Thread: Convention Cancelled

Well, shoot, that's too bad... And even though I probably couldn't attend because of a short financial leash, it's pretty clear that this is an idea whose time has almost arrived, and that the convention will eventually happen. But based on my experience with a million-dollar summer guest season, I'd say the planning alone could wind up being a nearly-full-time job for someone in the months leading up to the event. Further, I'd suggest that all attendees be asked for an advance deposit that's only partially refundable, with a pretty strict cancellation policy. Otherwise, it's too easy for someone's rear end to wind up hanging out in the breeze.

-denis

Oh myyyyyyy!

Well, I just so happened to be out and about and saw the post regarding the convention. I must confess that I was bringing up the rear in regards to funds for the trip, but nonetheless would have been there.

I am very sorry to hear that the convention has been cancelled.

...and yes it is true that these things take a HUGE amount of planning. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to find arrangements suitable for both vendors and attendees.

I would be happy to throw my hat in the ring for a committee volunteer...

Lets see......We have a convention center here in Beckley, it is located at the Tamarack. www.tamarackwv.com ( go to the bottom of the page and click on Conference Center) and West Virginia IS a beautiful state and we do have hotels too.... but for activities....I'm afraid you need to be the outdoorsy type...we have hiking, camping, river rafting, horseback riding, and of course early in the spring we have TURKEY hunting, and y'all know I can do a killer turkey call now

BUT what I'm thinking is, large groups of people have conventions all the time at the Tamarack. I could find out thru administration who handles these things and HOW they go about organizing such an event. Perhaps there would be some helpful information that we could use.

Lynn are you heading the Committee ?? Just point me in the right direction and I'll do whatever I can to help.

Kind Regards, Colleen

anything worth having doesn't come easy....we can do this, I know we can.

I hate to here this I was planning on coming over for Saturday, not staying the nigh though.

If you want a location suggestion I would suggest Cincinnati, Columbus or Toledo. All centrally located in the US, all less than expensive compared to the big cities.

Sorry to hear this! I had located a Motel 6 by the airport for $66/nite and had been seriously planning to attend.

I had no idea that the hotels are such holdup artists with room guarantees and high rental fees for meeting rooms!

I want to say thank you to all who worked on this. Your efforts are much appreciated!

If we have a meeting next spring/summer then I will be there as both a vendor of vintage & custom razors and a demonstrator for honing. Lets try to keep the cost down since a lot of us are on very limited budgets. The $199 fee was simply far to expensive for me. The maximum table fee I would be willing to pay is $100. Most of the local/regional gun and knife shows around here charge $20-$40/table.
Perhaps we could have our convention within an established Gun&Knife show? It would have a heck of a lot of traffic and very low costs for vendor tables. Believe me, the gun and knife guys find straight razors fascinating!

Just my two cents,

I certainly agree that keeping the cost down is important to many of us. Since we're a worldwide community, regardless of where you choose to hold it, the majority of our members and vendors will have to fly there. Thus, the cost of the airline ticket will usually swamp the cost of the hotel, so I believe the best city choice will turn out to be one whose airport is served by multiple (major) carriers (ie, lots of competition will push fares lower). So even though hotels and meeting rooms in BFE might be low, airfare to get there might be much more expensive. Flying to Chicago for me was going to be about a $550 proposition... Beckley, WV, for example, would be almost $1000.

It might also help if the date is "off season" with regard to tourism and sports events in the chosen city... both airfare and hotels should be cheaper. I know Phoenix or Houston in July/August is intolerable, or Minneapolis in January. But we'll be inside at the convention, so does it really matter how hot/cold it is outside? I've been to plenty of trade shows under these conditions... I figure if it works for companies it might work for us?

It may also be worth looking at holding it mid-week (I believe air fares are lower on Tues, Wed, Thurs, Saturday evening/Sunday morning).

I like the idea of teaming up with a knife show, but we'd have to make sure they were "friendly" to our needs.

I'm pretty much open guys. I was thinking that if we just could find a facility for the convention or show itself, along with the knife guys would be great too, we could then just do our own hotels and work out the details of the get together.

Thanks for your understanding and we will get this thing going!!!!

