Selection of monthly events

[Blackbirdws6]

More for my own selfish reasons, I only ask why many events either happen in the north and south and not so much in the central region? The Duke Park and Firkin meet (hr drive) is the closest one that I see but most are easily over an hour away.

Having the events more centrally located may pull more members on average however I'm sure you have all done the numbers for each event to determine which ones draw the crowds and which ones simply don't.

Pretty much I'm just asking, what is the methodology or is this a closely guarded secret?

[coolmanvette75]

I can agree with this. The closest meet for me was chapterhouse and that was almost an hour away. I'd love to see something more central...

[sweetbmxrider]

I agree, the closet meet to me was 10 minutes away. I can't afford that kind of gas or commitment!!

[WildBillyT]

It is not a closely guarded secret. In fact I have gotten feedback regarding just the opposite- that too many meets are in the center of the state. What's that they say about compromise? Hah.

Scott or Justin feel free to correct me on this, but I remember the thought process being this:

A) A lot of our most active members are "centrally located" give or take a few miles.
B) North guys may drive to central meets, and south guys may drive to central meets, but north to south or south to north is a lot of driving and leads to weak turnouts. Driving from Atlantic City to Sussex county for a cheeseburger is a bit excessive.

However, sandwiching meets between 78 and 195 is not fair at all to our North and South guys.

I can say with certainty that we are always looking for feedback regarding the meet schedule and locations.

[sweetbmxrider]

I think we should do stuff aside from eat food.

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

It is not a closely guarded secret. In fact I have gotten feedback regarding just the opposite- that too many meets are in the center of the state. What's that they say about compromise? Hah.

Scott or Justin feel free to correct me on this, but I remember the thought process being this:

A) A lot of our most active members are "centrally located" give or take a few miles.
B) North guys may drive to central meets, and south guys may drive to central meets, but north to south or south to north is a lot of driving and leads to weak turnouts. Driving from Atlantic City to Sussex county for a cheeseburger is a bit excessive.

However, sandwiching meets between 78 and 195 is not fair at all to our North and South guys.

I can say with certainty that we are always looking for feedback regarding the meet schedule and locations.

I can understand the challenging balance and trying to be fair to the entire group. With that said, if we can keep it within 20 minutes of my house that would be great.

All kidding aside, I think a healthy 50% (central), 25%(south), 25%(north) split would likely work well just as a suggestion to start. Keeping the travel to less than an hour if possible appears to be the magic number for most people. The attendance will show who actually attends compared to those who simply wish to complain but don't have much vested in attending in the first place. Gas prices surely play a factor and everyone is feeling the pinch. As much as everyone would love to see cars and friends, spending $30-$50 on gas does play a part.

Additionally, more central meets may advertise well for those looking to come hang from the PA side. Route 78, 206, etc all can run well into the central area which may make travel a bit easier for those in eastern PA. This is a NJ group but its something to consider.

I can come up with a number of location within the area which would be parking lot friendly and also travel friendly. A good mixture of event locations will be key to try and make most of the group happy. You will get complaints as you already have but it would happen regardless.

[WildBillyT]

IIRC our current split is West Central/North/East Central/South or something along those lines.

[BonzoHansen]

We basically do what you are suggesting, except we kind fo go west central & east central. This was form last year, but this year is very similar.

Geographic Area Rotation

• Slight change from the N-C-S rotation. We will go ‘central’ every other meet. Except Central is basically divided into East & West. So we have four areas now, not three.
• Why more designated ‘central’ locations

1. More reasonable ride for more club members - makes it easier for members in N and S to attend more meets.
2. Wider net across the state. We feel that in the long term a wider spread will help us get our name out to a broader audience.

• Not really as big a change as it sounds. Check it out: See the 2009 vs 2010 map (some of the 2010 marks are off a bit)

Why publish dates in advance

• So club members have plenty of advance notice
• So we can advertise/promote well in advance and get on non-members radar. This includes advertising outside of forums, on fliers, etc. Hemmings, NJCarShow.com, local papers, etc.

So in the big picture we think this is an improvement. Advance notice on dates, easier for more members to meets, start making it easier for non-members to find us and become members. We want to try to better establish a more diverse membership so we are trying to work on ways to expand our horizons. We consider NJFBOA first and foremost as a club that meets regularly and has an online presence to help support club activities. We are not a faceless forum.

Thank you all for your support and see you out there in 2010!

http://www.njfboa.org/events/

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

I think we should do stuff aside from eat food.

Like what? I want to do a cruise for the Sept meet this year, not just one stop.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

We basically do what you are suggesting, except we kind fo go west central & east central. This was form last year, but this year is very similar.





Like what? I want to do a cruise for the Sept meet this year, not just one stop.

Would be cool to do a poker run or something.

[sweetbmxrider]

Go kart racing

Maybe some sort of track day thing. Meet up to do some racing/spectating then break for food/cruise.

[coolmanvette75]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Go kart racing

Maybe some sort of track day thing. Meet up to do some racing/spectating then break for food/cruise.

That sounds like something I would definitely go to.

[LTb1ow]

Maybe the OP should have made a more street car.. sheesh, go buy a trailer or something.

I don't think I have ever been to a south meet, just a hell of a drive, and they normally, no offense to southerners, have low turnouts compared to central/north.

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Go kart racing

Maybe some sort of track day thing. Meet up to do some racing/spectating then break for food/cruise.

Would also be down for this.

Originally Posted by LTs1ow

Maybe the OP should have made a more street car.. sheesh, go buy a trailer or something.

