Burning Amp 2016

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There is no BA 2107 planned (as far as I know).

It's not too early to plan BA 2018, but we need an organizer. There are some funds that can be used for a venue deposit but they real need is someone who will take on all of the planning and organizational tasks ahead of the show (venue, catering, advertising, etc, etc.), and who will be responsible for "running" things at the show itself. That person is not me - I want to be an exhibitor. There is no time for that when you are running the event!

I am more than happy to help the organizer out with what (little!) I know after doing this last year. Mark is also a great well of info and knows who to contact. Both of us have experience trying to find a venue for the event around San Francisco that is suitable for both noise-making exhibits and talks, has close parking that facilitates loading/unloading, and is somewhere that people want to go. Fort Mason is no longer as suitable as it once was, but BA could return there is we follow the format that was used last year.
 
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diyAudio Editor
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I can no longer be The Organizer AND do everything and that points out the problem: we don't need one Organizer to do everything, we need one Organizer to organize various people organizing one thing each.

I was as busy as everyone else in life so did as much as I could in advance, and just "winged it" at the the show. I did try to get a "board" together but thought we really did need to meet together. Now I realize how much can be done online, and that we should have had a volunteer covering each of the topics. I wish I had done this, but as I said, I have a Real Life too,

Since I have "organized" basically all the Burning Amps other than the last one, where I mainly participated by getting the Presenters, I do know what's required, and am happy to list the requirements in a post soon. Perhaps people could then volunteer to organize each topic.

In the past I tried to do everything, but did have some volunteers which were a help. If they were organized better that could be a great resource. Usually there were a couple of volunteers that did a LOT, but the rest were somewhat ineffective. Mostly because I couldn't explain what to do to them all at t he last minute.

I also paid people to help and they were quite a bit more effective. The problem is that volunteers are there because they love Burning Amp and so have a strong tendency to wander off to look at and listen to equipment. Hired people who have no particular interest and expect to do work. However we clearly can't afford many. My solution would be 2 "crews" of volunteers each serving for half the day.

Some years have clearly been better than others and IMHO, one HUGE factor is getting people excited in advance so they bring a lot of stuff to look at and audition, for me, seeing all sorts of systems with all sorts of components is the heart of BAF. A couple of,chaotic rooms with few systems isn't BAF.

And on the subject of those rooms, there need to be policing of the rooms so people take turns and keep there volume moderate, etc.

Note how organized and pleasant the Linkwitz and Pass rooms are. It's because the Principal is THERE, organizing things and keeping them under control. We need that in all the rooms.


More soon.

Mark
 
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Should we start now by checking into Fort Mason in fall 2018?

I am happy to check with them about it. Some dates need to be identified during which FM has availability for the rooms we want (Firehouse and conference rooms again?), there is no large competing event (like Fleet Week), and so on.

Burning Amp has been held sometime between roughly Labor Day (early SEPT) and Thanksgiving (late NOV), with early-to-mid OCT being the sweet spot.

Suggestions are welcome.

Maybe a BA2018 thread should be started? Mark, do you want to kick one off?
 
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Thanks Charlie! Charlie is right, probably unlikely we can throw this together for this year. Ft.Mason does book up early. To his credit, Charlie does probably have enough $ from last year (mostly due to Nelson Pass' donation of an amplifier to raffle) to pay the deposit on the place. Possibly we've outgrown Ft. Mason, but we've had a hard time finding anything better. The event at Interana that Stuart who works there arranged a couple of years ago was actually the best IMHO because it had many smallish rooms so we had a bunch of great displays and demonstrations. Probably no chance of getting that again.

Which probably proves Linixworks was right! We got a huge turnout there probably because there are more tech geeks in Silicon Valley. Who woulda thought! Also because I think we communicated well that there would be a good spot for everyone who brought stuff.

So everyone think! Ft Mason is fine, and hard to beat the Bay view, but we can't use the big upstairs room there anymore. The Firehouse does that job although kinda separates the activities, but the real problem is that it adds a lot of cost.

Ideally we need about 8 rooms for demos and an auditorium/big room with chairs for the presentations. Usually a place owned by a county or city is cheaper. A corporate space donated by one of the plethora of companies in Silicon Valley would probably be ideal as they have meeting rooms and assembly rooms! Ask your boss!
 
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So whats changed for me is that I've "retired" and am spending half my time in Costa Rica, my wife's native country. And with that connection, can you blame me? Thing is that I've been super busy just getting our stuff down there, and now, being an architect, I have to build my own house! So ATM I'm spending most of my time there.

Ironically I should have a lot more time in a year and could be a lot more helpful then.
But in the long run we need a Board of Volunteers or some such. With the work distributed, we could make the event so much better!

My advantage is that I know what's required and the pitfalls. Then with a group of ongoing volunteer board members, the event could go on for years and years.

Depending how you calculate it the next event will be the tenth Burning Amp, so if it's next year that could make it special. We could convince everyone who's brought stuff in the past to bring it again to celebrate!
 
Yeah, echoing what Mark said above, we should all give Nelson a big thanks for donating the amp last year. That really helped get the event funded and we were able to keep ticket prices down (to $20 I think) and even had some money left over to seed the next event.

