[OKDXA] Club Stuff

Wed Oct 23 12:22:04 EDT 2019

I would second Jim's comments.  Having the banquet in the OKC area where a majority of the
membership live would undoubtedly boost attendance.  Besides Golden Corral (a new one just opened in
Del City), there are a number of other venues that would be suitable to either buffet-style or
catered dinners/meetings. 

TMW

-----Original Message-----
From: okdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:okdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
n5ohl at cox.net
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2019 11:07 AM
To: Oklahoma DX Association
Subject: Re: [OKDXA] Club Stuff

Yes, we should have an OKDXA Banquet. But I think that it is time to move the banquet location to
Oklahoma City. From the current membership roster, we have 61% located in the Central Area in or
near to Oklahoma City. In the Tulsa Area and other Northeast towns , we have 28 % living there. The
remaining 11% are in the Lawton Area. I suggest we try one of the buffet style restaurants such as
Golden Corral. They offer private rooms at no charge. All you need to do is reserve the room in
advance. Meal price is reasonable, normally around 15-20 dollars. And certainly the food is much
better, with more variety than what we had at Stroud.

73 Jim N5OHL

> On Oct 23, 2019, at 10:34 AM, Kimberly Elmore <cw_de_n5op at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> 
> Hi Don!
> Thanks very much and welcome back! We have no table reserved nor can I 
> go due to work requirements this weekend. But you don't have to sign 
> up in person; you can do it on our web site! Go to 
> http://www.okdxa.net/, click on "About OKDXA > Membership > OKDXA 
> Membership Application" fill out the form, and pay dues either with 
> PayPal or by sending a check via USPS. MUCH easier than working, say, 
> a W6 :)
> 73 & see you in the pileups,
> Kim N5OP
>    On Wednesday, October 23, 2019, 09:53:03 AM CDT, Don Loving via OKDXA <okdxa at mailman.qth.net>
wrote:  
> 
>  Is anyone from OKDXA going to set up a table at the Texoma Hamarama this weekend?   I need to
re-enlist in OKDXA.
> Don KM5OX
>     On Monday, October 21, 2019, 10:39:29 PM CDT, Kim Elmore <cw_de_n5op at sbcglobal.net> wrote:  
> 
> First, high praise for Jeff Martin, K5WE and Bill Roberson, N5AQ for 
> both their excellent effort with VP2V and for a great presentation on 
> their experiences. After a bit of thought, I'm not sure I have the 
> necessary sauce to work 1000 Qs a day for 10 days straight. I've never 
> made 1000 Qs even in a contest before, and that's only about a day. 
> But ten days in a row?! That's some special sauce, alright.
> 
> We also thanks OCAPA for loaning us their projector!
> 
> By now, you all have seen that we lost some money on the Oct 19 
> banquet, to the tune of $157.37. This came about for various reasons 
> and I'll try to lay out what we put together based on records Jeff 
> Martin dug up. We had a marvelous speaker in Bill Priakos, W5SJ, who 
> gave us a marvelous program. Jeff knows Bill, so we have Jeff to thank 
> again for his insight and contacts. Bill drove to us from Ft. Smith, 
> AR, which is about 2 h 40 min, each way (which is a little longer than 
> the trip between Stroud and Lawton). Obviously, we provided Bill and 
> his wife the meal free of charge. We decided to buy Bill and his wife 
> a room at the hotel, which was $65 plus taxes, so he didn't have to 
> drive back that night. We also bought the reporter's meal (her husband 
> paid for his), so there were three meals that we carried.
> 
> We were charged $9.99 per person by the hotel and a 24 person minimum, 
> so that's ~ $240. Add in a $70 banquet room fee, $2 per drink, $4 per 
> table for table cloths, a charge for the coffee pot, a $75 gratuity...
> It adds up. Past banquets have not been well documented, but Jeff was 
> able to find the following past costs:
> 
> 2010: $405.75
> 2011: $443.84
> 2015: $371.09
> 2016: $445.82
> 2019: $565.37
> 
> This year was about $120 more than any of the past years we can 
> document. It's pretty clear that the hotel room, and the three free 
> meals almost accounts for all of the shortfall. Yet, without this we 
> likely wouldn't have had Bill as a speaker.
> 
> In the past, OKDXA has used the Fall banquet as a fund-raiser with 
> varying success. Yet, this year we had $157 less than when we started.
> That's $157 less available for supporting DXpeditions. This brings us 
> to questions about what we might want to consider changing. I want to 
> solicit thoughts and ideas form the membership. This is, after all, 
> your club. What do you want to see from it?
> 
> We charged $15 per person this year. It was an intentional decision 
> but means that, with the other costs, we need to fill at least 25 
> paying seats to simply break even, leaving no discretionary monies. 
> Not everyone benefited from the club's subsidy of the banquet. 
> Ideally, that money should have been used to support DXpeditions. So, 
> a strong argument can be made that the club shouldn't be in the 
> business of subsidizing the banquet.?? I think this is a correct argument to make.
> 
> We have 54 members. The best turnout we can reasonably hope for is 
> about 30; usually less. Some people complained when the last banquet 
> cost more than $15 per person.
> 
> Question 1) Should we continue to have a Fall Banquet?
> 
> Question 2) What is a reasonable cost? Is $20 per person too much or 
> should we strive to never go over $15 per person?
> 
> Perhaps we might try a change of venue. Despite the historical issues 
> that led to Stroud as a a fall meeting place, Stroud isn't as 
> centrally located as OKC, especially for members from the southwest 
> part of the state. I definitely don't want the club to become 
> OKC-centric, but as travel goes, OKC is in the middle and, like Rome, 
> all roads will get you there.
> 
> Question 3) Should we try someplace in OKC next year? If yes, where 
> should it be? If no, should it stay in Stroud?
> 
> Aside from increasing the number of sunspots (don't I wish!), we need 
> more members. This makes the next question very straightforward:
> 
> Question 4) What can we do to to increase membership?
> 
> Finding speakers and programs that appeal to everyone is always tough. 
> So,
> 
> Question 5) We want suggestions for programs:?? What would you like to see?
> 
> The officers are open to any and all ideas and suggestions. Fire away!
> 
> 73 & see you in the pileups,
> 
> Kim N5OP
> 
> --
> 
> Kim Elmore, Ph.D. (Adj. Assoc. Prof., OU School of Meteorology, CCM, 
> PP SEL/MEL/Glider, N5OP, 2nd Class Radiotelegraph, GROL)
> 
> /"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But, 
> in practice, there is." //??? Attributed to many people; it???s so 
> true that it doesn???t matter who said it./
> 
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