let's all calm down a bit before things get out of hand.
some things to consider:
- more shows here in socal gives us hobbyists more opportunities to get together and share stories / experiences, as well as an easy way to see new products on the market
- more exposure = more people in the hobby = bringing cost down faster = good for us hobbyists
- more shows gives flexibility for people who may not be able to make another show for one reason or another.. options are good to have
now, if for whatever reason, you choose not to go to the show, it's OK. i know that there
were LFS that i refused to go to after negative experience there. however, i maintain that it's better to have multiple shows in socal, rather than losing one of them due to bad press.
i think it's much more productive to present constructive feedback so that the show could be better next year. in that light, i would present the following:
- for better or worse, it's out there now on how Kevin treated potential vendors via email. it's 100% up to Kevin on how to deal with it, but if there were no additional information to turn around the perception, i think a mea culpa would go a long way to assuring vendors that future MAX shows will be as, if not more inclusive than this year.
- high pressure sales tactics may work for some people, but generally doesn't work as expected. I think a carrot approach for future shows will net better results compared to the stick.
- customers / visitors drive the show, I would suggest that EVERY opinion matters to the promoter/organizer. the nature of human interaction is one where people don't really remember every positive thing said, but negative things tend to stick to them.
on that point, i would suggest that the negative feedback are actually more important than the positive, because it's through the negative feedbacks that a promoter can address deficiencies in order to improve. positive feedback generally doesn't have the same ability to push positive growth.
hopefully we can get some constructive feedback going. No matter your opinion of MAX, losing a local show does no one any favors.