There is not an intimidation factor, there is an arrogance factor, as Gil put it, an Elitist Reputation. At the 2019 Nats, other then the nice folks manning the entrance tables, not a single member, or an officer of this group greeted me. I was wearing both the show supplied name tag, plus my own home club hard plastic, engraved tag. Not a single, " Hello, Hi, thanks for coming.." nothing. On the flip side, my girlfriend was allowed in free of charge, and they printed up a name tag for her ! She was sadly verbally assaulted by a women in the ladies room out side the display room because how she was dressed. Which was very conservative and nice, being a long skirt and a blouse and flat dress shoes. Weird that....
Now, I did reach out to several people, including Barry Numrick, Robert Steinbrun , Joe Youngerman, Paul Boyer, and had some nice conversations about modeling. Also met Bert Kinsey at his table, plus caught up with Roy Sutherland. Made the president of Zoike Marua laugh, as I asked why the new tool 1/144th Ho-229 didn't have the same level of detail as it's 72nd counterpart ! Slapped me on the back and said I was crazy ! My girlfriend bought coffee for the Wingnut Wings guys on Saturday, as they had been up late enjoying the adult spirits...
We used to make fun of the guy at the door at Walmart, but at a venue like this, it might not be a bad idea. We have a huge train show every winter, and they always have folks in train caps handing out directories to the vendors, and saying " Hi , thanks for coming " with a smile, every year. I know this doesn't pertain to the current judging/power play, but any change that will cause the IPMS to be in a better light, can't hurt. IPMS USA needs to stop assuming every one knows who is who, when most of us do not.
