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Re: [IRCA] THE CASE FOR A 2015 JOINT IRCA-NRC CONVENTION

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Hi Mark:

I speak from experience. 
I chaired the IRCA convention in 1990.
This was a last-minute hail-Mary convention when no one stepped up to the plate.
The venue was Knoxville, Tennessee.
I was a speaker at the very first Monitoring Times convention rooming with Al Weiner of WBCQ fame. 
I volunteered to put together an IRCA convention and tried to meld it with MT's sessions.
Two would be better than one, right?

I thought the convention was a lot of fun.
For one, we shared the hotel with a clown convention. Priceless pictures!

I learned that you have to know your audience.
Even today, the two clubs really do have different personalities.
I never took a vote or a survey, but I had my dissenters.
Even if you are doing this from the charity of your heart and good meaning,
some people wanted a fully developed product.

Al and I set up three or four station tours.
We were hundreds of miles away from the convention location and didn't
know the first thing about the market or the players in the business.

We put together a late night DX session in a remote park.
I remember a park ranger wondering what all of us were doing with thousands of feet of wire
in the dark. When I explained we were a nationwide group and we were listening to
the radio, the ranger said: "In all my years of being up here, you are the first people who
really are listening to the radio (heh heh.)" 

And I managed to endear Bob and Judy Grove to buy the idea.
We tried really hard to make this happen from afar.
I think we achieved about a B minus grade. Much better than an F or a zero...

I felt incredibly bad about one IRCAn and his friend who travelled all the way to Knoxville
and then felt abandoned when Al and I had to head back to NYC on Sunday afternoon
to make it back to work on Monday. I remember him saying that he just watched the hotel elevators
go up and down all afternoon. This was someone I really liked. Jeez.

I really feel for you and your heart. 
This is one of those things that really should make sense but doesn't.
I'll be very curious to see how your idea is accepted.
We are getting older. The numbers are thinning out.
The business is thinning out and becoming obsolete.
I work in this business. Computers rule. Rough times!

Let's keep trying to get someone to grab the ring for an all IRCA get-together.
Contact me directly if you would like to talk about it.
It would be a good conversation.

My best wishes always.  Karl Zuk  N2KZ  Katonah, NY



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On Sat, 10/4/14, Mark Durenberger <Mark4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

 Subject: [IRCA] THE CASE FOR A 2015 JOINT IRCA-NRC CONVENTION
 To: "DX @NRC" <am@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "DX-IRCA" <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 Received: Saturday, October 4, 2014, 9:13 AM
 
 Greetings.  If you're tired of
 this subject, hit 'delete.'  If you want to 
 help ensure the ongoing camaraderie within NRC and IRCA,
 read on.
 
 We note that, following the Minneapolis joint convention in
 2013, no one 
 stepped forward to host a 2014 NRC show.  At IRCA, John
 and Nancy Johnson 
 fulfilled an earlier commitment to host the 50th in
 Billings; even though 
 they had moved to Arizona.
 
 Now there are holes in two club calendars for 2015. 
 Some tentative interest 
 has been communicated to our club convention coordinators.
 
 It's apparent to folks who are tuned in to these matters
 that NRC and IRCA 
 can successfully work together without political
 anguish.  Every indicator 
 in recent years is that joint efforts and cross-support
 works for the 
 betterment of both clubs...while not impairing each club's
 individuality.
 
 If you accept that premise, then you would agree that a
 joint 2015 
 convention makes a lot of sense.  That's because, IN
 POOLING CLUB SUPPORT WE 
 MAKE HOSTING A CONVENTION THAT MUCH EASIER!
 
 So I would like to challenge readers of this note to put
 aside the idea that 
 "it's just too much work" to host a convention.  Active
 members of both 
 clubs have already pledged their support, input,
 contributions, physical 
 labor and organizational skills to a joint conclave of TWO
 CLUBS WHICH SHARE 
 A COMMON HOBBY.  My gosh...right now, if you announced
 an interest in 
 hosting a joint show, you'd quickly receive offers of
 support.  We're also 
 talking about a joint 'task force' that could be of deep
 support in such an 
 endeavor, handling scheduling, promotion/publicity,
 coordination and 
 execution.  All we really lack is a confirmed location
 and an agreeable 
 date.
 
 The many previous hosts of the separate NRC and IRCA
 conventions did a great 
 job, but lately, interest in hosting seems to be
 diminishing.  We learned 
 from our 2013 Minneapolis experience that doing a JOINT
 convention of the 
 clubs was easier than a single-club event, since we had so
 much talent and 
 support to draw from!
 
 SO, Mister or Ms. club-member:  Now's the time to step
 forward to indicate 
 an interest, so that you can judge for yourself whether it's
 something you 
 want to do.  The bottom line is that with an early
 convention/city 
 selection, we can all look forward to getting together next
 year.
 
 Mike Sanburn and Ernie Wesolowski are great resources,
 possessing the 
 knowledge of previous conventions and the specific
 requirements.  I'd be 
 very happy to discuss with you, off-line if you wish, what's
 involved in 
 doing this...and I can relate how much satisfaction we got
 from the 
 Minneapolis joint convention and its energy.
 
 Cheers!
 
 Mark Durenberger
 
 
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