Its OK if things overlap. I like the idea of being able to choose which events I want to attend, rather than saying if its six o'clock this must be the welcome dinner. Its far better to be left wanting more because you could not be in two places at once, then it is to be bored because the major event of the evening is one you don't want to attend.

Let events compete. No night should 'belong' to any event.

 

Apparently it was a chore just for me through this entire thread ......my apologies

 

"Voting" was my oblique way of saying I recognize that I am the only one here who likes my idea. You can't get volunteers to sit that long. You can get the info before arriving, but you (pronounced "I") can always forget or lose that information as well. Any form of information booth, however staffed, is going to be a huge improvement over the whiteboard. I remain down with that.

 

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The people who did the mixer asked us if we wouldn't mind if they did the mixer at the same time as the Cigar Salon, and we didn't. After all, their venue was INSIDE the building, while we were on the porch. Besides, I don't really think our 60 scared off the remaining 740, anyway.

 

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Fine, whatever. We are free, we always support a charity and smoking IS allowed on the Porch. Whatever time we have for our little soiree will be OK, but it WILL happen.

 

Wow, I just read the the whole thread and this kind of constructive criticism is exactly what will keep the event a grassroots effort. This was my first MOTD, so I only have a couple comments. I was camping and arrived late Friday evening and then had to leave early Sunday morning. So Saturday was pretty much it for me.

We were early to the group picture so we got to see the whole thing unfold, it went well except for the "officer" or what ever he was. He was VERY adamant about us not standing on the road, why? The grass was wet, what was the danger? The ONLY car going past us was his. The photographer was, just rude. Did he know that some of us didn't know he was going to shoot the "cars and people" shot first? Why did he yell at us, "Why are people not standing by their cars!?" Is there another service in the area that can do this kind of picture? That being said, it was cool, and I can't wait to see the picture.

Then we registered, and had a little while to get our cards stamped. I must say this might have had the opposite effect as was intended, since we had to rush to get it filled out before the Ice Cream Run. It was raining and we wanted to make sure we could enter the drawing, I had to make quick decisions and move on, instead of spending time browsing where I wanted to spend time. After all that I was still denied tickets at the dinner, long story, but think rain+running ink+absent vendors.

The only general idea I would like to interject into the planning of next years event, is to realize that some people can only make one day. Anything that takes hours to complete in order to qualify for give aways will take a significant portion of their time, and make them feel rushed and have less time to drive and socialize. Which is why we are all there.

That being said, I had a great time, and will be back. Hopefully for more than just a day.

I would like to plan/help with group drives next year too. I thought about it this year, but since I am in central PA the thought of making a "official" group run on roads I don't know seemed way to intimidating. That probably scared quite a few people off from getting groups together. If 200 MINIs show up I'd be screwed! :impatient Would it be possible to have a "MINIature group run" category in the event planner, where first 25 cars fills it up? Maybe that would keep people from being intimidated about running a giant event?

 

Whoa!! One HUGE drawback to having events complete is that the people who volunteer for one event would have to miss out on the other. For example, we can never have the Beer Swap and MINI Monte Carlo Night on the same night - we both volunteer at each others events. I know for certain that the PittStop MINI members won't give up going to the Beer Swap - We had over 20 people come to MOTD this year and every single one of us went to the Beer Swap.

The various events have tons of volunteers working them and I don't think it would be fair to ask someone to volunteer and not have the opportunity to attend other major events. Plus people who run the events have no desire to "compete" against each other. For examle MMCN made provisions for people to be able to leave for Midnight on the Dragon and we are looking at possibly having the event on another night next year so we aren't infringing on any other events.

I think it's fine if smaller and private events overlap, but I dont' agree about the major events. I know 800-1,000 people is a lot but I don't think it is enough of a crowd to be dividing them between events. I attend a large conference with my husband every year that has 50,000+ attendees - they even make sure most events don't compete so people can have the opportunity to go wherever they are invited without missing out.

 

Ha. Great line - me too!

FV does bar - so they do ban such practices.

 

That seemed unusually defensive? No one is making digs on the Cigar Salon. It is clearly a tradition and none of us has any reason or desire to see it displaced or disappear.

 

Bummer. I wonder if there is any way to finesse the issue. Then again, considering how much we spend just to get there, I suppose it won't kill us to pay full retail to drink a beer with kindred spirits.

