Read About 2008 Dgrr Plans
 

Ok, Phil and I have been going over ideas for 2008 and he said it would be ok to post them up and discuss them....so here is goes. Keep in mind that this does NOT mean anything is in stone, this is just how the event will need to be IF it happens....which it "probably" will happen and be very similar to what I am going to describe in this thread.

First off, lets go over and point out a few inefficiencies with the event and areas that need improving so that we can have more event with less headache for the organizing team. Logistics is a primary problem. We have our even spread across the lodge, the bbq place, the dam, and The Dragon. It take a ton of time, effort, planning, talking to people, everyone wondering where to go and how to get somewhere, figuring out parking at each place. As you can imagine this is VERY difficult to organize with NOOOO cell phones. Speaking of communication that is the next concern we have identified and want to fix. The new way we want to organize the event will really help out a lot with communication and people being able to find eachother and not having to worry about where everyone is. The third thing we need to address with the 2008 event is the food. We have grown to the point that we no longer have the ability to let everyone pay for food when they show up. The bbq place as well as the lodge can NOT support over 200 people walking in thier door at once and not being prepaid far in advance where the food alotments can be identified and fullfilled months ahead of time. They dont know if they should cook for 100 people or 300 people because we cant tell them a number. We are going to have to change this in 2008 so that everyone is prepaid and we can give the food venders at least 2 months notice with a very accurate number. Fourth we want to address the lack of night time activities. Fith (but probably most important) is the liability concerns that we would like to minimize.

Here is how we plan on achieving this. The Fontana Village has a big banquet center. Most of you probably noticed it. The center is a large long building in front of a field. They can serve 400 people in that center. We have discussed with the manager of the Village and he needs us to be in that center next year because we have grown too large for him to support in the lodge. What we want to do is get the center the second half of Friday and all day Saturday. Friday we want to serve dinner there as well as have the Tshirt orders pre packeged by person with a name tag on it so we can just hand them out to people at dinner on Friday night and remaining ones on Saturday. Saturday we will have the center all day and all night long. The Show and Shine on Saturday would basically allow for everyone to get there park and hang out all day in the field area and inside the center. It will be MUCH easier to prep for lunch since the kitchen is there and the lodge would be providing lunch. We would have a much better ability to have cold drinks for purchase. If it rains there is enough room inside the building for everyone to comfortably be inside out of the rain. We would have room inside and outside for any vendors that might want to set up tents and give something for you guys to look at besides the same cars. We could MAYBE find a engine vendor to do a demo of building a engine or something along those lines. We couldnt really do these things in teh past for fear that it might get rained out or something similar. People can come and go but we will have the event there all day and then also have the Sat night dinner and drawing there. The other BIG plus with the center is that we will have it late at night. This means that we can have some type of night time activies there. We have MAYBE have something like movie night, or the mini cooper guys have casino night, who knows. We also can sell alcohol there during our night time activity which would start at say 10:30 or so and end around 1-2. Basically this center would be command central and we would run the event there all weekend and people can come and go as they please. This solves MANY of our problems with logistics, food prep, communication, ect. If you wanted to walk to your cabin and take a nap you could.

As for the Gap runs we have 2 options. We are no longer going to organize fast group runs. What we are going to do is all of us will be at this central location all day long. People can come and go from it, there is pleanty of parking so no one will be blocked in. If you and your buddies want to get together every hour or all day or whatever....you just get together and go. We dont want a group of people hauling ass and potentially getting killed in a group run that the EVENT organized. Doesnt mean you cant do it, just means the EVENT is not organizing or approving it. If we do any organized Gap drives they will be slower, maybe a little spirited but they will most likely be within the scope of the law and mostly for the people that dont want to go fast but just feel more comfortable following behind someone experienced on thier first run thru. Most of you didnt care about being behind a group leader anyway, i know when I announced it at the gravel area over half the people took off. I think this new set up will allow you guys much more flexability of coming and going without missing anything, you can still get in your own groups with buddies if you want, and it will remove any potential liability from the event because we didnt organize people to be doing something illegal. It will also provide for the people that would like to follow behind someone experienced if they want too. We will also still have our Gap speakers just as we always have.

