The 1996 CORSA Convention, Albuquerque
Updated 19-Jul-2015 ==== Copyright (c) 2015 Corvairs of New Mexico
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Albuquerque: 1996 Vairs in the Air CORSA International Convention
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After the convention we tried to get all committee leaders
to write up what they did, how it all worked out, and what
went wrong. Here is most of that documentation.
Contents
Introduction and Outline
Registration
Financial
Trophy Committee
Photography / Multimedia
Working Registration
Tech Sessions
Rally
Autocross
Banquet
Concours
Scoring
Exhibits
Additional Notes
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CONTENTS --- ORIGINALLY PREPARED --- 25 SEPTEMBER 1996
INTRODUCTION AND OUTLINE .................... Jim & Heula Pittman
REGISTRATION ...................................... Heula Pittman
FINANCIAL ........................................... Bill Reider
TROPHY COMMITTEE ................................. Larry O. Blair
PHOTOGRAPHY/MULTIMEDIA ............. Mark Domzalski & Jerry Goffe
WORKING REGISTRATION .............................. Mark Martinek
TECH SESSIONS ..................................... Steve Gongora
RALLY ............................................ Chuck Vertrees
AUTOCROSS ......................................... Mike Stickler
BANQUET ......................................... Brenda Stickler
CONCOURS ........................................... Dennis Pleau
SCORING ............................................ Dennis Pleau
EXHIBITS (EXAMPLES OF ITEMS USED) ................... Jim Pittman
ADDITIONAL NOTES .................................... Jim Pittman
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INTRODUCTION AND OUTLINE
Jim & Heula Pittman
This documentation is not intended to be a complete guide to putting on a
convention. You can get a general convention guide directly from CORSA.
Instead, we wanted to write up a set of tips based on what we think we did
right and suggestions on how to handle problems and errors that we saw.
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BEFORE THE CONVENTION
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Organize
When to start (Yes, we started THREE YEARS before the convention!)
State your goals
Who will help
Enlist support
Calendar and deadlines
What will national CORSA do for you
Schedule committee meetings
Locations
Pick a hotel
Sites for events
Traffic patterns
Transportation
Logistics
Things you'll need
A logo
A treasurer
Seed money
Bank accounts
Regular reports to CORSA
Events:
Orientation
Car display
Model car display
Swap meet
Vendors
Concours
Economy run
Rally
Autocross
Newsletter competition
Workshops, seminars, tech sessions
Banquet
Awards, trophies
Special projects:
Door prizes
Raffle car
Cookbook
Tours, dinners, excursions, guides
Chase vehicle (e.g., "CORSA 921")
Local shops capable of doing Corvair emergency repairs
Signs, posters, car ID numbers
Maps
Lists of local businesses & restaurants
Location of nearby grocery stores, druggist, etc.
First aid equipment and training; emergency medical locator
Liability considerations (does CORSA cover this fully?)
Envelopes, tickets, name tags, dash plaques
Patches, pins, t-shirts, jackets, programs, souvenirs
Computer support
Provide suitable computers
Database for CORSA members
Registration software; fully debug the software
Computerized locator
Computerized scoring
Maintain data backups
Operator training
Photography
Still
Video
Publicity
Contacts:
News media
Chamber of commerce
Local car clubs
Pre-registration
A central mailing address
Central phone numbers
Liaison with CORSA
Train registration workers
Enter data as applications come in
Regular reports to local club and to CORSA
Stuffing party
Obtain all materials
Analyze use of materials
Brief all workers
Stuff envelopes in a standard order
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DURING THE CONVENTION
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Registration
Bulletin boards
Locator
Gofers
Sales
Handling money
Backups for key personnel
Questions & answers
Lost & found
Trouble shooting
Disaster control & contingency plans
Scoring events
Awards ceremony
Wrapping it all up
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AFTER THE CONVENTION
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Letters of appreciation
Accounting for all funds
Final reports to CORSA
Record your successes, discoveries, errors, 20/20 hindsights
Pass along a report to CORSA and next convention hosts
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REGISTRATION
Heula Pittman
Preparation
Decide what information to obtain from those who register early, what the
deadline is for mailing back to them, what material will be mailed, and what
will be included in envelopes at registration time. Prepare a checklist stating
exactly what each registrant gets.
Make things convenient. For example: make tickets small enough to fit in a shirt
pocket. Color-code tickets to make it hard to mix them up. Put all tickets in a
small envelope.
Some months (how many?) before the convention, prepare a registration form to be
printed in CORSA Communique. Obtain the CORSA-approved computer program and a
suitable computer to run it on. A computer (or two or three) must be available
on-site at the convention. Be sure they are compatible!
Pre-registration
When forms start coming in, enter the data into the computer. There will be
people who will owe you money and people who will pay too much and need a
refund. Decide how to request the owed money (e.g., they can pay when they
arrive) and how to refund the excess (e.g., you can mail back checks up to a
deadline date).
Envelope Stuffing Party
Gather material to go into registration packets: Your program, tickets for
events and banquet, promotional materials, maps, patch, dash plaques, etc. Stuff
all materials in large envelopes. All envelopes should be stuffed in exactly the
same order according to the "Last item in, first item out" rule. At the
convention, your workers are going to have to find the right envelope when a
person comes to the registration desk, then extract only certain items to give
to the registrant. It is much faster if every envelope has every item in the
same order. Here's our preferred distribution order:
1. -- Master check sheet listing everything for this registrant. We fastened
this sheet to the outside of the large envelope.
2. -- Name tags (they serve to verify that you have the right packet!).
3. -- Ticket for door prizes.
4. -- Car Number (if registered for any events).
5. -- Tickets for events, tours and banquet, if any.
6. -- Dash plaque.
7. -- Trivia quiz.
8. -- The program.
9. -- Leave all "miscellaneous" tourist items in the envelope for registrants to
open and examine on their own.
(Items 2 through 6 could be put into a smaller envelope. It should NOT be
necessary to empty out the entire contents of the large envelope to find
critical items! That just adds extra processing time and confusion. It was often
hard for our workers to find the door prize tickets, and they'd empty out the
envelope looking for them. Some items in the envelope were folded, stapled or
crumpled awkwardly. The lesson: be more careful when stuffing envelopes.)
Sorting, storing
Stuffed envelopes should be sorted in alphabetical order by LAST NAME of the
registrant. (You'd think, since the computer database has everything sorted by
CORSA ID number, it would be better to sort envelopes by CORSA ID number. Wrong.
The CORSA ID is not easy for a human to read and when you are in a hurry it's
much easier to go strictly by the letters of the last name.) Write a two-letter
code for the person's last name in big marker letters on the top front of each
envelope. Example: write "PI" for "Pittman", "LE" for "Le Roy", "MA" for
"MacNamara" and "MC" for "McClellan". Then it will be easy to stack the
envelopes in boxes and store the boxes in alphabetical order so you can quickly
find any person's envelope.