 

We were at Fontana to pick up our registration materials around 3:00, visited all the vendors, gift shopped at the general store, had ice cream at the ice cream place, warmed up the rocking chairs on the porch, and attended the Welcome Dinner. We did not stay for the mixer for a couple of reasons, 1 being we were pretty worn out by then and 2 not staying at Fontana we had a 20 minute drive to get back to our digs on dark unfamiliar roads, would have liked to though.

Since Fontana is not large enough to house everyone attending MOTD it might be nice to have a designated "hospitality" area, that you could step in and sit and have a drink of water, and chat, and not feel like you are taking up space from paying customers in the retail areas. You could have your "tech talks" there too, which I thought the tire talk was very good and informative, but having bad knees I could not stand for over an hour and if I sit on the floor, I can't get up! (lol)

 

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Sorry...not being defensive...informative, perhaps. We don't do cigarettes, but cigarette smokers are welcome to attend. Anymore, though, just cuz ya smoke a cigar, you seem to get lumped into the "evil" cigarette smoking/inhaling crowd, and we are exhalers here. Anyone who enjoys inhaling a cigar has a real death wish.

 

from a I inhale

 

Events can co-exist on the same nights, it just depends. The Drive-In and the Brew Swap did that this year. I started the swap earlier so that people who wanted to do both could get in an hour or two swapping and then head across the street to the Drive-In.

 

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cigars?

 

Since there are few events that can handle 800+ folks, I think overlapping events my be somewhat unavoidable and folks will just have to make choices.

I did not notice the photographer being rude. I know he was getting nervouse about the impending rain and was trying to rush us along. He did travel from Atlanta, pay for his own lodging and was concerned that it all might be wasted if he did not beat the rain. That said, George is a nice guy, but can come off rough to someone not familar with him. The cop on the other hand is inexcusable.

There was a colored map by the rec hall showing all the buildings at Fontana and was color coded showing where all the major events take place. I think if that and several well thought out boards are place in a tent in a fixed location by the vendors that a live person(s) may not be necessary. (just my 2 cents)

 

Okay, okay, but not the Brew Swap and MMCN

 

Nope, those nasty ciggys

 

I had fun volunteering with registration on Thursday at the Dragon. It was a great way to put faces to screennames here on NAM. For years I have been attending our church's national youth conference and the white board is a great way to communicate. We use is mostly for messages but everybody knows where it is and it's up to them to check it out!

 

Whew! I was about to say, "R.I.P.", if you were talking cigar inhalation.
The good news, however, is you can still come to the Cigar Salon next year.

 

We had a blast this year. Spent our time motoring and hanging out with good friends.

I agree with a lot of the comments that there needs to be better socializing areas.

And I would like to suggest a larger MOTD logo cling for next year...instead of the three part design of this years. I ended up cutting out the small MOTD logo, and not using the NAM name or the vendor logo.

 

I hope that's a lonnnng lens with extremely good resolution and a wide focal field...it's almost a quarter of a mile away, I think.

everything, including the social, was posted on NAM....

again, there's very limited flat paved area. During a heavy rain, the lot next to the General Store is completely awash. I dunno if the vendors would be happy down there. Even if they were put there, then where does the car wash go? Or parking for going to the store itself?
At the risk of repeating myself...it's a finite space, with few options..especially if it rains.
The same thing with the pano photo...very few spaces in that area can handle a lot of cars.

 

Which is not nearly good enough. There needs to be more information on site. MOTD has improved by leaps and bounds each of the three years I've attended. Getting info out on site needs to be where MOTD6 shines.

 

I mentioned this earlier but last year when the cars were parked where the tents were there was a lot of buzz and tech talk...... many oohs and aahs as people lifted hoods and checked out wheels etc.... i thought that aspect was sorely missing

 

Oh I'm sorry, would you like me to hold your hand? I can do that as well.

Come on man, you are an adult. Be responsible for yourself and stop trying to place the onus on other people. You nearly missing the ice cream run, and other things, is no one's fault but your own.

The info was posted here on NAM and Mark sent out an email to everyone registered with a link to a printable event planner with those same details. If you didn't register and thus didn't get the link, oh well, next year collect the change from your couch and pony up the $5 to be registered.

We've already indicated that we'll do what we can to make the information more available AT fontana next year but each person is still responsible for knowing the information on their own.

For a nice hefty fee I'll be your personal planner next year and guarantee you won't miss anything.