Lynn

Originally Posted by azjoe

I certainly agree that keeping the cost down is important to many of us. Since we're a worldwide community, regardless of where you choose to hold it, the majority of our members and vendors will have to fly there. Thus, the cost of the airline ticket will usually swamp the cost of the hotel, so I believe the best city choice will turn out to be one whose airport is served by multiple (major) carriers (ie, lots of competition will push fares lower). So even though hotels and meeting rooms in BFE might be low, airfare to get there might be much more expensive. Flying to Chicago for me was going to be about a $550 proposition... Beckley, WV, for example, would be almost $1000.

Since we have the new 5th runway Atlanta's looking better and better

It might also help if the date is "off season" with regard to tourism and sports events in the chosen city... both airfare and hotels should be cheaper. I know Phoenix or Houston in July/August is intolerable, or Minneapolis in January. But we'll be inside at the convention, so does it really matter how hot/cold it is outside? I've been to plenty of trade shows under these conditions... I figure if it works for companies it might work for us?

I'd advise against anywhere north in winter. I don't mind cold but there are transportation issues to consider. I wouldn't want to have to be out and about here with the heat we've been having this past week either.

It may also be worth looking at holding it mid-week (I believe air fares are lower on Tues, Wed, Thurs, Saturday evening/Sunday morning).

I would strongly advise against this. The airfares being lower during the week would be partially offset by lower hotel rates on the weekend. I'm not sure what the median income level is here on the group but I'd imagine that most folks would come out better working and paying a bit more for the flight to attend on the weekend.

I like the idea of teaming up with a knife show, but we'd have to make sure they were "friendly" to our needs.

I think having it in conjunction with a knife show is a great idea. Good group to recruit new members, as well as the crossover interest of many of our current ones.

Sorry to hear about the cancellation of it. I was planning on making the way down there.

Hey why not have it in the Great White North eh?
Hit up a place in Toronto or a bit outside of it, then it will be a nice trip and people cans ee the Falls

I agree with WireBeard that we need to start planning now if we want a convention to be held sometime in the spring or early summer. Big events need adaquet amounts of prep time. Vendors need enough time to prepare what they want to have at the convention. People who want to have demos need to have time to reherse, and they need to be organized. Depending on how you want to do the demos, you can either have them all queued or they can have their own stations and people can walk around to each demo.

To get a rough idea of who will be able to make it, pick a date and location and see if it's somewhere, and sometime, agreeable to people's schedule. This would be something they won't have to commit to. That way it's flexible and you can change the date to something more agreeable. When you've finalized the date and location, see who can actually commit to it and who is interested in attending, but don't know if they can make it.

You'll need one hotel liaison, and nobody else can contact the hotel except this person. This will help reduce confusion if any occurred. I'm not sure if this is possible, but people would make hotel reservations through the liaison instead of directly to the hotel. Again, this reduces confusion, but will also give us a head count. People will just have to book their own travel arrangements.

Randydance062449 raises a good point. We could do it with the Gun&Knife group, which would cut down on the workload significantly, plus with a larger group it may be more economical.

I think a combo of all these ideas would give the convention a boost towards success:

1. Schedule/share a venue with a Gun/Knife show (we'll have the sharpest blades there anyway). Anyone an enthusiast? (I try to steer clear of those events....at least with a checkbook or credit card within reach). We could have a separate area for our demos and vendors.

2. Attendees do their own hotels. That way, you can choose. Also, if you belong to a member program, you can make sure you get points for the stay.

3. Up front registration fee with only a partial- refund after a certain date (usually once the space is booked).

4. Vendors - demos, sales, new products. We would also need to let them know the venue, in case they have an issue. (You never know....). Flat fee per table.

5. Advertising. In concert with the Gun/Knife Show? Also in the same venues as I mentioned in my previous post.

6. A new idea - on-site SRP registration. "Step up and sign up! It's free!" We would have to have a laptop, LAN, and someone to monitor /assist.

7. Arrangement with the site for support for demos. Not much of an issue unless there will be shaving demos, then hot water, linens, good lighting.

8. Assistance for any overseas members (airport meet, etc.)

Comments? Other ideas?

So, who is going to be the committee?

Greg