At this point you are probably wondering what all of this would cost. Well the good news is that it wont really cost you anything that you wouldnt pay already. The only thing it would require is that everyone that is going to step foot into our event area be prepaid at least 2 months a head of time. This would include paying for 2 dinners, lunch, and Tshirt. We do not have the hard figures on cost yet but as an estimate you can expect it to be about $48 initially...but remember its not really a *fee* you are just prepaying your food and Tshirt so that we can have a MUCH better event. We will however put it on a time schedule that the price will go up as the event gets closer in a effort to entice everyone to pay as early as possible. All of the hard dollar amounts will be announced at a later date after we negotiate food prices, ect. We also need to consider things like if we do movie night how much will it be to rent a projector, ect. So this is just a estimate of what you should expect....it might be a little more and it might be a little less. Also the hotel wants us to give them a list of attendees a head of time for room discounts that way they dont just give it to anyone that comes up there and "says" they are with us. They need to control the room discount, this means that you will have to be on the paid up list to get the discount on yoru room (which in 2 nights the discount is close to enough to pay your prepaid event cost).

I think if you enjoyed the 2007 DGRR you are REALLLLY going to like what is in mind for the 2008 event.

I would like to hear suggestions, comments, and feelings on what is in mind for 2008. You guys need to blow up this thread telling me you would love this and have no problem paying up front at least a coupld months a head of time.

Thanks for the support!
Stephen

Sounds GREAT!!

The only issues I see are here:

My concerns are with requiring two months advance registration to attend and the $48 dollar amount for dinner/lunch/shirts. I feel like these could have an adverse effect on attendance. If you could bring the registration down to 1 month or 6 weeks and get the registration price to $40 or below. I think that would be ideal. I know it doesn't sound like a big difference but a lot of people will automatically round 48 off to $50 in thier head and that may sound like a bit much to some.

Overall I like it! Keep up the great work and let me know if you need any help!

-Jason

There will be a price structure depend on how early people register.. Currently its just an idea and we need to work out the details later on.

Something the 8 organizers do for their event is give out 'registration numbers' that allows people who register to get the discount at the village. If you don't register for the event, you don't get a number and therefore you don't get a room at the discounted rate. This way, you and fontana get your head count. Something to think about.

I'm trying to contact the person at Fontana regarding to this.. and also trying to see if I could get deeper discounts for those reserves earlier! and less discount for those reserves at the last moment.. We will post this info later..

Remember, we are doing this kind of price structure because it helps us greatly in organizing the event.. Earlier we know who's coming, easier it is for us.

the price is already close to what you pay. This year it was buy 2 shirts for lunch, Dinner at sweetwater then dinner at Fontana. was around 48 bucks anyway

That is basically what we are having to do. That is why its now so imporatant for everyone to register early, if you dont the village wont give you the discount and you wont be able to be included in the event. I know some people might not like that idea....but its just to big to keep up with on the fly and no venders will support a group this size that way.

Stephen

Yea, I know 2 months seems pretty early....we dont have the exact cut off time yet and we still dont have the exact costs. We have to negotiate with the village and work out all of the arrangments first. The "set in stone" pricing and time frame will be some time from now. This is just a close ball park to get feed back from everyone.

Glad you like the ideas,
Stephen

I those are great ideas. And yes prepaying may hurt the numbers for a year or so, but gives it more room for growth later on IMO.

If you break say $50 down into this years event standards you get:
$10=shirt/meal, $15=meal, which leaves $25 for dinner and gas Friday night.
Gas was probably at least $10-15 for the drive to robinsville so that gives you $10-15 you get to eat BBQ for dinner which I'm sure most spent. So in reality $50 isn't any more than you spend this year on dinner/shirt.

Very concise, clear and well thought out plan. As always, I will be available to help out.

Holly

I'm on board.

I'm still awaiting to hear back.. but as soon as we do, we will let you know.

But as stated before, signing up early will benefit you the most... Most likely the initial registration cost will be around $50-$60.. Then gratually more expensive as people wait to register. Also, reserving the lodge or cabin will increase as you wait longer.

Also, eventually we will hit a point when we can't accept any more registration...I don't think we'll get to that point, but we shall see...

From the ban thread...

Yea we have discussed doing something with pictures, maybe even setting up a real good place to take pics with a cool background and having someone that knows what they are doing take nice pics of people and thier car (or just thier car). Something photography related is on our list of ideas.

Thanks for the feed back!

The problem will be that many of us lowly 2nd gen and 1st gen owners and I'm sure even some 3rd gen and Rx8 guys are strapped for cash. So, this year you were only required to spend $10 for a shirt/lunch and you were in the door and that's really only if you wanted to eat. you could have bought nothing and just signed a waver, not eaten lunch and driven with the group.

So, While most of us did by shirts and lunch and dinner. Some of us could have showed up with our own food, split a hotel room and gotten away pretty cheaply for the weekend. Requiring a paid registration will take that option away if you want to participate at all except for driving and hanging out at a cabin/ lodge room at night. This is perfectly understandable and I even suggested it myself. A price hike is also understandable as I'm sure the banquet hall costs money to rent. I just don't want the price to climb too high or I'm sure there may be several people who can't make it.

