I would totally agree. Walking into a crowd of people who all know each other is tricky, and people do seperate off into wee groups, after all, it is impossible to speak to everyone at once!
I had a similar experience at my first meet but stuck the brass neckl on and just said hello, since then i've had lots of help off people and hopefully, given a fair bit back!
Perhaps we shoul;d be looking to welcome the new face a bit better but an event this size is possibly not the best place to have done it. I couldn't make it up although i wanted to and it simply sounds as though AWD were vixctims of their own success with this one. The fact that so many weent should say something abou the usual standard of service to be expected (and i've never used them- least not yet!)
5t.