Ok, it's been a few days. Reflections on Automania
bowtie said
Aug 24, 2012
Good, bad-let's hear it. What I need is contructive comments and details. We can't make it better if we don't know what to fix. We also need to know things that were plusses and why.
I'll start:
+lots of help, I saw all our members helping out in one way or another from parking to the table area to being available.
+chalk lines. I know it was a little confusing, but I think it made a difference in having a nicely parked lot. It helped make it look organized
+using the far north gate. We had a nice entrance that brought cars past the registration table and we were able to get a picture of each as they came in (big thanks to chad for that!)
+I had a packet of coupons and free game chips for Biff's sports bar that I walked around and handed out around 1:30-2. I thought it was cool and a nice way to see the people and cars a little. Made it more personal for me, and a nice bonus for them.
+I saw a couple more MSMA guys helping this year.
what else?
-we have had a hard time getting more than one food vendor. That will be a priority: get more than one. C&R paid to be the exclusive one, but that won't be the plan next year.
-I heard that spectators had a hard time figuring out how to get in. We'll have to look at a nice sign or something to direct them.
-I noticed we had a hard time getting rid of door prizes and other give-aways. Was it the type? quality? We had almost 100 things (not including those posters), I brought home about 10%. Would it be better to do a raffle and charge $1 a ticket vs freebie?
-we needed more garbages and in plain view.
what else?
Chris R said
Aug 24, 2012
How often were we doing raffle numbers? Were people just not checking thier numbers and picking up stuff at the tent and we ended up with left over stuff?
bowtie said
Aug 24, 2012
we did them about 6 at a time, starting about 11ish. I did the first couple bunches, then I think it was Lisa took them over. One thought is have the prizes listed and just do a drawing. You come up and check every to see if you won. We could sort stuff into categories and give winners thier pic from that category?
Jon H said
Aug 24, 2012
My observations were: Good... 1. Organization was excellent. With that said you (Bryan) could delegate some duties ie: parking, food, music, registration, etc. to make it easier on you. 2. Parking went well. 3. Registration went smoothly, paperwork, pop-ups for workers, supplies, etc. 4. Lots of donations. 5. Clean-up went smoothly.
Could use work (IMHO): 1. Food. I think one vendor would work, just more variety. Complaint I heard was 3.50 for a hot dog was a bit much. Lots of people left for lunch and came back. some walked off site for lunch. 2. Door prizes. I think continue to give them away, let them choose from a group and announce more frequently and post names or numbers on a white board. 3. Mr. Music still talks too much and is too loud. Several complaints from people on the north side of the parking lot. 4. Trophys seemed awful large to me. Mike (MSMA) says that is needed to draw cars. I am not so sure. More and smaller trophys is my vote. 5. Dash plaques. Lots of complaints there were no dash plaques. 6. More trash boxes.
Tim H said
Aug 24, 2012
All in all I think it was a great show.
As Mitch statedt the food at the Camaro show at Belzers was very good for show food and it was reasonably priced.
The guys at the back of the lot did a nice job of directing everyone where to park. Stan and others were guiding people when they first came in as to which row to go up to get to the parking spots but they got busy with other stuff and I showed some people where to go for a while. However it was not manned all the time and a few people were trying to figure out which row they should go up. I think that needs to be manned the whole time.
As I said otherwise it was a well organized show and it was enjoyable. I wish I could have stayed to the end.
-- Edited by Tim H on Friday 24th of August 2012 07:41:09 PM
Lost in the 60s said
Aug 25, 2012
On the food issue, the Camaro Club has used Choo Choo Catering near Buffalo for their evening shows and people like them. They serve brats and burgers, available with cheese. Pop and chips, no fries. Price was $4 or 6 as a "meal" including pop and chips.
For the Stillwater show, the dealership brings in a local boyscout troop as a fundraiser and they do a nice job too at a fair price. Burgers, brats and dogs. I don't have any idea how to look into a local club in Fridley or if they do anything like this.
