Gotta agree with you.

 

Minzilla,

I liked the Skyway drive. I loved MotD. I am sorry if you took my post as criticism. It was not intended as such. Please accept my apologies.

Phil Anderson

 

Rawrats,,,,,,well said!

Phil Anderson, apology accepted, I believe that your intentions are good, but,,,,,,,,,there has been a tremendous effort on a lot of peoples' parts to bring the MOTD to what it is today, and for first timers and even no timers to bash at and criticize those efforts or those results is unacceptable to me,,,,"nuff said, OK":smile: ( I will buy you a beer in 2006)

I am sorry that my "anger" may have stifled what is for the most part a good thread, there are a lot of good suggestions made here and I am sure that future organizers appreciate all of your constructive comments,

As has been the original thrust this was intended to be a lightly and loosely structured event, maybe the expectations were raised too high for those who choose now to voice their disappointment, but again, all of this can be improved upon, it can be made better, and I believe that this year was better than last year in all respects, and I know that 2006 will be even better, that's our nature to improve.

But again I emphasize, be constructive, quit complaining, and volunteer your thoughts and solutions in a kind and positive manner,,,,,,,Oh yeah, and volunteer youself in some way to help the community for next years event, and if someone complains,,,,well

In fact someone other than Minzilla will need to organize the Skyway drive next year, ,,,Oh yeah and bring a big pot of Chili(and don't burn it!) I'll be driving and socializing

 

I thought our fearless leader did a great job on the Skyway run

 

Right on, baby! You and I will be out tearing it up in our MINIs....for once!

And I don't know about Minzi, but I personally spent TEN MONTHS working on the Welcome Dinner, so whovous, it is NOT too early to volunteer to help with MOTD-2006. And I'll bring you a six-pack! Tee hee!

Clover

 

My only question is...Who should we notify about planning for next year's event? God willing, I will be there. Our reservations are made. I don't know how large our little group from St Louis will be but I have a year to work on it I'm the Events Coordinator for STLMINI so I'm officially stepping up to the plate. I just need to figure out the logistics of what we can plan from the midwest. I can't speak for everyone from our group but the majority of us had a GREAT time

Lois

 

PM Mark Ferguson, mferguson, and let him know you want to be involved, Lo. He'll take care of the details. Thanks for volunteering! We need you!


Clover

 

Ahh, now you get to my only real complaint about the Dragon. I failed to bring any beer!

That problem resolved, where do I sign up? I think the idea of recruiting/co-ordinating "Mini volunteers" (i.e., people who agree to do a stint of two or fewer hours in a time block of their choosing) is a good one. Do I just unilaterally appoint myself to the post, or what?

 

I blame it all on lack of beer...

Minzilla, please look again at my original note. I have tried very hard to keep all of this in a constructive vein and to avoid sounding like I was criticizing anyone.

If I thought MotD was a bad event, or a poorly run event, you would never have heard from me. I would have simply left and never returned. I don't like to complain just for the sport of it as some people do.

I do worry about what size can do to any event or any organization. And I am convinced that MotD is going to get a lot bigger. It is just too cool to avoid that happening.

Enjoy your driving at next year's Dragon. You've earned it and I haven't.

Phil Anderson

 

Phil,

You could have purchased beer at Tapoco Lodge. They have a little package store that sells a very nice selection of beers and wines, and are the only local to the Dragon establishment that does so! Something do to with a horseshoe-tossing court and loopholes....

Or, if you had attended the Cigar Sampling Salon, welshmenwillnotyield had TWO gallons of delicious sangria he personally whipped up for the occasion!

As I suggested to Lois (LouieFromStLou) above, send Mark Ferguson a Private Message to mferguson, here on NAM. You may also send him an email at mferguson@northamericanmotoring.com.

Thanks for caring!

Clover

 

As an aside for next year, Fontana expects to have a full service bar open in time for next year's event.

Part of the planned renovation for the lodge over the next year is a large deck along the back expected to seat 150, renovated lobby, a complete renovation of The Peppercorn Restaurant including the menu, and a martini bar .

From the way it was described to me, it sounds like the lodge will be going a bit upscale...

 

it would be really cool if Fontana, realizing that a good slice of it's customer base is from car clubs, offered some planning assistance to groups -!!

sometimes facilities as large as Fontana will employ an event planner as a perk...

 

Actually John Bunch is the Group Sales Manger for the Fontana. His assistance in putting the weekend together was crucial to the success of the event.

We are the largest group Fontana has hosted, and filled the resort faster than any other group. The only group they have that comes close is a group of cloggers who come out much later in the year...

They actually work with several other car clubs, John was very helpfull in telling us how the Spyder's, Z cars etc... handle their event in the area. According to him, we're the best organized.

 

go COTD '05 (Cloggers On The Dragon)

 

I wonder what kind of party cabin the cloggers have?

Imagine trying to explain to the new investers that their biggest two sources of income will be MINIs and cloggers...

 

I think if you mix the two then you really get something special

(ok, somebody needs to photoshop some cloggers coming around a twisty like a killboy shot )

 

with a trail of wood slivers from their clogs in lieu of skidmarks

 

ROTFLMAO - If you aren't a true hillbilly (like me) guess you'd think the "cloggers" wear wooden glogs! They'd actually be throwing sparks like some of the bikers!

 

OK, well it would have been funny if I'd had a clue of what I was talking about. Never let reality stand in the way of a good joke. A friend of mine back in Illinois was a serious clogger. Guess we know just how close I got to the stage...

 

I wonder if there are any 'clog mods' going on at that event?

I guess a 'stumble' is to be expected now and then too!

 

Carbon fiber soles with titanium taps.

 

What if those of us interested in certain vendors attending motd2006 could email those vendors and let them know we want them to be there?

 

[QUOTE=whovous] 10. One idea is for the organizers to come up with a wish list for next year, and for Mini clubs around the country to volunteer to take on one or more wishes from that list. This is already being done with things like dinner organizing, I realize, but I think it could be taken still further.

Sorry i didn't know how to get this all on one post but that's ok it'll help my post count right, clo!

I like the idea or clubs volunteering to take on part of an event and i would love to help in anyway i can and i'm sure other member of the mid-south miniacs would like to help as well

 

The event has always been open for clubs to step up and put an event together. But you have to realize that it is extremely difficult to put together a drive when you're several hundred miles away from where the drive will take place.

Looking at maps will only get you so far, but to organize a truely successful drive you need to drive the route at least once making sure you as the organizer are familiar with it, that it can handle the volume of cars expected, what if any hazards there are on the road, if the rest areas can handle the number of cars expected etc... That's something that's difficult to do if you're not down in the area.

From what I hear Minzilla did an excellent job putting his run together from a long distance, but one of the reasons why it worked is because he was familiar with that route and had driven it before.

It's because of that challenge that many of the clubs prefer to organize non-driving events like dinners and the panoramic photo. Plus getting clubs involved this past year wasn't an issue, and probably won't be an issue next year or at all in the future.

As for the vendors, I really don't think a letter writing campaign to the vendor of your choice is really a good idea. I think any real communication with a potential vendor really needs to come from either NAM or whomever is working with NAM to attract the vendors to the event. Otherwise the lack of a central planning and organizational structure may actually scare some vendors away.

It's probably not a big deal to say something in passing to a vendor about the event as you conduct your normal business with them, but outside of that you may actually end up doing more harm than good.

 

[QUOTE=minihoopercooper]You go, gal! LOL! And I think it wouldn't hurt to give good Dragon word-of-mouth to vendors of your choice. The more positive comments they hear about the Dragon, the more they'll want to attend.


Clover