The "what can we do better thread"

[IllianaXJ]

- Registration in the BL office was nice and smooth.
- Parking lot flags were great.
- In large groups a trail leader mid-pack would help out for recoveries and spotting. I realize it is hard to find volunteers as it is now, but I think this would keep traffic moving down the trail with a large group.
- CB checks could be done if the tech guy had a handheld CB, otherwise you would have to have a guy sitting in a Jeep listening to the radio and not doing much else. I agree they should be done.
- Ticket tumbler is a great idea. The block of tickets I had only got close once or twice. (443xxx).

 

[Fore Wheeler]

And if a guys CB didn't sound good, would you not allow them to run with us?

FRS always sounds good.

 

[87manche]

And if a guys CB didn't sound good, would you not allow them to run with us?

FRS always sounds good.

and someone with a handheld standing there is going to hear just fine.

it's a different matter when you're 20 jeeps apart on the trail.

 

[Trixie03]

The only CB issue we came across were the every other Jeep in our group didn't have one. I can see that same problem with FRS.

Thanks for the compliments on the flags

 

[Keith_Indy]

Some people spend their last dime on their rig, and getting to 1 event a year, and someone who's got spare bucks floating around increase their odds. Seems unfair to me, if part of registration goes towards raffle tickets.

Regarding raffle prizes, one way of doing this that I've seen before, is to have equal chance on all the "official" give away prizes given by sponsors for the event. Then have a 50/50 raffle for anyone that wants to gamble. Maybe chapter gets 25%, national 25%, and prize is 50%

 

[Fore Wheeler]

Not one penny of your registration goes towards raffle. It is simply a raffle and the more you spend the better your chances you will have to win. I spend a lot of money because I am considering that a donation to the club, which is what we use as a club to fund everything we do.

Do you think that state lottery should be all equal?

I'm starting to see who's democrats here.

 

[*89Laredo*]

The FRS/GMRS was kinda my idea but Im sure others might have mentioned it too, I mentioned it to Dan while I was riding with him and he agreed that something needs to be done about communication. The BOD, trail leaders, tech guys, and some others were using FRS for communication and we never had a problem with them from the typical distances (Inside the office to back of the campground or where we had the drivers meetings for example, tailgun to trail lead, etc).

1. Theyre cheap (like 20 for a single radio, maybe even less on amazon or something)
2. Do not require tuning or an external antenna
3. Do not require any wiring, just batteries or a charger
4. They always sound good as long as you arent rediculously far away.
5. MANY channels (including subchannels).
6. No white noise to listen to. I know what the squelch knob is for, but sometimes you still get noises.
7. They dont take up much room, so they could be thrown in a glovebox or whatever when not used.

The only problem I really see if we switched to FRS or GMRS is that something new would have to be figured out for BOD/helper communication. This year we had CB for the general event communication and used FRS for the other "important stuff".


I think a ticket tumbler is a very good idea. It seemed like the same blocks of numbers were getting called all of the time. 43xxx, etc.
There was a LOT of tickets and ripping them apart sucked, but I dont think anything can be done about that. More help with this part would have been nice.

Im sure I could think of more, but the event really did go pretty smoothly. Since I was there with Mac and Dan I saw what it takes to make everything work. There is a LOT that could go wrong, but the BOD does a pretty good job.

 

[Fore Wheeler]

The Midwest chapter, as of tonight, owns a ticket tumbler.

Fore 'eBay' Wheeler

 

[87manche]

Some people spend their last dime on their rig, and getting to 1 event a year, and someone who's got spare bucks floating around increase their odds. Seems unfair to me, if part of registration goes towards raffle tickets.

don't take this the wrong way, I've been accused of being an asshole.

life is not fair. In trying to make it "fair" for everyone you do a disservice to those that scrimped and saved so they would have money for the event. I'm calling out kimmer here and he can be pissy with me if he wants, but I know he isn't rolling in dough, yet he managed to donate a ton of money to the chapter via the raffle. I know what he bought because I took his money. I can guarantee you that he did not get his money's worth. He does that every year. I've dropped hundreds and not won anything, I've bought 20 dollars worth and won a bumper. You take your chances. These aren't door prizes, it's a raffle, the goal is to get the chapter as much money as possible. Changing the rules so everyone get's a "fair" shot will result in the chapter losing money.

