Not nearly enough Ken. The reason they do this is to force people to sit down at the other presentations which many recognize are not worth attending. So because of this those that don't want to go to these sessions leave the facility because they have nothing else to do. Once they leave the facility they are not likely to come back that day.
Having attended this show several times its easy to see why Burtz makes the remark he did. Connections needs a major overhaul. If you gave exhibitors better ways to present their stuff then the exhibits wouldn't be so boring. Having more hands is a good start. If you can have attendees in the exhibitor area longer then you can spend more quality time with them. In all the Connections I have attended I have left everyone wishing I had more time to spend looking at stuff. This is because many of us use this gathering place to socialize and that will never change. We need more of this time so you can socialize and look at the exhibits.
I'm all for Connections taking a year off and using the down time to organize and set up something that could be exponentially better than it is.
First thing I would do is solicit the opinions of what is wanted in a new event from the attendees, carpet cleaners who don't attend and exhibitors and then put the findings together to frame a RFP. From that I would contract the whole shebang out to the people that produce shows like this for a living.
If anyone says the Connections committee have been responsive to attendee feedback I don't believe them to be sincere just like I don't believe the
IICRC has been acting in our best interests over the past several years.