At any rate... I'm sure Phil and Steven will do everything they can to keep the price as low as possible. I'm interested in seeing what the final prices are.

LOL... only three days after DGRR '07 and here we are going over plans for '08!

:rofl:

Does that mean we should take caviar off the dinner list??? Dang my plans are going to fall apart hahaha

Yea we are going to try to negotiate to keep it as reasonable as possible so everyone can attend. Its just got so big that vendors cant support us having a group walk in for food and not know how many it is going to be months ahead of time.

We understand this might keep some people from coming but there isnt really anything we can do about it. That is why we are laying this all out in the open and telling everyone 9 months a head of sign up time....so people can start saving if they need to.

We hope everyone understands this. Anyone thats ever been involved in purchasing any kind of catering understands. Food at weddings ect are always prepaid. We are simply too big to do it any other way.

Thanks guys!
Stephen

Jason has a point. If at all possible do not include the price of the room within the registration as there were and I'm sure will continue to be several people crashing on someone's couch or even floor...

-Gianny

Rooms will not be included in the registration as there are way too many choices from Fontana village.

We had a great DGRR 07, but this event is getting too large to keep doing it the same way we have. The registration amount will increase, but it is going to give us the opportunity to make DGRR 08 something to remember! It will also be much less hassle for the organizers and attendees once we arrive. Everything will be paid for and all we have to do is sit back and enjoy it! This will also help the organizers be able to enjoy themselves and not have to run around like crazy to handle all the last minute details and moving the event from one location to another.

I can't believe we're planning a year in advance hah! Good idea though. Now... if we could only make it a 4 day event.... ;)

I personally can't take off too many days from work.. and making it 4 day event will require even more planning for us organizers... and more money you guys need to spend for lodging and such.

We need some of you to understand that we are setting it this way so that its easier on us and also easier on you. Like anything I or others might post here, there will be those who are oppose to it. Unfortunately, we can't make everyone happy.. including me! Please understand that the organizer such as myself have gave up quite a bit at the event and away from the event so others could enjoy.. If you dislike some of the ideas we come up with, remember that there are others that differ with you.. So, Please understand where we are coming from and support us!

Thanks!

PHIL

Phil, I didn't and never have said I disliked anything, other than Sweetwater's service. In fact I was a volunteer last year so I know what goes on. If you recall I got us the permission and forms to use the lower area at the dam and was the one who was completely accountable for it. I was down there at 8am to set up and had it ready to go and then you guys changed it to the upper area due to the weather. Had to take it all back down (thanks to those who helped!) and then sat down there telling everyone to go the the upper area till close to noon. I never once asked for a thanks or complained about it. This year I offered to be a "leader".... lot of good that did us but that's another subject but we tried!!!

As far as the four day thingy.... see the wink. I was making a joke. I'll be up there for 4 days no matter what. I couldn't imagine the hassle of trying to make it more than a weekend event for you guys.

I'm all behind you guys and appreciate what you do and go though for us.

Greg

Not to speak for Phil but...i dont think his comment asking for people to support the changes was directed at you or anyone specific. He just happened to include it in his post along with the 4 day comment to you.

Thanks for your help Greg, and to all of the other volunteers that helped in 07 and past events. Non of them would be possible without people wanting to contribute.

Thanks for the good comments and suggestions everyone!

Stephen

Greg,

I didn't actually meant the last comment towards you... its just a general comment.

I guess Stephen beat me to it..

Yea, like Phil said it would be too hard to keep up with for us to include it in registration. BUT, we do have to help the hotel control the discount from now on. This means we have to keep a formal list of peoples names that are preregistered and a part of our event. This way the hotel doesnt give the discount to just anyone that walks thru the door claiming to be with us.....which is a substantial discount. In 2 nights the discount would pretty much pay for your registation costs. This makes it pretty important for everyone to pre register early.

Stephen

Think the best solution for this (IMHO) would be to have 2 registration form / post, what have you... One for those who are staying / paying / Registering for a room and those who plan to crash with someone who already got a reservation / paid / what have you...

