SHOWTIME!

The latest on the Amiga show scene

By Kyle Webb, Assistant Editor, See staff list for e-mail address

"Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends..."

Hi, folks, and welcome back to SHOWTIME!

This month we're going to examine, in brief, The 3rd Annual Midwest Amiga Exposition, October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, in Columbus, Ohio. At press time, an exhibitor list was not made available to The Amiga Monitor; however, there is information available on several web sites, from which we will issue the original press release and a brief overview of the upcoming event. At the conclusion of this report (and others to come) there will be an Update Feature listing developments and additional exhibitors who have committed to upcoming shows featured in previous issues of The Amiga Monitor. Without further ado:


Midwest Amiga Expo Banner

Amiga Central Ohio Network Announces the 3rd Annual Midwest Amiga Exposition

AmiCON - The Amiga Central Ohio Network is proud to announce The 3rd Annual Midwest Amiga Exposition! We are excited to bring this dynamic event to the Amiga community, and we want you to be a part of it!

Where:

Hyatt Regency
350 North High Street
Columbus, OH. 43215
(614) 463-1234

When:

October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.

With the continued success of the Midwest Amiga Exposition we are able to expand and grow to serve the Amiga community better than ever before! The Midwest Amiga Exposition was created for users by users in order to bring the community closer together. See and test drive the newest, most exciting Amiga products and systems available! Attend informational classes and seminars, and meet the people who support and develop for the Amiga. Everything Amiga under one roof for three days straight!

This year we have expanded the floor space to almost 7,000 square feet. More than double the size of last years show! Exhibitors can now rent space by the square foot with several size booths available: 6x5, 8x5, 13x11, 16x11, and 20x20. Six foot display tables with tablecloth and skirting are furnished with rental space for no extra charge. For those exhibitors who want a professional look, pipe and drape is also available for rental on a per foot basis.

Along with many Amiga notables and guest speakers, we will also have hourly prize raffles, games, contests, and a GRAND PRIZE drawing to highlight the event!

Seminars and classes are becoming an integral part of any serious Amiga show. Vendors and developers are anxious to present new and updated products to an eager community. We are committed to bringing top quality seminars to the Amiga community in order for you, the end user, to get the most out of your Amiga.

To better serve show attendees, single day and two-day tickets for the Midwest Amiga Exposition will be available this year. And, don't worry about rushing to buy tickets ahead of time, all tickets will be available at the door to the show, thus eliminating any possible problems with "tickets lost in the mail."

On Friday, October 2nd developers from all over the world can meet to find out the latest in Amiga affairs. Classes and seminars will also be offered on that day as well.

Saturday, October 3rd, and Sunday, October 4th, the show floor will be open along with seminars and classes. Hourly prize raffles, games (with prizes!) and just about every company that sells something for the Amiga will be there.



About the Hyatt Regency:

The Hyatt Regency Columbus hotel at the Greater Columbus Convention Center is the setting for the 1998 Midwest Amiga Exposition. Superb downtown location is just minutes away from Columbus International Airport and allows for easy access for both guests and exhibitors. This hotel features many amenities including indoor swimming pool, airport shuttle, currency exchange, safe deposit boxes, covered parking, and room service all at an exceptional value.

Mention our show to the Hyatt when you call to reserve and you are eligible for a special Midwest Amiga Exposition discount rate!

General Admission Tickets: $8.00 for a one-day pass (good either Saturday or Sunday), $12.00 both days. Some seminars may be extra.

The Amiga needs a presence, and it also needs dedicated people working in unison to help promote what we think is simply the best home computer available yesterday, today and tomorrow! Shows like ours help potential and current users find out what is available, how they can get it, and where the Amiga is headed. Join us, this year, at the 1998 Midwest Amiga Exposition, as we celebrate the machine and the people that make it all possible!

Look for our ads in all major U.S. Amiga publications, and our banner on your favorite web sites, coming soon!

Visit http://www.amicon.org/mae.html for more information and exhibitor registration.

E-mail: Dave Pearce - dpearce@infinet.com


The Hyatt is close by many of the local attractions of Columbus, including Short North Art District, German Village, Museum of Art, Center of Science and Industry, Franklin Park Conservatory, Ohio Theater, Palace Theater, City Center Mall, The Tuttle Crossing Mall, North Market, Ohio State University and Medical Center, Ohio Historical Center and Village, Ohio State Exposition and Fairgrounds, Ohio State House, Capital University, Goodale Park, Columbus State Community College.