Generic Packets
Most of your envelopes will be for people who have pre-registered. You need a
good supply of "generic packets" for people who register at the convention.
(Debbie says, have at least 100 generic packets.) These will contain everything,
in the same order, as the regular envelopes except name tags, car numbers and
tickets. You will provide these items as needed when the person registers. You
will need a corresponding supply of blank generic registration forms.
Training
Give each volunteer registration worker a typed outline of what is expected
before he/she works the desk. Give step-by-step details where possible. A list
of "exceptions" should be included.
A workshop should be conducted BEFORE the first day of registration so that
questions and situations can be dealt with before volunteers have to handle real
problems in the rush of actual registration. The chairperson should be prepared
to go over all aspects of registration and teach them thoroughly. You will find
registration more rushed and chaotic than you expect. Things will go wrong!
Anticipate problems but be ready to act when the unexpected happens.
On-Site Registration:
The registration form should include blanks for the registration worker to fill
out. (It's not a good idea to let the registrant fill out the form. If you do,
many of the forms will come out illegible and will omit data you need.)
-- Name and CORSA ID (check)
-- Names as they appear on name tags (check)
-- Address, City, State, Home Phone (check or fill in blank)
-- Club Affiliation (check)
-- Corvair(s) registered for events (check)
-- Corvair driven to event (fill in blank)
-- Number of miles driven in a Corvair (fill in blank)
-- Total paid, refund or owed as appropriate (check)
-- Local Hotel/room number (fill in blank)
-- Signature if all was okay (fill in blank)
Insist on getting the year and model Corvair actually driven to the convention,
and the mileage driven to the event in a Corvair. Towing by a Brand "X" does not
count.
If name tags are missing, you should have the ability to print them:
-- immediately upon on-site registration;
-- on demand as necessary to correct errors.
Name tags should include both First and Last names in large letters. (We did
only first names in large letters and got a lot of complaints. We also had
problems with two-part last names like LeMay or DiPascal if typed in as "Le May"
or "Di Pascal".)
Registration workers should try to tell every person exactly the same things.
Registration workers should NOT empty out the envelope and describe every item!
The registrant can do this later. Pull out and describe or check off only
critical items.
During the convention:
All convention chairpersons should be able to meet all CORSA officials present
as early in the convention as possible.
Post the schedule for the whole convention in a central place, preferably near
the registration desk. Provide pocket-size cards with the schedule in addition
to the main printed program. In fact, it was suggested that the entire program
be pocket sized for ease of carrying around.
Provide a room locator. People want to know whether their friends are
registered, whether they have arrived yet and what room or hotel they are in.
Provide an up-to-date count of how many have registered, to include how many
people, how many Corvairs by year and type and how many people by
state/province/country.
As it happened, it worked out well for us NOT to do registration on a computer
but rather to do it by having the registration worker fill out a paper form,
then periodically the forms were collected and taken to the computer to update
the database and print name tags. Problems with this method of registering were:
a. there was excessive delay getting name tags printed, and
b. name tags were sometimes incorrect, and
c. we could not use the computer to tell us any information.
If the computer and program had worked together we might have been able to enter
data "live" and produce up-to-the-minute reports of the number of people
registered, how many for each event, number of cars, etc etc. But someone would
have to design and program the database in advance, AND make sure a computer
that could run it was available! And, such a program would need to be robust
enough to allow for klutzy operator errors. You can't expect all your
registration workers to be computer wizards.
We should have had a better "bulletin board" in the main registration room:
-- basic schedule each day
-- any schedule changes
-- How many:
People / families registered
Corvairs
Participants in events
People / families by state or club affiliation
We did have a large map of the U.S.A. (with southern Canada and northern Mexico)
with colored pins. Apparently it was up to everybody to put in their own pins.
There was an active bulletin board in the entertainment center but I don't know
how effective it was.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Computers
Have separate computers to do registration and event scoring. -- Debbie Pleau
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FINANCIAL
Bill Reider
"Boy I'm glad it's over."
My primary job was treasurer and I would suggest that anyone that is
going to be treasurer, plan on setting up their books on a separate
computer. I set up a separate sheet (enclosed) that the registration
person filled out so I would be able to input the information into my
data base (Enclose Trial Balance Sheet). As time goes on you have to
check on the Convention Data Base to be sure you have had all the
correct input. It would be very difficult to transfer this
information from the CORSA Data base at the present time. It would
make it much simpler if this could be accomplished. I'd also like to
suggest that the treasurer used dual checks, that way when its very
hectic during the convention you have a record on who you gave checks
to. I issued over 80 refund checks in three days. While some of them
were very small it still take a lot of time and you need to get all
the amounts in the right accounts if you want to keep good records.
One of the biggest problems is the start-up money. We didn't receive
or ask for any money from CORSA because we decided to raffle a car.
Without doing this we would have need $2000 to $3000 front money and
that is something our club didn't have. We did have $800 an that was
a start but you have to dole out a little money at a time. The bus
company wanted $100 a bus for 15 busses that's $1,500, we paid $300
down and $300 a month for a couple of months until money started
coming in. Most people will work with you because they want your
business. If you decided to have a raffle I'd make the tickets $5
each, whether you plan on selling $5,000 or $10,000 worth. I don't
think that you would be able to sell $10,000, but as time goes on you
might be able to. We sold $3,000 before the convention and $2,000 worth
at the convention. We may have been able to sell another $1,000 worth,
but I'm not sure. The last 3 days we limited tickets sales to 200 a
day. They did go in a hurry though, people lined up one to two hours
in advance and the tickets were all gone in 15 minutes. The reason
for $5 a tickets is that it saves a lot of writing and the mailing to
return the tickets would be cheaper. We did have a number of people
order 20 to 100 tickets. 20 tickets could go for $.32, 100 cost
$1.01. We only had about 5 or 6 people who ordered under $5 worth.
Another place that you need money is to do some promoting of your
upcoming event. The year before our convention we went to the Dallas
convention and put up promotional pieces as well as having travel
brochures about New Mexico. We also sent promotional material to all
of the Board of Directors so they could review it before the convention.
When you set up your bank account you should be able to set it up as a
Non-profit Corporation account so it shouldn't cost you anything for a
service charge each month. After you get a few thousand into the account
change it over to a Money Management account or what ever you have in
your area that pays interest. The last four or five months we have
taken in over $150 in interest and we should get at least $50 more
before we close the account. We hope to have all our bills paid and
books closed 120 days after the close of the convention.
