Convention 2006 Reflections........read your Hat

Brutus · April 17, 2006, 08:56:48 AM

Well what did everyone think? We had a great 18th National Corvette Convention even tho my time there was limited due to work constraints. The weather was as perfect as anyone could have ever hoped for and the cars were exceptional.
Well done Garry and the Convention Comittee ....take a well deserved bow.

72vet · April 17, 2006, 03:01:12 PM

;35 We agree with you Brutus re the "convection". We had a great time as well and thank the committee but would particularly like to thank Tracy, Brian & Michelle S & Wayne R who were very helpful to us over the weekend. (just our 2 pesos worth).;laugh;laugh

johnny86convert · April 17, 2006, 06:15:50 PM

Friday meet & Greet was great,Room(accomodation was great) good,Food all weekend was great,Show & Shine on Saturday was good,Needed a Coffee machine and Barrista and snacks etc could have made the club a motsa.Show & Shine is always too long,should be shut down at 2/3 P.M. judging times allowable.Don't forget most of the vettesters have arrived friday washed cleaned the cars raced off to the meet and greet had a late night up at 6.00 for a drive in the show area by 9.00 at the latest,walked around all day and I think it would be good to give them a breather sat arvo.Drag day was great,shame we had to Split the convention at TWO Locations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lost some shine for me.Sunday night dinner was fun,liked that they split the awards between two nights,kept the ceremonies short,liked the Band on sunday nite.As this is an honest opinion of the weekend as a member and also knowing the pressure put on the organisers I must say I did not appreciate the comment in front of all the other state convention participents of" Its ok being President if you can handle the wingers!!!!!!!"I thought really hard about bringing this up,but theres always been a tradition I think at conventions to keep our dirty laundry inhouse,I've been to nearly everyone since 95 so I'm not talking out of school.All in all hats off to a really great effort to all who attended and did so in a great spirit seeya on the Gold Coast next year.

MrPersistent · April 17, 2006, 08:09:08 PM

good one johnny (im not a whinger i have an opinion )

Cameron 77C3 · April 17, 2006, 09:09:59 PM

G'day lads. We had a blast. I've just spent all today editing all 600 odd pics. Got it down to 540 odd. Also have a small video of the drags.

I'll be sending all 5 CD's of pics to Peter P for uploading to the web site. And I'll see what I can do about getting the video up.

Later this week I'll pick a select few pics and have another go at one of my picture tales on the event as I did with Bella Vista.

Catch ya's later.;42

Cam

MJ427 · April 17, 2006, 09:34:44 PM

cant wait to see cam;46

ozvette · April 17, 2006, 09:44:52 PM

I'd post my honest opinion, but I guess that would make me a whinger....

johnny86convert · April 18, 2006, 08:05:29 AM

ozvette, post it,these posts could be read by organisers who will be putting on a convention in the future so they will learn from past conventions and make theres better,and thats ok mate .N.s.w learnt from the last one in Melb as queensland will learn from the N.S.W. one and so on.Constructive critisism I think is always welcome as oposed to someone just going off and complaining without any thought of a remedy for the problem,thats where the word whinger is banied about TOOOOO much. getting of the soap box now.

ozvette · April 18, 2006, 08:34:29 AM

Other than what I am going to post, I thought it was great.

I agree about the show & shine, it needed food stands, I had to go back to the hotel to eat, and I wasn't comfortable leaving my car where I couldn't see it. (I knew nothing would happen but you know what it's like).
The actual location was pretty, but it didn't seem like a lot of public went through it or knew anything was even on.

I disliked having EVERY meal in the same setting, that became boring real fast.

There was too little communication with the actual entrants, a big thing was that we didn't get any form of itinerary with the showbag (yes I know we were sent one in the mail, but seeing things were changing right up until the event, it would have been nice to have a simple sheet saying: If doing X, please be at location ABC at 8:00am for a 8:30 departure. Simple information, but we weren't sure what was going on until the night before).

