OK, Pam and I are now looking at both the Welcome Dinner Thursday Night Followed by the MINI Monte Carlo/Casino Night.

The whole Shebang, 6:30p-Midnight.

Just have to get other PiTTStop MINI club members on board.

This is gonna be good!

Stay Tuned!!!!!

Steve

 

Yes, I would man the tent as well as get volunteers to work shifts. I'm sure we could get a lot of people that would give us an hour or two of their time.

 

Very nice to hear, thank you! Of course, getting people to verbally commit to showing up and manning (or wommaning! ) the tent at their designated time is a challenge too... it's so easy to lose track of time and/or forget at MOTD... it might be worth "over-assigning" people to work the tent, just in case some don't make it.

Regardless, we have a lot of time between now and then - but based upon overall feedback I'm already feeling very confident that next year will be even better than this one.

 

Steve, I dig your enthusiasm, but I believe that SunshineMINIs from FL is hosting the Welcome Dinner in 2007. I do believe that one of their spokespersons contacted Mark Ferguson and has already got the ball rolling.

 

Cool, fine with me, I hadn't heard which one they were doing, I knew it was one of them

 

I think it will all work out nicely: Welcome Dinner/Casino Night/Cigar Salon....Sunshine/Pitt/MKO! Sounds like a winning combination!

 

I've got to say that I was received, with wide open arms, when I offered to organize an event a few months before MOTD 2006. The folks at DCMM gave me a bit of direction, the NAM / MOTD coordinator gave me the links on the event page and several clubs (especially Smoky Mountain MINIs) gave me excellent advice and feedback on the route and restaurant for the drive.

There is a point at which events like this become difficult to pull-off because nobody is 'in charge'. I would have figured that the threshold for this point would have been around 200 people... a testament to the LACK of ego and COMPLETE committment to an overall good time by the people who have stepped up into leadership for the event.

I can easily say that my voluenteer efforts, however small, were the most enjoyable parts of my MOTD 2006 experience. They did, as Edge mentioned above, cut into my Dragon-driving time and they gave me some very early mornings (on the Dragon at 5:40 am, in the dark, in the fog, pre-driving the route that the scenic drive would follow).

I'm all for giving and receiving feedback, but I will cut every one of this year's organizers HUGE amounts of slack for any minor inconveniences as they gave me huge chunks of their valuable vacation time and a very memorable vacation.

My thanks to everyone who conceived of, organized, planned and executed an incredible event.

 

And it will never become a NAM or DCMM production. They do not own this event!!! I can not say this enough.

Fontana Village has their own liability insurance! WE don't need to fill DCMM's coffers with money for some sham insurance policy that covers no one but them. I'm sure no other car culb/group who goes to Fontana, I know for a fact the Miata’s don’t, pay each other to be covered to walk around Fontana Village so please stop this sham of scaring people in to thinking they must pay or else. Or else what? I drove the Dragon, I walked around Fontana, oh I stubbed my toe. Please recommend who I should sue, DCMM or Fontana, OOOOOOOOh both and double dip because they both have insurance.

Mark’s a store front for the event and that is it. He charges for his services, as he should because it’s a business, but that’s the end of the road as far as NAM goes.

We, other people than DCMM do things for people there. We, other people provide fun and entertainment for people there. We, other people contribute the money back in to the communities as charities naming the receiving group up front.

I keep hearing about some donation DCMM is going to… Well what’s the secret!!!

It doesn’t matter how much it is, it’s who is it going to so just spit it out!!!

 

I think we pretty much made it clear that this thread if for constructive idea's and not ranting....... Please refrain from further rants. Start another thread if you want.

 

Dude. It's 5 dollars. If for no other reason then to support a MINI club it's worth it. Since you are so anti-fee no matter how small how about we leave the organization of MOTD 5 to you then?

 

OR have it manned during the same times (and near) registration...

 

And I thought WE had made this clear enough, there was NO NEED for you to repeat... and your following rant? I thought we had made so much progress... I must have been wrong.

First and foremost, I am quite sure that the event insurance covers all registered organizers related to MOTD, not just DCMM. It is NOT limited to the grounds of Fontana Village, which their own liability insurance certainly is. The Miata's (and other groups) are NOT a good comparison because they don't organize even half of the group activity events, as witnessed and commented by people who have been to both gatherings.

At least get your facts straight before spouting off on such negativity.

