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 Dayton next year that would be special? To do something special we have to be ready and willing to spend more money than usual - maybe $20k or so. A separate BPL educational display/seminars/demo would have been the right thing this year. Maybe next year should be the year for getting hams really involved with their state and Congressional representatives. 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 USA, we pay lawyers lots of money to do similar things when we have a serious dispute. How about some kind of on-the-spot letter-writing booth to promote our legislative and FCC agendas? Maybe a germ of an idea there... To me, the real question about Dayton as a national convention site for 2005 is not what they will do for us, but what we want to do for ourselves. Then we can see if it works for those running the show in Dayton. -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444