<VV> Convention Scheduling (was: Iowa Convention Schedule)

[Vairtec Corporation]

Comments interspersed.

airvair at earthlink.net wrote:
> I don't mean to sound like I disagree with your logic, but in truth, you
> have NO concept of what concours participants are like. I hate to say it,
> but some really DO act like spoiled brats. Many a Concours person can get
> easily offended or upset, short-tempered, egotistical, and self-important.
> Yet they are otherwise wonderful, nice people. It all goes back to how
> wrapped up in their own cars some people can get. And if you haven't
> PERSONALLY witnessed it, you really can't imagine the degree to which they
> get into pampering "their baby". It really IS unbelievable. I've seen it,
> up close and personal. Sure, it's "just" a car. But it's THEIR car. Their
> baby. And nothing's too good for "their baby". Thus they spend like drunken
> sailors to pamper it. And nothing says love like a huge stack of well-spent
> cash.

You are correct to the extent that I have limited experience interacting 
directly with concours participants that you describe.  I have 
personally entered a Corvair in only two CORSA convention concours 
through the years, and I was co-chair of the convention concours in 
1984, but I have encountered few if any of those you describe.  Yet I 
don't doubt for a second what you are saying, because I have encountered 
that personality type in other organizations where I have served in an 
admin capacity.

> At this point you're probably asking why we should cater to such a small
> portion of Corvair people? Because without them, you wouldn't have a
> concours. Seriously. Often, it's the half-crazed egotists that tend to
> create the best show cars. And it's that drive for perfection that makes
> them egotists. Like it or not, you have to bow to them in order to have a
> show worth having.

Indeed I do ask that question.  I oppose catering to a small group where 
there is no larger benefit, and I do not see the larger benefit. If the 
concours took place following one or more moving events, in truth how 
many participants would we lose?  And, if the concours took place on a 
"peak" convention day, rather than automatically the first day, how many 
participants might we gain?  My gut sense is that we would lose very, 
very few if any -- they might be vocal, but owing to the same love of 
their baby that you describe, they would be there.  So too, I argue, we 
would gain additional Corvair owners to whom the concours becomes more 
accessible by taking place on the "peak" convention attendance day.

>  And it's not all that much of a bow, IMHO. Putting the
> concours as the first major event of the convention isn't, or shouldn't be,
> much of an "inconvenience" to anyone. Look at it as "it just is" the way we
> do things.
>   

Ow, Mark "just the way we do things" is one of my buttons.  
"Intransigent Orthodoxy" was the great term I learned form Hal Marcus.  
We do it that way because we do it that way.  Oh Noooooo

My concern isn't the inconvenience, it's how to best exploit what is 
arguable our biggest potential draw for participants and spectators 
alike.  Do the concours not where the vocal few are happiest, but where 
the greatest number of persons can be a part of it.

> -Mark
>   

--Bob