I don't think I have ever been to a south meet, just a hell of a drive, and they normally, no offense to southerners, have low turnouts compared to central/north.

This would serve to benefit you more than me.

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Go kart racing

Maybe some sort of track day thing. Meet up to do some racing/spectating then break for food/cruise.

Go karts would be very cool. Where is there a decent one in NJ that is open in the off season? All meets during the nice months (march - Oct) need to be car focused & car friendly for all members, not just the daily driver guys. But there is a kart place up on 17 right? Maybe the winter north meet? Who wants to do the homework on that? Find out all the details on a bringing in a group of 30 on a Saturday or Sunday.

I’m totally down for karts, but my guess is there will be a requirement to pay in advance, and experience says most members won’t. We see that every year with the firkin meet. We almost did medieval times for that north meet last year but we deemed the cost too high and it required a deposit. Walking in places with 6 people is easier than walking in with 40.

Track thing would be nice if it is not cost prohibitive and managing the logistics aren’t too bad. Therein lies the rub. The more involved a meet gets the more we really need some responsible folks to step up and ask to be more involved. I threw that out there in that thread about e-town and special groups days. I asked someone to take the lead on it. No one did.

September meet – we have talked about a cruise with a few stops in the beach area, maybe starting in the Belmar/Manasquan/Point area then winding down to LBI, or something like that. Anyone want to throw some ideas together?

Originally Posted by LTs1ow

Maybe the OP should have made a more street car.. sheesh, go buy a trailer or something.

I don't think I have ever been to a south meet, just a hell of a drive, and they normally, no offense to southerners, have low turnouts compared to central/north.

Maybe you should have made a more street car.. sheesh, go buy a trailer or something. You can probably get to texas roadhouse faster than duke island park.

[LTb1ow]

Duke Island was a really quick drive for me...?

Texas roadhouse is bottom of NJ. Do not want.

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by LTs1ow

Duke Island was a really quick drive for me...?

Texas roadhouse is bottom of NJ. Do not want.

too bad, probably the best eating we do lol. You guys could actually make a cool cruise out of that one, winding through all the county highways and such and avoiding busy highways, etc.

The south guys don't want to hump up to chatterbox. every meet can't please everyone. but that is why rotation the change last year from 4/4/4 to 3/3/3/3, which worked in your favor much more than the far north or far south guys. Ron is stil mad at me; he might throw a t56 at me.

[LTb1ow]

Yea better watch out or you may have a 4L60E coming at ya too

Cruising would be a cool way to get places, just kinda hard with certain pals...cough bigpal cough cough

[BonzoHansen]

maybe that meet some of us could come to your area early and then cruise out. post up as it gets closer.

[coolmanvette75]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

Go karts would be very cool. Where is there a decent one in NJ that is open in the off season? All meets during the nice months (march - Oct) need to be car focused & car friendly for all members, not just the daily driver guys. But there is a kart place up on 17 right? Maybe the winter north meet? Who wants to do the homework on that? Find out all the details on a bringing in a group of 30 on a Saturday or Sunday.

I’m totally down for karts, but my guess is there will be a requirement to pay in advance, and experience says most members won’t. We see that every year with the firkin meet. We almost did medieval times for that north meet last year but we deemed the cost too high and it required a deposit. Walking in places with 6 people is easier than walking in with 40.

Yup that place is Velocity 17 (v-17.com), and I've been wanting to go there for a while now. They say they can book private events any day of the year and to call for details...

That would be a good meet for like January or Febuary

[sweetbmxrider]

I'll look into some stuff. I remember seeing one indoor place when I was stuck in traffic leaving hoboken/getting on t-pike.

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

I'll look into some stuff. I remember seeing one indoor place when I was stuck in traffic leaving hoboken/getting on t-pike.

V-17 in the Paramus area is a really fun indoor place to go go-karting. The karts are pretty quick for being electric.

If the admins allow, I can get something put together to get this started.

As a note, my big ass was the quickest on the track the last time out....bring it on.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Originally Posted by coolmanvette75

Yup that place is Velocity 17 (v-17.com), and I've been wanting to go there for a while now. They say they can book private events any day of the year and to call for details...

That would be a good meet for like January or Febuary

February is a North meet so that'd be perfect. Sticks with a highly accessible theme like we have with Chili's near Giants Stadium the past few years.

Originally Posted by Blackbirdws6

V-17 in the Paramus area is a really fun indoor place to go go-karting. The karts are pretty quick for being electric.

If the admins allow, I can get something put together to get this started.

As a note, my big ass was the quickest on the track the last time out....bring it on.

I've also heard good things about this place. Casper, you only win because you use the ghost powerup like in Mariokart where you can drive through people instead of driving around!

[BonzoHansen]

Brian, by all means do the legwork. It would likley be the Feb meet. See if there are places to go afterwards. maybe some of the locals up there can recommend a place to go afterwards.

[LTb1ow]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

Brian, by all means do the legwork. It would likley be the Feb meet. See if there are places to go afterwards. maybe some of the locals up there can recommend a place to go afterwards.

How about some happy hour bar crawls?



But in all seriousness, def in for go karts etc, would be a cool experience.

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

Brian, by all means do the legwork. It would likley be the Feb meet. See if there are places to go afterwards. maybe some of the locals up there can recommend a place to go afterwards.

I will get all the info and make it happen. Be careful....I'm known to be very reliable in getting things done.

Originally Posted by LTs1ow

How about some happy hour bar crawls?



But in all seriousness, def in for go karts etc, would be a cool experience.

Would be down. There is a Longhorn down the street but prob other places as well.