This past weekend was my first Dragon, but it won't be my last! I had a blast.

I realize that folks have already begun planning for next year, and confess I was not one of them. Still, I think it would be a good idea to have a place where we can discuss what we would like to see next year. Most of what I have to say will probably be taken as criticism, and I am sorry for that, as even the worst events were great times.

I invite others to offer CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions and ideas as well. Here are a few of mine.

1. This event is only going to get bigger every year. We've already filled Fontana, and next year there will probably be no room at all for interlopers on cycles or in Corvettes. Soon, reserving a year in advance will be the only way to be sure to get a cabin!

2. More size means more problems. I think the single biggest change I would like to see would be to have events run in stages, rather than being scheduled all at once. I AM NOT TRYING TO CRITICIZE ANYONE HERE FOR NOT ADAPTING TO HOW BIG THIS THING IS GETTING.

3. Take the Cherohala Skyway Drive. I am not trying to single it out. I choose it because it is an easy example to discuss. When this was first mentioned on this board, it looked to me like there might be 20-30 cars participating in a leisurely event. While I do not know what the final number was, I know I was #141 to register. I was in Group Three, and even with our bonus tour of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest (how many of you knew Joyce was a he?), we caught up with Group Two way too many times. The first time, we had 40 cars with full bladders blocking one lane of a two lane highway waiting for Group Two to finish taking photos before making their leisurely departure from the rest area. Later, we completely blocked the road leading to that beautiful waterfall, enraging a whole lot of non-Mini drivers.

The drive was described as being 120 miles long. We arrived around 915am for what we were told was to be a "prompt departure at 930am." That afternoon, my wife and I departed The Bistro ahead of at least some of Group Three and got back to Fontana at about 345pm. If I had known this was going to be a 6.5 hour excursion, I probably would have chosen a do-it-yourself drive instead.

Hindsight is always 20-20. Knowing what I know now, I would have limited each group to no more than 25 cars, and I would have launched each group 45-60 minutes apart. I would have had people choose their departure time at sign-up, and closed out departures when the 25 car maximum was reached. Some folks are early risers and could depart as early as 730am, with more to follow at regular intervals.

4. I did not attend the Welcome or Farewell dinners, but from what some others have said, it looks like they were not gourmet feasts. It also looks like they were the very best that could be had in the area. I wonder if there was anything else that could have been done on this score.

5. I did attend the Chili cookoff, and I think it was a great event. It needed a functioning PA system from the beginning for announcements, but otherwise I thought it was relaxing and wonderful. It should be kept pretty much as-is for next year.

6. Commercialization. The first Dragon saw about 60 people. The next could easily have 6-800! There may come a point when this whole thing gets so big that there is no choice other than to "go professional" and hire some paid staffers to conduct the event. Do we want that to happen? Just how far can volunteers be expected to go with this?

7. Vendors. This was my biggest area of disappointment. I came prepared to spend money on a lot more than t-shirts and decals. The vendor list for the event seemed to me to be a lot longer than the list of products offered. Obviously, this is a business decision for those involved. Is there something that could be done to encourage more vendors to make the trip with more product?

8. Pulley Parties. This was the one area where vendors had something to offer, though they did not advertise very well. I had Waylon install a 15% Alta pulley that makes a huge difference to the performance of my MCS.

I think it would be nice to see more services more clearly offered. Signs by the "cabanas" might have been a nice start. In addition to pulleys and cold air intakes, I think someone offering to install Green Stuff pads or any brake pad that is cleaner than the stock pads would have done well there.

As a white wheel owner, I would have liked to have seen someone offering to rotate tires and clean the BACKS of those wheels. It seems like there should have been numerous opportunities along those lines.

9. Thanks to the Philly Mini club for creating a car wash area. Would it be possible to have more than one area next year?

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.

This whole thing sounds more negative than I want it to, so I am going to stop here. We have a great thing going with MOTD. How can we build on what we have without losing what is already great about it?

Phil Anderson

 

Phil, personally I think you've brought up some valid points. I also appreciate your purposeful steering away from negative comments. With each event, more is learned, so that subsequent events will just get better. Thanks for your input.

 

Phil, thanks for your comments and for wording them so it didn't sound like you were attacking anyone or group. This event is going to get bigger and will take more and more planning and time each year.

 

I agree with ya on a lot of the points the biggest bieng sut the size of group for next year. Lord knows i'llbe there and hpely with a few more of us Philly MINIACS!!

Just wantd to clarify and give credit where credit is due. THE FONTANA provided us with the hose, bucket, and all the clean towels and rags we could use!!!!

On be half of Philly MINI I picked up some car wash soap (so we wouldn't have to use the dish soap) a wash mit and the california blade for all to use. All thanks for the wash bay should be give the Fontana Resort for all there help in helping us keep our little ones clean.

MOTOR ON!
MIke
See ya at the Dragon in 06

 

It occurs to me that many folks have/had the wrong expectations for MOTD. The event is a grassroots, all-volunteer effort. It is a drive and socialize event held in a very rural area of the NC/TN mountains. There is no infrastructure there to do much more than is already being done with regard to food and gathering places. In fact, we probably approached critical mass in those regards this year so if the event gets bigger then some folks are only going to be that much more disappointed unless expectations are changed. The Miata event in the area already went through this and I understand that a gathering which at one point attracted 500 cars only had ~150 last year.

