It’s Friday morning as I write this—the first day of the Florida Audio Expo, which is being held at the Embassy Suites Airport Westshore, near Tampa. As often happens, breakfast ran long, as colleagues and others stopped by for conversation. By the time I got up to attack the show—a little after 10am—someone told me the show was sold out, as in no more room for visitors. Say what? I’ve never heard of a sold-out audio show.
I spoke to Bart Andeer, one of the show’s co-founders, who first pointed out that “sold out” isn’t precisely the best word choice for a show with free admission. And then he gave me the skinny.
Using the maximum capacity of each room—think: fire code—and the number of rooms at the show, Bart (with others) calculated the show’s maximum capacity, then adjusted that to account for no-shows and walk-ins. They used that estimate to set the maximum number of pre-registrations at Eventbrite.com.
Eventbrite preregistrations have sold out for all three days.
When I walked outside to take some pictures, I heard an attendant telling drivers that the parking garage is full.
If you’re in the area, though, don’t stay away, even if you’re not pre-registered; they’re going to keep letting people in until there is serious concern about unsafe conditions, and they haven’t reached that point yet (or had not when I walked upstairs to write this post).
Oh, and there’s satellite parking across the street.
And there’s plenty to see. For a smallish regional show, there are a lot of big names here: MBL, VTL, VAC, a few new companies—and several new product debuts.
Speaking of debuts: Julie Mullins, formerly of TAS, is covering the show for Stereophile. We’re happy to have Julie onboard.
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