If Dayton, Ohio is too far, and you're on the east coast, there is another less formal DIY get together hosted by Dennis Murphy in Maryland just outside DC.
See his
announcement here. Saturday July 18, starting at 10 am.
It won't feature a contest, but any and all DIY speakers are welcome. Dennis will feature several Salk designs (or more correctly, the prototypes for them) including the new yet-to-be named HT4 model. His HT4 prototypes are in unfinished MDF, so expect to be audibly dazzled but not visually
.