There was a LOT of tickets and ripping them apart sucked, but I dont think anything can be done about that. More help with this part would have been nice.
.

raising the prices would result in the same odds for the money spent, and result in 1/5th the amount of tickets if we went to 5 dollar tickets.

 

[terrehautian]

The FRS/GMRS was kinda my idea but Im sure others might have mentioned it too, I mentioned it to Dan while I was riding with him and he agreed that something needs to be done about communication. The BOD, trail leaders, tech guys, and some others were using FRS for communication and we never had a problem with them from the typical distances (Inside the office to back of the campground or where we had the drivers meetings for example, tailgun to trail lead, etc).

1. Theyre cheap (like 20 for a single radio, maybe even less on amazon or something)
2. Do not require tuning or an external antenna
3. Do not require any wiring, just batteries or a charger
4. They always sound good as long as you arent rediculously far away.
5. MANY channels (including subchannels).
6. No white noise to listen to. I know what the squelch knob is for, but sometimes you still get noises.
7. They dont take up much room, so they could be thrown in a glovebox or whatever when not used.

The only problem I really see if we switched to FRS or GMRS is that something new would have to be figured out for BOD/helper communication. This year we had CB for the general event communication and used FRS for the other "important stuff".


I think a ticket tumbler is a very good idea. It seemed like the same blocks of numbers were getting called all of the time. 43xxx, etc.
There was a LOT of tickets and ripping them apart sucked, but I dont think anything can be done about that. More help with this part would have been nice.

Im sure I could think of more, but the event really did go pretty smoothly. Since I was there with Mac and Dan I saw what it takes to make everything work. There is a LOT that could go wrong, but the BOD does a pretty good job.

As someone who was helping at one point on the tearing of tickets and putting them into the box, I can say that every once in a while I did mix up the tickets with my hand (with the tumbler, not an issue now). If the same number set was drawn, it might have been because more of them then the others as they did run out of both and one started with less possibly?

 

[*89Laredo*]

Uh... You watched me mix the box at least 5 times too, since I was standing over the box right across from you. lol

Its just luck of the draw and thats the way things happen sometimes I guess.

 

[Fore Wheeler]

Re: Re: The "what can we do better thread"

raising the prices would result in the same odds for the money spent, and result in 1/5th the amount of tickets if we went to 5 dollar tickets.

No need to talk about this anymore, it's a done deal.

 

[87manche]

No need to talk about this anymore, it's a done deal.

good, cause I got tired of counting tickets.

87 'three rolls of tickets is too much' manche

 

[poorboy87]

The flags were great.
Registration in the badlands office went smoothly from what I can tell
Shipping registered vehicles to the quarry to line up right after registration is a good idea

Raffle tickets, if you buy em. you tear them and get them into the box. Makes the ticket line move faster and takes some of the load off the Sellers

A raffle is a raffle, making a set limit seems silly to me. After all the prizes are donations to an Awsome club, The money spent on tickets goes back into the club to get used for stuff like free camping and Trail donations.

Thanks for great event guys and gals

 

[emptypockets86]

It's really a crap shoot. We all gave Bob shit for winning but that's how it goes.

Yes, it is. Last year I won a good deal and this year nothing. Honestly, I look at it as money to the club and if I win anything, it's a bonus in my book. I don't go in expecting anything other than supporting our chapter.

FRS radio was great to get in contact with everyone running the show. I liked having a back channel to contact one another without having to disrupt the groups communication. So while I agree to how great they were, I'm not sure I want to give that up for group communication.

The one thing I will say about the CBs, is that leaders should swap channels if the one they're using is getting walked over by higher powered radios. I know there are only so many channels available, but it seems pointless to stay on one where guys are stepping over the groups communication.

 

[*89Laredo*]

FRS radio was great to get in contact with everyone running the show. I liked having a back channel to contact one another without having to disrupt the groups communication. So while I agree to how great they were, I'm not sure I want to give that up for group communication.

Yes, that was one of my concerns too, and I mentioned it in my post. They worked very well for communication within the BOD/Helpers.

The one thing I will say about the CBs, is that leaders should swap channels if the one they're using is getting walked over by higher powered radios. I know there are only so many channels available, but it seems pointless to stay on one where guys are stepping over the groups communication.