I'll third the more and visible trash cans and definately one in the registration tent.
Dash plaques seems to be an issue at all shows. Camaro Club didn't have any for the Stillwater Show and we darn well will next year, even if they need to purchase them without a sponsor. People REALLY look forward to them. 150 should cover all entrants. 50-100 leaves people complaining that they didn't get one. Yes, you can print it in the flyer that the first 100 cars gets a plaque as an incentive, but if the registrations are numbered you'll always get the few that wait too long to go one and think that because they have number 89, someone should have saved theirs. First come, first served doesn't appease them.
Don't let the guy with the die-cast cars back next year.........dude cost me $100...
Jon H said
Aug 25, 2012
One member suggested we bring grills and do our own cooking.
Maybe a scout troop would work too.
Are we big enough to get the folks that do the Camaro show? Worth asking them I think.
Re: Parking, it was suggested to fill each row half way and then fill in. In hind sight, I think we just start with one row, fill it and go to the next, etc. We have enough cars to fill everything and it would be MUCH easier and less confusing.
Chris R said
Aug 25, 2012
Yea, there deffinetly needs to be more then one food vendor there for the variety and better cost value. I noticed several with fast food from outside source for lunch that day, including myself being 3.50 for a hot dog is a bit spendy.
IMO, if we are going to have that many prizes, then raffles need to be at least every 20 minutes to a half hour. We may have been doing that and I just never noticed though.
I dont think there is a lot you can do about muffling a DJ at a car show like that much more and still have everyone able to hear him or the music. The best thing that can be done is to position the speakers in spots where there wouldnt be any cars within a certain amount of feet. Obviously, parking show cars a few feet away from the speakers isnt going to work, pointing them the other direction doesnt really help. IMO, its more about strategic placement of the speakers.
I also heard several folks comment, politely, about dash plaques, as well as the trash cans.
bowtie said
Aug 25, 2012
I looked into dash plaques. Would cost about $200 for 100.
I agree with the music, but at the same point where can you put speakers that aso won't have cars in fromt of them at some point? We're stuck in a parking lot that's a rectangle. He did have his volume turned as lot as it can go without cutting a speaker out. I believe there's a minimum wattage for them to even produce output.
As for food, we contacted at least 6 vendors, only one had any interest. The others are established car show food vendors. I think part of the deal was conflict (the fair started how many days later???) and part i that it's still a new show. We're more than open to having anyone with a contact to rustle up a vendor. I am also open to using a local scout troop too. think havin te club do it would be nice, but we were actually spread pretty thin too, and the actual profit would be pretty slim for the work involved. We would also need a preparer's license.
FYI, did you guys know that we contacted abou 300 companies directly (through both club's mailing lists), plus about 15 through my own contacts? I'd like to continue that and get more sponsors and vendors there so if in your normal course the year you come in contact with someone that you think might be a good fit, take the initiative and see if they're interested. I they are, get a card/contact info/etc and forward it to me.
By the way, I do need a volunteer or two to write out some quick thank-you notes to the sponsors/vendors/donators. Who's game?
Tim H said
Aug 26, 2012
bowtie wrote:
By the way, I do need a volunteer or two to write out some quick thank-you notes to the sponsors/vendors/donators. Who's game?
I'll do it who and what do I need to do
bowtie said
Aug 27, 2012
Thanks Tim!
I'll get a list together tonight, you'll have to dig out addresses on the 'net. There are some that I will do for people/places I see on a regular basis already.
bowtie said
Aug 28, 2012
Tim-message is on it's way. Thanks again!
We had 107 official entries, plus club cars. We're getting closer to that 150 mark I had as a goal. With several members out of town and a few no-shows due to last minute conflicts, we still had a great showing. I was told it generated some positive response to Friendly too. Next eyar I think we can hit that number with some more flyer distribution and word of mouth advertising. We'll have to work on that.
