SSA Convention - Memphis

There were discussions at the SSA board meeting in Albuquerque last
fall regarding a convention every two years, but I am not aware of any
final board decision. As far as I know, the 2008 Albuquerque
Convention is still "on" and hopefully, we will have a successful and
well attended convention in the "Land of Enchantment."
Thanks - Renny Rozzoni - Albuquerque, NM

On Feb 13, 7:00 pm, "Richard" wrote:
I thought the displays, the gliders and the talks were excellent, but
as a vendor I was dissapointed with the attendence numbers.

The rumor was floating around that after the 2008 convention, the
Convention would be every two years.

Anyone have thoughts on this idea? Will the SSA publish the
attendence figures?

Richardwww.craggyaero.com

On Feb 11, 9:00 am, wrote:



As I was unable to attend, does anyone have an update on the SSA
convention? How did it all go? How was attendance? How were the
seminars and of course, was there any "breaking news" on new
equipment, software, sailplanes, etc?
Thanks - Renny Rozzoni- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You're not alone in reporting a general lack of interest at this and for
that matter the past few conventions..
I made the suggestion to change these to every two years and heard the
same from several others at the last conventions I attended 3 and 4 years
ago. Even at that time most of the vendors I spoke with were very much in
favor of this idea, the SSA was not since under the past management
(Management!!????) they saw the convention as the SSA's big (only) event and
fat cow....However the sweat equity, and most costs don't fall on the SSA
but on the vendors and members and though in past history the local
sponsoring clubs stood to make a decent profit from the conventions, the SSA
pretty much took this over and collected these funds (who knows where these
went since the SSA is essentially broke and begging for more member and
advertiser funds and costs...)
The fact remains though that very little changes in Soaring over the
course of one year. Few really new products, inventions or discoveries need
immediate attention....Talks and seminars tend to be last years re-do's for
the most part. Few of these are little more than a few hocking their
products and tend to be more late night infomercials than comparisons or
help sessions.
The costs for vendors is very high and most soaring vendors like myself
are small operators (I do 100% of everything here with no one to leave
behind to mind the store when I'm gone) The costs have to be made up
somewhere and that means higher costs for our customers somewhere down the
line which I would prefer not to do.
If conventions were done every other year vendors can do a better job of
their end, more new and exciting products will be displayed and attendance
will certainly improve making these better events.....
Now if we can only get the conventions moved to an airport or soaring
site away from the downtown convention centers we can really move ahead,
have flying exhibits and shows, make these inviting for outsiders who then
might become interested in saoring, we could have on site used glider sales
and even auctions (one of my really big ideas!) and start to put soaring
interest back into the hands of the members and businesses that keep things
rolling the other 362 days a year!
Tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com

"Richard" wrote in message
oups.com...
I thought the displays, the gliders and the talks were excellent, but
as a vendor I was dissapointed with the attendence numbers.

The rumor was floating around that after the 2008 convention, the
Convention would be every two years.

Anyone have thoughts on this idea? Will the SSA publish the
attendence figures?

Richard
www.craggyaero.com



On Feb 11, 9:00 am, wrote:
As I was unable to attend, does anyone have an update on the SSA
convention? How did it all go? How was attendance? How were the
seminars and of course, was there any "breaking news" on new
equipment, software, sailplanes, etc?
Thanks - Renny Rozzoni

I agree with what Tim said.

However, it should be noted that not every member attends every convention.
I tend to go every three or four years and then only if it is in the western
US. If it were to be held bi-annually, this may mean that I go only every
five or six years. A risk is that with bi-annual conventions, regions would
step in and hold off-year affairs that vendors might feel compelled to
attend which would increase their business cost. We need to be careful what
we wish for.

I like one idea Tim proposed which is to locate conventions at glider
operations where fllight demonstrations are possible. If this could be an
inexpensive location in the central US, so much the better.

