5th Annual Northeast DSM Meet - Ideas Thread

[snowborder714]

Hey everyone, it's time to start thinking about this years meet already! I wanted to get an ideas thread started and see what you guys can come up with to make this meet better this year. I know we had some issues last year with the food situation, but the attendance also seemed to be down last year.

What would you guys like to see this year?
What would you like to see changed from previous years?
What new ideas could we use to make it more exciting and draw more people?

Let's start throwing some stuff around and see what we can come up with

 

[turbosax2]

Note to self: food needs cooked earlier before people get hungry and start rioting!

 

[LTUDSM]

Im IN....... DDD

 

[CLeMMeR]

Sounds like a fun event. it'll be my first time so I don't really have any input to put in to improve. But the music idea sounds like a good idea as well as possible competitions

 

[LTUDSM]

try to make some competition ,best interioir ,exterior,overall.... Would be really nice to have a mobile dyno,but im just saying,### it will be really hard prob to find one and it will be expensive as sh**.... maybe some mobile dj,so we will have some music on a background...... Talking bout food,people need to chim in,and if anyone bringing something (food wise) be early on a time,not like 2-3 hrs after everyone comes...... Try to get some vendors (local ones) Extreme ,JMF,JNZ.....
I would try to make the meet earlier. Because mid or end summer is not really good idea,### lots of peeps are goin on vocations or have some other plans..... I would suggest making the meet somewhere in June.......

 

[snowborder714]

FYI, this is not the thread to post "I'm in!". That thread will be made a bit later


I agree, Eric. We need to have the food ready earlier. As Marius mentioned though, we need people who bring food to shop up earlier. I've thought about the idea of just purchasing all the food myself and then having everyone pay me some money to cover everything. This way everything is there early enough. Thoughts on this? I think the hardest part would be making sure everyone pays.

I like the idea about the competition. I know this has been discussed in the past, but I haven't had the time to implement it. Later on today I'll go pull the info from the previous threads and post it in here and see what we can make of it.

I don't think the park would appreciate the noise of cars on a mobile dyno on their property. They've been great to us since we started (other than the BS "you can't park on the grass" incident) and I'd rather not ruin that relationship.

I'm down for the music idea! Again, we would need to keep the noise levels down, but I could bring my 2.1 computer speaker setup and have some tunes pumping around the food area. I'd have to verify that there's electric outlets there though.

I could try sending e-mails out to vendors again, but the past 2 years no one has shown any interest in showing up, even with samples of work (e.g. JMFab bring some of their parts, Bonehead Performance bring some powdercoated parts, etc.). I could try again this year, but based on past experiences it seems like a lost cause. Usually people from those shops show up just to hang out though, which is always cool.


Has anyone had an issue with the meet being at the middle/end of July? We've moved it away from the Shootout by 2-3 weeks so people have ample time to attend this event and prep their car for the Shootout. I have only heard of a couple people in the past that haven't been able to attend. Plus, with it being almost 5 years in, I'd like to get a stable date/weekend going (like the shootout).

 

[chinola69]

I have a suggestion try being friendlier. I went one year everyone was off doing there own thing in there own groups. I was approached by one person who happened to be from NY, and he said the same thing. Tried walking around just felt uncomfortable never went back after that.

 

[snowborder714]

Point taken and understood. Some people do travel to the meet with their car club/friends and kind of stick to themselves. Some people who have been coming for a few years know other members and kind of hang out with them. I know I usually try and walk around and meet people, but I'm usually running around doing other stuff.

Any ideas on how to have people be more friendly? Is it everyone as a whole that isn't friendly, or just certain people?

Sadly, this isn't something I really can control. I highly doubt everyone would be up for doing an "ice breaker" activity, or gathering the group and introducing everyone. But I will make it a point to go around and try and say "Hi" to more people this year

 

[chinola69]

Something you can do is once you see for the most part everyone has arrived make some sort of announcemnet for everyone to come together and say "Something". Could be as simple as "Hi my name is _____" i am the one that organized this meet/event. Thank you for coming etc..... Its fairly simple have some sort of agenda not just a bunch of people showing up at a park and having them rome.

 

[TSITurbo95]

I like the music idea, it was too quite the last couple years. . . And I agree on being more friendly and/or wearing name tags with your username on them below your name perhaps?

 

[snowborder714]

Something you can do is once you see for the most part everyone has arrive make some sort of announcemnet for everyone to come together and say "Something". Could be as simple as "Hi my name is _____" i am the one that organized this meet/event. Thank you for coming etc..... Its fairly simple have some sort of agenda not just a bunch of people showing up at a park and having them rome.

Sounds good. I'll try and do that this year

I like the music idea, it was too quite the last couple years. . . And I agree on being more friendly and/or wearing name tags with your username on them below your name perhaps?

