¢AMS7 REPORT¢¢ The now regular NOSAUG trip to the All Micro Show in Stafford, England was a little different this year. Why? Well, this year there was a NOSAUG stand at the show! Here is a report from an exhibitor's point of view, as opposed to my previous two reports from in front of the stands.¢¢¢ALL MICRO SHOW 7¢A Report from Behind the Stands¢¢by Stuart J. Murray, NOSAUG.¢¢¢ I couldn't believe a whole year had passed since I'd made the long trip to AMS6 last year with the lads from TWAUG. However, things were different this year. It wasn't just me going to AMS7 - it was NOSAUG!¢¢ Yes, I'd made the decision to set up a stand at the show this year; my first ever stand at a computer show. My main reasons for doing so were to have the opportunity to meet the growing army of Futurians in the UK and to promote NOSAUG to those who hadn't seen our products. Although I must admit to a bit of the butterflies on the journey down, by the end of the day I'd had a wonderful time! Here is my story...¢¢¢Friday 12th November, 1993.¢¢ I'd just worked through the night on Futura issue 9 and by 11 a.m. it was finished. What little spare time I'd had over the previous three days was spent duplicating disks, pricing software, getting a NOSAUG sign printed, etc. A quick spell-check and test of Futura issue 9 and it was time to duplicate it for release at the show.¢¢ I'd duplicated 27 copies when I glanced at the clock behind me. Aghh! It was 1 p.m. and my girlfriend Lesley and I had planned to leave before 3 p.m. Dropping the disks into a diskbox, we quickly began to pack everything into large cardboard boxes. It took us quite some time to get everything ready and we eventually hit the road at 6:30 p.m. Let's just say that I'm going to spend more time preparing for AMS8!¢¢ Anyway, we zoomed down the road and crossed the border at about 11 p.m., the time we had hoped to reach Stafford by! As we approached Carlisle we hit dense fog and decided it might be best to stop at a travel lodge rather than force our way through such terrible conditions. We were detoured through Preston and then after trying a couple of lodges we finally found one with vacant rooms. We hit the sack at about 2:30 a.m.¢¢¢Saturday 13th November - Show Day!¢¢ "Stu! You'd better get up or we'll never make it to the show on time". Was I dreaming or what? Coming slowly into consiousness I focused my eyes and looked at the clock by the bed. It was 5:30 a.m. It wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare! Three hours sleep over three days has that effect on you!¢¢ Anyway, after a quick blast under the shower it was time to move on again. The roads were clear and quiet so we made good time and arrived at the Bingley Hall in Stafford just after 8 a.m.¢¢ Everything really was completely different this year. Normally I'd arrive at AMS7 at about 9:30 a.m. and queue with all the other computer enthusiasts until the doors opened at 10 a.m. However, this year there wasn't anyone to be seen outside the hall so we drove the car round the back and looked for the exhibitor's entrance.¢¢ At the back of the hall there was a large goods entrance into which we drove the car and parked alongside our stand, which was near the back of the hall. However, it didn't look anything like a stand at this point - it was just a couple of empty benches!¢¢ We unpacked the car and Lesley drove it outside. Unpacking the boxes took quite some time. We had lots of Futura back-issues, PD cassettes, second-hand software and hardware, etc. to lay out on the benches. After an hour or so we had everything looking reasonably organised (even though it wasn't!). Lesley then placed the NOSAUG sign at the front.¢¢ I duplicated some more Futura disks and printed some NOSAUG price lists (I'd taken my Citizen 120D+ with me). Lesley started to stick labels on the PD cassettes. Yes, believe it or not, it was half an hour before the start of the show and we were still printing out lists and sticking on labels! Organised or what? I suppose we were as best organised as possible considering we'd both been working all week and hadn't slept much over the past few days.¢¢ We had laid out the stand with all of the software and hardware on one bench and a Futura Sample Issue demo on the other. It probably looked as though we'd just dumped everthing straight from the car onto the benches but it was the best we could do in the time we had.¢¢ As the 10 o'clock mark approached I was still printing out price lists. I told Lesley to forget about the PD cassettes as there simply wasn't enough time to prepare a NOSAUG PD Cassette section on the stand. Anyway, with only two of us making the trip we'd be hard pushed to offer service for much more than Futura disks and the second-hand software and hardware.¢¢ I'd already decided to leave the NOSAUG PD Disk Library at home because none of the local NOSAUG members would make the trip to organise such a section at the show (Tsk! Tsk!). I did however take PD listings with me and offered all NOSAUG PD disks for the amazingly low price of 95p each, if they were ordered at the show. I'm glad I did, because as I would soon find out, this offer proved quite popular and we kept running out of PD Library listings.¢¢ At this point, an announcement came over the loudspeaker that the doors were about to open. It was time! Lesley and I looked at each other, took a deep breath and awaited the mad rush which I'd come to expect from my experience of previous shows. However, everything was very civilized this year! People strolled in one by one and made their way through the stands.