Thread: Convention Cancelled

Folks, are we interested in forming a committee for the convention? If one is already formed, I must have missed the thread...I wold love to help out!

Let me know...post or PM.

Greg

Originally Posted by WireBeard

Folks, are we interested in forming a committee for the convention? If one is already formed, I must have missed the thread...I wold love to help out!

Let me know...post or PM.

Greg

Yes! Yes!.....let's have a committee. I want to help any way I can. But my very first thought....is how do we decide who is on the committee?

Recently a position was open for the advisory board at the Tamarack. I was nominated by one of my peers for the seat. But I still had to apply by listing a short bio of why I thought I would be a good candidate. Then..... that was put forth on the table, and my peers voted yet once again; Sad to say, I was nixed...... as two other nominees where also up for the position, so of the three, that individual received the seat. Which is how it should be, she had 15 years experience in the arts/business arena.

So I'm not suggesting anything as complicated as the above....but people who are on the committee need to be contributing members, so I would like to suggest that first we begin with the basics.

How large should the committee be...?

10 to 12 seats is my vote, and there could always be additional volunteer seats

Greg, you seem to have excellent ideas about what needs to done, I would nominate you for a seat on the committee....

So Gentlemen let's begin......it's already September. How large should the committee be? How many seats? ......and I nominate myself to ask questions

Soapmistress

I attend a lot of pen shows and have been to many different venues.
We used to have the South Florida Pen and Knife Show at the Embassy Suites in Fort Lauderdale. If there's interest, I can help coordinate the logistics there, just let me know. South Florida is well served by many airlines and there's plenty of accommodations at all price levels.
I would be glad to make the arrangements, if there's an indication that attendance by dealers and sellers would be good.
Just let me know.

Just my 2 cents:

Try Las Vegas. It's the most accommodating convention city in America. I should think it would be comparatively easy to find the proper venue and reasonably-priced accommodations, especially if joining up with the gun, knife and doll people. As long as the convention is in a central location, folks could make their own lodging arrangments with one of dozens of really nice hotels. Spouses could attend, knowing that there are a many other attractions more interesting to them than a straight razor convention. The weather is also a bit more predictable during fall and winter. The only drawback is that members who might have gambling problems (probably a small percentage) might be hesitant to attend.

Chairperson (proctors meeting and is responsible to SRP members for posing info)
Vice-Chairperson (in case the Chairperson has a shaving accident or is hit by a bus)
Finance and Audit - 1 person to track reservation payments, donations from the vendors, disbursement of funds to site. Provides accounting reports to the Committee and SRP membership. (Excel is your friend.....)
Media/Press - 2 people - both generate press releases. 1 to work with media outlets; 1 to produce and manage printed materials
Vendors - 2 people: 1for those attending, 1 for donations for prizes, drawings
Site/Co-location Coordination 2 people: 1 for actual site/co-location; 1 for research into permits, tax requirements, etc.
Membership Liaison - 1 person: respond to FAQs
Activities (demos, drawings, lunch, etc.) - 2 people: 1 to coordinate with presenters; 1 to schedule
Transportation - 1 person: generate list of hotel options; work with site to ensure shuttles or courtesy cars are available for folks bringing tons of stuff (vendors), international arrivals, etc.



Greg

Originally Posted by WireBeard

Chairperson (proctors meeting and is responsible to SRP members for posing info)
Vice-Chairperson (in case the Chairperson has a shaving accident or is hit by a bus)
Finance and Audit - 1 person to track reservation payments, donations from the vendors, disbursement of funds to site. Provides accounting reports to the Committee and SRP membership. (Excel is your friend.....)
Media/Press - 2 people - both generate press releases. 1 to work with media outlets; 1 to produce and manage printed materials
Vendors - 2 people: 1for those attending, 1 for donations for prizes, drawings
Site/Co-location Coordination 2 people: 1 for actual site/co-location; 1 for research into permits, tax requirements, etc.
Membership Liaison - 1 person: respond to FAQs
Activities (demos, drawings, lunch, etc.) - 2 people: 1 to coordinate with presenters; 1 to schedule
Transportation - 1 person: generate list of hotel options; work with site to ensure shuttles or courtesy cars are available for folks bringing tons of stuff (vendors), international arrivals, etc.



Greg

Now THAT is a beginning! You obviously have some experience in this, and while I have none.....looking at the list I see that each step has been thought out from beginning to end.

Should people cast their votes here for positions open? I'll go out on a limb here and say I think I would be best suited for the Media/Press position.

I think its a good idea to say why I think so, ( that short bio thing ) but haven't had my morning coffee yet.....and I think too, I'd like to hear what some other folks have to say.

Greg, my hat is certainly off to you! or perhaps a curtsy would be in order....lol.... All it takes is a beginning, and then following thru. I'm excited, I think we can really do this.

XXWarm Regards, Colleen

ps.... Greg, I am already seeing you in the position of Chairperson, or Vice-Chairperson

Ahhh...the wisdom of not doing anything too involved before morning coffee....

I want to see what responses are posted. As for media/press, I think that would be a nice fit, given the presentation I see for your products....good basic marketing. Also, you might be a good fit for contacting vendors (being one yourself).

I forgot to add another task for the person who is doing membership: Registration. This would make sure all attendees are accounted for, any freebies are handed out, and walk-ups are registered. Also, any no shows would be accounted for and any refunds (if applicable) could be disbursed.



Greg

Originally Posted by WireBeard

Ahhh...the wisdom of not doing anything too involved before morning coffee....

I want to see what responses are posted. As for media/press, I think that would be a nice fit, given the presentation I see for your products....good basic marketing. Also, you might be a good fit for contacting vendors (being one yourself).

I forgot to add another task for the person who is doing membership: Registration. This would make sure all attendees are accounted for, any freebies are handed out, and walk-ups are registered. Also, any no shows would be accounted for and any refunds (if applicable) could be disbursed.



Greg

Why yes.......morning coffee and waiting to see what others will say is important...

Soooooo.....has anyone else finished their coffee?

Soapmistress

I haven't finished my coffee yet, but I'm working on it .

One thing that the committee will ultimately have to do is forecast what attendance might be. Without that the committee won't know whether they need a venue the size of the back table at Cheers (the bar) or the large hall at McCormick Place (the convention hall).

Obviously, attendance will strongly correlate to the cost of attending... people will come if they can afford it. But, we don't have a good model of the financial resources of our membership... hence, there's no way to predict how many could afford to attend at various cost levels.

So, a poll was started Saturday to try to nail that down. We should encourage everyone to vote their feelings in the "Will you attend the Convention if it Costs you $X?" thread.

Basically, it asks if you would attend the convention if it cost you:

1. <$150,
2. 150-300,
3. 300-600,
4. 600-1000,
5. 1000-1500, or
6. >1500.

So far, there haven't been many voters... that could be taken as an indication that not many people are seriously interested no matter what it costs??? Hopefully, it's just that they haven't seen the poll yet.

To reiterate the message of this thread... the convention originally planned for Oct. 2007 has been canceled.

WireBeard has opened a thread "Convention Planning and Suggestions..." for further discussion of planning activities for a future convention.

Hence, I'm going to close this thread and remove it's "sticky" quality.