| Volume 40 Issue 11 | Ju1y 2001 |
| Volume 40 Issue 11 | Ju1y 2001 |
The convention committee met on June 20 at John Smith’s house. Most everything seems to be shaping up pretty well. The raffle, auction, non-rail, and hospitality are lagging behind as of right now.
Here’s the highlights:
Financial: Frank Bauer reported that we still have over $954.80 of the $1000 seed money. The bank continues to levy charges of $8.00 per month, regardless of activity. John moved that Frank be authorized to move the checking account to another bank of his choosing. Brian seconded. The motion passed. Frank has changed the account to 5th/3rd Bank.
Publicity: Ray has contacted National HQ about getting NMRA promotional material for distribution to four local hobby shops, along with convention publicity. The presentation at Louisville went very well, although somebody walked off with the display board. We will need to recreate it prior to the National convention.
Registration: Brian Petroziello reported that 400 advance registration forms were printed, and that we may need more. There was some discussion of revising our offer to pay for a year's NMRA membership, because of the impending NMRA dues increase. Jim Foster moved that we set the non-member fee at $58, and Brian seconded. The motion passed. Two hundred additional advance registration flyers will be printed, reflecting the revised non-member fee.
Clinics: Bob Fink is in the process of moving, and could not attend the meeting. However, in an email message to John, he reported: "The clinic area is on schedule as we have 14 presenters with the two mainliners from Model Railroader. All slots are filled but I still have one from over east who may come through. All in all, we'll have a fine card."
Hospitality: No chair yet. Pat Hardman has been contacted about possibly organizing the hospitality suite.
Tours: Jim Foster reported that he and John Smith had met with Mr. Hank Dupps of the Dupps Company in Germantown. We have a guaranteed tour of the Dupps-owned industrial railroad spur and plant. Larry Zeller wants to arrange a tour of several grain elevators in the region north of Dayton. Jim has agreed to the tour, provided that Larry arranges and supervises it.
A tour of AK Steel is probably a lost cause; a long shot at best. However, with the above tours and the Carillon Park tour, we now have three confirmed tours. Jim suggests that three prototype tours are sufficient. The committee members concurred. Jim suggests that each of the above tours be limited to 25 people (two vans per tour). The committee members concurred.
The tour schedule is tentatively: the grain elevators Friday morning, Dupps on Friday afternoon, and Carrilon Park Saturday morning. In addition to the prototype tours, there will be a self-guided garden railway tour Saturday afternoon.
Jim will arrange for shuttle service from the hotel to the Air Force Museum and Fairfield Commons and back, running 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Friday, and 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
Non-Rail: Judy LaMusga has volunteered to arrange non-rail program and tours. Phyllis Smith and Tracy Persing have volunteered to help.
Contests: Fred Schneider presented sample plaque plates for review. The committee selected the plate with red lettering on white background as the desired format. Fred recommended that we award 6 by 8 inch plaques to first place winners, 5 by 7 inch plaques to second place winners, and 4 by 6 inch plaques to third place winners.
Fred suggested that we order only the First-place plaques in advance, to avoid having unused plaques for those contests in which there are insufficient entries to have second place or second and third place winners. Plaques would be ordered for second and third place winners after the contests, and mailed to the winners.
There was some discussion about what we will award for Honorable Mention winners. The committee voted to award certificates only. Starr Printing can produce certificates to our specifications. Norm Courtney is investigating software and hardware requirements to allow us to produce them on-site.
The committee discussed the name to be used for the popular model contest. It was decided that it will be called the "Popular Vote" contest.
Ray reported that Rick Tipton (Louisville Convention Contest Chair) offered two suggestions for encouraging the contest entries: offer special door prizes to entrants, and give additional raffle tickets to entrants. After some discussion, the committee decided to use the second suggestion (and not the first). Fred will give each entrant a coupon that can be redeemed for raffle tickets.
Banquet: Jim Rhinehart has agreed to manage the banquet. Lionel Strang has confirmed that he will be the keynote speaker.
The next meeting will be held on August 15, 7:00 p.m. at Frank Bauer’s.
Thanks to John Smith for providing the minutes of the meeting that makes up the bulk of this report.
© 2001 Division 3, MCR, NMRA