So you're saying that you have a problem with a non-profit organization keeping a small portion of the funds to assist in general operation (and more breathing room for future MOTD expenditure, I might add), but you don't have a problem with Mark, NAM, or any of the attending commercial vendors receiving income from the event. Backwards logic, don't you think?Yes, you do. And if you participated in the entire process, including the ridiculously inexpensive $5 registration, your words would hold more credibility. It's ironic that you speak for a group (MKO), yet some of the group members seem to have no problems with the way we are doing this, or at least they aren't vocal about it. How about saying "I", instead of "we", because that's how you're coming across.We are waiting on post-MOTD accounting before making the announcement. I will say this - it will be VERY significant, and going to a VERY worthwhile charity, and it should silence loud critics such as yourself, although something tells me that will be very difficult to do, because apparently from your attitude, we are simply greedy good-for-nothings out to make a buck. Never mind that we are a non-profit organization who consist entirely of unpaid volunteers.

I am stunned, sndwave. Stunned that you are the same person that made this post. So much for contributing to the "friendly" MINI community.

 

I made a suggestion last year, and completely failed to follow through on it, even though I said I would do so. I will make the suggestion again this year, with the upfront proviso that someone else is gonna have to do it.

We need someone to organize volunteers in such a way that they can devote a specific amount of time to a specific event, and be done with it. It is great that a few people can devote dozens of hours to planning dinners and such like, but there are lots of little jobs that can be filled by a rotating pool of people.

Call em "MINI Volunteers," people who offer two hours of their time and agree to go wherever they are sent for those two hours.

Need more people to take tickets at the farewell dinner? Line up some MINI volunteers in advance. Want an information tent manned full time? You ain't gonna get one or two people to sit there all weekend. Call for volunteers.

Several people in this thread have expressed willingness to help out on some small level. Almost all of us want to help, but a lot of us (i.e, me) have trouble finding the time to help on a major scale.

One person could take on the job of volunteer coordinator, and have a sticky on next year's board asking for volunteers. He could then ask all of the event organizers for tasks that volunteers could walk in and perform. The idea is to then match volunteers to venues. The venue gets the extra help it needs; the volunteer gets to be helpful without giving up her entire weekend to do so.

This idea is an attempt to have it both ways. it keeps the volunteer spirit alive, but also lets us get more organized and get more done.

I think it is worth pursuing, and hope someone volunteers to do so.

 

I agree with sndwave on all fronts.

 

Gotta love honesty!

 

No, don't call 'em "MINI" Volunteers, or MINI USA will sue for copyright infringment. "Small Car Enthusiast Volunteers" should work.


:impatient

 

with all the BS and bickering ...please don't screw up this event.... cars, roads, and good people is keeping our eye on the ball..... I hope all of this extra crap does not jeopardize a great time for 614+ registrants next year

 

 

well said

 

With attitudes like he expressed (and Sarcux backed up), he'll get what he wants - a total lack of central organization and planning.

It's negativity like that - that causes me to say "why do I even bother to put the effort in". I and many others, BOTH in DCMM and outside, busted our ASSES, for FREE, to do what we could to make a great event even better...

I find it funny how quickly a hard-working and organized but clearly non-profit club can be trashed by some individuals of a very exclusive clique (that's right, I said it) who seem to want to do nothing but promote their own name, albeit with some charity participation, which I do applaud.

Italics = added text.

 

I have a saying that I started about 20 years ago after listening to constant BS from my employees, " It is far easier to critique than to create" .... jump in get your hands dirty before you blast those that have..... i for one am very grateful to all of you that made MOTD 06 so much fun for me and Jeanne....like I said...cool cars, roads and people....eye on the ball people....please

 

It is a good saying, SpiderX, but in this case, some of the critique is coming from people who have been creators since the first MOTD in 2003.

I'm not exactly what Edge means by a very exclusive clique, but I think he is talking about people who have experienced MOTD from its very humble but outstanding beginning and have seen it grow and change into what it has become.

Of course, I am not saying that MOTD should not be a dynamic and constantly evolving event that adapts to its increasing popularity, but I do believe as others do that it thrives on a free-form organizational structure in which individuals and small groups put their own time, effort, and $$$ into creating unique and eclectic events.

I don't know how much fun it was to sit in a plastic chair for hours while listening to ineligible raffle tickets being drawn and re-drawn until winners were found because my raffle tickets and I were not in attendance at those pre-paid dinner events. But I would have definitely been in attendance if I knew in advance that some portion of the proceeds were going to a worthy cause like last year's welcome dinner which raised several thousand dollars for a childhood heart disease charity.

