[DannyB]

Yes, I did meet the gentleman to whom you are referring at the vinyl show yesterday. I also made contact with the organizer and he was interested in piggybacking their show with ours next Spring. I also have some turntable manufacturers and dealers interested in attending along with the usual headphone group.
 
We do need to publicize it well and I would like to include the college age people at UNC-Charlotte, CPC, Queens, Davidson, etc. Any ideas on how to best go about that? They are our future as far as continuing our hobby and it would be nice to give them an opportunity for exposure to entry level vinyl and headphone setups along with the higher end stuff.

 

[gospelguy]

Count me in.

 

[DannyB]

Hi Gospelguy.
Congratulations on your first post. Glad to have you with us. Are you in the Charlotte area?
Also, given your name above are you in the gospel business? Gospel is one of my favorite forms of music.

 

[Stevtt]

This is going to be good. There are a huge number of people in the area who listen to vinyl. We just have to reach them

 

[DannyB]

Reaching them is the key and the most difficult part of this project. I can handle organizing the event but I do not have much expertise in promotion. Any assistance/support on this aspect would be greatly appreciated. I'm not looking for a gigantic event but I would like the efforts of those incurring significant expense to attend, especially manufacturers, to be worth it for them.
 
Everyone benefits from their presence as they help bring the state of the art to us directly. This allows us to sample all these goodies personally, a rare opportunity indeed, in our own back yard instead of just reading about it.
 
Additionally, a larger attendance allows people to meet more individuals with similar interests. It also allows attendees to bring their own equipment for others to enjoy. The DIY crowd was large at CanFEST 1 and minimally existent at CanFEST 2. Unfortunately, we didn't plan properly for CanFEST 1 and didn't have enough room for them. I think that was understandably upsetting to them. At CanFEST 2 we rented a totally separate room for the DIY crowd to give them a great area and unfortunately not one DIYer used the room. Maybe CanFEST 3 will see their return. We sure hope so. They are a very important component to the success of this type of event especially by showing others what is possible beyond standard industry equipment. This helps to keep the hobby going at several different levels, especially if we can bring in and expose the younger crowd to this aspect of the hobby.
 
Keep your ideas and support coming.
 

 

[Stevtt]

There is actually a pretty good size vinyl crowd in the area. I see them a lot at Manifest and Lunchbox. A good size number of the younger crowd is buying alot of the indie stuff on vinyl. There have been two pretty good record shows in the Charlotte area in the last few months.  The record show days in the area have been standing room only so they are out there.
 
The music lovers are out there in force.  In addition several of the colleges in the area including Catawba college in Salisbury have pretty strong music courses and in fact have music business courses. I would think these types of shows would benefit them greatly.
 
 

 

[ardgedee]

I've gone all-digital so I'm out of the vinyl game, although I still have a place in my heart for turntables and records and would love to see what's current in that area.
 
That aside, I would certainly spend time in the vendors area if there were CDs to buy.

 

[Stevtt]

I would think that it probably would be good to be equal parts digital and vinyl. It would be kind of hard to key on just one particular aspect and still get the turnout you would need to make this successful. While I mainly listen to vinyl I still do a lot of digital. As a matter of fact that's what I'm listening to now. 

 

[DannyB]

It would be helpful for anyone to put ideas of where to promote our event such as local colleges, businesses such as Manifest Records and other businesses, etc. Just post them below and I'll keep track of them. Also, if anyone has a relationship with any of their contacts, especially at the local colleges and universities please let me know. That may help greatly.
 
Additionally, if there are any specific equipment and/or manufacturers you would like to have there also list it. I'll see what can be arranged.
 
So, we will have two lists that I will compile based on your posts:
 
1) List of places to promote the event.
2) List of equipment you definitely want to check out mainly headphone and turntable related.
 
 

 

[Stevtt]

Well that's easy, a VPI Aries 3 hooked up to an RSA XR-10B through an Apache to a set of LCD-2's <g>

 

[DannyB]

Gee, you don't want to try the LCD-3?

 

[Stevtt]

Nah, I'm not getting on that horse. Would give them a listen though

 

[Stevtt]

I guess between us and others we could have a fairly sizable collection of vinyl there. Wouuld be a good time for people to compare.

 

[DannyB]

I think there will be some great vinyl there along with several major representatives of the industry. This coupled with the headphone side of things should prove to be a fun, unique, and interesting gathering.

 

[Stevtt]

Getting psyched for this already.