You raise some valid points regarding the driving events and we discussed them on Sunday because others said the same thing. There will probably be size limitations enforced on the organized drives and more emphasis on do-it-yourself drives with maps and routes available along with points of interest for folks to visit.

There will be a formal feedback mechanism in place shortly. Stay tuned.

 

On the vendor front, I'd like to add this. Many more vendors were approached about taking part in this year's event than actually showed up.

We spoke at length with one such vendor back in the summer about this, and he reminded us of several factors that weigh into his company's decision to attend large events like this.

The main driving force is of course $$. There is quite a bit of cost involved in packing up a selection of items and shipping (or hauling) it up to the area for every vendor. Exactly how much that cost is depends on where the vendor is coming from and how extensive a line of products and services they want to offer.

Then there's the personnel side. Meals, lodging, and incidentals need to be covered for whomever the vendor sends up to staff the event. Factor in salaries on top of this and just this section alone can cost a vendor a few hundred dollars.

All of that needs to be covered by the ability to generate sales, specificly to generate enough sales for the vendor that the trip up to the event isn't a money looser. Many vendors may have been basing their decision to attend on estimated attendance numbers from previous years, and based on those numbers may not have felt that there would be a sufficient number of people at the event to generate they sales they would need to break even... Even further affecting that decision and their break even point is the fact that it's often expected that vendors will offer their products at a discount at these events, making it even harder for them to turn the profit they need to stay in business.

This vendor made it very clear to us that unless he feels he can turn a profit by attending MOTD (or any other event for that matter) he won't be bringing his company up.

Based on the numbers of people who attended this year's event I would think it's a safe bet that a few more vendors will decide to come to MOTD 2006. What else might help a vendor decide to come next year? Probably posts like yours that express the desire for the vendors to be there and the desire of the attendees to spend money with the vendors who do choose to attend.

 

The ability to purchase, take home with you, and not pay shipping is enough of a discount for a lot of people. Being able to see and touch will influence a purchase decision also and that purchase may not take place at the event if it is a high dollar item. The vendor might loose a little money at the moment by participating but gain in the end.

 

As one who has organized one of the larger group drives, I do know that it is difficult to keep any large group of cars moving smoothly. It is a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of patience if you are going to enjoy the klown kar karavan.

Some of the scenic long distance group drives should downsize some. . . but I also think that it is fun to have a large group at times too (Dragon parade, Midnight on the Dragon, etc).

Now that you all are Dragon veterans (some several times over), you know the roads and have made friends and should do your best next year to go out on your own in smaller groups of friends.. . . .

For instance, I realized how many people were going to go on the Cherohala drive and decided that I would avoid the crowds by running the same route in reverse on my own. I rode with a small group of kars heading up the dragon. Some of us went on to have breakfast at the intersection of 128 and 72. Then my passenger and I continued on our solo Cherohala trip.
We stopped when we needed to pee or wanted to look at something and enjoyed watching all the MINI's go past us on our way up to the waterfall. All in all, we had a wonderful day of exploring on our own and motoring with friends.

 

I agree with you 100%. I also think that the goodwill a vendor has the opportunity to generate by meeting and talking with customers and potential customers would probably help their sales in the long run. I think it also gives them the opportunity to improve their image as a company in general which can be difficult to do when 90% of your business is done via the internet.

However, from our discussions with vendors they seem to be more concerned with the effect on their company over the short term and not the long term...

In the end, I don't think any less of any vendor that choose not to come... And I don't think any less of any attendee who wishes there were more vendors this year...

 

My husband suggested that we have one (or two) of those chair massage people hanging out for the week-end. I'm sure they would be plenty busy.

 

Travelling the Skyway in reverse was fun I bet!

Makes sense, and good thinking about travelling the route the opposite direction of the planned event. I was part of the Cherohala drive (group 1) and we ran into a couple of mid-sized (15 or so) groups along the way who were travelling the same direction. And having the 2nd group catch up with us a couple times really congested things.

 

My husband & I were involved in bringing vendors to a National Miata Event in St Louis last year. And what Michael is saying is so true. They want to be assured that they will make more money than what it cost for them to attend. We spent many hours calling vendors from all over the country only to have 4 or 5 show up. Perhaps we should ask those folks who want more vendors be in charge of that next year

Lois

 

Regarding bringing more vendors to the Dragon -- Mike's words ring true, as do the comments of others. If a vendor is only looking to turn a profit through sales, this might not be the event for you.

If you want to build your customer base with goodwill and access to potential future customers, then the Dragon is for you. Unless you're not a people person..:-)

Recommend that current vendors' testimony and experience regarding new sales interest and response following visits to the Dragon be made available to prospective vendors. Think this could go a long way in convincing any "fence-sitters". I can certainly appreciate the desire to break even on any business trip. IMO, this is even better than an auto show for a vendor, every attendee fits your customer profile -- MINI owner.

