Hello everyone,
I want to take a couple moments and reflect over the 2010 BINGS / SON240SX meet. This was the best meet we have ever had and I want to make sure we have a discussion on this for the benefit of future events.
Photos courtesy Ian Kley
Thank Yous
First and foremost, thank you very much to all those that attended.
There are a few individuals who deserve some additional thanks however. John (“toronto240sx”) returned to old-form by organizing the cruise down from Square 1 and did a fantastic job. This pre-cruise is an integral part of the meet for anyone in the GTA or further east and has always gone off without a hitch. That is a testament to all of you who participate in it and to John for his stewardship of it over the years.
Chris (“Slide-Junkie” with the silver RHD Soarer)) was the first to arrive on Sunday while I was setting up, more than an hour ahead of anyone else. Many people were able to park on dry concrete because of his efforts when he arrived. He deserves a bigger thanks than I remembered to give him on Sunday.
I’d also like to thank my brothers Cory and Kyle who volunteered their days to help manage the event. I understand that they also addressed some challenges in the dining room accommodating some people with different diets and making sure people were okay in general. My dad couldn’t make it this year and it should be noted that all of the support from family (wife, mother in law, and Ving) is on a volunteer basis only.
Successes
I’ll be honest, with 2 kids and my work schedule it is very difficult to put these events together. Last year was done on very short notice and even though it went well the attendance and the dining participation was not that great, also due in part to the weather in the GTA.
This year however was by far the best ever, and if there was ever a sign that things are all well and good in the community and that there is still so much opportunity improvement in the future then this was it.
When we had the first meet like this way back in 2003 or so we started with 16 people and we just had the corner of the rear dining room to ourselves.
In recent years we would have 60-80 people dining with us and that is the key metric we use to determine the success of the meet. This year we had over 100, which we had never done before. We filled the rear dining room and we also filled the main dining room. On a couple occasions regular customers stopped in just to ask what was going on and were surprised to see the entire building full.
I cannot stress how important dining participation is. I have thought about trying to move the venue but there is just no way that we would be able to do this somewhere else around here without the costs going up or without creating a heavy increase on the amount of work, organization and preparation involved. Because this venue is owned by my grandmother I have a lot of leverage and leeway afforded to me… That is what makes this event possible and probably why there is not another event like it around here.
That said, if less than half the people who show up to the event eat at the restaurant then the motivation for the restaurant to allow this declines. In years past I have had to use force to get the restaurant to agree to let me do this event. However, my grandmother (who is in very poor health right now) was pleased with Sunday’s event because the restaurant was just as busy inside as it was outside. If there is anyone out there that thinks it is at all wrong to demand that the venue earn a profit off their facilities please consider yourself un-invited from any future event here or anything else organized by the administration of these forums.
Another big success was the overall behavior of the attendees. No street drifting or other idiocy of any kind that I could see. Thanks very much for that as well. We all get to do and see that at other events; let’s continue to keep this one clean.
Thanks as well to the strong club representation. Obviously S1DC was out in full force for a local event and helping with the cruise. This year’s event was also big for UNION who took both of the voting awards (Mark and Steve). However, for the UNION guys; next time I need you to show up a little bit earlier so that I can put you all closer together.
The Awards & Parking
I am really happy with where this portion of the event has got to. Ivan did a good job on the mega-phone from what I understand. For me it was just nice to have an hour where I could take care of some of the behind the scenes stuff rather than having to come back afterwards.
I really want to thank those that pre-registered for this. I know some people don’t necessarily want to drive their cars up but it really is one of the features of this event that keeps things light hearted and entertaining.
Having people pre-register makes for a much less stressful day knowing that there is a significant amount of people committed to attend. Usually it’s a ‘play it by ear’ type game and that just isn’t kosher moving forward. We will definitely continue with pre-registration in the future, hopefully with a working registration form this time.
The plaques themselves eat up all of the registration and parking fees but it’s important that the winners have something to take away. We’ll try and make improvements to them in the future.
There was talk about a ‘hottest GF’ award and a ‘your shit is busted’ award that will probably find their way into future events in the spirit of general jack-assery.
We’ll also adapt the judging forms to better reflect what matters in this community. I think we’d all like to see faster and lower cars with SIQ’R wheels than fancy paint jobs and custom interiors so we’ll tweak the forms to reflect that.
There were more non-240sx’s in the lot and in the awards than before. That is likely to continue and thanks to all of the skyline and other Nissan model owners that came out despite the 240-centricity of the event.
The parking got a little hectic at times and I am sure some people were frustrated. That said, priority will be given to those who pre-register, especially to those that pre-register for the parking, awards and the dinner. As far as I am concerned, the people that do none of those things are the lowest on the list of things that need to be worried about. If the logistics of Sunday did not meet your expectations then my recommendation is to move up the list of priority by increasing your participation level in the event.
Family
Truth is, if Ving has a good time, then I had a good time… and boy did he have a good time. Justin (Intense Motorsports) and a few others brought the kids out and I know Samson has brought his boy in the past… this should continue. If we get enough kids out I’ll be sure to have the restaurant make appropriate accommodations for them.
I am a family man now and if I cannot include my boys in an event like this then I can’t devote as much time to it in the future. A lot of us are growing up and starting families and I’d very much like for this event to continue to be one where you can bring your children to without being concerned for their safety. It is incumbent upon all others at the event respect the safety of others and to respect to innocence of the children in attendance (RE: swearing, general demeanor).
The Future
I am a little inspired by the success of this last event. The restaurant was happy, I was happy; Ving had a great time as did the rest of my family and from what I can tell so did most of you guys.
There are a number of organizational things that I need to do in order to make the event go off a little better but I feel that if we addressed those things that we could probably go back to doing this event twice a year like we used to. I see that a lot of you guys want that as well.
I can’t promise anything of course so all I will say is that I will do what I can.
Finally, thanks again to everyone who came out and supported the event. I’m glad that everyone had a great time and we will work on making this event even more enjoyable in the future.
I had a great time. 