Thoughts and ideas for 2009

A long way off as yet I know, but I thought I'd start a discussion.

Should we make it a 2 day event next year?

• Better chance of having one day of good weather
  
• It's the 50th anniversary afterall
  
• Lots more organising to be done
  
• People may have to take the Friday afternoon off work
  
• More people would camp (or would they?)
  
• We can charge a little more
  
• We can have a disco in the racecourse bar
  
• Need to think of more activities
  

Should we move the date forward/back?

• If we move it earlier in May there is a better chance of good weather
  
• There are going to be a lot of shows next year as it's the 50th anniversary and our main competition on the existing date is in Scotland so not a problem. Would probably not be the same situation for other weekends
  
• If we move it into June I think there's a slightly less chance of good weather
  
• If we move it even later in the year it'll clash with more shows
  

What activities should we organise?

• Show 'n' Shine, obviously
  
• Treasure hunt goes down well
  
• Disco (as mentioned above)
  
• Scalectrix didn't work so well this year
  
• Tug-o-war (Need to get more teams for more of a competition I think)
  

How much should we charge?

• I think the current rate of £10 for the day is ok.
  
• If we're doing the whole weekend we could charge £20 for a weekend camping ticket (2 or 3 nights) and £10 for a day ticket
  
• £3 for Show 'n' Shine is a bargain compared to other shows (I think)
  

So what does everyone think?

i know im not a proper member, but i think it would be great to have it for 2 days, i know that i would camp then.

i organised the minidirectory weekender, started it small just to see if i could do it, was only advertised to minidirectory members, we had around 30 minis turn up over the weekend in a pub field!

friday me and the landlord had organised a live band and a bbq
saturday we had a silly sports day
sunday people started going home after pub lunch

only charged £10 per car, should have been more.

may should be ok for weather, think you have just been unlucky. earlier in may there is riv run, himley and L2B, thats alot of competition.

sorry for the ramble

Burt

ps there needs to be a height and weight limit on tug of war entrants!

thanks for your input Burt. It is always good to get an non club member/ visitors view of our show. Obviously MiniDay has been going now for 16/17 years and we are getting to know what things work and what dont.


I would personally do the following:-

* Keep it the same weekend (bank holiday)
* Treasure hunt again on the Saturday, maybe longer?? - (this yrs was 25 miles)
* Glow show sat night - Although noise has to be kept to a minimum due to caravan club coffin dodgers
* Try and get more MINI owners and traders to support the show scene (very hard).
* maybe look into the possibility of bringing back the 'Smash a Metro' comp depending on insurance!! This was always a winner at Gressenhall. (see pics in gallery section)
* We have a good relationship with the traders, so I will ask them about attending a 2 day show.

The only downside is the increase in costs. ie firstaid cover (currently £100 for 1 day). toliet provisions would need to be looked at again.

It was mentioned during this years show by the Air Ambulance fundraiser that maybe we could get the helicopter to do a flyby during the show, obvilously this is dependant on weather and how busy it is, bearing in mind its a bank holiday.

I will once again try and get the racecourse management to allow us to use the main entrance to the course as I'm fed up with spending most of the Saturday morning putting show signs out only for narrow minded people to either move them or steal them. Lets hope they dont need the air ambulance in an emergancy!!

More ideas to follow no doubt.

Craig[u]

Probably because I am conservative in nature I would suggest keeping Miniday as it is and pray for good weather. It has been suggested to me that if we have another wet Miniday then that will kill the event for good. I just don't want to see NMOC financially overstretch itself. But as I said I am conservative by nature.
The real 50th birthday will be at the IMM at Cofton Park next to the Longbridge factory.

The thing is Ian, we pay for the all the fields from the Friday to the Monday. so technically the only extra cost is for first aid cover.

So a 2 day event would maximise the investment ?

I have been speaking with Fakenham Racecourse with regard to using the main tarmac entrance. After 3 years of asking I think we are getting there.

1 question though.

There is 1 speed bump now as the other 2 have been removed. Do we try and put a rubber matting over the bump to try and take the harshness of the bump out and reduce scratching etc to the underside of the cars, or do we just use the gravel road and put up with the lowlife who think its funny to steal or vandalise our road signs ??

I need feedback asap on this one as it needs to go through the sports club aswell.

The way I was thinking was splitting the roadway from just after this speed bump into 2 lanes. 1 for the MiniDay traffic and 1 for camper/caravaners. (as we dont want to hold these people up)

We could then have the paypoint near to the vineleaf coffee shop oppersite the campsite (this would save having to keep walking up to the other gate with change etc, this is also sheltered)
Then after the paypoint club/show and shine cars would cut through the campsite into the show field and the non club Minis/general public could drive down the gravel road to the main carpark.

whats people's thoughts on this????

Craig

Main enterance with some sort of deadening of the speed hump.
Certainly clattered my pipe on the way out on saturday night

Price should be per person with under 7's going free and under 13's a reduced rate.

