[Skeeter686]

I have to say that I'm in a similar situation to Red.  I've only been brewing for a couple of years and I don't think I can justify admission for two, plus cross-country airfare, lodging, food, etc.  I seriously considered it and I may attend in a year or two, but right now, I have a hard time swallowing the total cost.

If a virtual option were available, I'd certainly look into it.

I also wanted to comment on "Has home brewing become a "mature" (in terms of content) hobby?" 

My wife makes sausage, and I've always found it interesting how there really aren't many new innovations in that space, while brewing has been evolving fairly quickly for a while.  My guess is that (a) homebrewing wasn't legal until relatively recently, and (b) I don't think commercial sausage making is at the same scale as commercial brewing.  I think there were new markets that opened for brewing gadgets and there's probably tons more research into brewing.

It just struck me as odd that two ancient practices are so different today: one still evolving while the other is basically stagnant.

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[noonancm]

One of the things about the BrewCon is that it gets rotated around the country. Not many individuals nor clubs make every one of them. I went when it was in Cincinnati and waited for it to be nearby. Of course, as luck would have it, when it was in Michigan I could not go. And of course, when it was in Pittsburgh it was my wife's and my 25th anniversary. I knew I better not go if I wanted to live in the same house. Oh well, next time.

[redrocker652002]

I have to say that I'm in a similar situation to Red.  I've only been brewing for a couple of years and I don't think I can justify admission for two, plus cross-country airfare, lodging, food, etc.  I seriously considered it and I may attend in a year or two, but right now, I have a hard time swallowing the total cost.

If a virtual option were available, I'd certainly look into it.

I also wanted to comment on "Has home brewing become a "mature" (in terms of content) hobby?" 

My wife makes sausage, and I've always found it interesting how there really aren't many new innovations in that space, while brewing has been evolving fairly quickly for a while.  My guess is that (a) homebrewing wasn't legal until relatively recently, and (b) I don't think commercial sausage making is at the same scale as commercial brewing.  I think there were new markets that opened for brewing gadgets and there's probably tons more research into brewing.

It just struck me as odd that two ancient practices are so different today: one still evolving while the other is basically stagnant.

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Off topic, but I have been toying with the idea of making my own sausage.  I have a smoker that is not the best, but I have thought about putting a few cuts of meat in and then grinding and packaging.  Might want to bend your ear one day.  LOL.

As far as Brewcon, as I said, if I was into it with all the gadgets and had a bigger setup, I would do it for sure.  But, for me, my little garage setup of a propane burner, 10 gallon kettle and odds and ends just doesn't make the cost of the weekend worth it.  But, who knows, it might be a decision I will change as we get closer.  Right now, I am looking at 23 to 25k for a new roof.  OUCH!!!!  LOL. 

[dbeechum]

With on line "new brewer" and "intermediate brewer" content is the problem one of "too much poor content" rather than "no quality content"?   (I'm excluding discussion forums from this thought).

By the way - this is actually a large problem for the conference - how to target the content that's presented. Too much "new brewer" content and the talks aren't useful to the dedicated brewer (and arguably the most likely conference goer) - too specialized/esoteric/narrow/technical and you'll leave a lot of people in the dust with smaller audiences for the speaker.

[joeinma]

Good to know.  Now I am out for sure.  Wish it was more affordable.  Seems a bit pricey to me, but I am new to all of this.  Too bad, I was looking forward to getting some good info and seeing some cool stuff on display.  Have fun all

2019 was my first year when in was New England for the first time in 40 years.  Yeah, it can be pricey for tickets, plus hotel room, our club was less than an hour away from the location and only like 5 of us were willing to pay, but a bunch of clubmates that work for breweries wound up getting free passes because they were pouring for their breweries on club night...but the presentations offer some great stuff...and in the vendor area, you will walk of of there with enough swag that more than covers your ticket price.  I got home with about 30 lbs of various malts, 5-6 lbs of various hops, several hats, t-shirts, tons of stickers, metal signs and so on. Had to throw all my clothes in a bag (also given out for free) to thrown all the swag in my suitcase.  And even better, on the last day as the vendor area is breaking down, you can get even more stuff as they start giving all the stuff they have left away so they don't have to ship back to their places of business. You are not going to walk about with say a Grainfather, but you can get good stuff.   I unfortunately missed that as I was in the awards show waiting to see if either of my two beers in finals medaled.  They did not.