We've had name tags that we encourage people to wear (putting both real name and user name on), but the past 2 years people have not wanted to go wear them. We usually have them sitting either on the back of my truck or over near the food, so they're easily accessible and out in the open. Short of me walking around and saying "Hey, you don't have a name tag, take one!", I'm not sure how to get people to wear them. I usually make a couple announcements throughout the first couple hours on where they are, but people usually just keep talking or checking out the cars. Maybe this year I'll put them in the pavilion with a sign above/around them so to make them easier to find.



The one thing I'd really like to figure out that I thought would be somewhat "common sense" by now is getting 2g's to park on one side, 1g's to park on the other, parking Evo's, Galants, and Colts together, etc. We tried making signs the one year to put at one entrance of the parking lot, but some people didn't pay attention to it.

 

[chinola69]

That would be a perfect ice breaker "Hi my name is____" I see your not weaking a name tag? Welcome to the meet help yourself to something to drink.

 

[snowborder714]

That could be done. I think it'd be more effective (for distribution purposes) to have a couple people walk around with name tags.


Great ideas so far everyone! Keep them coming!!

 

[crimsondragon]

I think we need more vendors. That one group that showed up drew a small crowd. I talked with a dude that welds and does roll cages. He had pics of his work. I thought that was probably the highlight of last years meet.

 

[95DSMGSX]

I'm excited to go to a meet with a lot of DSMs out there. Probably mid july would be a great time to have a meet. As for the situation with icebreakers, i think people should display a poster board of their car's descriptions, like mods and the history of the car. That would be a great way to start up conversations. And i love the idea of an award ceremony of "best interior, or best restoration, and what not".

 

[snowborder714]

I think we need more vendors. That one group that showed up drew a small crowd. I talked with a dude that welds and does roll cages. He had pics of his work. I thought that was probably the highlight of last years meet.

I'll have to think about a better approach then.

I'm excited to go to a meet with a lot of DSMs out there. Probably mid july would be a great time to have a meet. As for the situation with icebreakers, i think people should display a poster board of their car's descriptions, like mods and the history of the car. That would be a great way to start up conversations. And i love the idea of an award ceremony of "best interior, or best restoration, and what not".

I still have to pull that list of categories and whatnot we've posted before around the competition. I'll put that on my list of things to do today.

I personally wouldn't really want to create a poster for my car, as it seems like a lot of work, but I'd love to see others if people wanted to do it.

 

[snowborder714]

Here's the info that was come up with before.

We were thinking of adding a little competition – like a car show. We would come up with a few categories and have people vote on the best car for each category. We could do this one of two ways.

1. We could charge to vote (like $1/vote, $5/6 votes) and then hand out actual prizes for the winners. Any left over money would go to the renting fees for the pavilion, and then the traditional money to the person who comes from the furthest away.

2. We could do it all for free and then I could come up with some humorous gifts to hand out to the winners.

I'm also going to see if any local vendors might be willing to donate a small gift that we could also hand out. This way we can get more vendors involved.

I tried the vendor thing in the past and no one responded or was able to donate. Thoughts? Possible categories?

 

[LTUDSM]

Brian,i just read your post about you buying all food...... Just add your paypal account and ask people to paypal you for food expenses and other misc stuff....

 

[snowborder714]

I've thought about that, but then I have to consider either checking ID's to make sure everyone who comes has paid or some other method. It's not that I want to be strict about it, but if I'd be spending that much on food, I'd want to make sure the cost was split between everyone attending to be fair.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

For the food thing you might try hand stamps to know who paid.

One thing I would like to see this year, would be the meet held less than 400 miles from my home. it was a cool drive the time I came, but I got there so late I doubt I would do it again.

 

[LTUDSM]

I've thought about that, but then I have to consider either checking ID's to make sure everyone who comes has paid or some other method. It's not that I want to be strict about it, but if I'd be spending that much on food, I'd want to make sure the cost was split between everyone attending to be fair.

ask people to pay you even before the meet,lets say a week before. 10 bux on each person will be fair enough....... for 10 bux you getting double baconator at wendy's .So at the meet people could eat a lot more for these 10 bux

 

[snowborder714]

For the food thing you might try hand stamps to know who paid.

One thing I would like to see this year, would be the meet held less than 400 miles from my home. it was a cool drive the time I came, but I got there so late I doubt I would do it again.

Not a bad idea.

As for the location, this seems pretty central for a lot of people. I personally live close by, so I don't see myself changing it

ask people to pay you even before the meet,lets say a week before. 10 bux on each person will be fair enough....... for 10 bux you getting double baconator at wendy's .So at the meet people could eat a lot more for these 10 bux

Well, if Joe and Bob send me money via PayPal, but then 4 people show up, how do I know who Joe and Bob are? This is the issue that I'm getting at.

