What is the one piece of advice you would give about attending AXPONA?

Some of the rooms will be crowded nearly all the time. Wait until the end of the day, particularly on Sunday to catch the most popular rooms. People get tired and call it a day a couple hours before the show closes. I had the best listening on Sunday afternoon.

It’s been sometime since I attended. Therapy sessions only concluded in late-2000. Could have been the Palmer House. 

Parker House? Could you mean the Palmer House? Enjoy the show. Once again, I chickend out again (Hey! Got to get on that crab grass before it's too late!).

I dressed casual this Friday morning. For me, it’s sweatpants, a t-shirt with an University of Iowa pullover and ball cap. And typically, from my experience at CES shows and Stereophile shows at the Parker House in downtown Chicago, it’s best for me to limit my exposure to not more than 2 hours of insanity with hitting listening rooms.

Besides, does anyone have familiarity with all of the gear in the room that includes the particular item of interest to them? I don’t.

A better strategy is to buttonhole the principles of the gear in which you’re most interested and try to gather a better understanding of that gear.

It is like hitting tasting rooms in Napa Valley: 4 tasting rooms is the max for me if I’m driving in wine country.

At least the public bathroom arrangements were well thought out on the upper floors.

And consider ditching your jacket in the car or at the coat check before going to the upper floors. The room A/C won’t be on in any listening room. And those rooms will have a lot of warm bodies present and very warm audio gear operating. 

OP: good luck attending and fighting the masses on the weekend days!

Day one complete. Covered a lot of ground. Feet don’t hurt too bad. Used many of your tips. Heard some very good rooms and some not so good rooms. Some were a surprise (good and bad). Not planning to mention which were which as I understand things can improve as the weekend progresses. 

I was wondering, is a black leather jacket still an indication that the person is very hip to the whole scene?

Pull out the Rolex, comb your hair and wear a sports jacket - that way dealers and exhibitors will give you the time of day.

Don’t forget the $400 shoes.

When I had a nice car, I thought about going to test drive other nice cars.

"Here’s my chance to have the keys of every mid-high sports/luxury car literally thrown at me, at every high(er) end car brand dealership I enter", I thought. The vehicular version of 'wearing your $400 shoes', to send the right signals.

Never did find the time to use that. Then I got a ’regular’ car again. Sigh.

It's your hobby, therefore, treat it as such and have fun. 

Again, thank you all for commenting. The tongue in cheek comments are funny. Well, mostly. 

Doug that’s funny 😀you can do it if the hotel allows...The way the hotel was design there is a space in the middle 😀

And please...
Take a shower and brush your teeth. 
Don’t undervalue the power of breath mints. 

1.  Don’t go to audio rooms where the main representative gave you a BS promise about a forthcoming product, unless it’s Schitt. 

2. Don’t ask to use the bathroom in any audio room to take a dump, unless it’s Schitt. 

Whatever you d, don’t ask to hear anything by Diana Krall or Pink Floyd.. you’ll see what I mean when you get there.. there’s so much good music in the world to limit listening choices to one of two bands. It becomes infuriating after a while. 

Leave time for a return visit to your top five rooms.  Your ears will have calibrated; they may have further refined the room, and there will likely be different music playing.  Testing first impressions is definitely the way to go.

Three days is a lot of time, so I would use the first day to do a quick survey to find the rooms you are most interested in doing a bit more long-term listening.  Make notes about which room because it is easy to forget or get confused.  The first day is usually not well attended so use that day to visit rooms that you expect will be crowded on other days; you will have more time to talk to the people, and perhaps audition music you bring to the show.  Also use the first day to buy recordings that are for sale because you don't want to look at only left-overs after the best stuff has been picked.

If the sound of a particular system sounds great to you, then you can be somewhat confident that all of the components in that system are at least capable of performing as you like.  If a system sounds bad, don't write off any particular component in the system--all sorts of things can go wrong at a show that does not allow a system to sound its best and you would be cheating yourself to dismiss anything based on this one experience.   

Use the show experience to learn about all sorts of different approaches to achieve good sound and keep an open mind.  There will be plenty of surprises.  

Leave your wife at home

Listen in the hall way. Walk past any room that sounds bad outside, it won't sound better once you are in.

A good sounding room will sound good from several doors down

If you have any hearing sensitivities, keep earplugs handy.
I was a newbie at last Oct's RMAF and sat way too long the first
day listening to music played louder than my ears seem to handle.
Consequently my day two and three were not much fun as I my ears
needed time off.

You can cover the floors faster if you wear a climbing harness, bring a rope and starting at the top rappel down each floor. ;)

Ditch the socks and sandals look.

Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen.

Pull out the Rolex, comb your hair and wear a sports jacket - that way dealers and exhibitors will give you the time of day.

@testpilot - if I only have two out of three of those things, what will that get me?

@kcpellethead, based on your user name, you could always purchase a toupee for the weekend :-)  Enjoy the show!

Great advice all.  Thank you.  I did a real newbie thing.  I excited posted my query, then realized that I had not searched the archives.  I did so, and found several threads on this topic.  Still, there is some new advice here and I appreciate it.  I am really looking forward to the experience.

@testpilot - if I only have two out of three of those things, what will that get me?

Great advise by everyone.
If you like a product exceptionally well, take a pic or 2 so that you can remember what you really "fell for". This is for future buying decision.
I also suggest to keep Shazam OR Sound Hound handy. That way you are automatically keeping track of the new music you liked at the show. I picked up 50+ songs over a 2 day period and created a Spotify list.
Look out for fellow audiogoners :-)

Pull out the Rolex, comb your hair and wear a sports jacket - that way dealers and exhibitors will give you the time of day. 

one piece?

have fun!

other input?
soft shoes and hydration are great ideas.
locate the bathrooms early on.
pace.
have a lengthy list of songs for audition as said.
see the major rooms or largest demos on the first day, VAC, MBL, . etc.
see as many rooms/demos as is possible thereafter and on Sat.
check out your preff list for gear on Sunday, arriving early well rested and fed.
bring with some music in various formats on the occassion you are allowed to use it/them.

there are likely gonna be too many demos to see them all. see as many as you can stand to see as there will be those which were maybe not on your radar which might be quite compelling.

If you pay to eat at the buffet, get there early. The exhibitor eat like piranha.

This year Seth Walker, an American electric blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, will headline on Friday, April 12th. Walker just released his tenth studio recording, 'Are You Open', which includes bold and infectious songwriting.
If an unusually comely young lady invites you to attend a private performance, it may well be bold. And infectious. 

1. Make a top 20 list before you go of the rooms you most want to hear;
2. Don't forsake the list;
3. Try to hear those rooms on Saturday or Sunday so you can hear them at their best;
3. Get time in the favored listening position for the rooms on your list even if those rooms are always crowded; and
4. Bring a list of specific recordings you know well and ask for those recordings to be played in rooms that interest you. Make sure your recording list is long enough that the vendor has a shot at having something you know well. 

Wear comfy shoes. Stay hydrated.