Program
Have at least 2 or 3 people working on the program if at all
possible. One for the ads, one for the articles, and one for the
layout. You need to get the program to the printer at least three
weeks before the convention. You'll find that a lot of people wait
until the last minute to get their ads in and this can be a problem.
You have to check the ads for spelling as well. We have two with
misspelled words in them. If you catch them soon enough you can have
the people who sent in the ad correct it. If you run out of time you
can correct it your self or leave it go. You have to layout space for
the ads and still have room for the articles and schedules. After
your through print up a rough copy and have 4 or 5 people check it
over for content. After making the correction it would be good do go
over the program again and again. You'll still find some mistakes,
but there come a time where you have to go to press. The program
booklet should pay for itself. I would suggest that you layout space
for so many ads and when they are filled that is all that you will
accept. That way your not revising at the last minute. Make this
known when you soliciting your ads. We made enough money on our
program to also include a restaurant guide and map that you could put
in your pocket and take with you.
Special Awards (Ed Cole, etc.)
You had better figure on paying for these awards yourself. The only
one that you won't have to pay for is the Yenko Award. Chicagoland
Corvair Enthusiasts, when billed, sent a check promptly. I was
informed that CORSA/North Carolina paid for the Mitchell Award
and North Texas Corvair Association paid for the Ed Cole Award. I
received a letter from CORSA/NC that they have never paid for that
award. I also received an e.mail from North Texas Corvair Association
that they haven't paid for the award since 1978. This gets a little
embarrassing. This is why we need information passed on as what the
convention sponsor are expected to do and what their responsible are.
You don't need to keep reinventing the wheel.
It would be a good idea for all the committees to have a final
meeting at least a day before their event so that everyone knows
exactly what they need to do and how the event will be laid out. As
an example let the people who are setting up the concours parking in
the parking lot know that if some one hasn't removed a trailer that
you need to physical move it out of there. You need four or five
people to do this. We found that some of the trailers were locked and
the people could care less about our putting on a Concours, even if
they were in it. We did have a area set aside for trailers and RV's
but some of the people didn't want to use them because they were dirt
lots. We did have our own security as well as the hotel's security so
it shouldn't be a problem. This part about trailer parking should be
spelled out well ahead of time so every one know the rules. Be sure
that you post signs in the area and let them know that you will tow
vehicles at a certain time. I would get a tow truck set up the night
before and have the trailers, etc. removed so you don't have to do
this at the last minute. In the olden days we didn't have too many
people bringing trailers, but we'll be seeing more and more trailers
as time goes by. We need some hard and fast rules on the parking of
trailers. We also need to have a safe areas where they can be parked.
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TROPHY COMMITTEE
Larry Blair
Planning
a. Get a copy of the CORSA trophy policy and read it.
b. Get copies of event rules (Concours, Rally, Econorun, Autocross), be familiar
with them.
c. Plaques are in, trophies are out, however, it might be wise to check with
Larry Claypool to get guidance. On the basis of Albuquerque experience,
"trophies" will be assumed to be plaques.
d. Estimate the number of plaques needed for each event. An analysis of the
number of plaques needed for each event, based on the last six conventions, plus
the Albuquerque convention, is included as Attachment A. You won't know the
actual number of entries and types of car in each category until the event is
held, so flexibility is the key word. Plan on ordering a few extra plaques for
each category. (We found the extras to be useful to give post-convention
recognition to the host hotel, etc.)
e. Decide early on the size of the plaques, and any logo or embellishment. (In
Albuquerque we decided on sand paintings of the convention logo because sand
paintings are done by Native Americans in this area.) We used the following
sizes:
1st Place: 9" x l2"
2nd Place: 8" x 10"
3rd Place: 7" x 9" (and the same for 4th and 5th)
f. I strongly recommend that the name plates be sublimated rather than engraved.
Such letters stand out more clearly, are cheaper, and because they can be
programmed and made by computer, are much faster than engraved letters. The
latter is very important because of the time crunch between the last events and
the banquet, and CORSA wants the winners' names on the plaques, which really
increases the difficulty. (We still had to mail about a dozen plaques and/or
nameplates because of late score changes, misspelled names, and a shortage of
plaques.)
Nameplates were two-layered brass. The top layer was 5" by 1.5" of various
shades of anodized brass for the different places. This plate was inscribed with
the event class, place and name. The underlying layer was colored brass, 1/4"
longer in each direction. The brass was anodized in different colors for
different awards. The colors we used were: blue - first, red - second, white --
third, green -- fourth and yellow -- fifth. The plates were fastened to the
plaques with double-sided sticky tape. Fastening was delayed until as late as
possible to allow for mistakes.
g. Consider having two sets of plaques for the Rally: one for the driver and one
for the navigator. (We gave them only to the driver.)
h. On the basis of the above factors, write up a set of specifications and get
bids for budget purposes. We budgeted $2,640 for event plaques; we spent $2,210.
Other "trophies" are needed, as discussed later.
i. Arrange for the following "special" trophies:
(1) Edward N. Cole Memorial Award
(2) William L. Mitchell Award Best of Show
(3) Don Yenko Award
Fastest time of the Day
(Note: we were told that these trophies would be paid for by CORSA, the North
Carolina club, and the Chicago club, respectively. However, you should check
with Larry Claypool and the respective clubs beforehand.)
(4) Engraving on three brass plates for the Ed Cole Traveling Trophy (This is
required, not optional, and it must be done after the convention and mailed to
whoever gets the trophy.)
j. Arrange for the following, if your club decides to present them:
(1) Plaque or memento for outgoing national president
(2) Longest Distance Award
(3) Hard Luck Award
(4) Best Mileage Award
(5) A memento for Dollie Cole
(6) Plaques for the People's Choice Car Display (In Albuquerque six first place
awards, but on the same size plaque as second place in all other events.)
(7) Awards for model cars (In Albuquerque we gave ribbons for the model car
awards.)
Execution
a. Get the plaques done well in advance to make sure your contractor will
produce. Check the first one completed to make sure that it meets requirements.
b. Have a list of all plaques to be awarded, and check it against the actual
plaques.
c. Coordinate with each Chairperson to insure results are reported to the trophy
committee as soon as possible.
d. Have available a copy of the current CORSA Master Registry to check spelling
of winners' names.
e. Coordinate closely with the Ed Cole Award committee -- this is a two-person
committee, each of whom independently tallies scores for the Ed Cole Award. The
name of the winner is the very last one to be identified, so there will be
little time for the name plate to be prepared.
f. Have several tables available near the banquet area where you can lay out the
trophies to inspect them; however, keep in mind that results are to be kept
"secret" until the banquet.
g. Plan on eating a cold meal at the banquet, or not eating at all. You'll be
busy!
