NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016, VOL 42 NO 2
Well, the weather has certainly changed and it’s definitely not summer anymore. Our MGs are snuggled indoors not to see the light of day for quite a few months. This may be the case for many of you as well. As the weather turns colder our minds start planning excursions for the next driving season.
Very shortly the NAMGAR Board will be meeting to discuss future plans and as part of that, we will be discussing items that have been brought to our attention. So if there is something you would like to add to the discussion send it along to any member of the Board or drop me a note.
In my last article I mentioned the post-GT survey that would be going out to those who attended MG2016/GT-41. I have to commend those who returned their surveys; there were 96 out of close to 176 that did so. We appreciate you taking the time to help us make events better for all. Here’s some of what we found out. Most members drove less than 1000 miles; a majority of folks liked online registration; some felt the awards took too much time and the featured speaker was not necessary; they would like to see a GT in September or possibly May, especially in some of the warmer regions of the country. Most folks like the occasional all MG event though they feel overwhelmed by the size of it. A few mentioned that it seems like it’s a NAMGBR event with guests. I do want to mention that all decisions are voted on by the four Registers. I guess the fact that NAMGBR has over 50% of the attendees makes it seem like this comment may be valid.
I’m not sure what we can do to even the playing field, as they factually have more cars than any of the other registers. One possible thought is to have separate car shows along with separate awards banquets. Another is to just do away with awards and not have any for the all MG event. Another comment, having the car show earlier in the week, comes with fears that folks would leave early and not attend the final banquet. I’m not quite sure how to find the perfect answers for close to 1600 or more people. All in all, close to 90% were satisfied to extremely satisfied with MG2016/GT-41.
There were some issues that we thought had been covered or were going to be covered (such as more food trucks at the car show and actual folks indicating the route to take to reach the venue), but they somehow fell short of what we had planned. Another area of complaint was the trailer parking. We ended up having about double the number of trailers and tow vehicles that we could accommodate at the original parking area adjacent to the hotel. That made changing the location our only option.
It also seems that folks would like more time to spend with old friends or new acquaintances, yet we’re not quite sure how we could schedule that and not have it bring up new issues. The North American Council of MG Registers will be taking these concerns into consideration and work to integrate activities and events for all attendees; the question is how to go about finding things that almost 2000 people can do together and make everyone happy. I guess that in five years, we’ll see if they can come up with some better answers. In closing this topic, I think to have close to 90% declaring the event a success is noteworthy and now, thanks to your input, we can hope to improve it.
One last item that has come to our attention is that when the NAMGAR database was updated in the early 1990s, for some reason, members who had joined before then may not have had their correct application date transferred into the new system. If you’ve been looking for your anniversary listed in MGA!, and on the NAMGAR website and have not seen it, this may be the reason. Click here for an article explaining what steps to take to have this rectified. In closing, I wish everyone a joyous holiday season and a happy new year!
