TellarHK

I think at some point, Robert (and others) will need to realize that far too much damage has been done to the CommVEx "brand" at this point for any kind of recovery that leaves Robert involved in operations. It's truly unfortunate, but I think this is really the culmination of many years worth of ill will generated by Robert's actions. It's sad to hear that this is causing problems for 5C and maybe even the Fresno club, but I would hope that people can pull together and focus on the real point to having this kind of event in the first place: friends and a common interest. My only hope is that Robert will realize what's happening here, why it's happening, and what he needs to do in order to salvage CommVEx for everyone else who appreciated the event. (I would like to weigh in however, that calling it CRX might make some people think about Hondas the whole time. Maybe it's just the Jalopnik reader in me...)

I love the location of the Plaza, just wish the bathrooms actually had enough room for the door *and* the toilet. I think in all my trips to Vegas, the Plaza and the Westgate (formerly the Hilton) are my two favorite places to stay just because of location. One gets you Fremont Street, the other gets you the monorail to the strip. I agree that family friendliness will be a big point for whatever venue might be used, a lot of Vegas options exist, but could be intimidatingly skeevy to pass through.

There have been some great presentations and speakers over the few years I've attended, both from the history of Commodore and from the modern community. And in my opinion, it's really been a fundamentally good crowd of people to spend the weekend with. Is it something on the scale of VCMFW/ECCC? No, and it probably won't be. But I do think a change in management and organization to better serve the people who do attend CommVEx on a yearly basis could help expand the reach and attract higher attendance numbers. But as Jim and Tim have pointed out, the economics here are tough, and in addition to that the timing is also going to be a bit tricky in order to pull this off. If this is going to be a CommVEx alternative/replacement/evolution (I have no idea what to classify this as) it's going to need to have some kind of financial picture in very short order to get space and allow for people to make plans to attend. There isn't (as yet) a single unified user group that can claim sponsorship/host duties, and from what I can tell we're less than 48 hours into this whole conversation going public. Long term, and with some further planning and a chance to see what can work and what won't for the group of people who already attend CommVEx events, there could be a far broader range of funding methods to explore like your idea of perhaps manufacturing something to help "sponsor" the event. It's a good idea, but I wouldn't imagine it being doable within the next six to seven months before the usual CommVEx timeframe, let alone in a way that could generate money soon enough to make an impact. I think that there are a whole host of potentially good ideas that can be considered for funding, but in a case like this you've got to work with what you have, at least for now. It helps in this case that the people who are starting this whole discussion are far, far more motivated and knowledgeable about how things have "worked" for CommVEx events in the past, to the point where my first reaction upon seeing this was that CommVEx is already completely untenable without them.

My suspicion is that it's actually harder financially to afford a smaller show than a larger one. A bigger show has more attraction for vendors who can pay for table space, particularly a multi-platform show like ECCC/VCFMW, and can draw on a much larger potential pool for donations and volunteer labor and time. I know very little about the expenses for CommVEx, but I would suspect the expenses tend to run north of $40/person if not significantly more given the amount and type of space required to avoid people passing out from heatstroke. (which has happened in the recent past) Most of the others in this thread would probably know actual figures. And don't let *anything* I say represent anything other than my opinions, either. I have no idea what's going on.

Oh, I think it's safe to say that we can add my partner James W. to the list of non-attendees of CommVEx at this point, so there's one more. $25 for a table sounds fine by me, but go ahead and count me as still in for $50. Consider the other $25 a donation. If this does take off, I will try and pitch in a bit more if my finances allow me to do so over the next few months. When it comes to CommVEx the cost of the show itself was always such a non-factor in the whole equation that it just seemed silly that somehow there was such resistance to increasing the attendance cost by even ten bucks a head in order to avoid a cramped, sweltering, and disorganized mess every year, because, let's face it, most of us are shelling out for airfare, gas, hotels, meals away from home, entertainment, etc. I suspect that very few of us would be missing the price of a breakfast at Hash House A Go-Go in order to have a good time and secure the future of the event. Hell, the scramble for table space at CommVEx honestly cost James and I at least $100-120 each year for our second and third trips down for the show because we had to plan around spending a night in the hotel just to try and grab a table to set up on for the duration. And that's not even counting his time off from work to spend the extra day on vacation. I suspect that we're not the only ones that planned around that scramble, either. Edit: I know that some people worked really hard to make the event work and work well, and I think it's through that effort alone that it managed to be even slightly possible to keep track of things every year. Please don't take my 'disorganized' remark to represent anything other than my interactions with the one person that embodies the problems I think many of us have had.

I'm certainly on board with this idea, and would be happy to pay $50 for a table reservation. Count me in and let me know where to send money when the time comes.

"Let's take the actual Commodore hardware out of a Commodore convention, that'll make it workable." Please for the love of all that is 65xx, I hope whatever happens due to all this mess involves management where people can actually reserve table space well in advance. The very first lesson I learned about attending a CommVEx was to show up super early, or you might as well sit on the floor in front of the projector. It's true that not everyone needs to bring every machine they own, but actually having some space to stretch out with what you have is rather important when you have that many folks and computers crammed into a room together. Especially since it seems a significant number of attendees will have some vintage hardware, and a modern laptop, too. Fortunately, I get a feeling that there won't be much of an issue getting some support for that suggestion around here.

Sorry about that, I'm Joshua Johnston, from up in Carson City. Of course I'd forget to put that in there.

And here I was, thinking that my nervous meltdown/panic attack/implosion at CommVEx 2016 was going to be the craziest thing to happen around the event this year. Leave it to Robert to make me feel like I never had competition. I have not been particularly happy with the way Robert treats people, especially when there's any kind of disagreement over the way he handles the event. Planning and organization has been a complete and utter mess in the years which I attended, for anything that isn't cramming as many presentations in as humanly possible and even then it's always looked like there was more chaos than order. This year, there was nothing clearly listed about group meal timing or locations and no way for anyone to try and plan around events and speakers during the show. When I asked Robert what time the dinner was likely to take place this year so I could decide on whether or not to try and run a couple quick errands or not with a group of people, his only response was "The same time it always does." in a less than polite manner. Like Jim, I tried to talk about the cramped accommodations for prior events and was completely blown off rather rudely as though I were the only person with a complaint. Any kind of complaint or suggestion that doesn't appear to originate with Robert seems to be treated with scorn. I will not be attending CommVEx 2017. (No surprise there for anyone that knows me) And if there is another option to attend instead, either in Vegas or any other part of Nevada (Reno's nice not bad, and I bet the rooms are cheaper!) or California, I will make every attempt to either attend that instead or in some other way contribute just as I would have tried to do in some fashion with CommVEx had the management been more open to outside input or even discussion. I'd like to thank Jim for finally forcing the issue and either making CommVEx a better event or starting something even more enjoyable however this works out. As a quick side note (but not to derail anything, please) I would like to apologize to everyone who attended for my behavior at the event this year. It was largely limited to my own small group of people, but I know it impacted on the wider event as a whole. It was the culmination of many months worth of debilitating stress and depression and I've been working on recovery since then.