their partners or children would never go again simply because they couldn’t gauge anything against the stuff they love. Nowadays, in some instances, they absolutely could but who is telling them that in advance? No-one.
6 - frankly a ludicrous comment. Again the wider (pardon the pun) point. Manage your space. People block doors all the time. Their conversation is
so much more important than other people getting in/out of a room. Ultimately the responsibility for that is the person running the room. It doesn’t take much to politely remind along the lines of “Excuse me would you mind coming further into the room please so others can get in/out easily?” Done once at the right moment the room attendees themselves take over and do the reminding for you. In other contexts I have run events like this and it’s a really basic conference/event courtesy that the hospitality industry and others do really well. It’s genuinely basic stuff. People in the audio industry haven’t got a clue on stuff like this and for those punters looking to spend maybe an hour or two tops then many rooms will get a head round the door and maybe thirty seconds. If you can’t even do that because no-one is managing the door then you lose people. It’s no different Io those shops which conduct business right in front of their front doors and then wonder why the person at the window didn’t come in.
7 - again, wholly the wrong end of the point being made. It was a sunny day. The point was not about the general light. It was about the lighting people brought with them which appeared in almost all the video examples to have been set up to show kit in its harshest light.
Thanks for the detailed response but