There seems to be a train of thought here that a registration fee will keep out the riff raff, thieves, scammers etc. NOT so !!
A 150 registration fee will not keep out people who want to Scam you. It was mentioned here That Sweet T had his laptop ripped off at a show. It was paid admisson. I lost 2500 at a show where my laptop was hacked, paid admisson. and so on and so on......
Wallets get stolen, other untoward things happen, a fee is not going to deter a determined criminal.The PS3 and the gun issue could have happened at any other show. Unfortunately our industry attracts an unsavory element, not much you can do about that, but keep your wits about you.
Now that the free admission to a show is a reality, how about fine tuning it? Work out the kinks, so it is a win - win situation? We need new blood in the business, not all small webmasters starting out can afford huge hotel bills.
YES a 150 registration fee could be a breaking point to some of them. It is nothing to be ashamed of, not all of us started out to be millionaires.
I think you will see the free admisson model prosper in the upcoming years, the promoters will just have to start thinking out of the box