That way you have both a count for the hotel and how many discounts to give out, and also a count of people who will be participating in the event. ...but I'm sure you have already thought of this. :)

the new ideas are great. i really like how you arent incouraging wreckless driving. everyone can do what they please at their own risk. im really glad to see you chose to go this route. it eliminates many problems and also makes things easier for you. gets a :bigthumb: from me.

also, the idea of keeping everything at fontana is a good idea. saves a gas, time, and trouble. since it rained in 06 and everyone was fighting for space under cover at the dam having space in doors availible is really good. just as SPICcnmGT has stated, it gives the vent more room for growth in the future.

i can register as soon as the prices are set, but i do see this turning some people away. oh well though. its a step that has to be taken.

as for the problems with the discount at fontana, why dont you give fontana a list of people who have bought shirts and imstead of people walking up and saying im with the rotary group they have to tell their screen name. on the list have the persons screen name and real name and that way it will have to match the person getting the room. maybe they can ask for ID or something.

also, i ,along with others, dont agree with the way the raffle is done. the problem is the gen specific stuff. lets say we call your name and we have something up that isnt for your car. you could give it to them to see it on here for sale a couple days after the meet. another solution would be lets say we have an FD part, you pull an FC owners name. instead of saying "****" you win!! SIKE!! say well, since we pulled an FC members name, we will give them something that is FC specific. if youre out of FC specific stuff, give them a shirt, keychain, etc. this would require that you cant do generation specific stuff last, but isnt a big deal.

I like that idea. How about taking it a step further and making one additional tag for everyone (so we will have 3 instead of 2). At dinner, everyone puts their name in two hats, one for generic stuff and one for gen specific stuff. In total you would need 5 hats (1st gen, 2nd gen, 3rd gen, rx8, generic). If you pull a gen specific giveaway, just pull a name from that gens hat. If the winner has already won something from the generic hat, pull another name (the same would go for pulling stuff from the generic hat). That way, you wont have to worry about what items you can pick when.

I'm in. Sounds like a very good plan. I think the engine building would be a sweet seminar!! Might want to talk to guys like Landers, or even Charles (jfaplanet......the REPU guy). He builds engines and has the truck to haul it in!!

Vendor tents would be SICK!!! It would be sweet if they could come out with parts and such on display. I was a little saddened this year about the sponsors, I wanted to see some product out there.....Shine Auto, BNR, etc...also it is a good way for them to sell their stuff, without shipping hassles....install while you are there!!!!!!

My .02

DJ

Its actually going to be pretty easy to implement. Every person coming to the event has to prepay for it so that we can have a absolute head count for the food vendors, ect. They will have that list at the reservation desk and if your name is on the list they will give you the event discount. Im sure they will go by real name and check that with either ID, credit card or something like that. Dont they check ID or something when you rent the room??? Anyway, I dont want to get overly micromanaged and create too much work. They just need a list of prepaid attendees so that they know they are giving discounts to people that are really part of the event.

If guys want to crash with eachother and all that its perfectly fine. They are just going to referance the people are renting a room and saying they are with the group against the list to make sure its ligit.

It will be easy, simple and seamless for you guys. You register with us, we give your name to Fontana and its done. When you call or show up for your room you will be hooked up and they will give you a discount. You will probably just need to allow a couple days between registering with us and booking the room.

You guys keep the ideas coming!!! We wont use them all but Im sure we will use some of them.

2008 is seriously going to kick ass and we are VERY excited about it already hahah
Stephen

Stephen and Phil, thanks guys. If I can help you know I'll be glad to do so.

Stephen,

Just out of curiosity, and this is very minor, if my wife and I are signed up to be there for next year and the name tags and such are preprinted, what if at the last moment she can't come and I bring my brother or another friend? Will they be able to obtain a name tag there so they can get my wife's meals and such? Or some other type of marking to let them into the event?

I mean I know the T-shirt sizes will just have to be what you preordered and that's fine because I would hate for my wife not to have one even though she might missed the event at the last moment.

Just thought there might need to be some alternative "marking" such as an arm-ban or stamp or something to allow for those people who sign up but at the last second can't make it and someone else takes there place who's name isn't listed with the register.

Brad

Oh yea man, we will work something out for substitutes. We can bring some spare blank name tags that we can write on for those types of situations.

I have the door prizes I was going to donate this year, that I will kick in for next year. (they were in the deuce up on the hill during the Banquet)

Yeah, If I pre-print the tags. I will bring blanks and a sharpie for last minute changes and additions. No point in dragging the whole setup out there just to print a couple of tags. Also, I will probably print them on paper next year instead of the poly material I used this year. It's both easier for me to get easier to print on and MUCH easier to write on.... it just doesn't look quite as cool. lol

That printer was awesome man. It sure came in handy. Next year we want to try and coordinate with you to have them all printed and mailed back to us so we can have them seperated out with peoples shirt orders before we get there. There is no need to use the poly material, you are right that they are nice....but Im sure they are much more expensive. I want to think you for providing that stuff man, it was a big help!

Can you take something like an Excel spread sheet or Word doc and click print and it just print them all? I know you can do that with the sheets of name tags and a standard printer but wasnt sure if that would work with yours.

