MINIUSA has already been to the dragon. They brought down a pre-production Cabrio and attended the event. [sarcasm alert]Somehow they didn't take it over and didn't cancel everyone's warranty for attending. [/sarcasm alert]

As for the site name change, yes it happened, and the site moved on. To be fair, it was more BMW legal than MINIUSA, but whatever, those events have long since been dealt with. I personally don't understand harboring hostility towards MINIUSA over this nearly three years after the fact. It's not as though it crippled the site.

As far as MOTD goes, based on what I've seen there is no interest on the part of MINIUSA to take over control of the event from enthusiasts. I'd be curious to know where the idea that they were grew out of.

Look to the run done here in California with their ad agency. Even at their own event at their headquarters, the ad agency made sure they had didn't step on any toes in the MINI community and sought out the local clubs. At no time did the agency claim responsibility for things that the MINI enthusiast organizers did and went out of their way to make sure that those that organized the drive got recognized for it. In the end it turned out to be a large locally organized drive (maybe 90 cars) that departed from and returned to the ad agency. The agency provided free breakfast, free lunch , AND a presentation on their future plans.

MINIUSA does have a lot to offer. If properly approached, they may yet again bring down new models to show off (next year MOTD will be happening shortly after the launch of the R56 and the Traveller will be just around the corner).

 

And while that is true I prefer to keep them at whatever distance we can and not invite them to come mess with us. In the end they WILL step in I feel.

I just got to thinking Motoring IDs are FAR EASIER to make note of than a VIN.......

I wonder if they have that to make quicker note of modded cars at events..... HMMMMmmmmm

Just because I am paranoid does not mean they are all not out to get me.

 

DiD,

You just put together my whole reason for the suggestion much better than i ever could!

Well put

 

Well I like their MINIMAL involvement as it has been with the Cabrio and whatnot.

I have found that their crazy marketing people are actually fun to have around even as participants to events.

I just do not want to see all the copyright BS show up again and ruin allot of cool things like the decals and shirts.

In the end I guess DiD and Mark F. know at what level to involve them. The bald guy at #3 was a bit annoying though. Kept telling me I'd buy an '07, he reminded me of my salesman......<<shrug>>

 

Xanthus, I suggest stop chating the "Magnusson" act because as evidence by many disgruntled owners of modded MINIs, that route has proven to be extremely frustrating, expensive and generally inffective to force the manufacturer to give you warranty coverage, when YOU the owner has breached the agreement to keep the vehicle stock in the first place.

"You play, you pay"


When you decide to mod a car under factory warranty, you are playing the Russian Roulette. You think MINIUSA is the only manufacturer out there chasing down "modders"? Try Lotus, Subaru, Mitsubishi, et al which will give you the same hard time if you modifiy the car in any shape, way or form.

The Magnusson Act is just a piece of paper that has no real face value and unless you are a billionare with the time, money and resources to go after the big dogs, your chances to even come close to winning a lawsuit for a denined warranty claim and next to zilch.

People who mod need to know what are they getting themselves into. If your car is out of the limited warranty, who cares? But if you expect to receive warranty service at your dealer, then keep in mind that those "innocent" mods could prove to be more expensive than the sum of their parts.

 

Ok, let's try to get back on track with the original intent of the thread to help the event planners for next year.

 

Speaking of out of warranty I cannot wait to do an engine swap as I cannot get a BLACK one anymore......

But I have to rebuild the classic first.

 

Ok well what about the putting of vendors that do not need to put cars on jacks on the ball field to make more room on the asphalt?

Also where exactly WAS that second car wash spot? Could we not move to other places and save even those spots for parking near the hub of Fontana?

The old check in area is HUGE, is there a spigot anywhere near it?

 

I gotta agree with Xanthus, BMW put MF through hell when it didn't have to. Keep them away. Anything resembling a MINI logo would be fair game to the corporate lawyers. And while the PR guys would be real nice, glad handing everybody and preaching Rodney King (Cant we all just get along?), the lawyers would feel it was their duty to bury anybody they felt was infringeing on their copyrights.

 

If it rains they'd be screwed on muddy ground


Who would have to be contacted to see if that vendor area down the hill could be closed off to traffic?

 

----> From this point out, we will start deleting new posts that aren't related to the original topic - suggestions to improve next years event. <----

 

Sorry for the tangent, but I have to agree. Let's not worry about the worries, the admin team will do well with that. Let's get them some positive feedback for next years event.

 

I agree with all of Thameth's suggestions. When I first saw the title of the thread those were the things that popped to mind.

I thought it was a great idea to have the ID "badges" and lanyards this year until I saw how small our names were actually printed on them. I didn't order one of the buttons because I knew we were getting the lanyards but wished I had since they were so difficult to read. Make these again next year but print bigger.

I also agree with somehow moving all the vendors into one location. It seems like the parking area by the General store is plenty large enough to host it if Fontana is willing to let us rope it off (except to let cars in to be modified of course). It would be better to have an area where people can walk without car traffic. I'm sure next year the vendor area will grow even more making it even harder to navigate - either by foot or car - if it is set up like it was this year. And really, the general store parking lot is easily within walking distance. Having the tents set up near that road did add to the congestion and probably made it difficult for the vendors to operate efficiently.

