There was an International in San Francisco in the late 60's or early 70's. It was a miserable time for me personally, with seat stealers and older folks passing out from heat stroke (one day we sat right next to the First Aid area and there were half a dozen people in various states of unconsciousness). The sound system was difficult in Candlestick Park, lots of speakers set out along the circumference of the baseball field, hard to distinguish which echo to listen to. We were in the bleachers a couple days under unrelenting sun and occasional heavy wind.
What was fun was they used the concession stands of the park and so decent food (burgers, hot dogs) was available. There were ice cream vendors, too.
The handbill depicted people in various exotic dress along the border, and I eagerly looked for traditional dress, but everyone was wearing the same casual dress uniform as us.
All those "we are so cool and holy" speeches, the crowd seemed evenly divided between "rah rah" and "will this ever end?"
By the time restrictions were put on conventions I had utterly lost interest - if God isn't for everyone, He seems too picky to bother with.
Aside from size, it didin't seem all that different from circuit or district assemblies, maybe a little less claustrophobic or incestuous being a bigger group from a larger population.