Tim H said
Aug 28, 2012
Brian
Got it working on it and will have them out when I get back in town.
bowtie said
Aug 28, 2012
Great, thank you.
BTW, we also signed up a new member and had one re-up. I have sent the info to Stan/JohnD/MikeS through the northstar emails.
Mike-I still have the cash box. I won't be at the Sept meeting. We should coordinate a swap sometime again. I'll wait until I get the check from the show, then contact you.
Chris R said
Sep 3, 2012
I still have a ton of the flyers left. Should I save a few for the clubs historical archives (if we have that sort of thing) and recycle the rest?
Good, bad-let's hear it. What I need is contructive comments and details. We can't make it better if we don't know what to fix. We also need to know things that were plusses and why.
I'll start:
+lots of help, I saw all our members helping out in one way or another from parking to the table area to being available.
+chalk lines. I know it was a little confusing, but I think it made a difference in having a nicely parked lot. It helped make it look organized
+using the far north gate. We had a nice entrance that brought cars past the registration table and we were able to get a picture of each as they came in (big thanks to chad for that!)
+I had a packet of coupons and free game chips for Biff's sports bar that I walked around and handed out around 1:30-2. I thought it was cool and a nice way to see the people and cars a little. Made it more personal for me, and a nice bonus for them.
+I saw a couple more MSMA guys helping this year.
what else?
-we have had a hard time getting more than one food vendor. That will be a priority: get more than one. C&R paid to be the exclusive one, but that won't be the plan next year.
-I heard that spectators had a hard time figuring out how to get in. We'll have to look at a nice sign or something to direct them.
-I noticed we had a hard time getting rid of door prizes and other give-aways. Was it the type? quality? We had almost 100 things (not including those posters), I brought home about 10%. Would it be better to do a raffle and charge $1 a ticket vs freebie?
-we needed more garbages and in plain view.
what else?
How often were we doing raffle numbers? Were people just not checking thier numbers and picking up stuff at the tent and we ended up with left over stuff?
Good...
1. Organization was excellent. With that said you (Bryan) could delegate some duties ie: parking, food, music, registration, etc. to make it easier on you.
2. Parking went well.
3. Registration went smoothly, paperwork, pop-ups for workers, supplies, etc.
4. Lots of donations.
5. Clean-up went smoothly.
Could use work (IMHO):
1. Food. I think one vendor would work, just more variety. Complaint I heard was 3.50 for a hot dog was a bit much. Lots of people left for lunch and came back. some walked off site for lunch.
2. Door prizes. I think continue to give them away, let them choose from a group and announce more frequently and post names or numbers on a white board.
3. Mr. Music still talks too much and is too loud. Several complaints from people on the north side of the parking lot.
4. Trophys seemed awful large to me. Mike (MSMA) says that is needed to draw cars. I am not so sure. More and smaller trophys is my vote.
5. Dash plaques. Lots of complaints there were no dash plaques.
6. More trash boxes.
All in all I think it was a great show.
As Mitch statedt the food at the Camaro show at Belzers was very good for show food and it was reasonably priced.
The guys at the back of the lot did a nice job of directing everyone where to park. Stan and others were guiding people when they first came in as to which row to go up to get to the parking spots but they got busy with other stuff and I showed some people where to go for a while. However it was not manned all the time and a few people were trying to figure out which row they should go up. I think that needs to be manned the whole time.
As I said otherwise it was a well organized show and it was enjoyable. I wish I could have stayed to the end.
-- Edited by Tim H on Friday 24th of August 2012 07:41:09 PM
On the food issue, the Camaro Club has used Choo Choo Catering near Buffalo for their evening shows and people like them. They serve brats and burgers, available with cheese. Pop and chips, no fries. Price was $4 or 6 as a "meal" including pop and chips.