Goodwill and access go a long way. There are plenty of positive testimonial to the outstanding fit and finish of Doug Whalen's shifter *****, but it took a few well-timed phone calls to make me a believer. My order for a new (7-ball) shifter **** will go down thanks to Doug's service BEFORE the sale.

Cheers,
Matthew Z.

 

Doug Whalen was one of those I hoped to meet there. Had he brought stock with him (assuming he keeps pre-fab stock) he could have sold a bunch of ***** on site for full price!

I do not think there is much that can be done to keep this event from getting bigger, as the word of mouth is just too darned good. But how do we get the good parts of the size increase without the attendant problems? Talking to the Miata people might be a good place to start. What went wrong for them, and what would they do about it?

Let's hope we never have to talk about "the good old days" when it comes to dragon slaying!

 

Talking to the Miata people was done for this event, and there seemed to be two camps both very much at odds with each other. The most vocal of these camps called for less organization and less planning. They were interested in as freeform of an event as possible, and their event has been kept that way.

From speaking with Graham County Tourism as well as the Fontana Management, it's that very attitude which has led them to offer little support to the Miatas. Not the least of which is because they can't figure out who they would offer their support to!

A few months ago I found a post on one of the Miata boards calling for some actual organization around their event, and while there were a few people who supported this poster, most were vehemently opposed to organizing anything more than what was done many years ago. From what I've seen, their event tends to just run on auto-pilot.

Their approach seems to move them away from what I think is one of the best aspects of MOTD. Since the Miata's have little going on that actually brings people together and encourages them to socialize with each other, the Miata owners seemed to just cloister themselves with their little cliques.

At MOTD on the otherhand the activities seems to encourage people to mix and mingle. I think the social aspect of MOTD has been in the past just as important as any other aspect of the event.

 

I think the social aspect is hugely important to MotD. It sounds like Miata has a lot of anti-social drivers. I hope the Mini folks do not become similarly polarized.


I wonder if it would be possible to have more smaller events going on at once during the morning, with bigger group events in the afternoon or evening. It would be helpful for vendors to know when to expect lots of potential customers and when to sleep in.

 

I was wondering if maybe the local high school would want to put on a car wash on Friday or Saturday (or any other day, for that matter). I know that wouldn't appeal to the Zaino and dustcloth crowd, but I suspect that there'd be quite a few of us who wouldn't mind tossing a few bucks to the local kids in return for having the outside washed. It'd plug us a bit further into local good graces if they were interested, as well.

 

First I have never been to the Dragon, so take this with a grain of salt.

At a large mountain bike festival I regularly (3,000+ people) attend they have group rides. There are several offered every day. The way it works is that there are ride leaders that put up notices of where they intend to ride and where to meet. Then every morning at around 9 AM the morning ride groups form up and everyone heads out in different directions on the various rides. People regroup in the early afternoon, have lunch, and get ready for the afternoon rides that go out around 3 o'clock. The same ride may be offered multiple times during the four day festival, so you have a chance to pick and choose what you want to do. The benefits I see are that there are still organized rides and the groups are smaller, but there is still an opportunity to socialize with the group.

Applying that same philosophy to the dragon may or may not work well (not sure, haven't been), but I thought I'd throw that out there since it does seem to be a very good way of managing group rides with a very large number of attendees (granted the parallels may not be perfect).

 

And you really should go one year!

There's definately some potential for a setup like that, those who are organizing next year's event might want to consider something similar...

Oh and Spunky, I really like that car wash idea!

 

Since I didn't bring my MINI, I needed to pack light and bring some car wash soap for prepping my Counterfeit MINI--this is what I'd recommend to anyone that wants to keep their car clean. Personally, I'm in that camp that wouldn't allow some local HS kids wash my car.

A bucket (an empty cat litter box works great)--you can stuff it with your packed items and empty it when you arrive at the Dragon.

Quik Suds Car Wash Soap comes in little "paper" soap sheets. Just add it to a bucket of water and you get instant car soap. These take up absolutely no space and weigh almost nothing.

http://tinyurl.com/droog

Keep an Absorber towel for drying off your car and a few Microfibers for wiping and extra drying.

The car wash soap has always been the biggest problem for me because of bulkiness. :smile:

Richard

 

Ahhh! I had never heard of those strips before but they sound great! I've seen similar strips for facial cleanser and the like but never for car wash. I have to go get me some of those!

 

[QUOTE=OctaneGuy] Personally, I'm in that camp that wouldn't allow some local HS kids wash my car. QUOTE]

What if they were cheerleaders?

 

Yeah, I should. My main problem is that the Dragon conflicts with that mountain bike festival (pics) and some of my friends from college that have scattered all over the Western U.S. regularly attend. So it's a nice once a year chance to see everyone. But you're right, I should make it out to the Dragon.

 

Then they would probably have long fingernails that would scratch the clearcoat. Guys need to get their priorities straight

 

Does anything say "I want to be by myself" more than ownership of a Miata?

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NOTE TO MIATA OWNERS IN NAM: I love you... just havin' a little fun.