Vintage Computer Festivals???

> When people who have casual interest attend a VCF, they're not going to come back if the room is a big confusing mix of exhibits and stuff for sale. These people -- a massive audience vs. the few of us active collectors -- aren't attending to find memory for their Banana 3000. They're attending to be wowed.

Still, calling a hobbyist who> sells some of his creations a vendor is a dubious distinction, in my> opinion, since no one is making much money on these things, it's just a> service for fellow enthusiasts. All of the other shows I attend (like> the upcoming CocoFEST!) make no distinction.We have a good reason for doing this.Events that mix sales/exhibits together, without making distinctions from booth to booth, tend to become flea/swap-type events. That's fine for those of us IN the hobby, but these events will only ever shrink, not grow, as the audience/collectors get older.Our goal at VCF is to produce awesome events that show vintage computing to people * beyond * hobby insiders. When people who have casual interest attend a VCF, they're not going to come back if the room is a big confusing mix of exhibits and stuff for sale. These people -- a massive audience vs. the few of us active collectors -- aren't attending to find memory for their Banana 3000. They're attending to be wowed.