Now that I’m on the plane back from my Boston Acoustics press event, what are my final thoughts? I thought that overall, the BA team did a very good job of hosting a very enjoyable event. The food was good (I finally had some lobster last night) and the BA staff were knowledgeable and approachable. While some people might have a problem approaching and striking up a conversation with the VP of Everyone, I don’t seem to have that bone in my body. I don’t know if that is an asset or not, but it is a fact. Half the time I don’t know what position people hold until long after I talk to them. This means that just about everyone gets the full “Tom experience.” Hopefully that won’t reflect too poorly on Audioholics ;).

The weather was absolutely perfect the entire time I was there, only raining on the morning that I left. The last event was a boat ride around Boston harbor on a 100+ foot sailboat. We even helped raise the sail (yelling “heave, ho” the whole time). The highlight was when one of the marketing girls proudly announced that she helped “ho” with the guys. I can’t believe I didn’t get that one on tape. The weather was so nice that I didn’t even have to wear the windbreaker they provided for all of us. The city looked beautiful from the water and no one even got seasick.

The big upside was that, after I made a big deal that they wouldn’t even let me hint at some of the news to come on this blog, they decided to release us to talk about it over the weekend. Look for something up on Audioholics soon.

Now that you all have taken this little journey with me, what have we learned? Press events are fun in a “Disney teacup” kind of way. You’re spinning the whole time trying to keep up on a severe lack of sleep (and that’s even without the jetlag that I’m sure some of the other press were feeling) with little to no time to really process everything you’ve seen and heard. How busy was I? They provided a free “on demand” in room movie that I didn’t even have the time to order up. Of course, if I wasn’t writing blogs every waking moment, maybe I would have… Oh well.

Whenever you get a bunch of people together that don’t know each other, especially people that are essentially in completion with each other, there is a huge potential for problems. Luckily, aside from the occasionally irritant, everyone has been extremely friendly and cordial. Cliquey, sure, but nice enough.

One of the fun things about doing these trips, other than the inside information, is the chance to learn something about a company. Regardless of the company, you can count on one thing – they are passionate. They believe in what they are doing, what they are creating. They believe they are making the best product they can (if not the best one on the market). That sort of passion is both contagious and inspiring. I know that I, for one, will never be able to look at a Boston product again and not think of the engineers, designers, and managers I met on this trip. Behind those speakers and products are real people, people that are passionate about what they are doing. As consumers and reviewers, it’s important to remember that.

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