The "gate" takings may seem ok but the turnout of people will be affected by the "per car" pricing.

£10 per car if you have one occupant is too much. and just the whole £10 tag puts people off, this is widely talked about from all mini lovers on many forums.

Think of it this way...

A show needs to grow... so what ingredients do we need?

Trade stands!

By charging higher amounts for entry the people through the gates will be of lesser numbers and therefor less people to spend on the stands.. Less income on the stands will mean less bookings next year.

Show cars! After all this is why we go to the shows!

Many show cars will only have 1 or maybe 2 occupants making £10 expensive (this is only a small event on the big scheme of things)

I for one would not bring my car along to pay £10 to display it. Even if on the day reductions for concours or club cars are present it wont be enough to make it worthwhile with current fuel prices etc

Events, we seem to lack any events like the old days...

Where did the mini smash go?

How hard would it be to get some displays going whilst the people are waiting on scores etc?
Fete style stands will always go down well with children, the last 2 years have not been child friendly.. At all.

Not child friendly? less families in attendance and the "gate" goes down.

The event could do with a new venue with more space for a "50 year" show.

All this leads to less growth or none at all.
Things have not been great for a while.

Charge less = more through the gate
More through the gate = better money in for the club! Yes by charging less you can make more with much higher numbers.
£4 each sounds great! most cars with 2 people in them will make £8. thats only a loss of £2.
But with more people in the £2 gets outweighed by numbers and we see a bigger income.

At £4 you will get the extra revenue from single occupant attendees (lets face it they will not show on a £10 gate)

Discounts for children and extra fete style stands and entertainment will see an increase in income.

More people attending = more money spent.
More money spent = more trade stands and display bookings.
More bookings = bigger show
Bigger show = more people

So the circle continues to grow.


We can make a cracking show if we think about it.

But no mini 50 will work from a small club with a £10 gate.

Now feel free to shoot me down in flames lol

burt wrote:

ps there needs to be a height and weight limit on tug of war entrants!

Now what are you trying to say about NMOC members

Ive pasted keiths post and added my replies and ideas.

A long way off as yet I know, but I thought I'd start a discussion.

Should we make it a 2 day event next year? (the show works well as a single day event, there would have to be MUCH MUCH more in the way of entertainments and overall size of the show to get the gate to cover a 2 day event)

• Better chance of having one day of good weather
  
• It's the 50th anniversary afterall
  
• Lots more organising to be done
  
• People may have to take the Friday afternoon off work
  
• More people would camp (or would they?) (the show works well as a single day event)
• We can charge a little more (its too expensive as it is for a small club event)
  
• We can have a disco in the racecourse bar (diso is not a big seller with car orientated fans)
• Need to think of more activities (I agree! fete style stands for familes and different types of traders)

Should we move the date forward/back? (hmm this depends on clasing with other shows/events)

• If we move it earlier in May there is a better chance of good weather
  
• There are going to be a lot of shows next year as it's the 50th anniversary and our main competition on the existing date is in Scotland so not a problem. Would probably not be the same situation for other weekends
  
• If we move it into June I think there's a slightly less chance of good weather
  
• If we move it even later in the year it'll clash with more shows
  

What activities should we organise?

• Show 'n' Shine, obviously
  
• Treasure hunt goes down well
  
• Disco (as mentioned above)
  
• Scalectrix didn't work so well this year (no more toy cars please lol)
  
• Tug-o-war (Need to get more teams for more of a competition I think) (We need more people to attend to make events like this work, with a high gate you get less people, less people will mean poor show)

We need more stands and more for people to do other than walk a half empty field of cars.
Fete type stalls and small teacup style rides etc for young kids.
How much should we charge? (£4 each per adult £3 per 7-13 year old and under 7 free)

• I think the current rate of £10 for the day is ok. (too much, said this last year too)
  
• If we're doing the whole weekend we could charge £20 for a weekend camping ticket (2 or 3 nights) and £10 for a day ticket (OUCH that would put me off and Im a hardened mini nutjob)
  
• £3 for Show 'n' Shine is a bargain compared to other shows (I think) (Agreed)
  

So what does everyone think?

TOO LOW wrote:Ive pasted keiths post and added my replies and ideas.

A long way off as yet I know, but I thought I'd start a discussion.

Should we make it a 2 day event next year? (the show works well as a single day event, there would have to be MUCH MUCH more in the way of entertainments and overall size of the show to get the gate to cover a 2 day event)

• Better chance of having one day of good weather
  
• It's the 50th anniversary afterall
  
• Lots more organising to be done
  
• People may have to take the Friday afternoon off work
  
• More people would camp (or would they?) (the show works well as a single day event)
• We can charge a little more (its too expensive as it is for a small club event)
  
• We can have a disco in the racecourse bar (diso is not a big seller with car orientated fans)
• Need to think of more activities (I agree! fete style stands for familes and different types of traders)

Should we move the date forward/back? (hmm this depends on clasing with other shows/events)

• If we move it earlier in May there is a better chance of good weather
  
• There are going to be a lot of shows next year as it's the 50th anniversary and our main competition on the existing date is in Scotland so not a problem. Would probably not be the same situation for other weekends
  
• If we move it into June I think there's a slightly less chance of good weather
  
• If we move it even later in the year it'll clash with more shows
  

What activities should we organise?

