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Greetings colleagues!

It has been several busy days here in Davenport, Iowa and we wrap-up the MGT 2010 tomorrow (Thursday) after another day of presentations and the Gala Banquet! I flew into town Saturday and led a 2-day hands-on workshop... then Monday evening we heard from the new VP of Sales & Marketing of MacroSystem US, Phillip Bice (the recording of his presentation is available on my website in the Members Area).

It's been great to hang-out and catch-up with old friends and to meet a few new faces as well (most notably, Charles Tucker & Jim Williams from this Forum). Folks have learned from the presenters and each other and had plenty of opportunities to enjoy each others' company. There are fewer in attendance this year but man, the spirit of the MGT... the warmth and the friendship of the Casablanca Community is alive and well on the shores of the Mighty Mississippi this week!

A note-able presence this year is the MGT 2010 Official Reseller, Seth Hampton of CAM Audio. Folks have remarked "the display and store that Seth has set-up at MGT this year rivals most of the set-ups I have seen at some of the other major shows like WEVA, etc". I will share more in the next day or two... I am teaching another workshop, my first 2-day Advanced Hands-on Workshop here Friday-Saturday... but I imagine other attendees will be sharing their thoughts in the coming days as well.

From the headquarters of the MGT 2010 in Davenport, Iowa -- good night and good luck!

Regards,
Chet

Good to hear things are going well Chet.

It is a bit weird viewing this from the outside in as this is the first one I could not attend at all.

Definitely miss the comradery.

Hopefully, Jim will keep up the tradition and as I don't have the spate of contracts ending in the same period in 2011 I can block out the week with a vacation and attend.

Thanks for the update, Chet. Hate that I could not there this year too. Thanks for the the video of Phillip. It was very informative and encouraging. I know a lot of folks, myself included, have been a little disillusioned by the lack of information on the future and direction of the company and he answered quite a few of those questions. Hope you all at the MGT are having a great time.

I just got back to my motel after the banquet, and alas, I was not a winner again. Not one stinking drawing all week! At least the person that won the S2000 was very deserving and Seth Hampton from CAM Audio really added some nice prizes to the mix. That was the best vendor presence and participation I have seen at a gathering of this type.

This year's MGT was very impressive again but it was sad that so many of the usual characters could not make it. Please come back next year because with the addition of Seth Hampton and the continued participation of Chet Davis this event is so great. The presenters were excellent and of course the humor of HB Logsdon and Jim Marcacci along with their insight was entertaining.

Hopefully I can find a way to stay part of this community and be at MGT 2011.

A summary of my experience/overview of the March Get Together - MGT 2010...

Although the attendance was noticeably lower than in past years, I left Davenport thinking this felt like one of the best MGTs we've enjoyed in the 6 years it has been taking place. There were definitely some folks we missed seeing there this year, but pretty much everyone I talked with at the end of the week expressed a positive feeling about the week.

We were all exposed to some new ideas – both for our Casablanca and for other facets of our production business or hobby. We spent some time learning about existing features in our editors and some new features that are coming (I absolutely love the forthcoming 'Store n' Share' that allows Bogart OS editors to edit to/from an external hard drive!).

It was good to meet the new MacroSystem US VP of Sales & Marketing, Philip Bice. We have had many email and telephone conversations but nice to put a face with the voice. I do believe Philip has some really good ideas for increasing the visibility of the Macrosystem products in North America. I am delighted to continue and grow partnership with him and the rest of the team at MSUS as their partner to provide training and instruction.

The most beneficial and rewarding outcome from the week to me was the fellowship and networking. Conversing and sharing ideas and practices with your colleagues and peers is always beneficial. Seeing the attendees from past MGTs is like seeing old friends from high school. And making new friends is equally rewarding!

Others have already mentioned the support and presence by Seth Hampton of CAM Audio.,Inc. Seth provided all the AV support at no cost to the event (this year was the smoothest event technically speaking). And each attendee received 50 free DVDs from CAM audio – in addition to the other prizes offered by CAM Audio . It as so great to see our annual community event with a vendor presence worthy of our attendance. As you have seen from the pictures, it was a store on-site with everything from blank media to cameras, microphones to camera jib, and on and on.

I was delighted to teach both an intermediate and an advanced workshop around the MGT,,, it was a blast spending additional time with these folks as we learned some new tips and practiced some cool new exercises and effects. We were digging Candy Factory embellished multiple PIPs and other effects like Magic Lights and creative titles boxes.

Conngrats to the winners of the 'big' prizes at the Gala Banquet.
Charles Tucker of Tucker Video Production who won the Casablanca Expert Private Tutor Package (6 hours of Private Online Tutor Services).
Dave Childs of Video Memory Production Corp. who won a 1-5 DVD/CD Duplicator Tower from CAM Audio and
Corrina Stewart who won the Casablanca S2000 from MacroSystem US.

Come to think of it, all three of these folks are member/subscribers at CasablancaExpert.com – could it be that a membership at my website not only provides useful information but also increases your odds of winning in other areas of life

I would encourage – no, I would highly recommend you plan on attending the MGT 2011 next year – the dates will be March 7-10, 2011. It is a great event for those who use the Casablanca video editor, whether for profit or passion. I am planning on being there again next year and will be again offering my hands-on workshops both before and after the MGT conference.

Thanks to Jim Meeker for all he does to pull us together and for facilitating this grand event!

Sorry we missed the MGT 2010 this year. Are there any pictures or video projects out there anywhere? Would love to see everyone and what went on there. Seemed strange not to attend this year, but on a good note, the preliminary pageant video turned out great! Maybe next year.

Hello David & Pauline,

There are some photo slide-shows posted on the March Get Together website here: http://marchgettogether.com/2010_MGT.html (and videos from Dale Bishop's Magic Hour on the index page as well). We missed you this year, and hope to see you in Davenport next year!

Regards,
Chet

Thanks for directing me to the pictures etc. Good to see familiar faces and what was happening in Iowa. Missed seeing everyone