SAAC 34 Beaverun PA

[mickmate]

In case you hadn't heard SAAC 34 has a new time and place. http://www.saac.com/ It's now at Beaverun PA Aug 6-8. We convoyed down from New England last year. It Mapquests out at 11hrs 55mins 676 miles from my house. I need you guys to talk me into going! That's a long haul with a trailer and it's really a long haul in a little British car with a big American heater! What are you guys thinking about attending? Talk it up.

[bmwdb10]

Nick,

We should talk this up.... need some convincing myself. This is quite a blow. Even the Snakebite News published what I would have called an official announcement that the event was going to be in NJ. Even the hotels were sold out. Plans made, time off negotiated and now a huge change of plans. Saw Doug's email suggesting attendance was going to be way down.... I thoroughly agree. As lite as it was last year, this is going to be worse. I wouldn't have bet on it, but I think the convention days are numbers. This is going to be a tough reschedule for a lot of people, me included.

Can anyone shed some light on the changes and why?

Ron... you reading this?

[1985 CCX]

Well that is a disappointing fact!

Took one to the chops over the scammer now a blow to the loins.

The drive would be a long one for a cobra form the NE. Thought it was interesting that SAAC claimed 30 minutes from the airport in their announcement. I was not thinking about an airline seat for the car, makes it easy for Fran though. LOLOL

Big question mark as to going this year?

I would hate to get tickets to fly in and have the venue change again as that would really be a souring note. RV rental with everyone from NE?

Hmmm

[767Jockey]

My understanding is that the was a financial disagreement between SAAC and Thunderbolt over the billing from last years event. Apparently they were unable to resolve it. Perhaps Ron can chime in here with more details on the reasons for the change and talk about whatever he is free and able to discuss.

[bmwdb10]

Yeah.... I would really like to hear something about this. I think this is pretty significant. Maybe I was not as informed as I should have been about the dates and location. I really thought based on the blurb in Snakebite that the event was set for NJ. Sure the better part of the east coast group is equally bummed as I am. All things considered it is pretty short notice as well.

Jeff.... I am game for an RV! One big enough to pull a 4 car trailer!

[Rickd]

You guys with an 11 hour drive shouldn't complain. It's a long haul from Miami!!

[Nantucket427]

This is my chance to get you guys to go with me to London Ohio in June?
Track time and events are shown on the events form on this site under LCS.

[mickmate]

Yes I don't know whether a plane flight and whatever I can carry is worth setting up a vendors booth for at SAAC.
Hey John you're driving to London? I've got your trailer for that right? That's 14 hours from here but I'm told will be worth it.........

[767Jockey]

If I had to pick between the two, I think I'd rather do London. I'm not really sure. I was hoping to do both, with the distance to SAAC now, I doubt that I can.

[Cashburn]

We were going to pay to exhibit this year, with the change of venue we are no longer interested. I think the move is only going to sink the ship quicker...

[computerworks]

Originally Posted by Cashburn

We were going to pay to exhibit this year, with the change of venue we are no longer interested. I think the move is only going to sink the ship quicker...

Sink what ship? ...

I guess without a detailed explanation, it's hard to understand all the variables involved concerning a National Convention.

...and I guess if you only attended last year in NJ, finding this year not in NJ might be a disappointment.

We drove to SAAC-33 last year from NY...it was nice.

The year before, we flew to Utah for SAAC-32
The year before that, we flew to Virginia for SAAC-31
The year before that, we flew to California for SAAC-30
...etc.

Listening to Jeff and Nick, I asked Rick Kopec at SAAC HQ for a personal explanation about the change in venue. He said it was OK to reprint it here:

NJMP is a terrific facility but there were a few factors that led us to decide, at the last minute, not to go back there this year.

First of all, it was expensive. With an eye on the present economy, we don't know how that's going to affect convention turn-out. Our guess is that if it doesn't stay the same, it will be smaller. And if that is the case, it would be better that it was at a smaller and less expensive facility.

Second, a lot of the convention surveys we received had comments about conventions getting a little more expensive every year. If we wanted to try to cut costs for attendees, it only makes sense to do that with a less expensive facility. We could be reaching the tipping point for convention costs: $30 per person per day is $90 for all 3 days. Add a wife or girlfriend and that jumps to $180. Last year's dinner was $49. Hotels can cost $150 a night. It all adds up very quickly. Rather than tough it out and then watch attendance fall off because some people just think it's too expensive to go to a SAAC convention, we are going to get ahead of the curve this year. We've set convention registration at $20 per person per day for SAAC-34 and it will be essentially a two-day convention. The HQ hotel is usually $179 a night but we got a special cost of $105 a night. And while we don't have a cost for the dinner yet, we're going to try to bring it in for under $35. You can't do much cost-cutting with a track that charges top dollar.

We are also not sure we want to start a trend of having the convention in the same place each year. While that works for Tulsa, and Bloomington for Corvettes, SAAC's membership is spread out across the country. Announcing that we were having a convention in New Jersey for the next few years would have the affect of turning off members on the west coast as well as other
areas of the country. So we want to move it around. Granted, western PA isn't that far from NJ, but it does make it closer for members from Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and states near them. And we are looking at locations other than the northeast for 2010 and beyond. We want to go back to
California, and places like Washington state, Arizona, Colorado and Florida are all on the table.

But that's all in the future. Let's get this year's convention under our belt first.

Rick

[Cashburn]

Being a Northeast focused business, if you move it out of the NE then of course we are not interested.

Aside from that you make an excellent point in your post ... you flew to all those other events and that's where it gets lost. Car event you cannot drive your car to ... starting to lose me. How about some regional events? Maybe when the economy is tougher you go smaller and closer to the members? Where is the highest density of members? How many members have a 4 hour +/- drive from Thunderbolt, how about Lime Rock, Watkins, etc?

I know Lime Rock is hurting for biz... you could get them easy, but I guess no airport close enough for everyone to fly in.

I'm not a member, but I just had a lot of hope for the event to find a "home field" so to speak and watch it grow. I think that's how events gain momentum, you know when and where to plan for them each year and the familiarity is attractive.

[1985 CCX]

Ron and fellow SAAC members

We understand, our frustration is more from disappointment as we were planning to drive our cars for a second year in a row. Compounding the planning is the date change, many of us already had planned time off at work. This will now require a bit more planning as the drive is longer but I am sure it's still early enough for changing work schedules.

I am sure SAAC will still be a great event this year, as always, and I hope we make the date. Maybe the Steelers will be back on the field in Pitts?

[D&M2]

Hi Everyone,

Donna and I are still planning on going and have reserved a room at the Holiday Inn located near the track. We probably won't be taking any of the cars due to the distance and due to the fact that we decided that we would take the kids and make a stop at Hershey Park on the way back. Our current plans are to leave Wednesday afternoon or evening since Donna has to work at least part of the day for monthend, drive for 4 or 5 hours and spend the night where ever we end up. We would arrive at SAAC-34 on Thursday in the early afternoon and be there for Friday and Saturday. Saturday evening we will head back towards Hershey so that we can spend Sunday there and return home on Monday.

If any one is still interested in caravaning down, we would be game.

Mike & Donna

[1985 CCX]

M&D

We may be RVing down? Need to get details.........