 

True that, again, good point, what about the areas of pavement that are not level enough to work on?

We are due to have more of each type as before and thus more crowding every year. What about INSIDE SPACE like some comic book convention? Rain proof and would free up more room near the general store for those doing work that requires jacking up cars. Vinyl installers and the like please speak up about your needs as though you do not need the asphalt as bad as the people jacking up cars I know you have needs.

Good thinking Jray...

I was able to drive through that area and park in it so I know it could be used more efficiently.

 

Agreed....

It would be tough because its almost tradition now to get pictures of all the cars parked up at the Adventure center but..... If the event keeps getting bigger and more small vendors keep showing up then maybe the entire Adventure center parking lot should be dedicated to vendors and their tents while parking should be on the street or down at the rec center. It was a bit weird having the vendors seperated and it seemed like the ones down by the store kind of got shafted traffic wise as most people parked up at the Adventure center and never walked down.

Also i think before the person was saying that traffic could be closed to the "parking lots" where the vendors were set up, not all the actual streets in the area. That wouldn't be a problem.

Also maybe a bit more signage around Fontana to help the newbs on where to park and where everything is. Again signage can be done relatively cheap if you can get vendors to pay for them because they'll have a logo on them. So the are can be the M7 parking or Webb Motorsports Vendor complex and so on.

 

A dedicated forum for organization only was my biggest suggestion from last year. We used a round robin of emails that year and inevitably someone would forget to "reply to all". Plus you had to save emails if you wanted to refer back to something. This year there was not even much of the emailing going on. Communication was difficult this year. One person that I would email would know a piece of the information I needed but not the whole.

I also think the forum for organization should be out of public view as it can go off topic very easily. Although I am a pretty proficient thread hijacker an organizational forum is not the place for it.

Communication between the individuals and groups organizing is key to fostering unity between them.

 

I agree QueenB, but open discussion is what gets new ideas flowing.

I remember the changes from #2 to #3 were allot of what I had discussed with Mark F. at #2, not to say that the things I said were only said by me, but that when running any event myself I want to hear some open discussion with recommendations. I am not saying you are not agreeing, but that it is important for folks with good ideas to chime in here.

I would like to see all the installing vendors by the general store, if not all of them. I expect we will have up to 1/2 dozen new ones next year or more.

Signs directing traffic is always a good idea now that we are big enough to warrant it.

 

Thanx,

Ohh and the whole ID badge thing, at first i thought "Brillant!". Until i noticed they had your REAL name on them..... Now i know the event is supposed to become this point where you put names to Screennames and such. But honestly i met Nobody because i couldn't find who i was looking for. Hell finding Todd from TCE took alot of waiting because i didn't know what he looked like hehe.

When i was looking for some of the vendor guys for help with my clutch i didn't know who i was talking to from each vendor because they were too busy to introduce themselves and they couldn't see who i was unless they remembered my car.

I i could find my damned badge somewhere in my house i would post a few photoshop suggestions....

I posted it second but it really was the biggest thing that i though could be improved for next year.

 

I think it would be a good idea to let people see what is being discussed, but not to post. That way if they see something that they could help with they could PM the event organizer with the idea or solution to a problem. One of the advantages of that would be the widespread knowledge the forum has - many people in a lot of different career fields, different hobbies, contacts and experience. They might have a POC they could pass along to the planner that would expedite, or make the planning easier.

 

[quote=Xanthus]I agree QueenB, but open discussion is what gets new ideas flowing.

[quote]

This is the open discussion Lance. When it comes time to dig in to the work part of it those doing the work need the ability to communicate with each other without significant derailing.

 

I was looking to cue more people in to toss in their ideas, sorry if it sounded some other way.

 

Thank you. There are so many left-field statements being spouted off here I wouldn't know where to start. Now, how to improve the Dragon? How about hangtags for cars that have the car owners name and/user ID. Or stickers that are designed to fit on the front of mirrors indicating name, ID etc. Sorta like they did at Misano but with actual info.

 

Another great part of MOTD are all the small extra events put together by people who are just showing up.

Things like the Panoramic pictures, The Scenic Drive, The Autocross, The Hikes, The mountain biking, etc...... Those usually all just pop up in MOTD forum but i think they should be included into all schedules along with the bigger events planned by NAM or DC metro.

I'm willing to volunteer to keep an up to date and detailed Schedule of Events thread or something for MOTD 07 if anybody wants. I think the hardest thing for me as a first timer this year was trying to figure out everything that was going on and when before i got there. I couldn't find a thread with a comprehensive list of all the events, big or small.

 

I fully agree with getting vendors more centralized and better signage. Of course one can subsitute for the other. Vendors are okay in two areas if there are signs letting people know where everyone is. You know, those signs you see at zoos and parks with a vendor name listed ad an arrow pointing to where they are. At the main entrance by the store, some would be to the right and some arrows would point up the hill. Maybe a little paper map of vendors included with every registration badge as well.

And please, no vendors on the grass. I got completely SOAKED on the pavement as it was. I can't imagine of we had been on the grass. Plus, vendors need to be able to easily and safely pull their show-off vehicles up to their tents.

And I totally agree with making screen names larger on the badges as well for people who choose to register.

 

I do share the thought that maybe JUST screen names and first names ought to be on the badges like on the Cooperation buttons.