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PHOTOGRAPHY / MULTIMEDIA
Mark Domzalski & Jerry Goffe
The by-line for Jerry Goffe results from the fact that the multimedia
presentation at the convention banquet could not have been accomplished without
his skills, equipment and organizational help with documenting events at the
convention.
First requirement for the job is DON'T EVEN TRY TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY CONVENTION
EVENTS other than meals and possibly the Concours. The focus on proper coverage
of all events is essential for a successful presentation for the conventioneers
at the banquet.
As the chair person responsible for photography for the convention, I did not
know what to expect. The mid-winter visit from CORSA (Harry Jensen, Mike McGowan
and Larry Claypool) did not provide any information on requirements for the job
other than confirmation that Mike McGowan would take still photographs for the
convention issue of the Communique.
Vairs in the Air decided that the technology and skill sets were available to
compile a multimedia presentation for the awards banquet at the convention.
The original strategy was to use Microsoft PowerPoint to generate the
presentation. The equipment and software presented no problems in the overall
execution of the plan.
The feedback from the banquet was very positive and would lead one to understand
that the effort to put the production on was well worthwhile. Lessons learned
from the overall planning and execution of the convention are to understand and
document what exactly CORSA expects in the way of convention coverage with
regard to images for publication and presentation. A clear understanding of
CORSA's needs for the Communique will help plan the coverage efforts.
An organized plan for the convention team's coverage of all driving and auto
associated events is essential to assure full coverage for use later. ONE PERSON
CANNOT COVER ALL OF THE EVENTS. Two photographers/videographers are essential
and three would be better.
Determine what forms of media will be used for even coverage and schedule
accordingly. There will be a list of recommended equipment at the end of this
commentary.
Establish a schedule of deadlines with the event chairs to accumulate
information from scoring to assemble the presentation graphics. Understand that
a deadline probably won't solve any problems, but it will make the event chairs
aware of the time required.
For the purposes of the banquet, pre-script everything as much as possible.
Determine in what order awards will be presented by using the banquet program
and confirming event awards with the event chairs. There is no worse feeling for
the "producer" of the multimedia presentation at the banquet than having slides
for awards out of sequence with the presenters. If possible, rehearse the
presenters prior to the banquet.
Some sort of shock device to zap the presenters when they change the script on
the fly would be useful...
A mixture of video and still images worked very well at Vairs in the Air. This
coverage can be refined and manipulated with advances in multimedia software and
presentation equipment.
Take pride in what is being accomplished. The host club will likely be the only
people who know who was involved and what level of activity was required to
generate a presentation for the banquet. The effort put forth will be a lasting
reminder for the body of attendees of the overall quality of the convention. The
last memory of every convention is how mediocre or how great the banquet was in
terms of food, time to make presentations and how interesting the presentations
were.
Equipment used for coverage and presentation of Vairs in the Air:
Panasonic Digital Video Camera Recorder for stills and full motion video.
Sony 8mm SVHS High Resolution Video Camera Recorder for full motion video.
Panasonic VHS-C Video Camera Recorder for full motion video.
Apple Macintosh Quadra 840av for multimedia compilation and presentation.
Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0 software for multimedia presentation assembly and
presentation.
GE Video Projector for multimedia presentation.
All of the listed equipment is owned by CNM Chapter members. New equipment such
as digital cameras will further add to the capability of generating a multimedia
production. CNM was fortunate to have the resources available to create the
presentation for the banquet.
It is possible to rent video projectors and high quality digital recording
equipment. It is not absolutely necessary to use a Macintosh to generate the
multimedia presentation. Windows based systems can accomplish the same results.
The Macintosh graphics based system is currently an easier system to use in the
experience of this author.
Hopefully future conventions will add to the methods employed in Albuquerque to
create more interest-holding and meaningful productions to help keep the award
presentations a "want-to-attend" event in itself.
Finally, if the host organization is going to provide still coverage of the
convention in the form of photographs, find additional help. A multimedia effort
takes on a life of its own.
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WORKING REGISTRATION
Mark Martinek
It was a pleasure to assist in the registration of the conventioneers. I really
did enjoy working with the other club members and meeting some new and
interesting people.
In regards to my comments and suggestions:
1. Up to date roster of attendees on hand at the registration or information
desk.
2. Better access to the name tag printer, more rapid turn around time for the
production of name tags.
3. A separate registration sheet for on-site registration. This sheet would have
all the registration prerequisites listed, to include miles driven, car driven,
and a space to indicate amount (of money) received and by whom.
4. Signs to direct conventioneers to the appropriate registration person, i.e.,
separate clerks for pre-registered and on-site registrations.
5. Information desks established to answer incoming phone inquiries and to
provide non-registration information to the attendees, such as other attendees,
location of various activities and events.
All in all I believe that the registration process flowed very well. All the
people doing the registering were polite, courteous, and helpful above and
beyond the call of duty.
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TECH SESSIONS
Steve Gongora
My job was organizing technical speakers for the convention. The task was made
simple because a list of names was brought together before I accepted the job.
This was the work of the planning committee. Our club has a great number of
people who have attended previous conventions and had acquired a great pool of
potential speakers. The idea was to present tech talks not necessarily related
to the Corvair but car related. I contacted four people that the planning
committee suggested and they all agreed to give tech sessions. The first order
was to get their commitment then learn about their topic of discussion.
The speakers and their topic were as follows: Lewis Young of Manteca, California
was to give a talk on fuel injection and electronic ignitions and how they can
be installed on a Corvair. Dave Newell of Orinda, California was to show Corvair
memorabilia. Steve Goodman of Denver, Colorado was to talk about turbochargers
for the Corvair. Michael Wiener, a local New Mexico state senator would give a
talk about the history of license plates for the entire country.
Given over a full year in advance to plan my tech sessions, I thought the only
way to make sure I was doing the job right was to attend the 1995 Corsa
Convention in Dallas and talk with the man in charge of their tech sessions. The
'95 Tech Chairman was Richard Gebhardt, 3001 Toler Rd., Rowlett, Texas 75088 (ph
214-475-3520). His reflections were well taken. His most important bit of advice
was to have contingent speakers available. For instance, Dave Newell committed
to speak at his convention, but just before the convention started, Dave had
back problems and had to cancel.
I didn't have any backup speakers. What I did to compensate was to keep in
fairly close contact with my group, either by mail or phone. With our limited
resources at the beginning of the planning, we could not afford to cover any
expenses of the speakers. I wanted to get speakers who had planned on coming the
convention anyway. What we would cover is any media that might be needed. We had
an advantage with CNM, because our local member, Jerry Goffe had any type of
media needed. What he didn't have, he could get. The microphones were provided
by the Hilton, our host hotel. The projectors were provided by Jerry.