Bill Daniels


"Tim Mara" wrote in message
...
You're not alone in reporting a general lack of interest at this and for
that matter the past few conventions..
I made the suggestion to change these to every two years and heard the
same from several others at the last conventions I attended 3 and 4 years
ago. Even at that time most of the vendors I spoke with were very much in
favor of this idea, the SSA was not since under the past management
(Management!!????) they saw the convention as the SSA's big (only) event
and fat cow....However the sweat equity, and most costs don't fall on the
SSA but on the vendors and members and though in past history the local
sponsoring clubs stood to make a decent profit from the conventions, the
SSA pretty much took this over and collected these funds (who knows where
these went since the SSA is essentially broke and begging for more member
and advertiser funds and costs...)
The fact remains though that very little changes in Soaring over the
course of one year. Few really new products, inventions or discoveries
need immediate attention....Talks and seminars tend to be last years
re-do's for the most part. Few of these are little more than a few hocking
their products and tend to be more late night infomercials than
comparisons or help sessions.
The costs for vendors is very high and most soaring vendors like myself
are small operators (I do 100% of everything here with no one to leave
behind to mind the store when I'm gone) The costs have to be made up
somewhere and that means higher costs for our customers somewhere down the
line which I would prefer not to do.
If conventions were done every other year vendors can do a better job
of their end, more new and exciting products will be displayed and
attendance will certainly improve making these better events.....
Now if we can only get the conventions moved to an airport or soaring
site away from the downtown convention centers we can really move ahead,
have flying exhibits and shows, make these inviting for outsiders who then
might become interested in saoring, we could have on site used glider
sales and even auctions (one of my really big ideas!) and start to put
soaring interest back into the hands of the members and businesses that
keep things rolling the other 362 days a year!
Tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com

"Richard" wrote in message
oups.com...
I thought the displays, the gliders and the talks were excellent, but
as a vendor I was dissapointed with the attendence numbers.

The rumor was floating around that after the 2008 convention, the
Convention would be every two years.

Anyone have thoughts on this idea? Will the SSA publish the
attendence figures?

Richard
www.craggyaero.com



On Feb 11, 9:00 am, wrote:
As I was unable to attend, does anyone have an update on the SSA
convention? How did it all go? How was attendance? How were the
seminars and of course, was there any "breaking news" on new
equipment, software, sailplanes, etc?
Thanks - Renny Rozzoni

Excellent comments! We've had some discussions in recent months about
the idea of having a convention at an "actual" soaring site where
gliders can easily be displayed and actual demo rides could be
conducted. For example, we've always thought that Moriarty, NM could
be a great location. We have a large airport with plenty of room for
gliders, displays, room for tents, glider tie-downs, etc, etc. only 30
miles from Albuquerque. We also have the US Southwest Soaring Museum
with 2 buildings on the airport property that could be used for
seminars. In addition, we have the huge main SW Soaring museum
building in town (3 miles away) that could be used for various
functions and displays. There are also numerous hotels and restaurants
in Moriarty (again 3 miles from the airport) where folks could stay
and eat at very reasonable prices. Finally, as you know, we also have
fairly "decent" soaring at Moriarty..... Food for thought!
Thanks - Renny

