OneManArmy

iTrader: (7)

O.k. first off... I already did this once and for some reason I got logged out and it got tossed. Not stoked. So this one will be shorter. I'll add to it when I'm more awake. Just worked 9 hours. Drove home. Grabbed the family and drove damn near to Jackson... I'm tired.


So... the short version.

I personally think BAM2k12 was a near complete success. I am very greatful for all you attendees for showing up, supporting the vendors/the park/the charity/the event. You guys showed a lot of heart and a lot of respect. The vibe up there this year was awesome. You didn't trash the place and you dealt with the mayhem with grace. Thank you very much.

I had a couple goals with this... try to steer it on a course that I saw fit, supply a place and push a vibe I felt we'd all enjoy, support a charity, put on a killer raffle, bring out some awesome vendors and try to provide an environment we'd all have fun with. I think we did it all.

The main bads were related to the location and a lot of the goods. I'm sure you're all aware of the food issue we had. If we had planned for it it wouldn't have been an issue. But we had food trucks signed on that bailed on Friday and Sat. So those 2 trucks I'm putting on blast right now. BlastOff and Twisted Chill. You guys had PLENTY of time to do a test run and let us know you weren't comfortable. Twisted... you bailed only after someone else made the run and told you. BlastOff... I honestly believe you were just planning to no show. Cowards. I will never work with either of you and I will make damned sure that everyone I know in the business knows what kind of businesses you run... and my connections are a lot deeper than you'd think. The ditch you left us in was deep and completely unnecessary. You acted unprofessionally.

Take for example MiSoHungry. Those guys signed on very late. Within 24 hours they did a test run and contacted us to back out. 24 HOURS! That is how it should be done. I hope those two trucks learned a valuable lesson. You commit to something you better damn well make it happen. I don't care what either of you say to try to make yourselves feel better... you screwed up. HUGE. And several people paid a heavy price to clean up your mess.


So... we're past that. So we now know that food trucks don't work on Hammy.

So what other issues did we have up there.

1. Parking. We've outgrown it. We filled every spot in the park. If we ever do it again up there we will have to set up a special event. Close the park and have it be i-club only. We will also have to 100% pre-reg and set a vehicle limit.

2. No internet/phone connectivity. Why is this an issue? Vendors deserve the change to make a little money and attendees deserve to get some good deals. Next year I'm going to try to get more vendors and see about getting some BAM only discounts going. And vendors also deserve the chance to build their newsletter database. Not having credit cards effected all the vendors including me. I have about 50 shirts/hoodies in my car right now. I can't tell you how many people said they'd buy one if we had CC up. Same for raffle... credit card access helps everyone.

That's pretty much it. Hammy is my all time favorite. I love the road. I love the drive. The weather was amazing. The park is awesome. The vibe is killer. The caravans are killer. Etc. Maybe we can keep in in a rotating list of bay area wide venues... but I'd like a couple years to organize something up there again as it will be a lock down event.

Old school vendors. I hope I did enough to earn the trust you put in me. I know you weren't happy with some things coming in to this year and I really hope I/we righted the ship. You guys were a HUGE help to me even if many of you didn't show up... your presence was felt. Thanks for making a ripping raffle.

New vendors. COBB... dude... huge. Thank you so much for coming out. For people that don't know, they flew Ian out here from Austin Texas. Having them out there was huge for us and I hope we did enough as a community that they'll consider coming back next year. Mann... great seeing you guys out again. I hope it's helping you guys get a name out there. Detail Maniac... you guys stepped up in a huge way and I'm greatful. For those of you that weren't paying attention... these guys through about $1000 into BAM this year. Awesome first showing. Thank you.

My crew... I need you guys to email me... all of you. One2OneDesigns@gmail.com. I want to thank you all personally. Without you guys stepping up I fail. Period. When I say I don't deserve any special credit I mean it. The volunteers made it possible and the attendees made it worth it. And the vendors made a raffle so we could raise some money for Jaxson.

The charity portion. I hope I laid the groundwork for something that continues as long as BAM continues. I think we should continue to use this event as a way to bless those in the community that are in need. This year we picked Jax. I set a high goal and we didn't get there but we did a damn good job. We kept all raffle money and direct to charity money separate from expense funds. We raised $1300 with the raffle and so far I have been able to push that total up to $2000. I'd like to do more and I'll continue to raise money wherever I can. But right now that's were we're at. I'm proud of that. It's not some astronomical sum that would make a difference to some multimillion dollar fund but it's a good amount that makes a family to a great cause and a great family. I'm proud of what we've done.

If you take in to account say... 400 people... that's $50 a head going to charity. That's pretty rad.




