I don't necessarily agree with the supposition that RTMC doesn't cover the
"star party" aspect. NEAF is pretty much an indoor event unless you do solar
(and if you do the Solar Star Party put on by Rockland and Barlow Bob
Godfrey is tops) and one could make the argument that the talks at RTMC are
right up there. RTMC may not be on many short lists for observing sites but
it sure beats the pants off Suffern!
Not that the idea for another astronomy expo is a bad idea in any way but
the folks who put on the two shows do an absolutely fantastic job. Money is
tight for vendors and when you look at the schedule with WSP, NEAF, TSP,
RTMC, and maybe Astrofest for domestic shows the travel budget is getting
pretty well spent. Then throw in the rest of the larger regional star
partays and the dealer events. Maybe the way to approach this is to get the
dealers interested and see if that trips any triggers- might be an even
tougher sell than to manufacturers though. The lost revenue of sending out
sales folks to hit the road is real, covering expenses for a trip just
doesn't cut it these days.
We have it plenty good out West believe you me. Pretty hard to beat SSP and
CalStar and if the folks over there even had an inkling of what we have here
we'd be looking at even more traffic.
Clear skies,
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: sf-bay-tac-bounces@No-Spam [mailto:sf-bay-tac-bounces@No-Spam] On
Behalf Of Dennis Beckley
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 1:05 PM
To: sf-bay-tac@No-Spam
Subject: [TAC] Bay Area NEAF
Spent my idle lunch hour looking at the Cloudy Night's recent review of the
Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF). I thought to myself "I probably don't
spend enough money on astronomical products. Wouldn't it be neat to have a
huge Vendor's get-together here in the Bay Area!". It could be done on any
weekend (clear skies not a necessity, exept for the solar scopes). Moreover,
the states of California, Oregon, Washinton, Nevada and Arizona could
certainly generate the crowds. I dont' think RTMC really adequately covers
this missing astronomical "star party" link. Wonder if there's any interest
in TAC on organizing an event like this and what it would take to get it off
the ground (maybe with the help of several local vendors). We could call it
"SWAF" for Southwestern Astronomy Forum, or something like that. Why should
astronomers in the Northeast have all the fun?!
Dennis Beckley
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
Received on Wed Oct 12 20:26:42 2005