On Feb 14, 9:35 am, "Tim Mara" wrote:
You're not alone in reporting a general lack of interest at this and for
that matter the past few conventions..
I made the suggestion to change these to every two years and heard the
same from several others at the last conventions I attended 3 and 4 years
ago. Even at that time most of the vendors I spoke with were very much in
favor of this idea, the SSA was not since under the past management
(Management!!????) they saw the convention as the SSA's big (only) event and
fat cow....However the sweat equity, and most costs don't fall on the SSA
but on the vendors and members and though in past history the local
sponsoring clubs stood to make a decent profit from the conventions, the SSA
pretty much took this over and collected these funds (who knows where these
went since the SSA is essentially broke and begging for more member and
advertiser funds and costs...)
The fact remains though that very little changes in Soaring over the
course of one year. Few really new products, inventions or discoveries need
immediate attention....Talks and seminars tend to be last years re-do's for
the most part. Few of these are little more than a few hocking their
products and tend to be more late night infomercials than comparisons or
help sessions.
The costs for vendors is very high and most soaring vendors like myself
are small operators (I do 100% of everything here with no one to leave
behind to mind the store when I'm gone) The costs have to be made up
somewhere and that means higher costs for our customers somewhere down the
line which I would prefer not to do.
If conventions were done every other year vendors can do a better job of
their end, more new and exciting products will be displayed and attendance
will certainly improve making these better events.....
Now if we can only get the conventions moved to an airport or soaring
site away from the downtown convention centers we can really move ahead,
have flying exhibits and shows, make these inviting for outsiders who then
might become interested in saoring, we could have on site used glider sales
and even auctions (one of my really big ideas!) and start to put soaring
interest back into the hands of the members and businesses that keep things
rolling the other 362 days a year!
Tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website atwww.wingsandwheels.com

"Richard" wrote in message

oups.com...



I thought the displays, the gliders and the talks were excellent, but
as a vendor I was dissapointed with the attendence numbers.

The rumor was floating around that after the 2008 convention, the
Convention would be every two years.

Anyone have thoughts on this idea? Will the SSA publish the
attendence figures?

Richard
www.craggyaero.com

On Feb 11, 9:00 am, wrote:
As I was unable to attend, does anyone have an update on the SSA
convention? How did it all go? How was attendance? How were the
seminars and of course, was there any "breaking news" on new
equipment, software, sailplanes, etc?
Thanks - Renny Rozzoni- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

sounds like a great way to move things "forward" !
best regards
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
Excellent comments! We've had some discussions in recent months about
the idea of having a convention at an "actual" soaring site where
gliders can easily be displayed and actual demo rides could be
conducted. For example, we've always thought that Moriarty, NM could
be a great location. We have a large airport with plenty of room for
gliders, displays, room for tents, glider tie-downs, etc, etc. only 30
miles from Albuquerque. We also have the US Southwest Soaring Museum
with 2 buildings on the airport property that could be used for
seminars. In addition, we have the huge main SW Soaring museum
building in town (3 miles away) that could be used for various
functions and displays. There are also numerous hotels and restaurants
in Moriarty (again 3 miles from the airport) where folks could stay
and eat at very reasonable prices. Finally, as you know, we also have
fairly "decent" soaring at Moriarty..... Food for thought!
Thanks - Renny

On Feb 14, 9:35 am, "Tim Mara" wrote:
You're not alone in reporting a general lack of interest at this and for
that matter the past few conventions..
I made the suggestion to change these to every two years and heard
the
same from several others at the last conventions I attended 3 and 4
years
ago. Even at that time most of the vendors I spoke with were very much in
favor of this idea, the SSA was not since under the past management
(Management!!????) they saw the convention as the SSA's big (only) event
and
fat cow....However the sweat equity, and most costs don't fall on the SSA
but on the vendors and members and though in past history the local
sponsoring clubs stood to make a decent profit from the conventions, the
SSA
pretty much took this over and collected these funds (who knows where
these
went since the SSA is essentially broke and begging for more member and
advertiser funds and costs...)
The fact remains though that very little changes in Soaring over the
course of one year. Few really new products, inventions or discoveries
need
immediate attention....Talks and seminars tend to be last years re-do's
for
the most part. Few of these are little more than a few hocking their
products and tend to be more late night infomercials than comparisons or
help sessions.
The costs for vendors is very high and most soaring vendors like
myself
are small operators (I do 100% of everything here with no one to leave
behind to mind the store when I'm gone) The costs have to be made up
somewhere and that means higher costs for our customers somewhere down
the
line which I would prefer not to do.
If conventions were done every other year vendors can do a better job
of
their end, more new and exciting products will be displayed and
attendance
will certainly improve making these better events.....
Now if we can only get the conventions moved to an airport or soaring
site away from the downtown convention centers we can really move ahead,
have flying exhibits and shows, make these inviting for outsiders who
then
might become interested in saoring, we could have on site used glider
sales
and even auctions (one of my really big ideas!) and start to put soaring
interest back into the hands of the members and businesses that keep
things
rolling the other 362 days a year!
Tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website atwww.wingsandwheels.com

"Richard" wrote in message

oups.com...