So if you guys will have me I'm down to help get this thing rolling again next year... but we're starting earlier. LOL!

That's it for now.

OneManArmy

iTrader: (7)

So this is the annual tradition and it's now open to the masses. Lets hear what you have to say... good the bads... the ugliez.

I've got thick skin so lets get to it. But remember... if you're just talking **** I'm going to hammer you. Keep it constructive and remember that a lot of people put a lot of time and energy in to making it happen.

Some ideas will be considered and some will just be ignored so don't get butt hurt. The bottom line is this is the 12th time we've had a wrap up feed back thread. We've heard most of it before. Hell I've dished enough out over the years and personally apologize to daniel for being an *******. LOL!

Silver Mojo

iTrader: (9)

Gotta thank that hot dog stand...I was starving.

OneManArmy

iTrader: (7)

Yeah that dude really helped salvage a terrible situation and he makes a KILLER dog. That hotlink was one of the best I've ever had. Really really sad I missed the bacon wrapped... I'll be first in line next year. LOL!

Heedz

iTrader: (51)

Something for me to add in, I was VERY STOKED to see everyone was being honest with the food line, had no one come back and complain after Jeff decided we needed to get all the goods sold, and everyone paid to get food and it made things really easy for me to keep an eye on.

Adding on to what Ray has said, parking seemed to be an issue, we did have Steve & Steve working on it but some were flooding into the car show/vendor area, people turning around in the top lot because it was full, I know it was due to being low on help numbers at the time being but definitely being able to set another person at a different location may help the flow in that once we reach max capacity in one lot (All going to depend on the spot we decide for next year).

Perfect idea on having the vendors being an entrance towards the cars being showed. I'm pretty sure this put some stress on Matt but for people that wanted to show, there were deadlines etc, this also goes to people who do a no show, makes it 100x harder for him to be able to get things going on time, get cars parked in the right order. Be there on time too to help him out or whoever takes over for next year. If you're not gonna show up, let them know in advance so there isn't a spot wide open between cars. You can go ahead and complain about this but seriously someone is putting time towards this have some respect.

Anyone else catch that we had no music? It kind of sucked that around 12:30-1 is when the ranger came back around and I re-asked where the power outlet was, which was in the chem room which was checked a couple hrs back and Rachel and I did not see it whatsoever. Seemed to be that everything went well even without music, and using a megaphone instead. Had the power cord laid out and everything but oh well.

Let's also plan out where to put the T-Shirt/Sweatshirt early and an easy access spot. A lot of people were eyed towards the vendor area first it seemed like so maybe in a flow like a buffet set up might help attendees out in finding the booth easier.

But otherwise hit it dead on Ray, and you got some **** together last minute. I'll chip in if I can remember anything else.

OneManArmy

iTrader: (7)

Yeah. The plan was to have the pre-order wrapped up before the event but the stuff wasn't done until Sunday morning. So that failed. Next year I'd like to have the a couple weeks ahead of the event so they can all be sorted out ahead of time. That was a huge issue in the morning. It took a lot of time for me away from other parts of the event first thing and probably cost me a few sales.

Definitely a change a commin in that area.

And yeah... Steve/Steve killed it. Those guys locked it down.

Yeah I had the music ready to roll in my car but no powa. LOL! Thanks for trying to get that fixed.

bluwrxwgn

iTrader: (3)

Yea, my thinking at first was to position guys at the lots and then move down to the other lots when the first ones filled up. But due to the clusterfudge of the preorders and the food vendors backing out there was a lot more that needed to get done. So some things suffered. But thats to be expected with the first time trying it this way.

Heedz

iTrader: (51)

Yeah they smoothly got to the check in table. Quick too.

You were trying to get all the shirts etc organized too. Seemed to be that teams of two worked out perfectly.

norcalbro

iTrader: (11)

The bad:
No music (although I really didn't even notice)
Food truck fail (now we know, thank god for the hot dog dude)
No credit card readers (no damn signal. I was set up and ready too...)

Seems to me that all of the negatives were location related.... I love hammy, but I think an easier to get to location would solve a lot of issues.

The good:
It felt like a huge gathering of friends. Everyone was chill and social. I had a great time out there, thanks again to everyone who helped put this event on.
I really liked vendor row / car show. It made the car show cars stand out.

The ugly?
Thanks again for everything Ray lol

JourdanWithaU

iTrader: (39)

Ray, I think you did a great job with the event. You put together a great team and you had yourself a well oiled machine.


Nothing to really complain about. It was a nice day at the park. Doesn't seem like there was much in the way of theft like in the past few years. No DJ blasting loud music. No crazy food lines.


I never thought I'd say this, but I think the only and biggest problem was the location.