As the time for the convention drew near, I mailed letters and called the
speakers to make sure everything was going to schedule. The week before the
convention both speakers from California shipped boxes to my office address.
This made the trip easier for them. This also eased my mind because my speakers
that lived furthest away had confirmed their commitment.
I should have been involved more closely with the scheduling part of the
planning committee, as I didn't know about the actual facilities that were at my
disposal. The room for the tech sessions was fantastic. It was a former cabaret
used for major performers such as Rosemary Clooney, David Steinberg, Johnny
Rodriguez, David Clayton Thomas, and others. What I didn't know is that the
special interest groups were using the same room. There was no buffer time
between the tech sessions and the meetings. As a result the sessions had to be
abruptly stopped to accommodate the special interest groups. I don't have a
problem with the groups using the same room, but there should have been more
time allowed between the sessions and the meetings, to give time for the
speakers to wind down their talk and time for the groups to organize. What
happened is that the special interest groups were impatient and wanted the rooms
cleared. This was a bit embarrassing for me and my speaker.
Some personal notes about this convention: I had two sessions back to back on
Wednesday. The first was Steve Goodman on turbos. Steve thought we would
probably have under 20 people attending. To his surprise we filled the room. We
needed additional chairs to accommodate them. As Steve was giving his talk I
kept an eye on my watch and a lookout for my next speaker, Michael Wiener. I was
getting nervous by about ten minutes till four and my speaker still wasn't
present. Well, finally Michael made it to the talk with under five minutes to
spare. Talk about close timing. The speaker I had the most sympathy for was
Lewis Young. His work situation changed as the convention drew near. He attended
the convention just to give his talk and fulfill his commitment to me and to the
convention. His plane arrived less than an hour before his tech session. He made
it to the Hilton just fifteen minutes before his talk. He had to leave the
convention the next morning. I talked the club members at hand to donate a
convention t-shirt for his effort.
The last session was Dave Newell's. He turned the session into a two-part talk.
The first half dealt with Corvair memorabilia and never before seen slides.
Commentary was by Dave and Cecil Miller of the Corvair Preservation Foundation.
The evolution of the Corvair was very interesting from the GM advertising point
of view. The second half was turned over to the CPF to raise funds. Dolly Cole
(Ed Cole's wife) was on hand to sign CPF pins at $25.00 a pin. The effort turned
a cool $2600.00.
I consider myself lucky that the tech sessions went smoothly. It was nice to see
that the people took their commitments wholeheartedly and followed through. That
is the key that carried this whole convention.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
REVIEW OF 1996 CORSA CONVENTION RALLY
Chuck Vertrees
When asked to be the Rally Master I had virtually no experience in conducting a
rally, having done only one for Corvairs of New Mexico several years ago. The
first thing to do is to obtain a copy of the latest CORSA Road Rally Rules. This
is your bible! Read it through several times, underlining the things that you
feel MIGHT pertain to the type of rally you are going to produce. For the 1996
CORSA Convention, I chose a Continental Rally (as defined in the CORSA Road
Rally Rules) because I had no experience in setting up and running a
Time-Distance Rally. As a result, almost all of my comments will concern a
Continental Rally.
DESIGNING THE COURSE
If at all possible, have little or no portion of the rally in an urban setting.
The rally must cover at least sixty miles according to the rules. Mine was 72.07
miles in a 100% rural setting. Trying to run a Continental rally through an
urban setting will introduce too many time problems. At the 1996 CORSA
Convention, there were only three hours allotted for the rally, and it was to
start only one-half hour after the end of the Economy Run. If your contestants
are going to be looking for pictures or the answers to questions, even if you
could start everyone at the same time, three hours for sixty miles minimum will
be a tight squeeze. We had seventy entrants in the rally. At one minute
intervals between departures, this is over an hour just to get them all started!
BE PREPARED TO DRIVE LOTS OF MILES
I drove between 450 and 500 miles in preparation for the 1996 rally. A good map
of the area is essential. I picked up an Albuquerque Quadrangle 1:100,000 scale
series topographic at our local store that carries all kinds of maps, for $6.00.
This is published by the USGS. Once I had determined which roads were paved and
which were not (drive, drive and drive again) I got several copies made at the
local copy shop to do my planning of the projected route. Mine was a round trip
with everyone ending up back at the starting point. This meant that two crews at
separate points would not be necessary.
WRITE ROUTE INSTRUCTIONS
Once you have decided on a potential route, drive it several times, looking for
potential picture sites, potential questions, and opportunities for misleading
instructions. When you are satisfied with the route (you may have made several
route changes by now), start writing up formal route directions. I kept mine
very simple and clear (so I thought) since this was not intended as a
navigational exercise. When you feel satisfied with your route directions,
either have a practice rally with your club, or give a copy to several friends
and ask them to run the route and give you WRITTEN comments. If possible, get
someone who has had rally experience, and if possible have one or two women
rewrite the route directions as they see them. These people WILL find errors and
ambiguities in your route instructions that you might never spot yourself.
PRE-RUN THE RALLY
My final route directions were the result of two practice rallies, one with
Corvairs of New Mexico only, and one with entries from CNM, the local Z-Club and
one of the local Corvette clubs. Then after the second rewrite, four other
couples ran the revised rally and gave me their written comments. I received
especially valuable input from one member who used to do SCCA rallies years ago.
The payoff for all this testing was that the final version used at the 1996
CORSA Convention Rally did not get anyone lost to the point that they had to
open their "panic map" envelope. The contestants were able to concentrate on
the questions, pictures, and scenery.
ANTICIPATE LOCAL TRAFFIC PATTERNS
In any picture rally, the site from which each picture is taken MUST provide a
place for the contestants to get out of traffic when they are trying to
determine their mileage. My particular route had some stretches where traffic
was moving at 50 to 55 miles per hour on two lane roads without wide shoulders.
Obviously these were not good spots for contestants to be driving slowly or
stopping in traffic. As a result I divided my pictures into two groups, and
asked questions about sections of the route where there were no pictures. In our
first practice rally, we had questions and pictures overlap but we found that
watching for pictures and questions at the same time was too much of an
overload. So, I recommend that the questions and pictures be separate. The route
directions can indicate where picture and question sections start and end.
ACCURATE MILEAGE MEASUREMENTS
When you take your pictures you will need to use a rally odometer to find the
mileage at which each picture was taken. This odometer will read in 1/100th of a
mile. Luckily, one of our club members had one. The late model Corvair
speedometer/odometer cable turns 825 revolutions per mile instead of the 1000
revolutions per mile of most other cars, so if you use a rally odometer in a
late model Corvair, you will need to establish a correction factor to apply to
all your mileage figures. In any case, you will need to calibrate the rally
odometer in the Corvair against a known mileage. I used mileage markers on a
secondary road and calibrated over a twelve mile distance.