That's about it really. Just minor stuff, but it did sour my overall experience.

jdunne · April 18, 2006, 08:59:15 AM

I had a hot time at the convection.....more fun than a mature age person is entitled to whilst keeping his pants on...john;28

RHD.68.l89 · April 18, 2006, 09:10:47 AM

Garry did a very good job as the face of the "convection" but the whinger comment did sour it for a lot of people. Keep it positive, no matter what.
More information at the meet and greet briefing, we really did not know when and where we we were meant to be until the night before or when we read the board. Maybe the board should have been in the hotel lobby which everyone could have checked on the way past instead of having to go to the mezzanine.
Possibly a mailout the week before confirming all the details would have settled a lot of people as well.

I did not mind having the meals in the same room but I had to look at the notice board to find out when. Food was good overall. Maybe a theme to differentiate the nights more.

As a sponsor of the Convention, I know of some of the difficulties the committee had coming up to the last weeks. Unfortunately there had to be some changes and these need to be communicated to the participants, to make them feel they are part of the event and not just sheep to herded around to each event. This Forum is good but it is not the only place to post updates. There are some Corvette owners who still do not have a computer. If I had not joined before the Convention I wouldn't have known about the changes to driving events.

RHD.68.l89 · April 18, 2006, 09:17:50 AM

Oh, and the forum get together was organised too late. I was travelling from Wednesday and did not have internet access until I got home. Didn't find out about Krispy Kremes until late Monday night. I would have liked to catch up with Brutus (amongst others)who I know from another forum and checked out his car. It's good to be able to put a face to a name.
;37;37

RHD.68.l89 · April 18, 2006, 09:24:29 AM

Oh, and the venue needs to be chosen based on being able to drink in the car park. I felt a lot of the commeraderie was lost during the washing of the cars without a social lubricant.
;42;42

stingray · April 18, 2006, 10:02:59 AM

iN ANSWER TO A FEW COMMENTS . NO COFFEE MACHINES OR FOOD STALLS WERE ALLOWED AT OUR SHOW AND SHINE BY THE CLUB.

I'M SORRY THAT YOU DIDN'T LIKE THE SAME ROOM FOR THE THREE NIGHTS. IT WAS PUT ON LIKE THIS SO THIS SO THAT IT WOULD ALL RUN SMOOTHLY WITH NO PROBLEMS. WE DID NOT WANT WHAT HAPPENED IN MELBOURNE WITH 1 BBQ COOKING FOR 200 PLUS PEOPLE AND OTHER PEOPLE HEADING OFF INTO TOWN JUST TO GET A FEED, AND ALSO THE SICKNESS FROM THE FISH ON THE SATURDAY EVENING.

I ALSO HOPE THAT IT WASN'T A PROBLEM FOR THE HOLIDAY INN ORGANISING A DIFFERENT ROOM EACH NIGHT FOR YOU .
THE WHITE BOARD HAD TO STAY UPSTAIRS THIS WAS CLUB RULES.

AS TO HAVING TO LEAVE YOUR CAR TO PURCHASE FOOD OR DRINKS . AND YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR CAR YOU JUST ASK YOUR FELLOW MEMBER NEXT TO YOU TO WATCH YOUR CAR FOR SHORT TIME.

IF YOU COULD NOT GET IMFORMATION ENOUGH FROM THE BOARD AS TO WHAT WAS ON THE NEXT DAY, AS OF ANY OTHER CONVENTION ,THAT IS WHAT THE "CONVENTION COMMITTEE" IS FOR.

AS FOR HAVING A DRINK WHILST WASHING YOUR CARS WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE, IT IS NO DRINKING IN THAT AREA BUT YOU COULD HAVE AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE JUST ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE "WE JUST CAN"T HAVE EVERY THING "

AS FOR THE "CONVECTION" WORD ON THE REAR OF THE CAPS IT WAS A MISPRINT AT TIME OF EMBROIDERY AND WAS NOT PICKED UP UNTIL THE WEEK OF THE CONVENTION ,AND AS THEY WERE ENBROIDED OVERSEAS IF THEY WERE SENT BACK TO BE CHANGED WE WOULD NOT HAVE HAD THEM BACK IN TIME. NO FAULT OF THE COMMITTEE. SO GIVE UP ON IT THANKS.

IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR QUERIES PLEASE RING ME ON 0418252512 ALAN DURES ,
BUT YOU MUST RING BEFORE THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING TUESDAY MAY 2ND.