I'll answer what we will do regarding hotel/cabin/lodge..

When you register, we will confirm your registration by sending you a discount code to give to Fontana.

Just to make sure you don't give out to non-register member, We will get a master list from Fontana and if the names is not listed, you will not get the discounted price and will be paying full price at the end.

Don't worry about expense, I am using old scrap stock from work. They were cleaning out a sample room and I salvaged what I thought was still useable. I just don't have a lot of poly or the correct type of ribbon to use with it. I have a plenty of paper stock and more ribbon to go with it than I can stand. Pre-Printing the labels and mailing them is no problem. Printing the names from a database file like excel should be fine too. All I'll have to do is import it to the label software's database tool..... I think.

Similarly to Hus' question...

If someone registers early and can't go, you could sell your registration to someone else. How much you sell it, I personally don't care! Just let us know in advance whom you sold it to... as if we don't know he/she will not get in as we will be checking ID's.

Also, Once you register, its non-refundable! NO exceptions!

Thanks Greg! i'm sure we would need your help! And I might take you up on the ride on the dragon... to learn from the master!

That would be awesome John! Thanks again for your support and I'm still looking for that XXXL shirt for ya!

I think there are some very good ideas being tossed around here. I think the idea of having something like a base of operations for the event is excellent. You can count on me being there.
Phil, is there a possible way of talking to the lodge about some of their facilities staying open later while we're there? 7 is kinda early to be closing up when you've got a basically full complex. Just a thought.
I do think something different needs to be done on the gen specific door prizes. You got alot of us, especially 1st gen guys, that have stuff from all gens on their cars. Mine has every gen but an 8 on it.

Mike, i understand.. Lets just wait and see what some of the vendors donate...

I think the ideas sound great. I have no problem paying up front, hell I would pay tomorrow if you had an amount. I am all about everyone registering in advance. I was late to dinner by about 45 minutes a didn't have a seat or all the food (my fault I realize).

I think it would be awesome to have Saturday be an all day event. I love the idea of having everything in a centralized location. Also I think it would be a really good time to have some drinks after dinner.

The only suggestion I have is to have some kind of parade Saturday morning. I really liked seeing all the cars leave the picnic area together. I think having every car go for a slow paced hour or so ride Saturday morning would be awesome. Maybe we could even have a cop lead the pack so no one gets out of control and take a pass through the dragon.

Hell, for door prizes, I would of driven you to the 2. :p:

I like all of the ideas so far. I think the earlier the better, getting the registration fee/food/t-shirt out of the way early gives you time to save/budget your money for the rest of weekend. I think it may help some have a better weekend because they will just be paying for gas as all the other fees have been paid in advance.

why wait and see? obviously the raffle is flawed. this is an easy fix that doesnt hurt anyone.

Are you just trying to make my life more complex?? The way I did it doesn't hurt anyone nor is that complex. Geez! some of you complain about every little shit!!

So, are we now going to argue about door prizes?? Seriously! at this point, I need to suggest this again, if you don't like how certain things are carried out, PLEASE DO NOT attend!! I've now read, wrote, and trying to contact people so I could plan for next year.. I've already spend hours and hours so far.. There might not be door prizes and I havent 100% committed to anything.. Who know, no sponsors will support next year and I'm going to say forget it! So, STOP jumping the guns and stop criticizing.... Your comments are noted (not just you aws140), but others..

Remember, I'm just on the verge to say fuck it because I feel that some of you lack for appreciation for how much time I've put in.. Don't make it seem like its not worth it!

no phil, actually ive suggested a lot of things to ease your stress. like not associating any driving with DGRR. wait till after next year happens and see how much stress that saves you from having to deal with.

this isnt a big deal, all it requires is when you draw someones name who doesnt own the gen specific part you have up to win, you hand then a t shirt, keychain, something specific to their gen, etc. not any trouble at all. im not trying to complain about "every little shit" this just seems for fair. this would also speed up the raffle and save you time.

Look! I don't want to argue on this forum... it leads to headaches and wasting more time..

Before you even mentioned about the drive, we were talking about it..

Regarding raffles, I just said, lets wait and see.. Why waste time when I don't even know if we are going to get generation specifics prizes or maybe I'll decide to give out donated parts to those who volunteer for putting their time?? If you want to talk about fair, there were many many volunteers that got nothing and some of you complainers got some expensive parts for free.. I personally don't think thats fair!

So that being said, "I'm going to wait til next year what kind of stuff people donate!". After some of the vendors reading this, might not even want to donate anything nor I'm going to BUY key chains to donate.. Who knows?