For the Stillwater show, the dealership brings in a local boyscout troop as a fundraiser and they do a nice job too at a fair price. Burgers, brats and dogs. I don't have any idea how to look into a local club in Fridley or if they do anything like this.
I'll third the more and visible trash cans and definately one in the registration tent.
Dash plaques seems to be an issue at all shows. Camaro Club didn't have any for the Stillwater Show and we darn well will next year, even if they need to purchase them without a sponsor. People REALLY look forward to them. 150 should cover all entrants. 50-100 leaves people complaining that they didn't get one. Yes, you can print it in the flyer that the first 100 cars gets a plaque as an incentive, but if the registrations are numbered you'll always get the few that wait too long to go one and think that because they have number 89, someone should have saved theirs. First come, first served doesn't appease them.
Don't let the guy with the die-cast cars back next year.........dude cost me $100...
Maybe a scout troop would work too.
Are we big enough to get the folks that do the Camaro show? Worth asking them I think.
Re: Parking, it was suggested to fill each row half way and then fill in. In hind sight, I think we just start with one row, fill it and go to the next, etc. We have enough cars to fill everything and it would be MUCH easier and less confusing.
Yea, there deffinetly needs to be more then one food vendor there for the variety and better cost value. I noticed several with fast food from outside source for lunch that day, including myself being 3.50 for a hot dog is a bit spendy.
IMO, if we are going to have that many prizes, then raffles need to be at least every 20 minutes to a half hour. We may have been doing that and I just never noticed though.
I dont think there is a lot you can do about muffling a DJ at a car show like that much more and still have everyone able to hear him or the music. The best thing that can be done is to position the speakers in spots where there wouldnt be any cars within a certain amount of feet. Obviously, parking show cars a few feet away from the speakers isnt going to work, pointing them the other direction doesnt really help. IMO, its more about strategic placement of the speakers.
I also heard several folks comment, politely, about dash plaques, as well as the trash cans.
I agree with the music, but at the same point where can you put speakers that aso won't have cars in fromt of them at some point? We're stuck in a parking lot that's a rectangle. He did have his volume turned as lot as it can go without cutting a speaker out. I believe there's a minimum wattage for them to even produce output.
As for food, we contacted at least 6 vendors, only one had any interest. The others are established car show food vendors. I think part of the deal was conflict (the fair started how many days later???) and part i that it's still a new show. We're more than open to having anyone with a contact to rustle up a vendor. I am also open to using a local scout troop too. think havin te club do it would be nice, but we were actually spread pretty thin too, and the actual profit would be pretty slim for the work involved. We would also need a preparer's license.
FYI, did you guys know that we contacted abou 300 companies directly (through both club's mailing lists), plus about 15 through my own contacts? I'd like to continue that and get more sponsors and vendors there so if in your normal course the year you come in contact with someone that you think might be a good fit, take the initiative and see if they're interested. I they are, get a card/contact info/etc and forward it to me.
By the way, I do need a volunteer or two to write out some quick thank-you notes to the sponsors/vendors/donators. Who's game?
I'll do it who and what do I need to do
I'll get a list together tonight, you'll have to dig out addresses on the 'net. There are some that I will do for people/places I see on a regular basis already.
We had 107 official entries, plus club cars. We're getting closer to that 150 mark I had as a goal. With several members out of town and a few no-shows due to last minute conflicts, we still had a great showing. I was told it generated some positive response to Friendly too. Next eyar I think we can hit that number with some more flyer distribution and word of mouth advertising. We'll have to work on that.
Brian
Got it working on it and will have them out when I get back in town.
BTW, we also signed up a new member and had one re-up. I have sent the info to Stan/JohnD/MikeS through the northstar emails.
Mike-I still have the cash box. I won't be at the Sept meeting. We should coordinate a swap sometime again. I'll wait until I get the check from the show, then contact you.
I still have a ton of the flyers left. Should I save a few for the clubs historical archives (if we have that sort of thing) and recycle the rest?
recycle bin it is then.