On Friday, March 6, 2020 at 7:33:22 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Sunday, February 23, 2020 at 5:03:39 PM UTC-5, Burt Compton - Marfa Gliders, west Texas wrote:
Seeing old friends, making new friends and putting faces to names in this age of sterile social media communication is a reason why the SSA Directors might consider a return to the annual SSA Conventions of the past. Just because you might be my "friend" on Facebook doesn't necessarily mean that we know each other. (No emoji required here.)
When is the last time we spoke with mentors like Paul Schweizer, Dick Johnson, or German pioneer Peter Riedel? Was it at the annual SSA Convention? It's not all about the preferences of the vendors, it's also about the PEOPLE!
With the aging out of our members, let's consider a return the annual SSA Conventions. Perhaps a mini-convention in the "off" years may be an option, like the fantastic "Soaring Symposium" series offered in the past by Ed Byars and Bill Holbrook. Many of you may not know these names but they were important people in the history of the SSA. Yes, I'd volunteer to help make it happen.

Bob Wander here. TOTALLY agree with Burt Compton, Tony Condon. Burt and I both vigorously opposed moving to biennial SSA Conventions. We were the Minority Report, unfortunately.

The SSA is a m-e-m-b-e-r-s-h-i-p organization. The best way to keep the Tribe - SSA m-e-m-b-e-r-s - connected as a community is to SEE them once in a while. Greet 'em, meet 'em, listen to 'em, learn from 'em.

Facebook, is nice, but it ain't the same thing.

SSA Conventions without Convention floor space complications, etc, for exhibitors and such would be relatively simple to arrange. A clean hotel, meeting rooms for presentations, catering for breakfasts and lunches for Society like the 1-26ers and Vintage Sailplaners and so on, and a Banquet room for the event-capping Annual Banquet. Local sponsors would have much less to worry about than they do with full-blown conventions - no need to supervise, protect, and police the exhibit hall, for example; no need for pre-convention and post-convention exhibitor set-up and takedown, etc.

My suggestion: Select a venue that has good transportation connections. People travel by air, road, and (like me) by rail, if possible. Direct flight arrivals from distant airports are good for the air travelers who come long distances. Equi-distant for our west coast and east coast tribe members would be nice. A quick look-see at a map of the lower 48 makes St Louis, Denver, Omaha, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Chicago, St.. Paul/Minneapolis, Milwaukee all look like candidates for no-exhibit-hall conventions. And while, say, Omaha in February may not be my idea of heaven on earth, if that is where the Tribe will be gathering, then that is THE place that I wanna be.

Thanks for reading, and safe soaring to all of us. BW.

Bob says it well.

You SSA members are welcome to share your thoughts with your regional directors and maybe some directors at large. If there's enough interest, perhaps a member survey would be in order.

It's been the vendors who've not supported annual conventions and I understand the costs and logistics are challenging. However, a national soaring symposia or conference should be doable. After the Philadelphia Conference, SSA had a few complaints by those who showed up, only to find no gliders and a very few vendors there. I had a great time despite the two inches of freezing rain and 14 inches of snow that closed the city and kept many at bay.

Presentations are always great, but perhaps workshops or focus tracks following a specific theme would prove popular.

And please don't discount the social aspect. I had a great time putting faces to names and meeting FB friends in person. Spent so much time in meetings that it was difficult to seek out others I was hoping to encounter. Never did run into Gary Adams.

Frank Whiteley