Wow....it was an incredible 3 days. I have some comments and observations and even a few suggestions on how it could be improved.
The speaker line up was quite impressive. There were alot of familiar names and it was nice to put faces to the people that you have read about.
The biggest issue I had with the whole weekend was the fact that the time layout could have been improved upon.
By that I mean that IF you attended all the seminars that you possibly could each day, there would have been zero time left for the trade show.
It was a very disappointing trade-off. My day was full from 8:00 in the morning to 6:00 in the evening and I still missed out on alot of speakers.
I also think that they should, in the future, assay the level to which the speaker is best suited.
I listened to one speaker that spoke to the very basics of fish selection....I am not an expert, but my hour would have been better spent elsewhere.
This is just an example. Another problem is that the speakers would run way over their allotted time limit which would make you miss the next session.
My suggestions would be as follows:
* Have the trade show stay open at least 2 hours after the last seminar of the day.
* Rate the level of speaker as per topic, beginner, advanced etc
* Hold them to their alloted time frame
* Give the workshops their own timeslots with no conflicts. They are the most popular of the events and alot of folks attend those.
I believe there were 24 speakers this year. I did not get to hear even half of them. There has to be a better way. I realize hearing all of them is not feasable, but just by making the tradeshow stay open later would be a big help.
These are assorted images taken throughout the weekend.