I think we can get the Penninsula DIYers to show up, no problem. We just need to do a better job of getting the word out ahead of time to various forums, DIY channels, and so on.

One thing I would do differently if I did it again (as organizer) is to allow the event to go further into the evening. In retrospect, shutting down around 5pm last year was a bad idea on my part. I was trying to contain costs and make sure there was time for cleanup, etc. Unfortunately, I did not account for the fact that the talks drain most people away from the DIY projects in the meeting rooms and more time is needed to get people to mingle and see everything.

Renting the venue longer translates to higher costs to put on the event (although we have to shrink down to just the meeting rooms around 4pm). People who stay until the end are probably getting really hungry past 6pm or so and there just isn't enough food service in the area to leave people on their own. In the past Mark put out some bowls of snacks like pretzels and so on, and variations on this theme might be enough to keep people powered up until the end.

These are just some of the little details that the eventual organizer(s) need to plan and execute so that the attendees enjoy the event from start to finish.
 
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First cut Categories for volunteers. I used to do all this stuff because I was too busy during the year then at the last minute it was too late to organize! Kinda stupid actually, but I enjoyed doing something people seem to be so enthusiastic about...plus I got family members and friends to help which is what really saved me!

The volunteer categories are now at this new thread:

Burning Amp 2017 San Francisco - organizers needed immediately!
 
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diyAudio Editor
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I agree we need a long day. I think 2 days is impractical. Venues are getting more expensive, longer days are more expensive.

We need sponsors and money.

Nelson made a huge difference with his generous donation. One more sponsor and admissions could be low AND a we can have long day!

I suspect the admission will have to go back to about $30 but we can have a cheap rate for those with a student ID to get a younger crowd. Or more sponsorship..
 
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Charlie is right about having to go later. To do this it would be much better to have the event on a Saturday so people don't have work the next day..Saturday is even harder a date to get of course.

The way Charlie used the Firehouse for a half day was just right. The rental is minimum half day, either in the Am until 5pm or 6-midnight. So half day cuts the price in half.

We just need to keep the display rooms longer..

Another downside to FtMason is they don't allow us to prep the night before...

One essential place to check is the Randall museum in S.F. They sponsored audio classes and meetings in the past, and have classrooms and an auditorium and parking. but were remodeling last year

When considering a date in SF make sure it's not Crazy Oracle Week or similar. Traffic and hotel rooms are suddenly $500/night minimum! Fleet week with the Blue Angels is not a good idea at Fort Mason!
 
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Yes, the burning amp at Interana was excellent and had a great turnout. The rooms had much had better acoustics than at Fort Mason. It would be super cool to have the event again in a similar setting. I also agree that having the event in Silicon Valley may be why that event was so well attended. There are a lot of DIYers and audio buffs here, and there's no dealing with city traffic. The free and easy parking helps too!
 
Yes, the burning amp at Interana was excellent and had a great turnout. The rooms had much had better acoustics than at Fort Mason. It would be super cool to have the event again in a similar setting. I also agree that having the event in Silicon Valley may be why that event was so well attended. There are a lot of DIYers and audio buffs here, and there's no dealing with city traffic. The free and easy parking helps too!

That was likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that has come and gone...
 
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Yup, at this point it would have to be Ft. Mason- the devil we know! I have a new idea for next year that might work, but we need people to think of places and then make the effort to find out the information about that site and report back. In the past people have vaguely mentioned regions where we could have the show or places they'd heard about.If you have an idea , make the effort to find out details, visit it then tell us. We don't have time to check out a bunch of places, it takes too long..

IMHO the most important issue is to get a good turn-out of projects to look at and listen to. I think if everyone pitches in to make this happen, there will be more interest and more people contributing..
 
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Charlie has been in communication with Ft. Mason. It looks like there may well be dates available which is shocking to us both. But we aren't doing all the work ourselves! Please start volunteering for the positions required. We'll wait a week and see if enough people will volunteer to make it happen. Come on you all! this is for you! I've done it almost 10 times for you guys, and if you want it to continue we need new blood, and enthusiasm. Post here to volunteer. I realize that if you volunteer and then a date is chosen when you can't come, that you would have to retract, We understand that , and I assume someone else will volunteer

To help in one of the categories won't take that much time. Mostly a couple of days well before the event, to plan, and the day before.

For example, the lunch would involve organizing the catering with a restaurant (we know some), making sure they get paid the deposit, (we can supply the pre-payment) , then getting about 5 people by asking on this thread, to help make sure the serving tables are pushed together, that the caterers are set up logically, and there is someone to make sure people have a meal ticket, and help out to make sure things go smoothly and then minor clean-up happens! Then you're done for the day. Most tasks are like this.
 
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Yeah it was great! Someone get us something similar! Is the new Apple building done yet? ;)


Yes, the burning amp at Interana was excellent and had a great turnout. The rooms had much had better acoustics than at Fort Mason. It would be super cool to have the event again in a similar setting. I also agree that having the event in Silicon Valley may be why that event was so well attended. There are a lot of DIYers and audio buffs here, and there's no dealing with city traffic. The free and easy parking helps too!
 
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