York Panel I would attend

Dave, York strikes me as equal parts socializing and buy/sell.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  

However IMO it is reasonable to question to what degree socializing will diminish in the near term due to the aging of the attendees. Younger folks are not filling in the void membership and attendance wise quickly enough and they tend to communicate/commiserate figuratively rather than literally if I may generalize.

This begs the question what can the draw be to come to York to attract more folks?

Coming a little closer to home than audio shows, The Great Scale Train Show has a robust component of how to seminars from vendors and various experts in modeling, scenery, buildings, layouts for various scales throughout the two day event.  

The only sure fire way to fail is to not try.

I am not telling anyone associated with York that they are not doing a good job, or are not thinking outside tradition as evidenced by the marketplace opportunities before the Thursday opening.

Just a thought not a sermon. 

Please allow me to provide an analogy.

In record classical music IMO the majority of folks who may like to listen and own this music are intimidated by the quandary of which orchestra, which conductor, which (if applicable) soloist to buy let alone which version as it is not unusual to have dozens of versions of the same piece of music. It is not like buying a Beatles or Stones album.

To the newbie the model train hobby presents its' own version of intimidation which company (MTH Lionel Atlas K-Line etc.) which operating version, traditional, TMCC, Legacy, or DCS, which track/switches, layout shape, scenery, buildings, roads, people, motor vehicles you get the idea.

Unfortunately I suspect that RTR sets are more a dead end than a launching pad into the hobby.  That takes a commitment of time, space, and money.

If we want younger folks to be attracted to the hobby we must help them answer these questions with something more structured than trial and error.

IMO the model train companies of today should look at the advertising from the golden age of O scale, a parent sharing/spending time with their child, learning how to build/fix things, build layouts, learn about electrical principles etc.

Sounds a lot like what comes under the umbrella of today's expression of 'quality time' to me.

If that is the message at Comic Con, and elsewhere, way to go. If not perhaps a refresher course in human nature would be helpful.

Lionel, MTH and others in past years conducted seminars and new product introductions at the TCA museum.  Do they still do that and are they well attended.

The presentations that Lionel, MTH, Williams, etc., did at the TCA Museum were the same presentations they did at the Friday OGR Grandstand meetings. So I only attended the museum event once. 

What we forget about the Eastern Division Meet is that it’s an event for the members by the members. And it is operated by volunteers of each division. Although the TCA mission statement has changed over time, the York Meet was never intended to be a vehicle to push the hobby. It, like all TCA events, were created for the members to trade and buy trains from each other. All the subsequent dealers, vendors and importers had to become members to display and/or sell at the meet. They weren’t always there. Their attendance added a tremendous value to the Meet that drew tens of thousands twice a year. But most of the Eastern Division members still prefer to keep the core values of their Meet the way they’ve always been. To buy, sell and trade amongst themselves. 

The changes in attendance at the Meet has many causes. Some have aged out, some railed against a small dues increase, internet sales provide a more private shopping experience for some, inflation and expenses have risen and the pandemic put a halt to everything for two years. Vendors and dealers come and go too for their own reasons. Experiences vary from great sales to poor sales every event since my first Meet in 1983.  Even at public shows I hear the same variety of complaints and success. It’s not unique to the York Meet. 

This was more than I planned to write, but in short the York Meet is a members event, everyone except for the recently admitted small number of nonmembers, is a member of the TCA. Promotion of the hobby is the M. O. of the public train shows like Greenburg’s, Springfield, Mass., Trainfest and Great American Train Shows. Even those events aren’t altruistic as they operate for profit. 

Why do I go, you ask? (Or maybe you didn’t) Initially it was to buy trains. I love being around model trains of all gauges. It evolved into a fun social event over the years from the friendships my wife and I have forged that went from acquaintances to friendships to being like family. We look forward to the trip to see friends, make new friends and being around all the trains. We consider everyone we’ve met to be a friend and we look forward to seeing you all. 

We used to live just over an hour away from York, but when we moved to the west coast it was still a priority to go. Yes, the expenses have gotten brutal especially since the pandemic, but we look for travel deals and use travel points where we can to cut into the expenses. It does cut down on the treasures I can buy but I’m pretty well stocked of trains I wanted (until the next catalog or special release).

So if you’re going look for me and say hi!  I’ll be the extremely good looking guy wearing a train shirt!

Traindiesel, your overview of the York experience is a good as I have read anywhere. And accurate as well, except perhaps for the last sentence. 
What were you thinking?