69 DIRTY RAT · April 18, 2006, 10:35:16 AM

I still had lots of fun! Even though there was some hick ups. The People make the Convention, I'm just sorry I couldnt chat to everyone! But did meet some great people from round the country! Sorry if we got a bit rowdy at times but YEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAA!

ozvette · April 18, 2006, 11:06:08 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by stingray

I ALSO HOPE THAT IT WASN'T A PROBLEM FOR THE HOLIDAY INN ORGANISING A DIFFERENT ROOM EACH NIGHT FOR YOU .

You know what, I was just being honest and trying to offer my impressions. Like I said, other than a couple of minor things I was very happy with my experience. If you want to take it personally and have a go at me, well, you know where you can put your snide comment.

Have a nice day.

stingray · April 18, 2006, 11:24:57 AM

AS TO THE ANSWERS TO THE COMMENTS....

I ANSWERED THE COMMENTS TO LET PEOPLE KNOW WHY THIS WAS DONE AND THAT WAS DONE AT THE CONVENTION. I ASSUMED THAT YOU MAY HAVE WANTED ANSWERS TO THESE ISSUES OTHER WISE THER WAS NO REASON TO POST THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF THING UNLESS YOU WANTED ANSWERS. THAT'S THE WAY I LOOKED AT IT.

jolinari · April 18, 2006, 11:27:26 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by stingray

AS FOR THE "CONVECTION" WORD ON THE REAR OF THE CAPS IT WAS A MISPRINT AT TIME OF EMBROIDERY AND WAS NOT PICKED UP UNTIL THE WEEK OF THE CONVENTION ,AND AS THEY WERE ENBROIDED OVERSEAS IF THEY WERE SENT BACK TO BE CHANGED WE WOULD NOT HAVE HAD THEM BACK IN TIME. NO FAULT OF THE COMMITTEE. SO GIVE UP ON IT THANKS.

no one is blaming the committee Mr. Stingray...The person who approved the art work before the print must be the responsible. by the way NOONE ASKED WHO IS THE RESPONSIBLE AND NOONE BLAMED THE COMITTEE

jolinari · April 18, 2006, 11:30:01 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by stingray
AS TO THE ANSWERS TO THE COMMENTS....

I ANSWERED THE COMMENTS TO LET PEOPLE KNOW WHY THIS WAS DONE AND THAT WAS DONE AT THE CONVENTION. I ASSUMED THAT YOU MAY HAVE WANTED ANSWERS TO THESE ISSUES OTHER WISE THER WAS NO REASON TO POST THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF THING UNLESS YOU WANTED ANSWERS. THAT'S THE WAY I LOOKED AT IT.

YOU LOOK AT IT AT THE WRONG WAY....IT IS CALLED FEEDBACK

YOU ARE ONE OF THE LEADERS AND YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY DIFFICULTY DEALING WITH FEEDBACK BECAUSE IF YOU DONT KNOW IT, FEEBACKS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE SOLUTIONS FOR FUTURE EVENTS.

THATS THE WAY I LOOK AT IT

jolinari · April 18, 2006, 11:44:13 AM

Well for a start let me say that this is my first convention and it is definitevly not the last one.

One thing we all have to be aware is : organising such a big event like the convention is not an easy task at all...

The venue itself (panthers)was great location, convenient and pleasant.

No complaint about the food, great service and relatively cheap drinks.

show and shine was great but bit too long ( agreeing with jhonny) however in my opinion it would have been great if it was held at where we parked the cars night time becuase it would have drawn more people travelling on Mulgoa road and of course the location of krispy cream and Mc donalds would have contibuted an excellent exposure to the show...but I am sure that there is a good reason why it was held on that big oval!

AS WHAT IT WAS SAID THAT NIGHT ABOUT SOME MEMBERS, CALLING THEM WHINGERS...YOU D BETTER ADD THIS POST TO YOUR FAVOURITE AS I AM IN THE PROCESS TO FINALISE MY POST....STAY TUNED

NB: THE WHINGING SUBJECT WILL BE POSTED SEPARETLY AND INDEPENDTELY FROM THIS TOPIC...SO PLEASE BE PATIENT FOR THE POST. IN THE MEAN TIME PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR THOUGTHS IN REGARDS TO THE CONVENTION