I thought the displays, the gliders and the talks were excellent, but
as a vendor I was dissapointed with the attendence numbers.

The rumor was floating around that after the 2008 convention, the
Convention would be every two years.

Anyone have thoughts on this idea? Will the SSA publish the
attendence figures?

Richard
www.craggyaero.com

On Feb 11, 9:00 am, wrote:
As I was unable to attend, does anyone have an update on the SSA
convention? How did it all go? How was attendance? How were the
seminars and of course, was there any "breaking news" on new
equipment, software, sailplanes, etc?
Thanks - Renny Rozzoni- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In article .com,
wrote:

On Feb 13, 8:00 pm, "Richard" wrote:
I thought the displays, the gliders and the talks were excellent, but
as a vendor I was dissapointed with the attendence numbers.

The rumor was floating around that after the 2008 convention, the
Convention would be every two years.

Anyone have thoughts on this idea? Will the SSA publish the
attendence figures?

Richardwww.craggyaero.com

On Feb 11, 9:00 am, wrote:

As I was unable to attend, does anyone have an update on the SSA
convention? How did it all go? How was attendance? How were the
seminars and of course, was there any "breaking news" on new
equipment, software, sailplanes, etc?
Thanks - Renny Rozzoni

I've heard that as well. Too bad really, I enjoy seeing friends every
year.

IMO if they would lower the cost for the thing they would draw a lot
more people. That is the single biggest thing that holds me back.
Usually I am able to secure a free airplane ride to wherever the
convention is and crash in someones hotel room or a friends house.

The 50 dollar suppers are great to attend, but dang, 50 bucks is
usually what I budget for more than a weeks worth of eating, not one
meal. In the past, when astronauts have been speaking, ive swallowed
the cost. not this year.

-Broke College Kid, CFI

SSA board of directors discussed this at the convention. SSA is going to
go with the convention every other year, starting AFTER the Albuquerque
convention and to fall on years when the Europeans are not having their
big sport aviation convention. This is to make life easier on the
vendors in the U.S. and abroad.

It is likely that an off year meeting of some sort will be held, maybe
with limited vendor participation, or not (I need my notes from the BOD
meeting to remember correctly). The off year meeting will consist of
presentations and may be called, get this, "Soaring Symposia" after the
famous Ed Byars/Bill Holbrook symposia (as suggested by Cindy Brickner).
I think this would be a wonderful idea.

SSA'ers can contact their regional directors for more information. I
would also urge SSA'ers to go to the SSA website and subscribe to the
SSA email news updates. If all 12k members were subscribed, it would
save the organization many thousands of dollars in mailing costs. SSA is
very judicious about sending these out, so don't worry about a bunch of
crap in your inbox. Here's the url to subscribe:

http://www.ssa.org/members/enewsletter/enewsletter.asp

In article .com,
wrote:

Annual Conventions are not helping to grow the sport....they consume
time, energy and money that the SSA could probably be used elsewhere.
No one is getting less busy these days, and soaring is time consuming
enough just trying to get out to the airport and commit aviation.
It's not as if there exists tremendous advances from one year to the
next. I know this has been batted around before, but I think the
sport could survive with a convention every 24 months.

And while we are on the subject of sacred cows, does the SSA really
need a hard-copy magazine? I get 95% percent of my information on
soaring online, and glancing over the mag does not hold the same
interest it once did. OLC, BlipMaps, RAS, the SSA website, the
various websites for clubs and national organizations, the Yahoo
Groups...all seem to prosper online, as well as commercial vendors.
Why is "Soaring" and exception to this?