-No internet/cell service. I wanted to stream some music, but no dice. (partially my fault, I could have downloaded it at home and brought it up.)
-Super spread out. I wanted to walk around and look at all the cars. we got through the first lot, then looked over at one of the other lots, we were like, "Nah, **** that, that's too far." And we went back to the tent to sip on some beer.
-The road to get there. Yeah, it's kinda fun to drive. But I had a bunch of stuff in the car which made it not so fun. The food tucks can't hack it. Someone wrecked. Someone ALWAYS wrecks.


And one thing that was my fault was signing up as a vendor. I had to get in early, so I couldn't partake in a caravan. The vendor tent was nice, the location was great. But I couldn't really leave the tent. But I'm glad that I got in as a Vendor. To me, from a vendor point of view, I am extremely pleased with how the event went. I'd do it again. But maybe bring a table next time instead of just a cooler of beer.

boardoholic

The two issues Ray enumerated are aspects of the park we can’t change ourselves. But his recommendation on how to work with the parking hand we are dealt is a great (and necessary) idea. I have no clue how to go about getting a strong & consistent wireless signal up there. Maybe do something with the 50-ft extension cord Heedz brought up but went unused? Btw, Heedz, my bad I never got around to checking out the electrical outlet for you, but it's sounds like it was quite hidden, eh?

So most of these small quibbles I'll be mentioning should all be rectified with the planning & organizing phase beginning much sooner next time around. These issues weren't that big of a deal, but having them carried out as planned would have made things much smoother & less stressful.

Like Heedz, I was gonna bring up the shirt & hoodie prep, too. A couple weeks ahead of time would be awesome, but I'd say 3 days out should be THE absolute deadline to expect them from the printer. On the Fri nite before or day before, the organizers could make it a fun "work" party with pizza & beer to get them sorted out as well as handle all other last-minute preparations. Sucked that Ray & Justin were tied up for an hour or so getting that squared away. I know it was challenge for them to start and stop as other issues or questions came up.

I think the plan was to have the check-in, raffle tix AND merchandise all in 1 spot. But with only 1 EZ-up & a couple tables, unfortunately, that idea wasn't gonna work. One thing we could have done was have a shirt & hoodie on display at check-in, so folks would have been more aware of them & could be directed where to pick them up and/or buy them.

The 2 Steve's did, in fact, kill it with parking and all the other tasks they ended up taking on! Me & Justin were supposed to be assisting them but were needed elsewhere. As soon as I heard the lower lot was full, I had Al tow me up toward the park entrance. I let the kiosk lady know, and by the time I boarded down to the upper lot entrance, the maintenance lady was posted up there with her truck to direct traffic into that lot.

I'm not sure if this was related to our abbreviated planning window, but I would have loved to have some sort of media coverage. I don’t recall what time or two in the past it was, but I could swear we had some writeup in a mag. Especially now that the worthy cause of our charitable giving is the driving force behind why we do this, I think our event deserves wider attention.

I think that's all I got til someone mentions something that might trigger a thought I had.

All in all, I say in my old-time British accent, "Hear, hear. Good show, ol' chap. Although we had to move with such haste on this occasion, much merriment was had by all. Cheerio."

boardoholic

Dammit, Ray! Quit using the new math techniques I taught you. Yer makin me, as a future math teacher, look bad. Didn't we learn from the $3 miscalc. on the per hoodie price?

$2000/400 peeps = $5 a peep <---- still not bad but, like you, I was hoping to raise closer to 5 large for Jaxson.

Anyway, thanks again to all who made this year's annual event what it was. Hugs to y'all. no homo

Heedz

iTrader: (51)

I think we should steal a cummins from someone to haul everything there for next year, more space for ez ups and tables. Doesn't hurt to have a few lying around cause the vendors may end up needing one anyways.

Contacting a few tuner mags might help and hell they might even give us a raffle item for a years worth. Who knows.

OneManArmy

iTrader: (7)

Seriously... I'm on crack. $5... man... next year we gotta do better than that. LOL! I'm blaming it on the beer and lack of sleep.

boardoholic

You've definitely been racking yer brain cells over the last few months, esp. these last couple weeks. Hell! Even this week, and the annual was a week ago tmrw!

And YES! We'll do much better w/ the donation amount next year. Gotta set the bar higher & higher each year, right?

Oh, and another thing I think should be considered for next time is to have a pool of volunteers who'll be floaters or extras for when we have hiccups or snafus.

As an example, for our 11am-3pm event, we could have had 2 or 3 peeps available "as needed" from 10-1130, 1130-1, 1-230, and 230-4. By having it broken down into 1.5-hr shifts, the person would NOT be obligated to work the entire day & could still enjoy themselves while on "standby."