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Head-Fi NorCal 2/19 meet


Asr

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The issue I have with CeeTee's plan, is that he seems to be collecting money for the room plus he is having a raffle. I am not sure what the raffle money is for, but when most people are looking to raise money for meets, they do one or the other. Collect money straight up if they do not have raffle items, or they collect all money through the raffle if vendors or members have donated raffle gear. If there is extra, then most people simply buy some food or drinks for the crowd, ...

Actually CEE TEE, being a noob at headphone events, is still debating exactly how to handle the financial aspects. How does the organizer ensure that he will not lose money in addition to all the time he invested, but also not make an embarrassingly large profit if all goes too well? All seems to be going well so far in terms of projected attendance, as well as raffle donations that have been offered recently. However, I wrote him earlier this evening that I personally would rather deal with the agony of deciding what to do with a surplus than the agony of losing several hundred dollars that would be better spent on a new Schiit amplifier or the like.

How much does a raffle usually generate in a meet this size? I haven't the foggiest. But even if a raffle is the choice, then those who buy raffle tickets are paying the entrance fee for a lot of people who don't, and few will win the prizes. $10-20 at the door is dirt cheap for the opportunity to listen to so much top gear for eight hours, and to talk to so many people who know way more than I do about these toys. Thanks again to Filburt, incidentally, who loaned me his K701 and gave advice at the meet last year, since after hearing it I bought a K702. That's the kind of listening and learning experience that the meets are designed for -- and they're worth paying a nominal fee.

If some veterans of several local or regional meets of this magnitude could weigh in with advice via PM or otherwise, I can assure you that CEE TEE is very receptive to hearing whatever he might learn from history lessons.

Random thoughts on what to do with a surplus: distribute it among the vendors, particularly the raffle donors; buy drinks and appetizers at Max's for everybody from the group who shows up (bad idea--I probably have to leave early, LOL); send a scout to the liquor store to acquire some hooch, making sure to get some 1983 or 1977 port also, not just single malt; reward the hard-working organizer with a new toy from one of the vendors; donate to head-fi Central; ... other?

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Cee Tee Pmed me early on about the meet, he took the pre pay option out as soon as I pointed the issue out. The first post is way OTT, the only thing missing is directions to the men's room with directions on how to wipe your bum.

Overall I think it is a great first meet attempt and way more ambitious than my first meet that Mike stepped up and helped me out with (took over). Good luck it looks like you're going to have record breaking attendance.

There is a notable lack of tenured members on the attendee list, it looks like just 4 of what I'd call the core NorCal team on the list. It is kind of funny in that members (myself included) are wary of newbie meet organizers but without them how do you share the burden and grow the hobby. I think the DannyB's and IPODPJs of the world started the backlash then add silly things like hair nets and OCD attendees and organizers and you can understand the reaction.

Good luck and I hope this grows the Bay Area's already large headphone community.

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Regarding any excess funds, I really liked the way it was done at CanJam LA. I think it was donated to a "rockers with hearing damage" type charity or something. jp could chime in on that but hearing impairment has always been 'the poor stepchild' of many other areas of research in medicine and it's results could very well benefit some of us down the road. In other words, it relevant in several ways.

I also think that blowing it all the evening of the meet will eliminate the "cushion" that you'd have for those unforeseen expenses that might rear it's head after everything is said and done.

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Hi Guys,

I know you don't know where I'm coming from so I'll share (a bit) because I hope I will have a chance to meet you in the future...(Ric is the only one who has met me and he can confirm how much of a newb I am.)

I take responsibility and thoroughly enjoy educating myself on a subject and not being a total burden to those who have already done their homework. Especially since I find that most of everything is experience and paying dues. So instead of asking all the vets a bunch of the same questions (I did ask some newb questions and had some newb doubts in the beginning), I decided to go get some listening in.

There were no real meets I could attend and so after one vet suggested that all it took was "for someone to set a date and book a room" I finally just decided to do it. (And did exactly that - set a date and then tried to book the room, which was not available).

Since then, I successfully got a room and have had other vets chiming in behind the scenes <in much appreciated ways> to help me with the OTHER things it turns out that people might need or want. Now, I'm not into nanny-states, but instead of answering the same questions in PMs or on the thread a bunch of times, I just added to the first posts when I got any relevant info. This way, instead of having to follow hairnets (I know, I know) members could be reasonably confident that they could find updates and details in the beginning of the thread instead of having to re-read through everything to try to figure out what is going on.

In one of my past lives (though I still take occasional corporate work) I was a professional photographer for over 8 years. I was also a production manager for two years on national advertising shoots. So location scouting and providing information for client/agency/crew was part of my job.

The reason that the thread isn't pretty is that my current job is using the same set of communication tools (photos/photoshop) in a <very rough way> to develop product with suppliers in China. Since we have Chinese and other vendors flying in to the meet plus people driving up from Southern California, I just remembered flying all over the country and shooting in 4 states in 5 days. I always liked ANY reconnaissance provided to me by assistants or any info that I could see on the web to visualize what I was in for.

It's pretty easy for me for me to do this stuff, it is what I have done daily, and I hoped it would help people. But yeah, I also do come across as OTT and OCD sometimes too. Hope it all works in everyone's favor.

I hope I tip a dram with all of you someday (maybe soon),

CEE TEE

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Cee Tee, Welcome.

Kudos to you for making a meet happen. Given the amount of "Wouldn't it be great if there was Bay Area meet?" posts over at the other place, that never amount to anything, you deserve credit for making it real. You can't please all the people all the time, but you only learn by trying. I may be dropping by next week, circumstances permitting. If so, I look forward to meeting you. If not, all the best for your meet.

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Renlute and CEE TEE, let me reiterate what's been said earlier. Please don't take the majority of the criticism in this thread personally. Your hard work organizing is completely separate of the issues many of us have towards HF the last couple of years. And some of the differences between this meet and previous ones (organizers, payments, attendees, even old time members aware of the meet) were too easily a sign of that community change. Having been in the hobby since '03, in many ways this meet feels like a first to me, and I suspect others may feel the same. We're just pointing out changes, some we're admittedly sad to see go, and commiserating. As a whole it really doesn't have anything to do with you two. Honestly, best of luck and I hope it's a success.

Edited by blessingx
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Perhaps the lack of an adult beverage list is bumming some of us out!

This has traditionally been a PITA for Seattle-area meets. That, along with finding locations which are free to use. These two items just don't go together very well.

So yeah: take charge and put your own stamp on the meets cee tee. I know it's not always easy (after having put together a bunch of seattle meets.) The fact that you seem to be getting payments is excellent. The people up here just don't want to or understand why one would want to. It defies me.

Edited by bhjazz
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Funny that you should mention Seattle area meets bhjazz.

I'm going to be attending one next month. I've been meaning to go up and visit Doc B and check out his new digs (which is where the meet is taking place) so this is a good excuse/time for me to do that.

There's actually a small distillery with a tasting room in the same complex!(whiskey, gin and vodka)Talk about convenient!

I'm hoping that some of the folks I met when I ran the Headfi room at VSAC will be there too.

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I attended the NorCal meet yesterday and had a great time. It was kind of a bummer not to see my Headcase pals but as far as the meet goes, I have to hand it to CeeTee for doing a fabulous job of organizing. It ran without a hitch and considering all the "first timers", and the total number of attendees, that was no small feat!

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