BE UP-TO-DATE
If you use pictures, you need to take them as near the date of the rally as
possible to minimize the possibility that changes in the landscape will make
some of your pictures obsolete by the day of the rally. Winter scenery in your
photos would not be appropriate for a late spring rally!
PREPARE SIGNS
You will need to have someone prepare all the signs that you will need for the
rally. We had one member of CNM whose job it was to prepare signs for all the
functions. It was the job of all chairpersons to supply him with a list of the
signs needed for their event well in advance. For the rally you will need signs
for the start, finish and check points.
PREPARE ALL DOCUMENTATION
Next let's discuss the documentation you will need. First you will need a
general statement of the type of rally you are going to have. This will be for
advanced publicity and publication in CORSA Communique. Next you will need a
similar but probably shorter article for your convention's program. Along with
this you will need explicit directions to the start of the rally if it will not
start from your headquarter's hotel. A simple map is also handy to include. The
directions and map should be in your program and a copy of the directions to the
start should also be included in each registration packet for those that have
preregistered for the rally. You will also include a copy of the CORSA Road
Rally Rules in the registration packet. These are obtained from CORSA.
The next document you will need is the General Instructions. This will be handed
out to the contestants at the time of your rally briefing, the day of the actual
rally. This will contain any special instructions that are needed for the rally,
explain briefly the type and purpose of the rally, the method of scoring of the
rally, any time constraints, and what their packet will contain that they will
receive at the start of the rally. Normally you will be allowed only 15 to 20
minutes for the briefing, so keep it short so there will be time to answer any
questions.
The next thing to prepare is your actual packet that each rally team will
receive shortly before the time they are scheduled to actually start the rally.
The packet should contain:
1. A score sheet. This should contain a space for the entrant's
competitor number, the driver's name, the navigator's name, and (something I
forgot to leave a space for) the category they are in, either primary, touring,
or driving a brand "X". It would also be nice to have a space for them to enter
the model and year of the car they are driving. This is important since there
are separate awards for the primary and touring classes. I had to try and pick
up the category as they were checking in at the end of the rally and made one
error in classification.
You can generate your own score sheet, based on the type of rally you are going
to run. Mine was a picture rally, where 20 photographs were in the packet, and a
space on the score sheet was provided where the contestants were to enter the
mileage where each photo was found.
You will also need to include on the score sheet some type of mileage correction
entry. Mine consisted of a starting and ending odometer reading. Since we knew
the exact distance from starting line to finish line (72.07 miles) it was easy
to enter the correction factors for each car and the computer would then
automatically correct all their mileage answers to allow for odometer error.
2. Your route directions as outlined previously.
3. Your questions if you are using them. What works very nicely is to
put the questions in the route directions, having the questions occurring in the
order in which they will be found. They should be clearly identified so the
route directions and questions will not be confused. The reason for combining
the two is to reduce the number of sheets of paper the navigator will have to
contend with.
4. Your pictures if a picture rally. We arranged through one of our
members to get color copies for 80 cents a sheet. We had 4 photographs per sheet
with a total of 20 photographs or 5 sheets per packet at a cost of $4.00 per
packet. (We tried black and white copies and found them totally inadequate when
compared to color. The color is well worth the extra cost. If a contestant has
come all the way to your convention and paid your fees, they are entitled to the
best!.)
5. You will also need to supply a "panic map" in your packet. This is to
be used in case anyone gets seriously lost. However, in this type of rally, if
your route directions are good, you shouldn't have anyone getting lost. The
"panic map" and the driver's drivers license are sealed in a plain envelope, and
at the end of the rally, if the envelope is still sealed, I told them "they get
to keep their drivers license". If the envelope is opened, all scores are
voided.
LAST-MINUTE CHECKOUT
Finally, you will need to run the rally route the morning of the rally, BEFORE
your rally briefing. This is to be absolutely sure that there have been no road
closures, changes in signs or any other changes that would affect your
questions, instructions or route. My briefing was at 8:20 AM which meant that I
got up at 4:30 AM to drive the 17 miles to the start of the rally, the 70 mile
rally route, and the 17 miles back to the hotel in time for the morning
briefing!
Now it is time to start the rally. You have had your briefing, and your packets
are all prepared.
HAVE MORE HELP AT THE START THAN YOU THINK YOU WILL NEED
I had arranged for some workers who were helping with refueling at the end of
the economy run to come to assist me at the start of the rally. That did not
work because the refueling went slower than planned and there just wasn't enough
time for them to get to the start of the rally. Don't count on helpers who are
involved in another project that may be delayed, thus delaying their arrival.
All contestants, whether driver, navigator or passenger, must sign a standard
release form. Have several clipboards and be sure you have enough forms. This
should be checked BEFORE the day of the rally. As soon as contestants arrive at
the starting site have them start signing the releases. You will need at least
two people to take care of this. Before anyone is given their packet, be sure
they have signed the release.
Ed Cole competitors are supposed to go out first. However, some of them have a
tendency to keep turning up after all the others have been sent off, which
interrupts the orderly processing of non-Ed Cole people. I would suggest that
you have two lines, with one crew to handle only the Ed Cole people.
You should have enough crew members so that the rally master does not need to do
any of these jobs, but keep himself available to cover trouble spots.
Try to get your cars lined up so you can process the contestants in the order in
which they are lined up. You should give packets to each car about five minutes
before it is supposed to leave.
If time is to be considered in the rally in any way, you will need to have an
official clock that all can consult; maybe a short wave radio tuned to WWV.
I had one folding table at the start and finish, but we could have used one or
two more.
Also have ample writing implements and clip boards on hand.
When you hand out your packets have them in an envelope, and at the finish have
them handed back in, in the same envelope. This helps keep each contestant's
paperwork together.
[ EXAMPLES FROM OUR RALLY MAY BE AVAILABLE. ]
[ IF YOU WANT TO SEE THEM, ASK YOUR EDITOR. ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTOCROSS
Mike Stickler
Recruit two or more announcers to "call" the race. They should be at ease with
public speaking and familiar with autocrossing.
Before the event (during the inspection) they should interview as many
participants as possible so as to add "color" to the announcing; such as where
the driver is from, modifications to the car or anecdotal stories.
Nationally prominent drivers and officials can be invited to announce, but have
the local crew ready to perform this function.
A group of Tech Inspectors should be organized into teams weeks before the
event. Have them do Tech. Inspections on each other's cars or other member's
cars perhaps at a chapter meeting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BANQUET
Brenda Stickler
Planning
Our monthly meetings with the hotel staff were vital in shaping and realizing
our ideas and getting great food selections. We started these meetings a year
and a half in advance.