X2.
When I was riding with K5matt we had some southern guy that must have been running a ton of power. Dont know where he was from but I had the squelch at 80% and it still broke through sometimes.

 

[Future]

Well, I must say this was my first trip out with yall and it actually went pretty well but it definitely wasn't my first rodeo.

On the topic of FRS radios I think that is an amazing idea, especially since a lot of people have more than 1 FRS radio. Ever since I was 8 years old Ive been using them on my hunting property and prob have about 12-15 layin around my parents house.

One thing I will suggest Is to run more groups with less jeeps. Start off early, send groups out 20 minutes at a time and so on. Me and my other buddy matt like to go out on our own most of the time because their more time wheelin than waiting on guys to get unstuck or breakdowns. Just something to think about. Ill definitely be coming out next year to winterfest! Yall gotta let me know when the next trip is going to be!

 

[macgyvr]

Isn't it great that we are talking about fine tuning CBs?

Registration was awesome! I worked the table both days and the only time we really had a line was before it officially opened. Being warm was nice too! I was very suprised by the number of folks that brought their waivers with them, that made it even faster. We came up with a new way to organize the bags and it worked really well.

I had the idea in my head for the flags. I talked to Dan about it. We went to the planning folks and Ben and Suzi took the idea and ran with it. What a great job they did. Even when we didn't have an orange trail on Friday, they replaced that flag with a THIRD!!! green flag for the added trail.

Like others have said, the raffle is about how much you want to spend and how lucky you are. I have been involved in raffles for many years and spend ALOT of money in them. I am giving back to the club and sometimes I get some cool stuff, and sometimes I don't. I may have broke even this year, but I'm still ahead because my camping was paid for. I didn't get a thing last year in the raffle, but did really well in the Harlan raffle last summer. There are several people that drop more than $100 in the raffle. We won't be limiting anything on what anyone will win. That is silly. Spend more to better your odds.

I shuffled that box more than any of you will know. While we were putting tickets in it and about every 5 ticket pulls. I personally thought that the raffle was spread out pretty well and there weren't too many folks that took it all. I brought up the tumbler last year, but then forgot about it, that's why Dan just got one since it was still fresh on our minds.

I think that this Winterfest was one of the smoothest ever. There were a few things that we will try to make better and continue to refine and try to make it the best event.

PS next year is the 15th anniversary of winterfest, the BOD is already talking about some cool things.

mac 'had a blast' gyvr

 

[Big Hank]

RAFFLE:
I helped with a 'Friends Of The NRA' raffle for years. The format was great for the vendors and a ton of fun for the participants. It does take a fair amount of space but I think it's feasible. You spread the product out around the room and each item gets its own bucket. Great for vendors because each product can be labeled. You take your tickets and apply them to the bucket of your choosing. So if you have bumpers and don't desire another...... don't try for them. Maybe you will never use a product? Maybe you have an axle swap or even the wrong vehicle all together. Something different is that the tickets are about $5 each and the group brings in about $13,000 with the dinner tickets included in this number.

GROUPS: The smaller groups would be cool. The drivers meeting really doesn't take that long and doing it twice could help break up the groups. First groups out could be the pre registered that decided ahead of time.

Post Lunch both days: Set leaders for the afternoon. Being a leader for the day wouldn't have bothered me. I tried my best to take my group out again but didn't know the white trail.

It's late and I'll try to have better ideas tomorrow.

 

[macgyvr]

RAFFLE:
I helped with a 'Friends Of The NRA' raffle for years. The format was great for the vendors and a ton of fun for the participants. It does take a fair amount of space but I think it's feasible. You spread the product out around the room and each item gets its own bucket. Great for vendors because each product can be labeled. You take your tickets and apply them to the bucket of your choosing. So if you have bumpers and don't desire another...... don't try for them. Maybe you will never use a product? Maybe you have an axle swap or even the wrong vehicle all together. Something different is that the tickets are about $5 each and the group brings in about $13,000 with the dinner tickets included in this number.

This was discussed after the raffle in Moab. A lot of time having the room to do it is the major disadvantage. Our current dinner venue doesn't allow for this. Another dinner venue option maybe be possible, but still needs some details to be worked out. Another is having to keep the tickets securely in that location while tons of people are about the room looking at items. Not saying that we don't trust folks, but you have to keep that in mind. Definitely something to keep in mind for the future.

mac 'always looking at options' gyvr