AmiWest 2011 is on

[RobertB]

I'll be there!

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 23-24 Commodore Vegas Expo v7 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[RobertB]

Everyone says that they want an amiga show where they live... but SACC is the only group (that I know) that actually goes to the expense and effort.

Then there are the more general Commodore/Amiga events -- the Cincinnati Commodore Computer Club Expo on June 4-5 (hosted by the club of the same name), the Commodore Vegas Expo on July 23-24 (hosted by the Fresno Commodore User Group and the Clark County Commodore Computer Club), the Emergency Chicagoland Commodore Convention in September, and the Toronto World of Commodore in December (hosted by the Toronto PET User Group).

Writing from Los Angeles,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 23-24 Commodore Vegas Expo v7 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[RobertB]

Oops, now I see this question.  

@ RobertB

How much of an Amiga presence is typically at those shows?

I can't speak for the World of Commodore in Toronto, because I have never attended one of their shows.  As for the Emergency Chicagoland Commodore Convention and the Cincinnati Commodore Computer Club Expo, there is a minor Amiga presence.

For the Commodore Vegas Expo, I'm trying to get a more balanced show; right now I estimate it is 70% Commodore 8-bit and 30% Amiga.  It is highly dependent on our presenters and exhibitors.  For example, for the last 3 CommVEx's, we've had Michael Battilana of Cloanto present, we've had presentations from Amiga enthusiasts, and 2 years ago we had engineer Dave Haynie who spoke about Amiga.  Our Amiga exhibits have ranged anywhere from the A1000 to the CD32 to the AmigaOne G4.  Our raffle prizes are primarily geared to Commodore 8-bit, but we do have Amiga goodies, too.  Last year it was an Amiga 1200 with OS 3.1, CF hard drive, and 8 meg RAM expansion, and an Amiga 2000 with '030 board.  This year it's an Amiga 2000 Video Toaster system with OS 3.9, 68030 board at 25 MHz., 4 megs of RAM, and Video Toaster 4.3 software.  I'm also toying around with having an Amiga game creation contest during the run of this year's expo.

Back from seeing 140+ PETs and more,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 23-24 Commodore Vegas Expo v7 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[RobertB]

...(not sure if the hotel has a shuttle bus to the airport in Sacramento).

There is

http://www.supershuttle.com/en/SMFAirportShuttleSacramento.html

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

...or organize a show in your area.  I am not opposed to traveling to get to more than one Amiga show each year.

Heh, we're still waiting for you to make it to the Commodore Vegas Expo (CommVEx).  Next year will be our eighth year.

And Las Vegas is nearer to you than Sacramento,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://videocam.net.au/fcug
Commodore Vegas Expo v8 2012 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[RobertB]

But I am not a Commodore 64 user.  If the show were more about Amigas, I would make more effort to go.

As I said in another post, CommVEx is about 70% Commodore and 30% Amiga.  However, that is dependent on our presenters and exhibitors.  Bring more Amiga, and the scales will tip.

FWIW, at this year's CommVEx, there were two AmigaOne G4's, a SAM 460, a SAM 440, an A500 (set up for gaming), and the MCC-216 with its Amiga cores (in addition to its other cores).  The grand raffle prize was a Amiga Video Toaster 2000 system with an A2630 board running at 25 MHz., 1 meg chip RAM, 8 meg Fast RAM, 4 gig SCSI hard drive, CD-ROM drive, dual floppy drives, Amiga OS 3.1, Video Toaster software 4.3, keyboard, mouse, a new clock battery, and a variety of games and demos loaded in the hard drive.  We had Tim Waite running a sales table with Amiga hardware and software for sale.

Still recovering from the Amiwest Show,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug