This was my first time, and I'm awed at how much work and thought went into putting on such a huge event. Great job!
I didn't find it very friendly for a first-timer, though. At the registration, I bought a program (turned out to be almost nothing but advertising), and among that and the other handouts were nothing that told what vendors were where, what seminars there were and when they were to be held, or a schedule of events. I asked a few people and was directed to the daily newspaper, but that gave only the day's events. Late on the second day I discovered, at one of the food stands as I recall, a program that showed all the information I was looking for. It would have been very helpful to me if I could have gotten that when I registered, and I would have gotten to see a number of things that I missed because of its lack. The map, which I was given at registration, was very helpful if a bit cryptic in places. If I go again some time, I'll print out the schedule of events from the web before I go, and bring it with me.
It was a long walk from the north 40 to the show entrance. The buses were often full so wouldn't take anyone, and the wait for the next one was usually longer than it took to walk. So I walked it most of the time.
In the north 40 I took only one shower because it was scaldingly hot. Not uncomfortably hot, but hot enough to burn. And no way or person to adjust it. I ended up using a T-shirt as a sort of wash cloth to let the water cool and then slosh it on.
In general, it seemed that it was assumed that everyone had been there many times before, and indeed just about everyone I met had. My one constructive suggestion is for the management to put themselves in the shoes of someone there for the first time, and consider how sketchy the available information is.
But for such a huge undertaking, it went remarkably smoothly.
Roy