The Unsung Heroes of CGE: THANK YOU
John, Sean and I are still working through some follow-up stuff and for the first time ever are securing the location and date for next year's event (something we typically don't get around to until February!). The bay area is SO huge that we simply need to get the planning started a year in advance to reach the attendance potential in this area. We're really happy with the move and the gigantic Convention Center may have even been a little TOO big for us. 1871 attendees over two days, including 91 aliumni guests, 89 exhibitors, 33 media people and 17 volunteers. As expected, the majority of the attendees were walk-ins. One of the most obvious changes from Vegas to those of us who have been to all of them was that you saw new faces all day long for two days. The Vegas crowd was pretty much the same on Saturday and Sunday - again, an "island" that we needed to leave.
The move went pretty smoothly but it took a monumental effort from a number of dedicated people. I wanted to be sure they are properly recognized for their efforts here. Without this group, things would not have run so smoothly!
This year's MVP has to be Scott "superstonic" Stilphen. Though our arcade area was clearly lacking this year, Scott will be forever remembered for getting the "core" of our future arcade to San Jose. Scott flew into Green Bay to pick up a dozen or so machines that we had purchased, rented a truck and drove to Las Vegas where our remaining machines were located. On his way to San Jose he also picked up a few machines that were on loan from friends. Now THAT's dedication.
Danny "Darth Vader" Kassner has a hand in this - he's the guy from Green Bay that facilitated and negotiated the arcade machine purchases for us. He also assisted Scott with the loading and lent a hand at the convention center before and after the show. Thanks for the help and remember our slogan "the check is in the mail".
Steve "PapaStu" Wilcox was on hand to assist the whole weekend and his local knowledge of the area made getting anything and everyhing very easy, even at the last minute. Your company is as much appreciated as your familiarity with the area, Steve. Thanks again.
Don Rogers is a staple to the CGE staff. Don is one of those energetic and versatile people who can fill just about any gap. He spent the weekend doing everything from running late night excursions to Kinkos to skirting a table to snagging a plate full of egg rolls for the gang in a room. Thanks for another great year, Don.
Jim "digitpress Jim" Combs may be the youngest on this team but he's already got a few years of Expo coordinating under his belt. No matter how hard we try to suck the very life out of him, he seems to have an endless supply of enthusiasm and dedication. Jim, your speech at the end of the floor breakdown was truly inspiring. It reminds some of us of why we got involved in this in the first place.
Kevin "kevates" Staszkow is a local bay area guy who managed a number of show responsibilities in person before the event. He took care of local storage space and has been part of the "Vegas to San Jose" transfer team for several months now. At least you won't be running trucks up and down the coast, Kev! Thanks a bunch.
Larry "retrogmr" Anderson has been a DP guy for quite some time and for the past three years has been our museum architecht. While the actual content is supplied primarily by John, Sean and I with many items on loan from our museum team (listed below), Larry is pretty much locked into the museum for 24 hours prior to the show getting the place in order. Thanks Larry, now you can go back to that OTHER job =)
Our volunteer team this year was simply outstanding. This is a team that has to put not only their brains but their BACKS into the work. Dragging heavy tables from truck to floor, setting up pipe and drape, skirting tables, lugging television sets across the convention floor, and generally sweating out the details for three days were Charles "evg2000" Dysert, Glenn Bruner, Jaime "punkoffgirl" Moreau, Dave "dave2236" Wavrunek, Steve "Chunky", Dave "portnoyd" Warmington, Brad "purenergy" Prillwitz, Nick "drexel923" Milicia, and Dave "Arcade Antics" Giarrusso as well as those listed above. I don't know how to thank you all enough, but we'll find a way.
Jerry "jjessop" Jessop supplied us with the Pong and Computer Space machines, two centerpieces of the arcade. Weak arcade representation or not, you're not going to find these two working and playable very often. Jerry was also instrumental in our scouting of the bay area when we visited back in February. Thanks again for being the alumni who is also a teammate, Jerry.
The museum crew: Chris Romero, Chris Neiman, Rik Morgan, Larry Anderson and Dave Warmington once again proved that there is no such thing as "too much space" and really designed a simple and intuitive layout for the new digs. The museum was a real highlight this year - thanks, fellas!
Our moderating team of Leonard "rolenta" Herman, Chris "cav" Cavanaugh and Chris "kobunheatforum" Kohler provided their knowledge of the alumni guests and bridged the gap between these folks and the audience. This is a job that is not one that just anyone can do, so we really appreciate these guys lending their talents for the keynotes this year.
Finally to the guys who got flyers out around the area: Steve "PapaStu" Wilcox, Marlin Bates and Don "dojosky" Russell. I'm not sure we'll go so all-out on this next year - TV, radio and newspaper advertisement seems to be the ones that this crowd will notice, but you can guarantee we'll be soliciting your help again next summer anyway!
I owe a big thanks to our alumni guests and exhibitors but we'll do that separately and privately with them. It's this team that I wanted to be sure got public recognition for making a large and complex public event seem like second nature. To them, it most likely is.
THANK YOU ALL AGAIN and see you at CGE 2005!
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Originally Posted by Cav
