Noreastcon Debriefing

Howdy everyone,

Attached is the run down on last weekend's Noreastcon. Please share it with the officers and members of your chapter.

Thanks to everyone who attended!!

Semper Fi
Doug

2007 Noreastcon Debriefing

Noreastcon 2007 was held April 27/28 at the Poughkeepsie Best Western Hotel and Conference Center. Hosted by IPMS Mid Hudson, and IPMDS Stratford, this year’s version was certainly a memorable event.

A few brief look at the event statistics show there were 367 models on the tables entered by 113 competitors, and 230 visitors, a tidy sum by any count.

Things kicked off Friday, 27 April with setting up the area, and welcoming in the vendors to set up their spaces. The vendors made their way into the facility and proceeded with setting up their shops, and were open for business at about noon. There were some awesome deals to be had, and a fantastic selection of tools, new kits, old kits, and other sundry items relating to our hobby. A few of the regular vendors we normally see didn’t make the event this time out for various reasons, and while they were missed, the ones that did make it saw high sales, and a continual stream of customers. I found some really cool stuff to add to my stash, and I know most others did as well.

The rest of Friday saw many participants arrive, place their models on the tables and by the close of the model room Friday night, it was apparent that the overall quality of the models would be quite high. Friday evening a mixer for IPMS members was held, and was really well attended. All that gathered were in fine spirits, with much camaraderie and mirth being evident. One of the funnier things that happened Friday night saw Stratford member and event Co-Chair Gil Hernandez present current Stratford President Mike Gondor with a rose. Gil had been breaking Mike’s stones nearly all day, and this was carried on with the rose. It was very funny, and the look on Mike’s face when Gil gave him the flower was priceless!! Mike has vowed retribution, and assures me it will be served cold!!

Saturday saw the usual Noreastcon activities beginning with the well attended Region 1 Business Meeting. The topics covered, and a brief rundown are:

· Fact Sheet usage. IPMS has changed the rechartering process somewhat with the addition of the fact sheet. Dick Montgomery, IPMS Director of Local Chapters has designed this sheet with the intent of streamlining and making easier the rechartering process and the fact sheet will play a very important role. By utilizing the fact sheet throughout the year and making updates to it rechartering will be an easy task to complete. Dick has sent out two broadsheets outlining how to maintain these sheets, and two more will follow. I have up to date copies of every chapter in Region 1’s fact sheet, so if you need a copy, please contact me. I’ll be happy to send you another one.

· I mentioned I send out welcoming letters to all new IPMS members, and in it, I mention any chapters that are close to the new members home. This is done to welcome new members, and provide them information regarding a local chapter to join, if they’re not members already. It was suggested that I let the local chapters know who the new members are so they may contact hem to invite them to a local meeting. I think this is a natural extension of the program, and will do so with the next batch of newbie’s.

· RC Evaluations. A new process of the local chapters evaluating the performance of the RC’s has been instituted. I’ll be sending to all chapters an eval form that should be filled in and sent to DLC Dick Montgomery. (These will be going out shortly) I’ll ask each chapter to complete the eval, honestly, and send it back to Dick. Dick will share the responses with me in order to serve you, the membership and chapters better. The deadline for submitting the evals will be on or about 1 June.

· Scheduling of events. Beginning next year, I will not approve any event on either weekend around Noreastcon. As Noreastcon is our Regions premier event, there will be no conflicts with local shows interfering with the draw. I had originally set a two week window, but further discussion showed this to problematic and was revised to the one week window. I also thanked IPMS Wings and Wheels and IPMS Long Island for working with me this year and moving the dates of their events to open up some time in April. I was able to attend both events this yea, and believe the changes improved the turnout at both these fine shows. Scheduling events is an on going issue, and is being looked at to continually improve the local events so as to maximize the vendor and competitor turnouts, and to avoid conflicts between events.

· In order to improve vendor turn out at events, I’ve been asked to create a listing of Region 1 vendors. This will be done as time permits, so I’ll ask each chapter to send me a listing of the vendors they had at their events over the past year. The list will be made available to every chapter, and they’ll be able to contact the vendors directly should they wish to.

· Dick Schulenberg of IPMS Niagara Frontier raised the issue of the expenses needed to host future Noreastcon’s. Dick’s concern involved the escalating costs of hosting the Regional, and way that may be implemented to hold those costs down, there by making the event more affordable for the hosts, and in turn the attendees. One thing I mentioned was the Sturbridge (Mass.) site we’ve used for past Noreastcons. The tax issues that had plagued this facility and our subsequent abandoning of the site have been resolved, and we could put that facility back into the mix. I suggest that we use that location as a fall back site under a number of different scenarios. They would be; ) a chapter or chapters wishing to host but not having a suitable/affordable facility available locally or ) an outlying chapter wishing to host at a more centrally convenient location. Everyone in attendance thought this is a good idea. I understand Dick’s concern with the escalating costs associated with our event, and also realize the importance of keeping the event affordable to all. I’ll keep this issue at the front of things, and will ask if anyone has any ideas that work toward this end to please contact me.

· Next years event will be held back down the Ho Chi Mihn Trail in beautiful Schoharie NY, at the Holiday Inn Express. On 25/26 April 2008. That was the site of the 2004 event. IPMS Northeast New York will again be our hosts. Thanks Guys!!!! At this point, we don’t have a firm bid for 09, but may have a chapter willing to host. If your chapter wants to host the premier Regional event in all IPMS, please feel free to contact me for the skinny!! I’m very happy to help.

· My thanks to Lynn Meyers of IPMS Mid Hudson for taking the minutes of the meeting, and doing so with nice handwriting I can actually read!! Thanks Lynn!!!!!!

Judging for the event went very well, and due to the overall high quality of the models, the judges had some very hard decisions to make. This was accomplished in an open model room, and the judges worked very hard to evaluate the models. I’ll offer my congratulations to all the winners at this point, and say your awards were very well earned. I’d also like to congratulate Billy Youngman for his very fine Toyota 040, which won Best In Show. This model was a great example of the modelers’ craft, and was detailed tremendously. For those that don’t know Billy, I’ll tell you he is involved in the racing industry, and has first hand knowledge of what goes into a racecar. It was a difficult decision to pick Best in Show due to the excellent models under consideration.

The show ended with the awards banquet and ceremony. We were all treated to a fine meal, and one of the funniest awards presentations I’ve ever witnessed. I had the honor of presenting the Noreastcon Cup to this year’s winners IPMS Northeast NY. I was also honored to present the 2006 Chapter of the Year award to IPMS Long Island. Secretary Fred Seitz accepted the award for this great chapter. The 2006 Region 1 Person of the Year was awarded to Dr. Nick Fillipone of IPMS NENY. Nick’s accomplishments and dedication to IPMS are remarkable, and I was very pleased to present Nick this award.

The afore mentioned Gil Hernandez, Event Chairman Tom Walker and the hardest working guy all weekend, Doc Wiseman presided over the rest of the awards. The result was pure mayhem, and was all ad libbed. I thought it was terrific, as did everyone else in attendance. While I can appreciate a solemn presentation, I appreciate a comedy routine that rivaled the Three Stooges in terms of comedy. I offer a tip of the hat to these guys for making the presentation the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

Overall, the vent was a really good one in all the areas that matter. The vendors were good and the models even better. The hotel was ok, and our hosts put a huge effort into making this a successful event. While many hands made this a great event, Co Chairmen Tom Walker and Gil Hernandez, Doc Wiseman, Mike Gondor, Mike and Kathy Connolly, Lynn Meyers, and Roger Griemsmann all deserve a special shout out for their efforts. As well as the other officers and members of IPMS Mid Hudson and IPMS Stratford.
Until next year, that wraps up the Noreastcon debriefing. We now resume our regularly scheduled programming!!