Hi folks,
back on the QL retro track (after being busy with the JAGUAR for a while) I would like to share my thoughts about a QL-is-30 event. I already had some email back and forth with Rich last spring.
1. The QL (community) definitely deserves such an event.
2. Such an event should be hold in the home country of Sinclair and the QL, in England.
3. It should be an international event, addressing visitors from all over the world.
4. It should be held at an attractive place/city where beside the show visitors (and their families) can enjoy other activities may it be historical, cultural or just shopping/dining.
5. Catering does not have to be a priority as because of #4 there will be plenty of restaurants/c-stores/markets of all quality and price ranges available. And, BYO food/drinks always works at such events.
6. The event should be 2 days, a full weekend. Held in either in late April/Mai or in September/October 2014 (to leave the summer free for family vacations and avoid the cold and travel-unfriendly winter).
7. The event should be a good mixture of activities in a meeting room (traditional QL show style), with desks for tinkerers, users and traders and sessions & talks in a lecture room.
8. It should not be restricted to the QL only, but at least be themed and addressed as an all Sinclair event. Open for everyone, even for alien retro computer systems (ATARI, COMMODORE, AMSTRAD, etc.).
9. The event should be promoted to a much wider audience than only posting it to ql-users and ql-forum. More forums, retro-magazines, facebook, twitter and the like. Even e-mailshots to (former) Sinclair/QL users.
Taking all this together my favourite location is Cambridge may it be at the Cambridge Campus of the Anglia Ruskin University (with the option to visit the Sinclair building) or in the Centre for Computing History. London would also be an option as it is always worth visiting. I’m pretty sure continental visitors mostly agree with my thoughts.
Together with my Swiss QL friends I ran the “QL-Mac-are-25” international show - the last big scale QL show - in Lucerne 4 years ago with a similar concept. The website (with facts & figures, pictures, videos and presentations) of that event is still up at
http://tinyurl.com/ql-mac-show. We had some 50 visitors. Thanks to the remaining funds of the Swiss Sinclair User Group and donations by QUANTA and others the event has been fully sponsored and could be ran as a free entry event (no admission fee). Total costs were CHF 3257 whereof CHF 2532 were for the posh venue (rooms and associated services). All work and travel by us enthusiast was voluntary and unpaid.
10 days ago there was the E-JAGFEST 2013 in Duisburg, Germany - a two days international event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ATARI JAGUAR - which was ran on a similar concept. There were some 50 visitors from Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Switzerland. Budget was tight, so a fair admission fee applied. And back to topic, two QLers - Jochen and myself - attended. Here’s a playlist of videos about that event
http://tinyurl.com/Jag-is-20. Jochen and myself can be seen in part 10.
Even life is not easy and things get complicated sometime, I would definitely work hard to attend such an event. Excuses like my car is not fit, I don’t like trains, a 4 hours trip within Britain is horrible, etc. sound strange to me (and most likely to other continentals who will travel much longer ways and days). If you’re a Sinclair/QL enthusiast then such things should not stop one from attending the show.
Just my two pennies...
QL forever!
Cheers, Urs