Food Choices
We worked with the hotel catering department to insure three meal choices: one
beef, one chicken and one vegetarian. (Some of our guests, by the way, really
appreciated the vegetarian choice.) The hotel was willing to do this because we
promised to give them prompt updates of the number of people choosing each
entree'.
Decorations
Design and assemble decorations at least two months ahead. Make them easy to set
up. Be sure table centerpieces are not be so large that they prevent people
"talking over them."
Ask the hotel if they have stanchions and table numbers. If not, you'll have to
provide them. You want table numbers clearly visible.
Arrange for a committee of at least five people to prepare and set up the table
decorations just before the banquet. It will take at least this many people to
get the materials into the room at the last minute and set everything up. In our
convention, me banquet room was used by the vendors the afternoon of the
banquet. We expected to have two hours to set up but we actually only had about
forty-five minutes. We had to hang wall banners, decorate tables and re-do the
table diagram at the last minute!
Seating Arrangements
We intended for people to choose their own table by number based on a chart of
numbered tables provided by the hotel. We got into trouble because as we had
more and more people signing up for the banquet, the hotel had to add more and
more tables, and the numbering scheme had to be rearranged according to fire
codes. This meant that groups who had picked out adjacent tables now found their
tables separated! We had to tell these groups to try to arrange with people at
other tables to swap places. It may be wise of you to discuss this potential
problem with hotel staff in advance in case you are also unable to control table
arrangements.
People will get their tickets at registration and that is a natural time to let
them know that getting a ticket does not assign them a table, so they should
please come back later for a table assignment. (Instead of having the busy
registration crew explain, you can provide a note with the tickets telling them
the scheduled time and place to go to choose their table number.)
We decided to schedule two times a day for people to come and get their table
assignments, one during the day and one during the evening, starting a couple of
days before the banquet. This helped to accommodate everyone's schedule of
activities.
Be sure to mark the back of each ticket with its table assignment number so
there is no confusion on banquet night.
Tickets
We made the tickets of heavy paper, 3 by 5 inches, so they could be carried
conveniently in a pocket. To make it easier for our registration crew (as well
as the hotel serving team) to identify the tickets, we color-coded them: red for
beef, yellow for chicken, blue for vegetarian.
A good diagram of the table layout at the front door of the banquet makes it
much easier for people to find their table. As noted above, be prepared to
modify your table chart at the last minute!
During the Banquet
The hotel should be told that you expect both water and coffee to be provided
throughout the evening. If necessary, be prepared to go to the kitchen to
remind the staff.
Finally -- once the banquet is underway, enjoy it -- after all, this is your grand finale'!
AWARDS AT THE BANQUET
A general problem was, names were often called while the previous person was
still moving toward the front. This resulted in two or three instances where
first-place winners got virtually no applause or recognition from the audience.
The classes should have been explained. Possibly the participants knew what each
class was (some of them may not have known) but for everybody else, it would
have been a lot more interesting had we known just what category the winners
were competing in.
Would it work better if each chairperson called out all the names, then when all
winners are up at the front, the chairperson announces each winner starting with
Fifth, Fourth, Third, Second and finally First. Then applause.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONCOURS
Dennis Pleau
THINGS THAT WENT WELL:
-- The moving Concours worked well.
-- The judges supplied by CORSA were very knowledgeable.
-- Following Jim Decker (Chairman of the Dallas Convention Concours) around at
the 1995 Dallas Convention to learn the ropes helped me a lot.
-- Tents, carpeting, ramps and lights for the undercarriage judging.
-- Timekeeping was very prompt. We assigned one person whose only job was to
keep time.
-- We kept the judging lines queued up and flowing.
-- We started on time and remained on time throughout.
-- An EXCEL workbook scoring program \vorked very well.
-- Every score sheet was reviewed against the original to catch any errors.
-- We passed out sunscreen during the event and reminded people over the PA
system to use it.
THINGS THAT DID NOT GO WELL:
Number of Workers:
I underestimated the number of people required to put this event on.
Dry Run Needed:
We did not dry run our Concours setup before the Convention. While we started
setting up very early in the morning, we found a few problems which had to be
resolved the morning of the event. These problems could have been resolved at a
dry run.
Concours Display Area Parking:
Lack of parking spaces did not allow us to block off the Concours area the night
before. As a result, we had to round up many people to get them to move their
cars the morning of the Concours. I recommend that you find a way to either
allow only Concours participants to park in the area the night before, or else
totally block it off.
Lack of Manpower to Help Park Cars:
This turned out to be a much larger job than I had anticipated . At least three
people are needed with a map showing where each type of vehicle was to park. We
parked all the early opens together, early closed together, and so on and that
took a lot of coordination.
Managing Score Sheets:
With a moving event, each score sheet is removed from the package when that unit
is judged. This makes for a huge amount of paper to be collected and accounted
for. I recommend you assign one person whose only job is to collect and keep
track of the score sheets.
Entering Data:
I entered all the scores myself. I'm not a very accurate ten-key typist and as a
result many corrections were required when we compared the computer score sheets
to the originals. These all had to be corrected before the scores were turned in
for trophies and publication. I recommend you allow for time and people to enter
the scores and then compare score sheets against the originals.
What Goes on the Paperwork, and Who Gets it:
I did not realize all score sheets needed to be turned in to the national
Concours Chairman a the end of the Convention. I did not put all the information
on the computer-generated sheet, making it necessary to transfer all the scores
back to the originals. Doing this, I transposed some numbers, requiring more
time to fix.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCORING
Dennis Pleau
EXCEL spread sheets were used to score the Concours, Rally and Autocross. This
greatly simplified data tracking, eliminated math errors and allowed the results
to be sorted by class, score, division, etc. within a matter of seconds.
The Concours and Rally spreadsheets were prepared in advance. Each
contestant had his/her own worksheet page to enter the data from the
event. These worksheets had formulas to perform all the required
calculations. When entering scores only the raw values were entered and
EXCEL did any math required.
An example of what EXCEL did is: After the Rally, mileage for each
picture was entered into the spread sheet, which then calculated the miles
based on the participant's odometer, multiplied that by the odometer
correction factor (which it had already calculated based on the
participant's starting and ending mileage to come up with the corrected
mileage). The corrected mileage was then subtracted from the actual
mileage to give the delta mileage. Another formula then converted the
delta mileage to points at the rate of 1 point for each 1/100
mile, but if the total was greater than a half mile it only assigned 50
points. While this may sound complicated it was actually very easy.
The totals and important information from all the individual pages were
linked to the totals worksheet.
For the Concours the information transferred to the totals page was,
Entry number; Participant's name; Division; Class; Year; Model; Body
Style; Total Score. A couple of things that were not transferred, but
after the fact I think would have made life easier for us, was the color
and serial number of the vehicle.
