Chicago Quilt Show--Some Complaints

I just got back from the Chicago Quilt Show. I took some pictures and will have those posted some time today (hopefully). Please check back to see the photos. The show itself was very good, but the organization (as far as dealing with the crowd when the doors open) was terrible. You would think as long as they have been doing this they would have learned a better way. We came in the front door of the convention center approximately 15 minutes after the doors had opened and could have entered the show through doors directly to our left (there was no crowd at this point), but guards wouldn't let us enter. They sent us through some back room--around and around through a "maze," and we ended up right back where we would have been if they had just let us go in to begin with! By the time we wound around the "maze," they were letting people right into the show doors. WE WERE NOT HAPPY! Hopefully, improvements will be made for next year.

Also, while I'm "airing dirty laundry," it seems to me there are enough open dates on the quilting calendar to have the Chicago Quilt Show and the AQS Paducah Quilt Show in different months! The AQS show in Paducah has always had their date in April (as far as I know) and have been having this show much longer than the show in Chicago. I really think having those two shows so close together (both in date and location) hurts both shows. Some of my friends choose (or alternate yearly) between the two, because they don't feel they can afford to attend both within such a short period of time. (I don't think they are the only quilters who do this.) Vendors have also mentioned that they just can't "do" both shows in such a short period of time, so they too are choosing between the two. This year the shows are on back-to-back weekends. It seems we go for months and months with no shows close enough for us to attend, and then we are hit with two of the best shows too close together (date wise). Surely the "owner" of the Chicago show could schedule a time that would be more conducive to attendance by quilters who would otherwise attend both. For the good of the quilting world (and the vendors who have to travel from one show right to the next), wouldn't a change in the date of the Chicago show make sense? What do you think?