List Of Questions From Folks Who Don't Necessarily Attend?

I cannot help you because I don't attend any manufacturers sessions. I don't even visit their booths.

 

Thanks CW.  I didn't know if the manufacturers all got together and held a "round table" discussion or "question & answer" meeting or not.

Is there a venue at York where questions can be ask of all the major manufacturers, without having to track each manufacturer down?

Yes I belive the TCA showcases during the day on Wednesdays? or Thursdays? You can ask the Mfg's after their presentations.

Some of the manufacturers (but not all) give presentations at the TCA headquarters and museum on Wednesday afternoon prior to the York meet.  

 

A number of manufacturers also give presentations at our (OGR) forum gathering in the fairgrounds grandstand at 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon.  However, there is little time for them to respond to questions at that event because of time constraints for the overall program.

 

The best place to have a one-on-one with the manufacturers is at their respective booths in the Orange Hall (that's where most of them are).  Even there, though, it's important to keep in mind that they can't spend a whole lot of time with any one individual--especially someone armed with a whole list of questions.  They have many customers to interact with--customers who are attending the event--and they need to spend some time with as many as possible.

They have many customers to interact with--customers who are attending the event--and they need to spend some time with as many as possible.




If they are that busy, then perhaps they need more people available? Neil

They all have virtually their full staff there...at least the staff that can respond to technical questions and other questions directly related to the product line.  These are not big firms, and there are many thousands of folks who attend the York Meet.

 

Bob,

 

Every York we hear complaints on the forum from people who say that more "tough questions" should have been asked at the manufacturer sessions. But these people always seem to want someone else to do the asking for them.

 

Direct contact with a manufacturer by phone or email is possible any time of year and seems to me to be the best way to get answers to questions. 

 

Jim

Isn't that the truth?...... LOL.... I have enough questions of my own as in "how am I going to afford this?"

Completely amusing some of the responses to your thread here. In fact you have stumbled upon one of the most unique & important virtues of the York meet. It is after all where the hobby meets biannually and anyone who thinks that the meet is only about buy, buy, & scrapple then they are simply being naive. If it is information you are seeking, nay, corporate intelligence, than York is the place to find it. Over the years, while much of the interesting information has been driven underground, in truth there are plenty of “loose lips” to be found. Everyone plays the rumor & (mis)information game. You just have to know who, when, where & how to ask.

 

Be aware that the Internet has been rapidly shutting down as a source of strategic information. Too many precedents of liable allegations; too many respondents with undisclosed financial or strategic alliances. From my own personal experience, reporting on inside stuff has been less than a rewarding practice. For years I have started a post meet “Rumors, trends, best of show etc”  thread, and over all those years I think I’ve have been acknowledge no more than three times for the effort. (Last post meet I was even insulted for my "pretentious" use of the English language).

 

I’m sure you are aware that there has been a gorilla war raging over the meet. There are those with financial interests in the hobby who want to expose the general public to the meet and then there is a core TCA membership that refuses to capitulate to those pressures. While on the one hand some manufactures have been closing down formal opportunities for questions & answers, in truth last meet saw a riot of information being leaked by factory reps that 5 months later no one has dared to repeat or report here.

 

So what type of information are you seeking? The gibberish of vaporware and press releases that is touted as news? That’s easy. You’ll read them here & they will undoubtedly be pinned onto the front door as well. Technical stuff? Others have responded above. OTOH if you want to find out why so many electronic based items are failing right out of the box, or what is the real story behind that curious marketing & product placement strategy, or who will be the next importer to declare bankruptcy, then that will take some personal investigative skill & on site sleuthing. That's what many of us do when the bazaar isn't happening.