 

[TSITurbo95]

As for the car grouping, why not put a couple signs on stakes in the grass stating 2G's, 1G's, EVO's, etc. Or have a couple other people help out with the meet, and as people join perhaps point them in the right direction on where to park? The only bad thing I see about this is that if you show up with a group of people, most people want to park next to their friends, and if their friends have different cars, then they are separated.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

Well, if Joe and Bob send me money via PayPal, but then 4 people show up, how do I know who Joe and Bob are? This is the issue that I'm getting at.

Get a list just like high end resturaunts do. If your name is on the list, you get a hand stamp, just like you would in a low end drinking establishment. If your name is not on the list, you pay $10 for a stamp.

No stamp = No food.

 

[jnf63]

After attending a few of these meets, as well as watching their organization process, it sadly appears that requiring attendees to bring donations/food/money leads to the response of "Then, I won't show up." Since we want as many attendees as possible, it becomes extremely difficult to require a "fair" payment rule. In reality, many that attend will choose to not do anything but show up, and the reason typically relates to the expense of driving to the meet (gas and lost time [missing work]). Nonetheless, I welcome the idea of Colt4G63_also because it would be fair.

I feel that the solution leads to having Brian purchase everything needed to at least get started. Although it is not "fair," it insures that the meet begins appropriately, as well as on time. My suggestion would be for Brian to use his past experiences with the gatherings, and he would set a limit on how much money he personally contributes to the cause prior to the meet occurring. For example, place an upper limit of how much to purchase ahead of time (use a credit card to document the expense, and to delay the full payment amount) based on an amount he (Brian) knows will be positively donated ("paid") to him. Each meet has had a handful of members that always brought food/drink/utensils, donated money, or both. These regular contributors probably "paid" at least $10 each (in addition to their own expense of driving to the meet) whether it had been in food, drink, charcoal, utensils, or money. Now, determining that there had been at least 15 regulars that have had no problem contributing, this would (hypothetically) set the limit to at least $150.00. The $150.00 should be adequate to purchase enough food, drinks, charcoal, utensils, and stuff to enable the meet to begin on time. My hypothetical figures used last year's commitment list (see below), and there had probably been more than 15 people that actually contributed a good amount. Of course, I hope that more (most) people will pledge to give Brian money which would result in contributions beyond this hypothetical $150.00 figure. Nevertheless, historically, there has been the faithful regular contributors that would probably make Brian whole if it sadly comes to that predicament. This suggestion is flawed because it means that someone would have to drive from the meet to purchase more items once a greater amount than the "determined" (hypothetical $150.00) money is collected, and while the initially purchased items run out. Then again, the need to drive for more items has been a practice during prior meets.

Food Products (2011)
Hamburgers: Gregory (?), jnf63 (1 dozen), doesitonall4rs (2 dozen), 91TurboZ (2 dozen)
Chicken: LTUDSM (wings and chicken breasts)
Hot Dogs: crimsondragon (?), 91TurboZ (3 packs)
Chili:
Hamburger Rolls: 92awdgsx (3 dozen), doesitonall4rs (2 dozen)
Hot Dog Rolls: 92awdgsx (3 dozen), doesitonall4rs (2 dozen)
Assorted Bags of Chips/Pretzels: Matt's Gsx (2 bags), LTUDSM (4 bags of tortilla)
Dips: 97_JDM_GSX (buffalo chicken)
Veggies:
Salads:
Cheese: doesitonall4rs (2 packs)
Desserts:
Freeze pops: techboy (?)

Condiments
Ketchup: snowborder714 COMPLETE
Mustard:
BBQ Sauce:
Nacho cheese:

Drinks
Soda: 4g63monstr (1-2 bottles), LTUDSM (couple bottles), Matt's Gsx (2 2-liter bottles)
Cases of Water: knochgoon24 (all) COMPLETE
Bags of Ice: fun kart kid (a few), ebanks89 (lots)

Paper Products - COMPLETE
Bag of Napkins: knochgoon24 COMPLETE
Paper Plates: knochgoon24 COMPLETE
Plastic Utensils: knochgoon24 COMPLETE
Trash Bags: turbosax2 (a bunch) COMPLETE
Cups: rkmillerjr (a bunch) COMPLETE

Miscellaneous - COMPLETE
Bags of Charcoal: crimsondragon (3 bags) COMPLETE
Chimney starter: snowborder714 (1) COMPLETE
Grill Igniter and newspaper: snowborder714 COMPLETE
Spatulas: snowborder714 (1), jnf63 (1+) COMPLETE
Tongs: snowborder714 (2) COMPLETE
Can opener:
Aluminum foil (cleaning grill, covering food): snowborder714 COMPLETE
Large Coolers For Food and Drinks: fun kart kid (1 or 2), ebanks89 (2), jnf63 (1) COMPLETE
"Hello, My name is ______" nametags and Sharpies: turbosax2 COMPLETE
Extra grill (if necessary): snowborder714 COMPLETE