[BrewnWKopperKat]

With on line "new brewer" and "intermediate brewer" content is the problem one of "too much poor content" rather than "no quality content"?   (I'm excluding discussion forums from this thought).

By the way - this is actually a large problem for the conference - how to target the content that's presented. Too much "new brewer" content and the talks aren't useful to the dedicated brewer (and arguably the most likely conference goer) - too specialized/esoteric/narrow/technical and you'll leave a lot of people in the dust with smaller audiences for the speaker.

With regard to HomeBrew Con, I have enjoyed attending (when it's local to me) and the seminar recordings are a solid resource.  The summaries for 2023 were recently posted; and to me, it looks like a good mix of topics and levels. 

[hopfenundmalz]

Good to know.  Now I am out for sure.  Wish it was more affordable.  Seems a bit pricey to me, but I am new to all of this.  Too bad, I was looking forward to getting some good info and seeing some cool stuff on display.  Have fun all

2019 was my first year when in was New England for the first time in 40 years.  Yeah, it can be pricey for tickets, plus hotel room, our club was less than an hour away from the location and only like 5 of us were willing to pay, but a bunch of clubmates that work for breweries wound up getting free passes because they were pouring for their breweries on club night...but the presentations offer some great stuff...and in the vendor area, you will walk of of there with enough swag that more than covers your ticket price.  I got home with about 30 lbs of various malts, 5-6 lbs of various hops, several hats, t-shirts, tons of stickers, metal signs and so on. Had to throw all my clothes in a bag (also given out for free) to thrown all the swag in my suitcase.  And even better, on the last day as the vendor area is breaking down, you can get even more stuff as they start giving all the stuff they have left away so they don't have to ship back to their places of business. You are not going to walk about with say a Grainfather, but you can get good stuff.   I unfortunately missed that as I was in the awards show waiting to see if either of my two beers in finals medaled.  They did not.

Don't give away all of the secrets.

In Grand Rapids a guy came up to a certain vendor's both as they were tearing down, said the price they had negotiated earlier, handed over cash, and got an extremely nice piece of stainless steel equipment. This is a win for both sides of the deal. Can't remember all the details, but it stuck with me.

[BrewBama]

Ask yourself how can AHA be more inclusive.

Based on a 2013 survey there are an estimated 1.2M homebrewers in the US. The AHA is advertising 1,500+ attendance at this yr conference. The max attended conference since 2008 was 3,400 and the avg is 2,312.

IOW, the plan is for .1-.3% of US homebrewers to attend the conference. 1-3 10ths of a percent.

How can you reach the 99.9% that don’t attend?  …or even 1%?  Red here is in the majority.  Instead of coming up with reasons to maintain the status quo, y’all might want to listen.

Ref:

https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/new-american-homebrewers-association-survey-details-demographics-and-production-of-homebrewers/

https://www.homebrewcon.org/past-conferences/

[denny]

Ask yourself how can AHA be more inclusive.

Based on a 2013 survey there are an estimated 1.2M homebrewers in the US. The AHA is advertising 1,500+ attendance at this yr conference. The max attended conference since 2008 was 3,400 and the avg is 2,312.

IOW, the plan is for .1-.3% of US homebrewers to attend the conference. 1-3 10ths of a percent.

How can you reach the 99.9% that don’t attend?  …or even 1%?  Red here is in the majority.  Instead of coming up with reasons to maintain the status quo, y’all might want to listen.

Ref:

https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/new-american-homebrewers-association-survey-details-demographics-and-production-of-homebrewers/

https://www.homebrewcon.org/past-conferences/

What would you suggest to correct this? Are those numbers different from any other hobbyist organization?

[chinaski]

Ask yourself how can AHA be more inclusive.

Based on a 2013 survey there are an estimated 1.2M homebrewers in the US. The AHA is advertising 1,500+ attendance at this yr conference. The max attended conference since 2008 was 3,400 and the avg is 2,312.

IOW, the plan is for .1-.3% of US homebrewers to attend the conference. 1-3 10ths of a percent.

How can you reach the 99.9% that don’t attend?  …or even 1%?  Red here is in the majority.  Instead of coming up with reasons to maintain the status quo, y’all might want to listen.

Ref:

https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/new-american-homebrewers-association-survey-details-demographics-and-production-of-homebrewers/

https://www.homebrewcon.org/past-conferences/

What would you suggest to correct this? Are those numbers different from any other hobbyist organization?

