[TMRA] Cancellation of GL Convention and Toledo Hamfest - More info.

[Robert Hall]

As you know, yesterday the TMRA Executive, Hamfest and Convention
Committees cancelled our March 14th and 15th Convention and Hamfest events
this year.  This was a difficult decision for all of us, as we all have a
great deal invested in it.  The Hamfest, year to year, outside of being the
primary source of income for the club to support both club and community
ham radio functions, is also our yearly activity that brings everyone
together in our area.  The event is special in that it is the one local
event that truly brings us together around our common interest in ham radio.



I wanted to take a minute and further discuss the thought process that went
into our difficult decisions to cancel the events this year.  A “peek”
under the curtain on this process might help some people understand our
thoughts on it a bit more (besides the obvious).



There are indeed two different trains of thought, if you will, around this
Pandemic (as it is now labeled).  There are many that will barely leave
their homes until the threat is gone and would be very unhappy attending
anything where human contact with others is likely, and there are those
with the other extreme that believe that the concerns with the virus are
truly media driven and that the threat is currently much less than we see
from the more common every day flu.  We aren’t making judgements here.
That is just “not us”.  When you are a club the size of TMRA, you are well
aware that your membership will always come from all walks of life,
political backgrounds and general philosophies, and this isn’t any
different.  We celebrate that diversity, but that does mean we have to
listen extra closely at times when there are concerns, regardless of our
own beliefs on risks and concerns, at times.



Many factors went into the decision to cancel our event.  First and
foremost, we at TMRA will always protect those that we work with (even from
the smallest risks, if we know they exist).  Our AWESOME Vendors, our Forum
Speakers, our Event Attendees and our own Members and Work Crews are all
critical to the success of the event and in turn our club operations in
general throughout the years.  Like with our snow emergency policies (even
a level 1 snow emergency will cancel events), we will always work to
prioritize the health and welfare of these friends over everything/anything
else, no matter what the cost.   It, as it should be, is about doing the
right thing (versus doing what we all really want to do, sometimes).  This
is no exception.



Second, we always try to listen.  We listen to our attendees, our forum
speakers, our vendors, and others.  In the days leading up to the events,
we started to realize that many of forum speakers and vendors were not
feeling comfortable (especially since the Governor in Ohio had declared a
state of emergency and recommended not having large gatherings).



With that, on Tuesday (just prior to the weekend events), we at TMRA also
began receiving a high rate of cancellation requests related to the virus
news. We quickly understood that many of our vendors, speakers and
attendees were actively waiting for us to cancel our events (to also lessen
their financial burden and risks, which makes sense).



These cancellations, while thoroughly understood from our team, came with
some additional risks for all involved. The biggest risk was that our
attendees show up to what was supposed to be one of our larger events in
recent times.  We planned a larger group of fantastic forums and speakers
and a larger hamfest size than we have seen in recent years.  Throw in the
ability to meet and get to know a few big name attendees, and it was
definitely one “not to miss”.  When/if we didn’t deliver on that promise,
we knew our attendees would go away very disappointed (even though most
would completely understand..).  With the increase in prices (albeit small)
for this particular year (to offset additional costs), we expected this to
become an even larger issue for everyone involved.


We at TMRA quickly realized that, given the increase in cancellations, that
we could no longer guarantee the same level of quality in our event that we
believe we owe our participants and attendees.  When you attend an event
such as this, you deserve a fully attended weekend that is rewarding (in
many different ways) with related learning, comradery, deals, new
equipment, etc.  We owe you that quality for your many years of support and
participation!



Lastly, we are very fortunate to have some great partners that we work with
from year to year with this event.  We’ve been able to remove a good part
of the financial burden of our event costs (given the general state of
affairs).  We at TMRA still have some financial burden, of course, but it
certainly could be much worse.  Like any good organization should, we had
planned quite well for the “rainy day”.  Albeit, we always thought it would
be weather that disrupted the show.  Who knew, right?



Banquet Food is one of our costs, given the last minute cancellation of our
event, that we were unfortunately not able to avoid. Therefore, TMRA is
offering up the donation of that food to the Cherry Street Mission in
Toledo to further support those in our community that need it most.



Cancelling our event this year keeps our friends safe, while preserving the
quality of what the ham radio community does (and should) expect from
TMRA.  As always, we thank you for your continued support and we look
forward to seeing everyone at the event again in 2021!  (look for more
details in the coming months)



73,



Rob Hall – KV8P

Toledo Mobile Radio Association – President

2020 ARRL Great Lakes Convention Chairman
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