To provide a little more background for my previous post: last week Engadget posted a note saying they wanted to host a meetup in DC for Engadget readers. So I hung out around work longer than usual today and went to the Warehouse Theater to check it out.
All in all, I give it an official “okay.” The Q&A session was very cool but the 1.5 hour wait and the jam-packed and sweaty coffee shop that didn’t have “cheap beer” as advertised were a big let-down. And the prizes really sucked. I mean really really sucked. To make it worse they told the crowd that they have TONS of prizes at their homes waiting to be given away.
If they continue to do meetups in other cities they really need to organize a little. I’d say at least 125 people showed up- the place could probably only handle 40 people comfortably. The theater was an unexpected surprise- it almost worked out well for the presentation and Q&A session (it would have been ideal if it wasn’t only big enough for 40 people).
At the end they showed a 6-minute comedy short made by Cat Schwartz (of TechTV fame) entitled “DS vs. PSP.” It was pretty funny, depicting a Nintendo DS and Sony PSP fighting each other on the playground. Here are a couple (admittedly shoddy) snaps:
One Comment
1. The theater seats 120 people. Nearly everyone who showed up had a seat.
2. We don’t have a house full of prizes to giveaway. We have a lot of stuff to review, some of which we will be able to giveaway at some future point. And a lot of companies which do give us stuff to give away don’t want it given away at events, they want it given away on the site.
3. Yuengling beers were $2. I also paid for 50 drink tickets out of my own pocket.