rdnelson99;1033154 wrote: I appreciate the feedback. We can learn from what we hear from all of you. That is always a good thing. If I may, I will try to address some of the issues.
1. I was disappointed in the attendance. Especially for the speakers. This years BoD made a commitment early on to encourage higher attendance at club functions. We work hard to find quality subject matter, new venues and good presenters. In the case of today's show, we brought in two of the biggest names in the hobby. One all the way from Hawaii. To see only 15-20 people give up an hour of there time was disappointing to me.
2. Earlier in this thread, comments indicated that the items available were not the best. I personally saw some amazing items. Even Dana Riddle made a point to mention how he saw some amazing specimens, some of which he had never before seen.
3. Will vendors return? To be honest I don't know. The BoD worked for 4 months to convince these vendors to take the risk associated with purchasing a booth, expense of travel and wear and tear on livestock. Some seemed to do OK, others were very disappointed in sales.
4. The Venue and the timing. This was one of the most difficult tasked we faced. I spent an entire month trying to find a venue that would not eat up all available funds for the event, scheduling around spring breaks and last days of school, avoiding conflicts with other regional events that would drain vendors and attendees. It boiled down to today or nothing.
4. Charging admission for spouses and the raffles. An event like this is a very expensive undertaking. More than I would have thought before being tasked with making it happen. The club IS financially sound. However, it is incumbent upon the BoD to be responsible with the club's funds. A certain amount of annual resources are required to find items the members never consider. Such as the insurance that protects the club should an unfortunate occurrence take place at one of these events. We also need to ensure that funds are available to provide a quality experience for all members through out the year. Therefore, some of the expenses surrounding an event of this nature must be raised via means other than just member due.
It is my sincerest hope that everyone who reads this understands that this is meant as an attempt to answer the questions raised in this thread. No more, no less.
Finally, I want to say thank you to the club members who gave of themselves today. Anyone who was there yesterday evening or from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM today would agree. We have a few members who worked their tails to the ground to make this the best possible experience for you, the member. The BoD work hard too, but we signed up for that when we agreed to have our names put on the ballot. The volunteers who worked so hard over the last few days do so with little or no expectation of accolades for their efforts. They did it because they care about the club. In the next day or two, I will post a specially thank you to these individuals but if I tried tonight I would miss someone. My brain is fried.
So let's all look forward to next year. Let's all join together to make it better than this year and each successive year better than the last.
Thanks
Rich
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