From the history of the Macintosh to the future of computer music, the place to turn at the 44th annual Tropical Hamboree was the Gold Coast Macintosh booth, where for the 5th year GCMac members shared the latest in the Mac world with tens of thousands of technology buffs.
A host of GCMac volunteers gave demos, answered questions, and handed out prizes in what has become one of the most popular non-selling booths at the event, which is sponsored by the Miami-Dade Radio Club.While the Tropical Hamboree has traditionally been oriented around amateur radio enthusiasts, in recent years the two day show has taken a turn to include more computer exhibitors, and Gold Coast Mac is among the most popular.
Throughout the weekend, a steady stream of visitors lined up at the Gold Coast Mac booth to try for prizes by tossing beanbags into a classic iMac shell, a game which was spiced up a bit by a tongue-in-cheek target placed inside the shell. Mac and Windows users alike took beanbag in hand to take a toss at Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, and an informal check of the prized awarded seemed to show the aim was better once the target was in place.
Not everyone lined up for a prize. The booth was busy with a constant stream of people asking Macintosh questions of our in-house experts. Charlie Carlon, Joe Podgor and Esver Camacho gave a series of demos on iLife and GarageBand in the 6-seat theatre set up in the booth, under our distinctive tent. Visitors were drawn to the booth by regular announcements about the demos. Dave Game and Jan Barkan were busy answering questions, as was Guiseppe DiFranco. The games were handled by Art Valla, Gus Medina, and Laura Coe.
Hundreds of people took information about Gold Coast Mac, and a number people indicated they planned to attend a regular meeting. The booth was made possible through the work of the GC Mac volunteers, and by the generosity of Hamfest organizers, who donated the space to Gold Coast Mac.
February 2004