A different model might be to have some smaller, multiple, regional conferences instead of an annual one in a single location every year.  Maybe 2-3 regional ones each year for 2-3 years and a larger single one very 4 years or so.  I know that this would present a lot of logistics work but it's just an idea.

[ynotbrusum]

Ask yourself how can AHA be more inclusive.

Based on a 2013 survey there are an estimated 1.2M homebrewers in the US. The AHA is advertising 1,500+ attendance at this yr conference. The max attended conference since 2008 was 3,400 and the avg is 2,312.

IOW, the plan is for .1-.3% of US homebrewers to attend the conference. 1-3 10ths of a percent.

How can you reach the 99.9% that don’t attend?  …or even 1%?  Red here is in the majority.  Instead of coming up with reasons to maintain the status quo, y’all might want to listen.

Ref:

https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/new-american-homebrewers-association-survey-details-demographics-and-production-of-homebrewers/

https://www.homebrewcon.org/past-conferences/

What would you suggest to correct this? Are those numbers different from any other hobbyist organization?

Perhaps adding a podcast element to the NHC or coordinating podcasters through the NHC on a live basis, to enable non-attendees to participate remotely?  I know that in past years a couple or more were podcasted from the NHC, but I am not sure if they were live podcasts or any interaction was available to the viewers/listeners...just another option.

[denny]

Ask yourself how can AHA be more inclusive.

Based on a 2013 survey there are an estimated 1.2M homebrewers in the US. The AHA is advertising 1,500+ attendance at this yr conference. The max attended conference since 2008 was 3,400 and the avg is 2,312.

IOW, the plan is for .1-.3% of US homebrewers to attend the conference. 1-3 10ths of a percent.

How can you reach the 99.9% that don’t attend?  …or even 1%?  Red here is in the majority.  Instead of coming up with reasons to maintain the status quo, y’all might want to listen.

Ref:

https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/new-american-homebrewers-association-survey-details-demographics-and-production-of-homebrewers/

https://www.homebrewcon.org/past-conferences/

What would you suggest to correct this? Are those numbers different from any other hobbyist organization?

A different model might be to have some smaller, multiple, regional conferences instead of an annual one in a single location every year.  Maybe 2-3 regional ones each year for 2-3 years and a larger single one very 4 years or so.  I know that this would present a lot of logistics work but it's just an idea.

This has been considered and discussed many times, but so far no one has been able to come up with a workable model. It's easier to say what than how.

[denny]

Ask yourself how can AHA be more inclusive.

Based on a 2013 survey there are an estimated 1.2M homebrewers in the US. The AHA is advertising 1,500+ attendance at this yr conference. The max attended conference since 2008 was 3,400 and the avg is 2,312.

IOW, the plan is for .1-.3% of US homebrewers to attend the conference. 1-3 10ths of a percent.

How can you reach the 99.9% that don’t attend?  …or even 1%?  Red here is in the majority.  Instead of coming up with reasons to maintain the status quo, y’all might want to listen.

Ref:

https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/new-american-homebrewers-association-survey-details-demographics-and-production-of-homebrewers/

https://www.homebrewcon.org/past-conferences/

What would you suggest to correct this? Are those numbers different from any other hobbyist organization?

Perhaps adding a podcast element to the NHC or coordinating podcasters through the NHC on a live basis, to enable non-attendees to participate remotely?  I know that in past years a couple or more were podcasted from the NHC, but I am not sure if they were live podcasts or any interaction was available to the viewers/listeners...just another option.

We record a podcast there every year, as do others. Not exactly sure how it could be made live and interactive.

[ynotbrusum]

I remember seeing you and Drew at the Baltimore NHC mid-recording from the social area.  After the NHC I listened to the podcast and was transported back in time to a good memory.  But, yeah, I don't know the technical side and how to make a live, interactive work.  There are some that do it that way via zoom or other means, of course.

[BrewBama]

What would you suggest to correct this?

My suggestion is above: virtual meetup. Sounds like there are others. Do you have one?

My idea is not a replacement. It’s an addition. A feature at the conference to get those there in a room to connect virtually with members that could not attend.

I have participated in virtual meetings with participants from all over the world.  It works.

There are numerous platforms that can accommodate up to 1,000 participants. With one participant at the HomeBrewCon, if each participant is a homebrew club with 10 members in the room (low ball number) that’s 9,990 members reached that would otherwise not be.  Even if it’s 4,000 it’ll blow past attendance numbers out of the water. What better way to include members in their organization.