[TheForge] ABANA conference program problems

[Grover Richardson]

With respect to the management of ABANA, who (IMHO) are working hard.

I've been a part of Hamfests for years, and motorcycle swap meets in earlier
years.

Lessons learned:

1.	The person who is leading the event for next year should be the
assistant leader for this year.
2.	A book should be made, and added to each year.  This book has
problems and solutions.  This keeps people from re-inventing the wheel.
3.	Continuity is important for certain groups, for example,
professional vendors.  They like to see the same face each year.  This way
they have a personal commitment from someone they trust.  If they see a new
person each year, if the person does not already know his needs, he has to
re-establish rapport, transfer information, and bargain for position; again.
Again, a book with information explaining the dialogue between each vendor
and the vendor-co-coordinator would be of help.  How we got there is just as
important information as where we are currently located<G>.  This is
particularly useful when something has to be decided that upon first blush
looks totally wrong.  For example, why were the porno-potties placed right
next to the kitchen?  Because that was the only place on the lot that the
pumping truck could get to them.
4.	In this part I am speaking of generalities, not what I have seen in
the ABANA chapters or ABANA itself.  Just because a person can get
him/herself elected does not mean that they are qualified for the job.  Most
people get elected as a step up in position, based upon the possibility that
they can get the job done.  Some get re-elected and have certain knowledge
of what the position really entails<G>.  Close introspection within a group,
and selection of someone who knows how to handle a diverse set of
individuals, under possibly adverse circumstances, and get things done; this
is important.
	

	I say that there are two kinds of people out there.  The dreamers
and the workers.  Dreamers are important because they set goals.  But
sometimes the workers are posed with impossible dreams, and little in
tooling to accomplish them in a real life situation.


Again, just speaking in generalities here, in this I am not trying to ping
ANY organization OR person.

All the Best



>*>-----Original Message-----
>*>From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
>*>[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Freeman
>*>Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 8:45 AM
>*>To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
>*>Subject: [TheForge] ABANA conference program problems
>*>
>*>
>*>I realize these conferences are organized largely by the 
>*>local section, but REALLY it's about time these 
>*>organizational problems were fixed.  It really should be up 
>*>to ABANA to evaluate and log these problems, and to come up 
>*>with better ways of doing things.
>*>
>*> I attended the 1998 conference, and missed SO MUCH because 
>*>the available information was so poorly presented that I 
>*>found it difficult to get to the demos most interesting to me.  
>*>
>*>Since then I've attended as many of the local conferences 
>*>and demos as I've been able to, and find they provide much 
>*>more bang for the buck (counting ALL the bucks - travel, 
>*>lodging, conference fees, food).
>*>
>*> I have not been tempted to go to another ABANA conference.  
>*>I'll go to the New Paltz one (2008?) because it's so close 
>*>by, but maybe my contribution (time permitting) will be to 
>*>present the program in a manner to allow people to actually 
>*>attend the demos they most want to see, instead of spending 
>*>megahours figuring out what will be where, then finding the 
>*>schedule was changed anyway.
>*>
>*>Bruce
>*>NJ
>*>
>*>>>> mpaietta at iglide.net 7/13/2006 1:20:31 AM >>>
>*><snip>
>*>I really enjoyed the classes, but it was not organized well. 
>*>They had four different lists that seamed hidden on the 
>*>website. The demo list with times, locations, and 
>*>demonstrator did not say what they were demonstrating, that 
>*>was on another list. The list changed and was not updated 
>*>very well. My friend wanted to go on the UW metal lab tour 
>*>the people who were volunteering their time were not 
>*>informed of the different tours. There had been an issue 
>*>long before with the local chapter and the person in charge 
>*>of the conference.  <snip>
>*>
>*>Regards
>*>Martin
>*>
>*>
>*>
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