I did see how those people out there on the porch with their eclectic assortment of instruments sure were having a blast at the OT Band Jam that cost nothing to attend, was organized by a tiny handful of people, and raised several hundred dollars for New Orleans musicians.

I also helped organized Midnight on the Dragon for the third official (4th unofficial) time. Once again, we spent our own $$$ to purchase glowing antenna toppers for all participants, didn't charge any entry fee, had no required registration, and everyone had a fun and memorable time.

Both of these events really didn't need anything more than a single thread on the dragon forum and a few motivated people willing to give their time and effort. And there were other great events and individuals doing their part all over the place: the brew swap, the spaghetti dinner, the cook-out, the drive-in, tuners working night and day under their tents, and all the other small eclectic events that made this year truly special.

I paid for the full $40 event registration. Why? Because I wanted 2 things: some nice swag and to help provide some level of organization, structure, and printed materials that would benefit new attendees. I felt that my $$$ would help include more people, especially people who were new and had a need for some printed materials to get them started.

Even if I don't 100% agree with all of DCMM's choices, I can say that I truly thank them for doing all the hard work that I wouldn't want to do if I was personally paid $5/head. My opinion is that they did a lot more than was really necessary, but that is just my opinion that reflects my preference for a "less is more" organizational structure.

If sndwave gets what Edge suggested, "a total lack of central organization and planning", 600+ MINI friends all gathered together in one place will still have a fantastic time together. We are a community that is too much fun NOT to have a good time regardless of the level of planning and organization.

 

Hmmm...

First DCMM did a good job by sndwave:


Now, DCMM is out of control by sndwave:
Hmmm... Would the real sndwave please step forward?

 

Yucca, you are one of the "MKOists" who I have had positive and constructive communication with in the past, which is why I also put the words "some individuals" in my post. I apologize that you are lumped in by association... each of you are clearly independent thinkers.

As for my use of the word clique, here's Dictionary.com's definition:
Which very accurately describes what MKO is - or at least what MKO appears to be, publicly. The key word is exclusive. Yes, each and every one of you has been there since the beginning of MOTD. But you 7 are not the ONLY ones who were there at the start, and by "playing up" the creators/originators role, you demean all of the other "first year attendees" who quite clearly are not invited to be part of the group. I hope you can understand how that appears to the rest of us, whether we were there the first year or not. Perhaps I misunderstand the true background of MKO, and the reason for its exclusivity... if I do, please enlighten me (and everyone else).

I can understand your sentiment that MOTD remain free-form and eclectic. However the realities are that MOTD is growing in numbers, and many people will expect some kind of direction on what to do, where to go and when to be there... with the numbers always growing, it is unrealistic to expect that every interested person be fully up to date on NAM threads just to know what is involved.

DCMM has NEVER wanted to "take over" anything... and has ALWAYS wanted to get as many individuals and clubs involved as possible, to share the load, and take equal credit. Heck, if another club wanted to step up to the plate and do the same "overall planning" type of thing that we do, we'd probably be very happy to concede it... even encourage a "round robin" method. However, I personally take great offense to being chasticised by any member of the MINI community for our efforts, when those efforts were taken in complete faith and belief in the community as a whole. It is insulting to demean our hard work when profit is clearly not the goal.

The one correction I want to make to your comment on the raffle tickets is that the drawing you mentioned was NOT restricted to dinner attendees only - it was open to anyone, and did not start until the ice cream social was completed. The mistake we made, and learned from, was that the "open to all" drawing was not communicated well enough. Realizing the insufficient communication, I did try to let everyone in Fontana know about it, 20 minutes before the drawings, using my 2-way on 7/21 with the 2W boost. It clearly wasn't enough, but it was all that could be done at that point. The insufficient raffle drawing announcement we would not repeat in a future situation. Please, don't continue to think you had to buy the dinner to win. That was not the case.

I do applaud MKO's event efforts, and I too contributed to the Dragon Band Jam Tipitina fund, because I believed in the cause. But I will not stand idly by when any of your "members" demeans and insults the hard work that I and my fellow volunteers have done. Criticism should be constructive or it should not happen at all.

 

Can we have the Adventure Center open without "Private Party" signs next time during the cigar salon? That's where the restrooms are! It's a long walk back to the nosebleed cabins. I don't mind watering the shrubbery, but some people are upset by it.