Tom,
A-MEN! Whether one thinks of this is “
Jim W.
“In really poor countries where
there are lots of people who don't know how to read or write, there are
entrepreneurs who make a good living by writing letters. You go to the village
letter-writer, tell him (usually a him) what your
problem is and they write the letter for you and make sure it gets mailed to
the right place. Today, in
the
“To me, the real question about
“Tom”
Jim Weaver, K8JE
Director,
Tel.:
513-459-0142; E-mail:
ARRL: The
reason Amateur Radio Is!
MEMBERS:
The reason ARRL Is!
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Frenaye [mailto:frenaye@pcnet.com]
Sent:
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [ARRL-ODV:10794] Re: PLANNED MOTION
I guess we don't track our history very carefully. This is from early 2001...
>Report of the Ad Hoc National Convention Committee
>
>The charter of the ad hoc committee on National Conventions is
derived from
>the following minute item from the Minutes of the July, 2000,
meeting of the
>Board of Directors which is repeated here:
>
>30. On motion of Mr. Race, seconded by Mr. Stinson, it was
unanimously VOTED
>that an Ad Hoc Committee on National Conventions shall be appointed
by the
>President. The task of this committee shall be to articulate the
purposes
>and goals for holding ARRL National Conventions and to identify
appropriate
>ways to measure the success of National Conventions. The committee
will
>submit its report to the Board at the Annual Meeting in January,
2001.
>
>To this end, President Haynie appointed the following to this
committee:
>Wade Walstrom (Chair), Evelyn Gauzens, and Gary Johnston.
>
>The committee met several times via conference call to determine
what the
>purposes and goals for holding National Conventions.
>
>The committee offers the following statement of purpose and goals.
>
>PURPOSE:
>Establish the ARRL as a visible entity representing the interests
of amateur
>radio to members, non-members, and the general public.
>
>Discussion: A national
convention is an opportunity for the ARRL to touch
>more hams directly and for the membership and the rest of the ham
community
>to meet the HQ staff, the ARRL officers, and the directors.
>
>GOALS:
>The committee recommends, as a minimum, the following as goals for
an ARRL
>National Convention:
>1. An ARRL National Convention should be held every three (3)
years.
>Discussion: If the time
between conventions is longer than three years,
>interest in the convention dwindles. If they occur more often, they tend to
>be taken for granted and interest dwindles.
>
>2. The site selected for a National Convention should be an
established
>convention/hamfest with a demonstrated two (2) year attendance
historical
>average of at least 10,000.
>Discussion: The committee discussed this goal at length. This stated goal
>would essentially limit the site of future National Conventions to
one
>location and would exclude all other locations from hosting a
National
>Convention. However,
for a National Convention to be where the major
>equipment manufacturers will be present, a location with proven
attendance
>is essential.
>
>3. An ARRL National Convention should host activities that are
unique to a
>National Convention and nowhere else.
>Discussion: The committee makes that the following recommendations
to
>achieve this goal:
>a) Establish the National Convention as a gathering where cutting
edge
>technological forums are presented.
>1) Include presentations by the top technical authors who have been
recently
>published in QST, QEX, etc.
>2) Present an award for technical excellence to the best technical
>presentation at a National Convention.
>b) Establish and present National Awards for exemplary achievement
of
>volunteers in all phases of amateur radio, such as Club of the
Year, Section
>Manager of the Year, Emergency Coordinator of the Year, QST Article
of the
>Year, etc
>c) Insure the presence of exhibits of all major amateur radio
manufacturers
>and dealers.
>
>4. An ARRL National Convention should maintain an atmosphere that
will cause
>members to take pride in their ARRL membership and, hopefully,
inspire
>non-members to become members.
>Discussion: The
committee makes that the following recommendations to
>achieve this goal:
>a) Continue and enhance forums on the use and benefits of amateur
radio in
>education, amateur radio in space, new operating modes, public
service, etc.
>b) Continue to encourage participation by the FCC, but expand to
include
>sample state and local agencies on how amateur radio plays a part
in their
>operations.
>c) Emphasize ARRL efforts preserving and expanding frequency
allocation,
>establishing relief from public and private antenna restrictions,
protection
>of the amateur radio spectrum, etc.
>d) Use every means possible to allow current members to keep their
ARRL
>membership current and encourage non-members to become members.
>
>SUCCESS MEASUREMENT:
>If the stated purpose and goals are met, the National Convention
will be a
>success.
>If the attendees leave the National Convention talking about how
"awesome"
>the convention was, the new technology that presented, the award
they
>received, or how they are already looking forward to the next
National
>Convention, the National Convention is a success.
>
>An additional recommendation that the committee presents is that in
the
>intervening years between ARRL National Conventions, the ARRL
sponsor at
>least one "regional" convention, moving the location to
different parts of
>the country. A
"regional" convention would not necessarily be bound by
>Section or Division boundaries and would have the same stated
purpose as the
>National Convention, but with appropriately scaled back goals.
>
>Respectfully submitted:
>
>Wade Walstrom
>Evelyn Gauzens
>Gary Johnston
At the January 2001 Board meeting the following was noted:
>18. Mr. Race, as Chairman, presented the report of the Volunteer
Resources Committee. He described the committee's work on the terms of
reference for ARRL's three technical awards, the Certification program, and
Section Manager guidance, as well as guidance for other volunteers in the
field. He yielded the floor to Mr. Walstrom, who, as Chairman, described the
report of the Ad Hoc National Convention Committee which sets forth recommended
minimum requirements for an established convention/hamfest to be considered as
a possible site for an ARRL National Convention.
So, the report was not formally adopted, though it appears to have some
good guidance. I believe
there was an earlier report (maybe 1998?) on the same subject, and that's when
we chose not to have a national convention every year.
What could we do at
In really poor countries where there are lots of people who don't know
how to read or write, there are entrepreneurs who make a good living by writing
letters. You go to the
village letter-writer, tell him (usually a him) what your problem is and they
write the letter for you and make sure it gets mailed to the right place. Today, in the
To me, the real question about
--
Tom
=====
e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org
ARRL
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J,