Coming to your desktop, laptop, and/or tablet March 12th, 2021 - and "on - demand" until April 12! Scores of sessions ... live talks ... And if you cannot "attend" March 12-13, your ticket allows you to view it all for a month afterward! https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/
I cannot believe the whining and complaining I am reading from fellow hams this morning. We had some technical glitches at the QSO Today! Extravaganza yesterday. The AirMeet software was problematic. Savvy Windows users thought to "right click" and enter those pages in new Windows. But most just complained that it didn't work. We're HAMS, for gawd's sake. Plan Bs and Plan Cs should be in our blood ... Complaints of "the sessions were pre-recorded" are ignorant: ALL sessions were pre-recorded by design and submitted by February 1, 2021. Then we went to LIVE Q&A and Tables to further discuss life. Here's a complaint: "I had to scroll too much to find my Table." Make the tables' icons smaller so more fit on a page, and that same whiner would then write, "The font's too small ... " Organizer Eric is beating himself up on all this. He shouldn't be. It's not his fault. Conversed with him this morning at 6am - after another all-nighter ... I have heard NO ONE pointing a finger at YOU. We are hams, for gawd’s sake - Plan Bs and Plan Cs should be in our bloodlines ... Whatever platform(s) you choose for next year, I would like to assist create a one-page “cheat sheet” of keyboard commands and “tips and tricks” to negotiate. A single page we can each print out and refer to ... Attendees are enjoying. Speakers are getting great Q&A sessions. The “tables” are absolutely wonderful. I couldn’t find the open bar .... but will search again today. Clint Bradford PS Take me up on that offer with the cheat sheet. 951-533-4984 PPS Let’s have a Zoom session for speakers before next year’s extravaganza - to show us the techniques and intimacies. This morning, took me 30 seconds to log in and find my nest presentation area. SO ... If you cannot provide constructive comments and assistance to make the event better, then you really are not behaving like true amateur radio operators. Writing from ignorance and bitching and moaning because of a couple problems OUT of the control of the event organizers is NOT how we operate. OH - here's one for you: A ham complained the event was "too commercial." Yes, the event was sponsored by HAM RADIO EQUIPMENT SUPPLIERS. What an idiotic thing to complain about. Now, then, if Marlboro was a major sponsor, that would be a legitimate topic of conversation. Clint Bradford K6LCS 951-533-4984
Good for you. Not so much for others- myself included. I sent 3 or 4 emails starting yesterday asking for help to get logged in and as of now still haven't received a reply. I kept getting a response indicating I did not have a valid ticket every time I attempted to log in. I'm not a novice with technical things- very far from it. So, although you and others apparently had no issues, it doesn't mean other highly technical people didn't have problems. Seems to me there are opportunities for improvement in the process and I and probably others would be happy to provide feedback and support if asked. By the way, last year everything went great and I had no issues at all with logging in. Obviously, something went wrong this year. Agree with you on the comments about pre-recorded and too commercial! 73, John K4KQZ
>> ... So, although you and others apparently had no issues ... Oh, no - there WERE issues. I was on yesterday from 1AM to 4AM Pacific perfectly ... walked into the kitchen for more coffee ... and came back to a disaster. Something in that conference program "flipped," and I was given an errormessage stating, essentially, "Clint, you no longer have a Heil PR40 nor a HD Logitech camera." It was weird - took me an hour to get back in successfully. Then the 8am shows were delayed. Mine at 9am went on OK. And today was fine - got in to Wayne Yoshida's 8am session immediately, then held roundtables until 5PM. Eric dropped by my Satellite table and spent some time with attendees. Problems identified ... solutions discussed ... Clint K6LCS
After several hours and several emails to the "contact" link I STILL was not able to get a ticket and enter the event. I never received a reply to any of the emails either. So I saw/heard NOTHING for my $10.00
Oh, that AirMeet program was nothing short of a disaster - agreed. Took me almost two hours to get back in - after being on from 1AM to 4AM Saturday. But I KNOW many folks gave up ... It certainly should NOT take Help Requests and re-boots and pulling of one's hair to enter and enjoy an online conference. All things beyond organizer Eric's control ... He most certainly did NOT work a year on this only to irritate attendees. BUT - all the seminars were recorded, and are being edited as we speak. They'll be posted in the next 48-72 hours for us all to enjoy. Clint K6LCS 951-533-4984
One of the problems I saw - was the link that was sent in the E-mail didn't work. Kinda. Sorta. There were two equal signs at the far right side that did not go into the hyperlink. I added two equal signs == and it got me in. On Saturday I could not use my camera or microphone. They fixed that on Sunday. Albeit, there was one session that the host couldn't get started for 15 minutes or so, etc. so there has to be some sort of a "dry run" next time. I only sat through three sessions in real time, and I'm going to go back and view a few more. The good news is, this was only ten bucks. And I did learn a lot. I was a speaker at a recent "virtual conference" (for computer specialists) and I pre-recorded my sessions, no glitches, but - we weren't trying out new platforms, either.
"Dry run" - GREAT idea. And/or a Zoom (g) session beforehand for the presenters and hosts tohash it all out. Again - Eric is sincere and has the utmost integrity. I was able to talk to him (he is in Israel now) any time of day. In a release this morning, he "confided" that one of his programmers offered to resign and return his salary - MOST ridiculous, because it wasn't Eric's team's "fault" ... They are editing and publishing all the seminars right now - they'll be up in a day or three. Clint K6LCS
Come on PLEASE give the guy a break he is one of the nicest people you could lease with if it wasn't for Eric and his team we would NOT have had anything to go to .The tables are a step forward I met up with many people all shared knowledge in many fields and I have made a new friend that if it wasn't for the conference and the tables it would not have happened. Personally can't wait for the next one . Eric & his team if you read this please don't be disheartened you all did a great job the problems were out of your control. Thank you M0JFE John