City Center Mall - Three floors of fabulous shopping, many specialty stores. COSI - The Center of Science and Industry, fun for the whole family. The Brewery District - Many distinct Columbus breweries, each with their own flavor and variety. Art Galleries Galore! - Many galleries close by offering a wide range of taste.

Bring the whole family and enjoy the many activities of Columbus while attending the Midwest Amiga Exposition.

For area attractions and a calendar of events that coincide with the show visit The Columbus Pages or The Hyatt's Activities page.


The following is an abbreviated update of a show The Amiga Monitor featured last month, the Amiga West Coast Show, AmiWest 98. If you didn't catch the article last month, it can be read in its entirety at the following URL:

http://www.cucug.org/amiga/amiinfo/monitor/am2_9htm/amiwest.htm

I went back to visit the home page of AmiWest (http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/) and was pleased to see additions to the exhibitor listings. Visit the AmiWest 98 site for more detailed information about, and links to, sites of exhibitors, participating user groups, area businesses, attractions, and historic sites. In the meantime, a brief examination of the additional exhibitors who have committed to the show:



Amazing Computing/Amiga:

Amazing Computing, the world's first monthly Amiga publication, has been a dependable print medium for the Amiga Community for over eleven years, surviving for a significant amount of recent history on a regimen of 48 pages with a consistent diet of advertisers. With its "Amazing" army of about a half-dozen consistent, reliable authors, AC brings colorful, glossy graphics and slick ads from major players in the business to its readers. See this month's issue for the "Vote for your favorite Boing Ball election" or, as per their published instruction, visit their "boing" site at http://www.pimpub.com/boing.html.



The Amiga Informer:

The "New Amiga Print 'Zine," a bimonthly publication, copyright Eldritch Enterprises and Pantheon Systems, offers one- and two-year subscriptions to the U.S., Canada, and overseas for varying rates. A "content query" directed to Fletcher Haug, Editor of The Amiga Informer, yielded a gracious response (Thank You, Fletcher!), so rather than attempt to rewrite and possibly change the meaning of his replies, I will herewith quote, with minor edits (a habit I cannot break from long nights of proofreading; now you know who to blame when a grammatical typo appears in The Amiga Monitor :) :

"The Amiga Informer website is basically a promotional tool for our print publication. We use it to generate interest in subscribing by showing readers our writing talent and editorial content.

"The website only contains a sampling of what we have in print, and it is posted several weeks after our print edition is in our subscribers' hands. We also post breaking news, editorials, and overruns to keep interest and traffic in between major updates.

"Things that currently appear only in print are: my editorials, news bytes, product announcements, feature articles, show reports, interviews, Tips and hints, certain columns like Graphics Class, Audio Adventures, and Ask Dr. Amiga Q&A, Dealer contacts, Website listings, and of course our advertisers. So basically all you get on the site now is news stories (which are time-sensitive, reviews, and the occasional Site Seeing or Enhancements columns. We hope that if you like what is seen, you will subscribe to get it in a timely manner and pleasant, readable format. April marked our second full year of publishing, so we are into our third year now.

"It's important to remember that we have a partnership with Brad Webb, News Correspondent, to send his e-mail newsletter out to our paid subscribers. This is a large value-added incentive to subscribe -- if you have e-mail."

There seems to be a preponderance of "Webb"'s in the Amiga publication field :)



Brain Technologies

Brain Technologies, a Sacramento-based company, is the producer of "Mr. Robot's Speak'n Spell," a picture-oriented word game for ages 6 and up, and "Pix Lib," a picture conversion and storage program with a library of 995 pictures. It allows you to view and then save any picture in IFF format for immediate use in DeluxePaint, Digi-Paint, and most other popular paint programs.



The NorthWest Amiga Group (NAG) (http://www.nwamiga.org/)

The Redwood Empire Amiga Users Group (RE-AUG) (http://www.sonic.net/~alanwall/REAUG/)

The Sacramento Amiga Computer Club (SACC) (http://www.sacc.org/)



Just before press time, this communiqué was received in our offices regarding updated information for AmiWest 98. As such we will treat it rather like a Press Release, and print the information verbatim. Many thanks to John Zacharias for "slipping this one in under the door" just in time for publication.



AmiWest Update

Amiga, Inc will be present at AmiWest with a new MAJOR announcement on the future of the Amiga. This is news not revealed at either World of Amiga or International Amiga '98 at Toronto. We will provide more info as the show approaches.

