The annex room isn't very large and most of the 1600 attendees were long
gone by then. Saturday's events filled the telescope areas, vendor booths,
and large lecture hall as well as the annex room. If the annex room was
full it was because there wasn't anything to see outside. Just about every
major vendor was packed up by noon, if they even bothered to open at all
that day. You have to decide if the RTMC is about a quick buck and a big
door prize, or, if it is about advancing amateur astronomy.

I wouldn't let anyone in until Friday afternoon, forbid any vendor activity
until Saturday, forbid non-astronomical vendors, and most importantly I
would kindly ask Meade to tone down the major door prize to a 10-inch
telecope and give it away on Sunday. Yes, there will be a materialistic
outcry from some but it will restore the conference to what it once was.

Did you know that the race to get in first is so intense that even
semi-local (within ~100 miles) people spend Thursday night in Big Bear
motels? It's crazy. People are taking Friday off from work and then
running home Saturday night on a 3-day weekend. All because of the Friday
"feeding frenzies" of the past. This needs to be stopped.

Del Johnson



"Alson Wong" wrote in message
...
"Del Johnson" delastro@{right star in Orion's belt}.sdsu.edu wrote in
message ...

There have been frequent requests over a number of years to move the merit
awards to Saturday, mainly to allow people to look at the telescopes and
use
them on Saturday night, and also to allow attendees to vote for the
Astronomer's Choice Award. Having the merit awards on Sunday night might
keep a few more people around, but then they wouldn't have the opportunity
to look at them since most of those scopes are packed up and gone by then.
I
believe your opinion is in the minority. The major door prizes are
presented
on Saturday by request of the donors (Meade, Celestron).

The "come early" problem was addressed this year by strict enforcement of
the Friday morning entry time. In previous years, unauthorized people
would
come in on Thursday.

Chris' talk was at the same time as Wodaski's workshop in the annex, which
was filled to capacity.

Overall attendance was in the neighborhood of 1,600, which was in line
with
what we expected, considering the upcoming transit of Venus, waxing
gibbous
Moon, and increase in fees.