I was thinking it would be a good idea to have a suggestion box online for the club. I know we have an upcoming Steering Committee meeting in January (one that I am planning to attend), so I thought this would be a good place to start accumulating some topics for our discussions.

I don't know if the committee has thought of this one, but I will start with a suggestion that Windrider brought up to me, Mini's participating in a parade. How brilliant is that. Can you imagine a St. Patrick's Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Parade etc. with 30 plus Mini's.
:smile:

 

How about a "drive" to a "driving event"? What if we take a short drive and end up at a place like Boschertown GoKarts. Driving those GoKarts is fun for the whole family. Anyone can do it.

The parade idea sounds fun.

 

How about a ride up the Missouri side of the Mississppi to Clarksville to see the eagles?

Poker runs are fun followed by breakfast or brunch!

I plan on being at the January steering committee meeting too bearing ideas:smile:

Lois

 

I love the ideas posted above...how about hooking up with another local club...the KC club or the one in another nearby city for a "mass gathering" of minis...this could even be in conjunction with a parade or a weekend event...

bryan

 

The steering meeting is just around the corner and I thought I would add some more suggestions. Also I plan on printing everyone's suggestions and bringing them to the meeting. So join me and adding more suggestions. :smile:

Creation of a Club publication (4-6 times a year) for news, events, articles, buy & sell listings, advertisements, etc.

If we would have more frequent meetings, a library of books and periodicals pertaining to Mini's for club members could be established.

Some other ideas for activities at meetings would be, educational programs, films and lectures, questions and answer sessions.

Perhaps a Annual Mini Car Show to show our cars off, with contest, door prizes, workshops and vendors.

 

I was hoping tom have a Detailing Clinic at some point. That would tie in nicely prior to having a Mini Concours!

Or if we don't have our own we should consider coming as a group to the European Auto Show in June. There will be nearly 200 cars there. I would love to see more Minis!

We could still gather there as a club and offer our own inter-club awards.
Furthest Driven
Best Mini of Show
Best Modified

Whatever!

 

Great ideas everyone! I will pull up this thread at our metting to discuss. The most important thing is to make the jump from having a great event idea to planning it. To start, I would suggest that everyone pick the event they like the best and volunteer to plan it. We'll find a date on the calendar for it and help you of course. If we can also select an events committee, they will be the central point for planning and communicating events.

Once all this is in place, it should be very simple for members to plan all kinds of cool events for the club. It's going to be great!

So, be thinking of what committees you would like to sit on and what events you want to plan. As an example, I want to be part of a track committee that will handle coordinating all our the track days in partnership with Phil Wicks, since that's what I'm into. I also want to help Brad with the Euro Car Show, since I really enjoy that event as well.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday!
Aaron

 

Hey, is there any information about that show yet? Last year was a BLAST!

 

I know that STLMINI is how the club is referred to, but I was thinking we need to decide on our logo/emblem for the club soon. How about a contest with the members submitting their ideas, and having a selected panel pick the winner. We could even give a prize, that obviously would pale in comparison to the bragging rights.

Also what is this European Auto Show in June, could you guys explain more about it, sounds interesting. :smile:

 

This has been discussed for some time, and we should be able to get it rolling after this meeting. We'll have anyone that wants to submit ideas and then the club will vote on the new logo. We'll have to draw up guidelines, but that should be fairly easy.

The European Car Show is at Plaza Frontenac each year in June, and is one of the best car shows I have ever seen. Anything European is welcome, cost to enter is $20 and it is a street car show, not a showcar show. We had 4-5 MINIs there last year and had a blast. Hopefully we can get a lot more this year and make a good showing. The best part is the show is for charity; for the Shriner's hospital. As soon as we get the details from Brad (he's on the show committee) we'll get them out and start planning.

The best part for me is seeing 10-20 Ferraris in one place!

Aaron

 

Bryan,
Since you are at the halfway point to KC (I should know, I'm originally from Boonville!), maybe you can talk to the KC club and then plan a meetup for us in Columbia. Being an MU grad, I hope you pick Shakespheres as the meetup point! We tried to do this two years ago but never had the time. If you could talk to the KC club and see if they are interested, maybe you could get it setup.

Here's a link to their site:
http://kcminiacs.ionforce.com/forums...96bc352b8c291b

Several of their members have come to track days before, they are all really cool people! We had a blast when they came here!

If you need help or have questions, just let me know.

Aaron

 

Aaron and Brad,

The European Car Show sounds brilliant, can't wait to here more about it in upcoming meetings.

 

Will do Aaron, I'll hit their site and make contact with someone there...perhaps we can plan for a spring meeting...that would be great...I'll keep you all posted...

bryan

 

On the subject of bringing different Mini Clubs together, I have an idea I'm sure is possible, however it will take some work and I am willing to make a go of it. (that is with a little help from "my friends")

Since Effingham is a central location (with two interstates intersecting it) we could plan a Mini "FunFest" Saturday. Chicago, Indy, Memphis, Nashville, St Louis and KC to name a few are within a straight and easy drive to Effingham where there are plenty of hotel/motel rooms, several areas to have a "reunion" type function, and if possible have reps from MossMini, Mini Mania, etc to show off their wares. I have been told that we could possibly get money, for entertainment, etc, from the "tourist fund" of Effingham, as it would promote tourism in our area and fill up hotel rooms.

Effingham is well known for its VW, Porsche, & Corvette FunFests every year through Mid-America Motorworks, so I know it can be done - So
let's add Mini to that list !

Cheers
LInda

 

I really like the idea of a detailing 'seminar' suggested by Brad B. Perhaps we could also have a 'mods' seminar/get-together'. I do not have any, but would really like to get together with others that do have mods and listen to their cars and see what they've done. Maybe we could have someone talk about the various modifications that can/have been done and then actually see/hear/experience them if others are willing to give rides

 

I just had a thought for an event. A MINI trivia night.

We could go two ways with this:

1. Open it to the public (big event, great for a charity)
2. Closed just for members (mini size event)

If we did the big event, members would get a discount for their entry.

The smaller one could be more fun, as all the questions could just address the Mini Cooper(S).

What do you all think! :smile:

 

Great idea!

Past ones I've seen or been at have been tables of 8, although I'd think 6 would work fine too. I'd think maybe club invitation only, although a club member could have a table of anyone of their chosing, i.e. 5 or 7 non-members?

-Laclede

 

Laclede,

The more I think about the trivia night, it is a must do. I have only been to one of these events, so I am lacking much knowledge.

I did do some research and think I have found a central location for an event like this. That would be the Olivette Community Center, as they have room rentals. Plus you can bring your own alcohol as long as you fill out the proper request when renting.

Perhaps we can discuss this more at an upcoming meeting, as I have many ideas for this. :smile: