Dick, I will pass your comments on to Frank Butler, who is here in Friedrichshafen with me. I can tell you, though, that neither the new hotel under construction or the other one next to the convention center (it used to be a Hilton, I don't know if it still is or not) are connected in any way with the Von Braun Convention Center where the convention is actually held, so there is no requirement that I know of to meet any expected room nights like there is when a convention like San Diego or Pacificon are actually held at the hotel complex. Frank can provide additional details as well as the attendance from the past years when he returns or at the board meeting. We should also have some attendance numbers from the previous ARRL national convention that was held in Huntsville in the 1990's. 73 Joel W5ZN -----Original Message----- From: Richard J. Norton [mailto:richardjnorton@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 10:34 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: Future National Convention I certainly welcome the opportunity to discuss this possible Huntsville convention venue at the upcoming Board meeting. I would like to see recent and expected attendance figures for the larger Amateur Radio conventions so that we can compare candidates, if anyone has capability to provide it. I note that when I see "a new Embassy Suites Hotel and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse," a red flag goes up. It is my observation that hams are notoriously frugal. Unless there is no number-of-room-nights guarantee needed, an expensive hotel seems to a harbinger of potential future Amateur Radio convention financial woes. Last year's Southwestern Division Convention did not meet its Marriott room-night guarantees, and it wasn't until after significant post-convention negotiations that the organizing committee did not take a substantial financial bath. Below is an excerpt from some recent correspondence about a similar situation regarding choice of a $119 per night (plus tax) Marriott Hotel for this year's upcoming convention in San Diego. The organizers were warned about the price and the ...err frugal, radio hams, but chose to go ahead anyway. I hope that the convention will not get cancelled. 73, Dick Norton, N6AA ----------------------------------------------------- Good morning, DIck I wish I could report how well things are progressing for the Sept Convention, but the committee is getting quite uneasy. In fact, they are starting to panic! I tried to calm them down and say, Just WAIT, but here is what is transpiring. The Convention has a major room guarantee to the Marriott Hotel and only about 110 of the needed 300 room nights have been sold. Any not sold SANDARC is supposed to pay for. Also, only 87 out of the guaranteed 200 Banquets have been sold, also which SANDARC has to eat. But what is worse is the Attendance and Vendors being sluggish. Only 17 booths have been committed and about 5 paid for out of the 50 designated, and maybe 400 or so paid attendees. So all fronts look pretty dismal despite the incredibly hard work of the committee to get things going and promote it. We have people at Club meetings and flea markets trying to sell regs, and have the reg form in all the club newsletters. But as we saw with Riverside, hams are very slow to decide on whether to come or not. In fact, most will decide when they wake up that Saturday morning and then go down to the Marriott. So the committee is considering CANCELLING the convention. Note that is just "CONSIDERING". I am vehemently against that, and would prefer they take a loss than embarrass the League. On 6/14/06, frank butler <fbutler@bsc.net> wrote:
Before the upcoming Board Meeting, I would like your thoughts on holding a National Convention away from Dayton. The Hamfest Committee in
Huntsville,
AL has submittted an application to host such an event in the year 2007. This same committee has put on a successful event for many years, including a National in 1993.
I think our policy on National Conventions is that we will only have one every three years, with the event alternating between Dayton and some other venue where large hamfests are held. This may not be a firm policy, and even if it was meant to be, I suppose a future Board meeting could change it.
Would you favorably consider this application at the July meeting? Or maybe it should be delayed to 2008. Joel plans to attend this year's event, which is typically held in mid-August. This year it is August 19-20. You all are all invited, of course.
Just to tempt you a little, there will be a new hotel opening later this year (after the 2006 hamfest), an Embassy Suites, as a part of the Convention site. It will be possible to walk from the hotel to the Convention Hall without getting wet (or hot). And should you get hungry, the hotel will include........Ruths Chris Steak House!
73,
Frank, W4RH