Re: [Harp-L] SPAH numbers?

[Jp Pagán <jplpagan@xxxxxxx>]

> It may help, after the smoke clears and everything is accounted for, to provide quantifiable number of attendees for this year's convention.

This year's total (unofficially) is 387 registrations. I believe there's a bunch of people that doesn't count, but that's the baseline we use. Last year (and the year before) we had 398. So apparently Mick Zacklan has eagle eyes and a Rainman like ability to count, cause he noticed the 11 missing people. ;)

All kidding aside, I talked to a few people who all asked if attendance was down. My theory as to why it seemed that way is that the layout of the place hid groups of people away from each other, more so than in the last couple of years. There were also apparently more late night jams broken off from the main ones this year, at least I know Jimi Lee siphoned some people away from the Filisko jam, and there were some night-time hallway/room jams and what I can only image was Secret SPAH Stuff going on, cause people would disappear all night and show up in the morning with bleary eyes. They weren't sleepin!

Somewhat ironically, I also had a few seminar presenters say they were surprised at the number of people in their seminars. At the same time, the open mic was a bit light (though not always) and I never saw Jimi Lee do a daytime hallway jam—those usually draw good crowds. So it sounds like just as many people were there, but they were less visible.

So, in conclusion, I think the confusion stems from an optical illusion due to attendee diffusion and partial seclusion. Not that we wouldn't welcome an infusion of new people for inclusion, mind you.

Come see us in St. Louie. ;)

--JP