The entire Amiga, Inc. Management team will be present headed by Managing Director Jeff Schindler. Among those present will be Senior Hardware Engineer Joe Torre, User Group & Events Coordinator Darreck Lisle, and Operations Manager, Marilyn Flint. Mr. Schindler will be speaking at the Saturday night banquet and will bring us the latest on the future direction of the Amiga.

Also present will be the newest members of the Amiga, Inc. team including Dr. Allan Havemose, Software Development; Bill McEwen, Sales and Marketing; and Fleecy Moss, Project Management.

Petro Tyschtschenko, President of Amiga International, Inc. will also be here and will have for sale the now famous Amiga theme CD, "Back for the Future". He will be selling it for $10 at the show.



Reduced Hotel Rates

The Ramada Inn has reduced their room rates when you mention AmiWest. The rates are now $59 a night for AmiWest attendees. Also, remember that there is a free shuttle from Sacramento International Airport provided by the Ramada.

For reservations call: 1-916-487-7600 and mention that you are attending AmiWest. For the free airport transportation, let them know when you expect to arrive so that they can schedule the shuttle properly. Then, when you arrive at the airport call again to let them know you have arrived.

Do NOT call the 800 number that was previously posted. They do not have the convention rates posted nor can they give you any information about the airport shuttle.



Seminar Schedule now Posted

A preliminary list of seminars has been posted to our web page. Just access http://www.sacc/org/amiwest/seminar.html. The seminar list is growing so you may have to access this page periodically for the latest information.

Seminars will be conducted on Friday, July 10th, Saturday, July 11th and Sunday, July 12th. The seminars on Friday are primarily for the developers conference hosted by ICOA. Some of these seminars will be restricted to members of ICOA and some will be open to any show attendee. Also some of the seminars will have a $20 per person charge and others will be FREE.

The seminars sponsored by ICOA have not been posted as yet. The ICOA seminar topics to be held on Friday will not be available until sometime after the International Amiga show in Toronto being held May 29th and 30th.



Art and Video Show

As part of AmiWest 98 we will be holding a display of Amiga created Art and Video. If you would like your work to be included as part of this display please e-mail Jan or John Zacharias at jzachar@calweb.com or write to AmiWest at:

AmiWest '98
c/o Sacramento Amiga Computer Club
P.O. Box 19784
Sacramento, CA 95819-0784

Please describe the type of art or video you want to display (print media, computer displayed, or video displayed) and list any equipment requirements if it is computer displayed. If it is video displayed we would like it in either VHS or S-VHS format.

We would like your requests for the art and video display in by June 15.



Tickets

If you have not already done so, you should get your requests in for passes to the show and for banquet tickets. Remember that show passes are available at a reduced rate if your check and mailed request is received by July 1. The advance ticket prices are:

Full show pass (admission to show floor both days).....$12.
One day pass............................................$8.

Passes do NOT include the banquet. Banquet tickets must be purchased separately. Price is $25 per person and MUST BE PURCHASED IN ADVANCE. You can use one check to purchase both banquet tickets and admission passes.

A form in text format that can saved and/or printed has been provided on the web page at http://sacc.org/amiwest/TICKETFORM.TXT for ordering tickets for the show. Since we are using a badge type of admission, you will not receive actual tickets by return mail. Instead you will receive an acknowledgement that you have purchased the type of pass you requested. You will present this at the admissions desk and will be given a show information packet which will include your admittance badge and banquet tickets that you have ordered.

Persons with advance tickets will have a special line to reduce waiting. Your check(s) should be mailed no later than July 1st or there is a chance that they will not arrive here in time for the show.

Please fill out a form for each person that wants tickets. This will allow us to print the name and affiliation for each person receiving a badge.

Send your check for admission pass and banquet tickets to:

AmiWest '98 c/o Sacramento Amiga Computer Club P.O. Box 19784 Sacramento, CA 95819-0784

Make checks payable to "AmiWest." Please include a SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope) to help us return your pass and banquet confirmation to you promptly. Thanks!



And as always, check out our web page at http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/ for the latest information.


Thanks for joining us again this month for SHOWTIME!, and we hope you enjoyed the event. Stay tuned for more upcoming Amiga ventures, such as The Amiga Monitor's Benefit Bake Sale, the proceeds of which are earmarked to keep Joe Torre supplied with "Boing Ball" shoes and ping pong balls...

KIDDING!!!! See you next time :)



Return to the May 1998 (Volume 2 Issue 10) Main Index