• Show 'n' Shine, obviously
  
• Treasure hunt goes down well
  
• Disco (as mentioned above)
  
• Scalectrix didn't work so well this year (no more toy cars please lol)
  
• Tug-o-war (Need to get more teams for more of a competition I think) (We need more people to attend to make events like this work, with a high gate you get less people, less people will mean poor show)

We need more stands and more for people to do other than walk a half empty field of cars.
Fete type stalls and small teacup style rides etc for young kids.
How much should we charge? (£4 each per adult £3 per 7-13 year old and under 7 free)

• I think the current rate of £10 for the day is ok. (too much, said this last year too)
  
• If we're doing the whole weekend we could charge £20 for a weekend camping ticket (2 or 3 nights) and £10 for a day ticket (OUCH that would put me off and Im a hardened mini nutjob)
  
• £3 for Show 'n' Shine is a bargain compared to other shows (I think) (Agreed)
  

So what does everyone think?

some good ideas to go with there Shaun, but I'm banging my head against a brickwall with the traders!! NO BMW traders reply to letters,emails or phonecalls, and the same can be said for the bigger classic mini traders. Hence why we end up with the same dedicated few.

As for entrance price, this was set at £10 to get rid of the 'running out of change' problem. This can be looked at esp with all this credit crunch talk at the moment.

I was really only after entrance ideas at the moment, as this needs sorting asap. I know you like your low cars, what would you say to some kind of rubber matting to deaden the bump. (although some people still like to take speed bumps at stupid speeds and then moan when their car gets twated)

Any speed bump will cause problems for most modified minis even if matted.
Most mini now seem to have the 7x13 super wide wheels and hi lows set to ground out.

What are the dimentions of said bump/hump?

Why did they remove 2 and not the remaining? Are there any plans to remove it?

What about a different venue and bill the show as all new?

As for the change problem Im sure it would be better in the long run to have someone visit the bank and get a large bag of £1 and £2 coins than compromise attendance?

I for one would be happy to do this.

we used to have £1k of change and ran out. (being a bank holiday doesnt help matters when you do run out).

I think people should get adiscount if they have the correct money!!

We cant change venue as we have paid a deposit, and finding a site that caters all our needs is very hard.

As for the speed bump there are no plans to remove the remaining one. 3 bumps on a 100yrd road was an overkill so 2 were removed.

So we have a choice either upset a few people with 1 speed bump or upset everyone driving down a dusty road.

Okay as a compremise on the change thing how about £5 per person? Atleast we don't need to worry about coins, and i can't see the £1 difference affecting peoples choice to attend. That may increase the number of cars as single occupents win and we get the same income from doubles. Its rare to have more than two in a mini I noticed on the gate this year.

We could deaden the speed bump and that main enterance is easier to find and use, but, overall does its issues affect attendance?

!00% agree that family based entertainment is important in the way forward. The tug of way was a great success and can be expanded (atleast two teams in our own club), quads for the kids, scrap the Scaletrics (waste of a tent).

I still believe that if we do a two day event we need to perhaps tie it in with a run of some sort on the Saturday. Maybe a Sunny Hunny run with a plaque. Cover the cost of this with a "run fee". At the end of the day I'm more into the travel to events and driving, rather than the static side of things.

I think using the main entrance will make quite a difference - the back entrance is either dusty when dry or muddy when wet - both mean the owners have to re-clean their cars much more than necessary.

Only thing is the speed bump of course. As it isn't going to be removed, we need to make it longer so the wheels are still raised from normal tarmac level while the centre of the car is going over the bump. This means 'stretching' the bump to about 8ft in total (or whatever the distance between axles is), so how about a couple of planks of wood wheel-width apart either side, raised next to the bump so they're flush with the top of it? Wouldn't cost much to get a few planks cut to length at B&Q or Godfrey and set them up either side of the bump.

Cost - I think Shaun's right, it needs to be cheaper (or at least appear so). I'm happy to pay £10, but this is generally the only show I go to every year. If I went to quite a few then I would think twice about forking out a tenner if it was only me in the car.

More 'stuff' to do on site is definitely something we need to think about and Shaun's right about making it family orientated too - nothing will spend a parent's money quicker than a whining child who wants another go on [something] But seriously, this is where we're very much lacking. When I was telling people about it, the lack of things other than the SnS was a big sticking point.

Johnnie - are you going to include this in some kind of agenda for next month's meeting? I know we said we wouldn't necessarily talk about mini day but it might be worth including it further down the list?

At £5 each johnnie It might aswell be £10 a car.

£4 sounds cheap and will attract more punters giving a larger gate.

Still its your guys choice as Im not a comittee member