¢¢ Before long, Lesley and I were busy meeting Futurians and serving customers. Lesley was looking after the second-hand software / hardware section and I was selling Futura back issues and subscriptions, as well as meeting the many friendly people who had travelled to the show!¢¢ I had the great pleasure of meeting dozens and dozens of friendly Atari 8-bit enthusiasts throughout the day. There were many Futurians amongst them. Hi to everyone I met! Greetinx to: Colin, Keith, Brian, Leslie, Tom, John, Spike, Bryan, David, Terry, Kevin, Ron, Peter, Jason & everyone else - you know who you are!¢¢ Colin bought just about everthing on the stand, Tom brought along his new mini-versions of the wonderful Greedy Gunther series, Terry ordered lots of PD disks, Keith and I had a long chat about all things Atari, David gave me the new ACPC release, Swift Spreadsheet, etc., etc. I really had a great time and never stopped talking the whole day!¢¢ The only sour point of the day was when Pam Fern of Micro Discount made some nasty comments about my opinion on software pricing. Still, I suppose it's logical that she wouldn't agree that low cost software is a good thing! It really is a shame that she acted in such a manner when you consider how much money I, and other NOSAUG members have spent at Micro Discount over the past three years or so. Pam was a completely different person this year, but then again I was an exhibitor this time, and not a customer. Say no more!¢¢ Still, all of the other exhibitors at the show were very friendly towards Lesley and I. Les from Page 6 came across for a chat and we agreed that the show wasn't as busy as last year or the year before. A guy from LACE handed us a free back issue of Boot! (thanks!). John from TWAUG came to see us before the show started (Hi John!). Peter Mattock came along and thanked me for passing on so much new business to him over the past few months (Peter: "it seems as if every time somebody calls me they mention your name!").¢¢ I had a very long chat with Freddy from Mega-Mag and a guy from ANG Software about the 8-bit in Europe, life in Holland (Netherlands is too long a word, eh Freddy?), football, Belgians, etc. We also swapped disks.¢¢ Another of my long conversations was with Brian from KE-Soft (I think his name was Brian - I'm bad with names and faces!). Anyway, Brian and I had a talk about life as Atari 8-bit enthusiasts, Atari in Germany, my dislike of the KE-Soft game 'Geisterschloss', new KE-Soft projects, Kemal Ezcan, etc.¢¢ Late in the day (about 20 minutes before the end) I decided to take a walk through the stands to see what was happening elsewhere in the hall. I went over to see Kemal Ezcan at the KE-Soft stand and bought a copy of Brundles. He was quiet but very friendly. Whilst I was wandering about he came over to the NOSAUG stand and gave Lesley some KE-Soft catalogues.¢¢ I went from KE-Soft to ANG and then on to Tiger Developments. I had a chat with Neil Ottaway about future Tiger projects and he told me that his next game will probably be a 3D football game. I told him to remember to include an Aberdeen team in the game (all-red strip Neil!). We also swapped disks.¢¢ Just as I was about to leave the Tiger stand, I was handed a message from Canada via e-mail. It was from my friend Michael who I'd travelled with to AMS5. He was wishing me well. Thanks Michael!¢¢ Next to Tiger was Page 6. Sandy and Les were beginning to pack everyhting up so I just had a quick chat and moved on. I'd actually intended to purchase some of their "rare cassettes" but I'll just have to order them by mail.¢¢ It was now almost 4 p.m. and everyone was beginning to pack up their stuff. I made a quick dash along to see the lads at TWAUG, LACE, DGS, etc. I also hassled Peter Mattock for a 256K XL, without any luck (it's not good enough Peter - I want one for 50p!).¢¢ I rushed back to the NOSAUG stand and helped Lesley pack what was left into boxes. We put all the cash into my wallet (a good idea I thought!) and joined the queue of vehicles waiting at the exit. A quick wave to Neil at Tiger and we were away! It really was as quick as that! Before we knew it we were on the motorway heading north, and it didn't seem like ten minutes since we'd arrived that morning.¢¢ It was at this point when we both realised that we hadn't eaten a meal since Friday afternoon. Boy, was I starving! We stopped at the next services and stuffed ourselves silly!¢¢ We drove as far north as Gretna, just over the Scottish border, and stopped for the night at a travel lodge.¢¢Sunday 14th November¢¢ We got out of bed at about 11 a.m. and made our way back up the road to Aberdeen. We arrived at our flat at 4 p.m. and collapsed in a heap on the sofa! To say we were tired would be an understatement!¢¢ Despite the lack of sleep, long journey, weather conditions, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed my first stand at a computer show! Lesley tells me that she also had a good time, although I suspect she might have preferred us to have been a little better organised on the journey down. (Thanks for all your help Lesley!)¢¢ Although the show was a little quiet this year (no doubt due to the current state of the British economy), it was great to see the user group stands being the busiest stands at the show! Enthusiasts supporting fellow enthusiasts! This is what AMS is all about.¢¢ We were very well supported throughout the day and cannot thank everyone enough for spending their hard-earned money at our stand! The enthusiasm of Atari 8-bit users is unbelievable! I hope I have the opportunity of organising a NOSAUG stand for the Spring All Micro Show (SAMS) next year. The date for your diary is Saturday 16th April 1994 at the Bingley Hall, Stafford. AMS8 will follow on Saturday 12th November. I can't wait!¢¢¢¢Stuart J. Murray, NOSAUG.¢
