So...where will CanJam 2010 be?

[IPodPJ]

Well my girlfriend and I would love to take a trip somewhere, so if it is in Chicago or NY, we'll most likely be there. Whether or not I'll be able to bring my set-up to that one is another story though.

[mrarroyo]

How about Atlanta!

[tyrion]

I'm hoping for Chicago. Otherwise, a San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City rotation makes the most sense to me. You need a big local contingent to support the event by attending, let alone a good small group to organize and run the event. Those three markets have proven they can do both.

[Wmcmanus]

Originally Posted by mrarroyo

How about Atlanta!

That's another great place to do big meets. It's just a matter of having a solid group of people in the area who are willing to take the reins and make it happen.

I've been a fringe witness to the organizational efforts that have been made by all four national meet committees, and it really is a remarkable amount of work as well as personal sacrifice. Not only do they put in countless hours for months, they also pretty much miss the meet! They're there, but not really there, if you know what I mean. John got about 5 minutes of listening time all weekend, and the other guys didn't get a whole lot more. What I'm getting at is that we can't just pick a city like Vegas or Atlanta and hope that it will work. Without a solid team in place a lot of details will be left unattended.

[Edwood]

Seattle would be a great location in the future. Could draw a decent Canadian crowd from Vancouver, BC as well.

Let's see some big meets in Seattle in the near future.

-Ed

[Wmcmanus]

Originally Posted by tyrion

I'm hoping for Chicago. Otherwise, a San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City rotation makes the most sense to me. You need a big local contingent to support the event by attending, let alone a good small group to organize and run the event. Those three markets have proven they can do both.

^^^ What he said! I'm pretty sure Chicago will work extremely well and then can fall into that rotation.

I'd also like to think that Vegas, Atlanta, Toronto, Dallas, DC, Detroit, and Denver could pull it off as well. But I suspect they would all have some issues on both of the important points that Mike raises above. How big is the local contingent? How strong is the local organizing group?

South Florida was a great place for CanJam, but it doesn't have nearly as large of a local contingent as do SF, NY and LA, so we didn't get the numbers that they did. It was an extremely well run meet (thanks mostly to Mike who did an amazing job) and everyone who attended had a blast--but we can get twice as many people to show up in NY and Cali. As much as I'd love to see CanJam in these other places, the fairest way of approaching it is to pick cities that will allow as many people as possible to attend. It's better for the membership and it's better for the vendors.

[Quadrangulum]

Make it Las Vegas. There are already several big audio shows here, CES, and it would be really fun.

[Wmcmanus]

Originally Posted by Edwood

Seattle would be a great location in the future. Could draw a decent Canadian crowd from Vancouver, BC as well.

Let's see some big meets in Seattle in the near future.

-Ed

That's an excellent idea! We should do national meets quarterly! Otherwise, we'll never get to all of the great cities that deserve our hard earned beer dollars.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Denver would be nice but I think we are still too small of a group to hit more than 30-40 people at a local meet. We have about 24 signed up for the meet at the end of July so far, with 3 out of state people and two vendors so far (RSA, Westone).

[ironbut]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

Denver would be nice but I think we are still too small of a group to hit more than 30-40 people at a local meet. We have about 24 signed up for the meet at the end of July so far, with 3 out of state people and two vendors so far (RSA, Westone).

Denver is a really nice spot though (nice airport too!).
And it's close enough that we could have a cool lynch party head over to Mikhail's (just joking,.. sort of).

[ironbut]

BTW, did we ever get a tally on the walk in/visitor passes sold? It seemed like a lot to me.

[Scottsmrnyc]

If it is going to be in NYC again, I think we should find a great hotel in Manhattan. Prices on hotels in Manhattan have dropped by as much as 40%. The hotel that was used in Queens is not good enough in my opinion to do a CanJam 2010 justice. The Hilton that was just used for Canjam 2009, the hotel that was used in Ft Lauderdale in 2008 and the hotel used San Jose in 2007 were all more than adequate. Let's face it, if our members could go out and spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on audio equipment; they should also be able to spend a little bit extra for a great hotel room in Manhattan. Scottsmrnyc

[Wmcmanus]

Originally Posted by Scottsmrnyc

If it is going to be in NYC again, I think we should find a great hotel in Manhattan. Prices on hotels in Manhattan have dropped by as much as 40%. The hotel that was used in Queens is not good enough in my opinion to do a CanJam 2010 justice. The Hilton that was just used for Canjam 2009, the hotel that was used in Ft Lauderdale in 2008 and the hotel used San Jose in 2007 were all more than adequate. Let's face it, if our members could go out and spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on audio equipment; they should also be able to spend a little bit extra for a great hotel room in Manhattan. Scottsmrnyc

I agree that when CanJam returns to New York (as invariably it will), it would be appropriate to move it to a larger venue that could be more accommodating for a group that--by then--will likely to be at least twice as large as our meet there was in 2006. It would also be appropriate to find a nicer hotel and (as you've suggested) in Manhattan if at all possible in terms of the cost factor.

But having said that, to be fair to the organizers of the FIRST ever CanJam (as it is now known), there were a lot of variables at play that led to the (I'd argue rather wise) decision to have it at a modest hotel in Queens. Here are a few that come to mind:

1) They had previously held meets at that hotel and had done so successfully and without many complaints from those who attended.

2) It was by far cheaper (as you say, prices of hotels in Manhattan have dropped significantly of late) and thus made it much more likely that they would be able to attract a more sizable crowd of out of state members.

3) It was much harder to predict demand at that time than it is now that we have four national meets under our belt (and probably more before it returns to NY) so going the conservative route limited the downside risk of having a financial disaster.

4) Aaron (immtbiker) was doing much of the footwork himself and happens to live nearby to that hotel in Queens and already had contacts within the hotel, which made it much easier for him to manage--given that he had/has a very busy work and family life.

I could go on, but the point is that many of us don't necessarily agree that the hotel that was selected wasn't the right one at that time, especially when considering that the decision had to be made upfront without the benefit of hindsight. In many ways, we were lucky at that meet because had it grown any larger we would have had to turn members away or limit the number of people who could be in the meet rooms at any one time.

[freakydrew]

As much as I would love to see it Canada, I think it would be tough for our American brothers and sisters to get all their gear across the border, especially with the tighter restrictions in place (you need a passport now to cross), I think Chicago would be awesome.
It is a city I have always wanted to visit, the wife would condone this trip as their would be lots for her to do while I experience my first CanJam!
So go Cubs!

[Deadneddz]

Las Vegas FTW...think of all the buffets oh god.