For the Rally the information transferred was, Entry number; Division;
Driver's name; Navigator's name; total score.
As I mentioned earlier, these workbooks were assembled in advance. As
pre-registrations came in, as much information as possible was entered
into the individual worksheets. The tab on the bottom of the worksheet
was then changed to the participant's number which made it easy to locate
the proper participant's worksheet.
For the Autocross one worksheet was used. This worksheet had columns
for the participant's name, number, class, time for all four runs and in
the last column a formula to calculate the lowest time from the four run
times. After all the times were entered, the worksheet was sorted by
class, then lowest time. After the times were entered the results were
known with the pressing of a mouse button. One thing we did not do, but
I would recommend if someone has a laptop computer, would be to enter the
data as the Autocross is actually being run. Since the Autocross is held
on Saturday just before the banquet, the earlier the scores are available
the happier your trophy chairman will be.
A few things not mentioned above which I would recommend doing
differently:
Do not use the same computer for registration and event scoring. We had
not planned to do this, but the computer we had planned to use would
not run the 32-bit programs required for both the scoring and
registration. So, make sure the computers you plan to use will work!
Have someone who is an accurate 10-key data entry person do the data
entry. Many data entry errors were encountered in reviewing the
spreadsheets. All data need to be compared to the original score
sheets before the trophies are assigned.
Spread out the work.
Assume at least a 20% or more on-site registration for each event and be
prepared. While it is easy to create worksheets once the master is done,
and while it is not difficult to link the data to the totals sheet, it
does take time which will be in very short supply during the Convention.
Copies of these spreadsheets are available as well as help modifying them
for your particular Convention. Contact: Dennis Pleau dpleau@wavecable.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXHIBITS
[ EXAMPLES MAY BE AVAILABLE. IF YOU NEED TO SEE THEM, ASK YOUR EDITOR. ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Jim Pittman === June 2009
CAR RAFFLE
The car raffle was vitally important to us as a source of early seed money. If
you want to raffle a car, you have to get a suitable car, buy or get donated
parts, and recruit a competent and willing restoration crew. This may not be
easy. In my opinion, there should have been a smaller limit on the number of
tickets sold per person per day -- maybe ten? I personally don't think a "rich"
CORSA member should be able to totally ace out a "poor" CORSA member just by
being able to buy large numbers of tickets. Also, this limit should be clearly
stated up front.
AWARDS AT THE BANQUET
A general problem was, names were often called while the previous person was
still moving toward the front. This resulted in two or three instances where
first-place winners got virtually no applause or recognition from the audience.
The classes should have been explained. Possibly the participants knew what each
class was (some of them may not have known) but for everybody else, it would
have been a lot more interesting had we known just what category the winners
were competing in.
Would it work better if each chairperson called out all the names, then when all
winners are up at the front, the chairperson announces each winner starting with
Fifth, Fourth, Third, Second and finally First. Then applause.
CHUCKWAGON
How do you know which activity is going to be popular, resulting in a waiting
list? Maybe you need a contingency plan for all events in case any are too
popular or rained out or whatever. Our waiting list scheme was a mystery to many
and was perceived as unfair by some of those who didn't get to buy tickets. We
needed a clear and well-publicized method for handling the waiting list.
AUTOCROSS
We were fortunate in having a suitable parking lot so close to the convention
hotel, and having an experienced crew to run it. We would not have had a prayer
at putting on the autocross without the SCCA. We should have given them public
credit in the program and at the banquet.
GENERAL
We were fortunate to have a chairperson who was able to devote the time and
attention necessary to organize everything and stay on top of almost everything
throughout the convention. But I think we were dangerously short of backup
personnel if any true disasters had taken her away from any extended period of
time. More of the routine work load could be shifted from the convention
chairperson. It is difficult to try to locate one person for many questions that
could possibly be answered by someone else. It may be a good idea to have the
registration chairperson do more pre-registration work to free up more of the
convention chairperson's time.
INFORMATION CENTER
A separate table/booth should be set up for answering questions, giving
directions, etc. It could be manned by one person at a time; someone should be
on duty during most of the active convention hours. This should include a lost
and found area with a good size bulletin board and an enlarged map of the
on-site facilities and how to access them. Extra copies of both maps of the
convention area and local maps should be available for convention goers.
Suggestions for good places to eat and shop should be highlighted.
It could be located near or in the same area as registration. But the
registration people shouldn't have to be interrupted, especially when they are
so busy collecting critical registration data. This booth should have access to
a telephone and could be referred to as the Information Center.
In addition to our restaurant guide, we could have more everyday information
such as the locations the nearest grocery store, film developing facility,
department stores, etc.
PARTIAL LIST OF COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS
TROPHIES Larry Blair
CAR DISPLAY / CONCOURS Dennis Pleau / Tarmo Sutt
TREASURER Bill Reider
AUTOCROSS Mike Stickler / Jon Anderson
REGISTRATION Debbie Pleau / Jim & Heula Pittman
BANQUET Brenda Stickler / Anne Mae Gold
DOOR PRIZES / RAFFLE Dennis Pleau
SWAP MEET / VENDORS LeRoy Rogers
ECONORUN Sylvan Zuercher
ADVERTISING Milton Sanchez / Dennis Pleau
TRIVIA CONTEST Diane Galli
PHOTOGRAPHY / AUDIOVISUAL Mark Domzalski
SECRETARY Chuck Vertrees
MODEL CAR CONCOURS LeRoy Rogers / Tarmo Sutt
PROGRAM Bill Reider
TOURS Kay Sutt / Ollie Scheflow
SPECIAL EVENTS Kim Patten
FUNKHANA -
HOSPITALITY ROOM -
PUBLICITY Del Patten
RALLY Chuck Vertrees
CHILD CARE Rita Gongora
POSTERS & SIGNS Steve Randock
EDWARD N. COLE AWARD -
GREETERS Francis Boydston / Bill McClellan
TECH SESSIONS Steve Gongora
PARAPHERNALIA Del Patten
VENDERS Debbie Pleau
COOKBOOK Debbie Pleau
RAFFLE CAR 1965 MONZA Wendell Walker
Many others worked on the convention over two and a half years, including:
Lee Reider
Emma Rogers
Julia Vertrees
Joel Nash
Will, Satchi & Michi Davis
Bob Beasley
Sylvia, Rachel & Jerry Goffe
Dave Huntoon
Ilva Walker
John McMahan
Terry Price
Mary Alice Scheflow
Clayborne Souza
Mary Lou & Mark Martinek
Hurley Wilvert
Elizabeth Domzalski
Bob Slusher
Fran Hewitt
John Throne
Lynn Plagge
... and ...
Several Tri-State friends who worked the Hospitality Suite.