I think the handwriting is on the wall. Most hardcopy publications are
going to go away in favor of electronic versions. SOARING will not be an
exception. I just don't think that day is yet at hand. Heck, the NY
Times says they may not be publishing hard copy in 5 years! I rather
doubt that, but that is the trend. At present though, I don't think we
are at the point of going totally electronic...yet. I too get the vast
majority of my information from electronic media, though I still
subscribe to my local daily fishwrapper and I still (irrationally) like
getting that copy of SOARING in the mail. Physical books and magazines
still hold some advantages over electronic media in ease of use,
portability, access, and longevity. I can read SOARING by candle light
when my rural electric co-op goes out (which it does a least twice a
month). The hard copy mag still arguably has some recruiting value as
well. Most of the electronic media related to soaring are aimed at those
of already in the know. The hardcopies of SOARING cluttering coffee
tables at FBO's are a good thing in that they grab an outsider's
attention and maybe encourage that person to try out soaring. Not that
an electronic version of SOARING could not be made yet more valuable as
a recruiting tool. But, that is already happening to an extent with the
great improvements in the SSA website.


Fly safely and have fun!

Wallace Berry

On Feb 13, 6:46 pm, wrote:
And while we are on the subject of sacred cows, does the SSA really
need a hard-copy magazine? I get 95% percent of my information on
soaring online, and glancing over the mag does not hold the same
interest it once did. OLC, BlipMaps, RAS, the SSA website, the
various websites for clubs and national organizations, the Yahoo
Groups...all seem to prosper online, as well as commercial vendors.
Why is "Soaring" and exception to this?

Here goes my restroom reading... I guess I will have to bring my
laptop...

Ramy

Berry wrote:


It is likely that an off year meeting of some sort will be held, maybe
with limited vendor participation, or not (I need my notes from the BOD
meeting to remember correctly). The off year meeting will consist of
presentations and may be called, get this, "Soaring Symposia" after the
famous Ed Byars/Bill Holbrook symposia (as suggested by Cindy Brickner).
I think this would be a wonderful idea.

I like this idea of a off year symposia. If you don't need the exhibit
space the way current conventions do, there are a lot more, and cheaper,
places it could be held.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

Tim Mara wrote:

Now if we can only get the conventions moved to an airport or soaring
site away from the downtown convention centers we can really move ahead,
have flying exhibits and shows, make these inviting for outsiders who then
might become interested in saoring, we could have on site used glider sales
and even auctions (one of my really big ideas!) and start to put soaring
interest back into the hands of the members and businesses that keep things
rolling the other 362 days a year!


How about trying for a compromise?

Since Soaring is usually fairly distant from city centers (for obvious
reasons) and city centers draw more people/spectators (for silly
reasons), why not try to find a balance, with a soaring site (even if
it's a "limited" soaring site) within a few minutes of a "city
center?"

Yeah, I'm in SoCal, and I like the Ontario (CA) center...why not
consider using the Long Beach Convention Center and make arrangements
with the Los Alamitos JFTB CAP club for winching and towing? They're
maybe 15 minutes (okay, call it 20 or 30) from the Long Beach
Convention Center (where AOPA and other organizations have held
wonderful conventions), Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywierd and
Beverly Hills are not too far away (for spouses and such). Heck, the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots is holding their annual symposium
at Disneyland now, since the Boneventure got ridiculous...and it
works, since it's a family setting!!! Think of it: a time for glider
pilots to repay the crews for the (otherwise) thankless service!!!

Tim is on to something: put the convention where the PILOTS aren't
stuck in workshop seats all weekend long, and get a chance to put
their butts in seats they're more accustomed to: Glider Seats!

Then again, that would make too much sense.

Thanks anyway, Tim...in my mind, YOU belong in the Soaring Hall of
Fame for the service you've provided to thousands of us glider
pilots...common sense being one of many commodities you give to the
sport.

-Pete
#309