Re: RC: Reno forever?

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

I've gotta weigh in on this one...

First, I'm from the NW, and I've been to both the Atlanta convention and the 
Lexington convention.  I know this is heresy in this sport, but I've never 
been fond of Reno, even though it is an easy drive for us (about 7 hours).  
Just want to make the following observations:

1)  Weather:  The snow storm in Atlanta was such a fluke that it was even 
named The Snow Storm of the Century.  (Hardly a reason to rule out the 
place.)  And for those of you with LONG memories, do you remember the year 
that AERC almost had to cancel in Reno because of flooding?  Well, stuff like 
that can happen anywhere, and is not a valid excuse, in my book, unless one 
picks a place where the weather is bad most of the time.  So scratch weather 
as a reason.  (And Joe, you're right--Denver is hardly ever closed--the 
reasons for not going there do not include the weather.)

2)  Attendance:  Somebody said that West folks outnumbered East folks, even 
at the eastern convention.  When we started doing this little shuffle, about 
3/4 of our members were from the Western half of the country, so it stands to 
reason that there might still be more Westerners than Easterners at a 
convention, no matter WHERE it is, simply because we outnumber 'em!  But that 
ratio was what caused the decision to hold the convention in the Eastern part 
of the country 1 year out of 4.  Which goes back to serving the membership, 
and that 1/4 of them that live "back there."  Even those of us that would go 
just about anywhere for convention thought it was a lot of fun to see some 
new faces of folks who CAN'T make it out West, and who were enjoying the heck 
out of being able to at least go to convention one year in four!  Overall, 
attendance was pretty good--other than for the folks who had intended to come 
to Atlanta, had rooms reserved, and couldn't get there.

3)  Trade show:  Both Eastern events had great trade shows.  The one at 
Lexington was packed with exhibitors.  The one comment I heard over and over 
from folks who happened in was that they had no IDEA that there was anything 
like this going on in town and had literally just stumbled into it.  Here we 
were, in one of the horsiest areas of the country, and AERC had not 
advertised locally!  BIG mistake.  Should have been chalked up in the "live 
and learn" column, not in the "cancel Eastern conventions" column.  Here we 
had a great opportunity to promote our sport--which is at least PART of the 
mission of AERC--and we missed out.  But why pass up the opportunity now that 
we know we blew it?  And how many folks leave the slots in Reno to come check 
us out?  Darn few.  So an Eastern convention may pay us back in more subtle 
ways than just the immediate balance sheet.

4)  Advance planning:  YES, whoever said that conventions need to be planned 
more like 10 years ahead, instead of 5--you are right.  But we voted in this 
rotation, so why aren't those places and dates booked?  Somebody dropped the 
ball here.  And don't tell me that we need to be in the same place--almost 
every national organization for which I attend conventions moves EVERY year 
so that they get rotated fairly around the country.  They book WAY in 
advance, and every year you can look in your little schedule and see the 
dates for the next 10 or so years.  This sort of planning should be in the 
job description of our Exec, if it isn't already.  Serving the membership is 
what they're paid for.  Or, as Teddy points out, hiring a professional to 
organize it might be cost effective, if the professional can bring in more 
extra income from it than it costs to hire the person.

5)  The Office:  The cost of flying the office vs. just driving over the hill 
to Reno IS an increased cost of the convention, but really, should be a 
relatively small part of the overall cost.  In the interest of serving the 
membership and rotating the location, this cost should really be spread over 
the whole 4-year cycle.  And what happens the first time Donner Pass is 
closed on "our" weekend and they can't make it to Reno?  We fly them at the 
last minute anyway, most likely.  And so far, folks, we've been lucky, 
because that CAN happen--better odds for that, most likely, than for another 
Snow Storm of the Century in Atlanta...

Heidi