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closing ceremony upgrade?

gsjay

Active member
Mike,

Has anything been done to improve this years closing ceremony?

Last year the PA system was poor, the program lasted way to long and was boring!

Do we really need to listen to that one fellow read off all those statistics?

And do you have to be there to win or can we stay in the beer tent?

Can't wait to win one of those overseas trips!

gsjay
 
Hey now, you didn't like the 2.5hr closing ceremony?

I feel your pain. As your MC I can promise you that we are taking active measures to improve the pace and entertainment of the ceremony.

I can also tell you that we have six trips and two bikes to give away as well as a few special awards and surprises in store for you, all of which will take a little time. Our goal is to keep the entire program to under 90 minutes and no we will not be reading off the names of the high mileage two up with a parakeet winner. :snore

It would also not be a stretch to count on our taking advantage of the civic center's AV equipment and technical staff. This may also be the first closing ceremonies where there is quality entertainment *before* the ceremony starts.

Just one more reason why this rally is gonna rock!
 
Some suggestions,

1, Speak into the microphone from the front not the side.
2, Do Not chat and joke with others on the stage.
You are not there to entertain the people on stage.
3, Keep the awards list to the top 3, not the top10
Publish the top 10 or 20 in the BMWON
4, Pay attention to what you are saying, stay with the script.
5, If the speakers are not there don't go look for them.

Oh I forgot I was only supposed to do the top 3.
 
closing ceremony upgrade

As Dave and Rob have said, we are making a major effort to streamline the closing ceremony this year.

What neither of them have said is that the closing ceremony will take place in the 13,500 seat Civic Center Coliseum which is air conditioned. We will be using their sound system and lighting. The opening entertainment will be worth getting their early for so as not to miss a single jump, wheelie or stoppie from the Team Extreme Indoor Trials demonstration some of you may have seen at the Cycle World shows.

As for the prize giveaways, the MOA Board policy is that for any prize donated by the MOA, you do NOT have to be present to win. For any prize donated by an individual or company, the donor, not the MOA, has the choice of whether the winner must be present to win.

See you in Charleston.:clap
 
Re: closing ceremony upgrade

Originally posted by Michael Friedle As for the prize giveaways, the MOA Board policy is that for any prize donated by the MOA, you do NOT have to be present to win.

And as I remember from Trenton a very unpopular policy.

MarkF
 
From what I've read, the major source of the discontent was that this policy wasn't spelled out clearly enough.

Am I correct? :dunno
 
closing ceremony policy

KBasa said:
From what I've read, the major source of the discontent was that this policy wasn't spelled out clearly enough.

Am I correct? :dunno

Yes, Dave is correct. The BMW MOA Board of Directors policy has been consistent. Publicizing the policy has not been consistent.

Michael Friedle
BMW MOA Board of Directors
 
Hey, what's that? You guys don't want a 2 1/2 hour closing cerimony??:jawdrop

Well, neither do I. And we've sure talked about that on more than one occasion at Board meetings. I know Michael, Rob, et. al. are "feeling your pain" and have no love afair with bordom! I think were all going to be a lot happier with this year's "performance".:clap

Hawk Hawthorne
VP BMW MOA
 
My own .02. As former chair of Awards and Tally I offer this opinion regarding the reading of Award winners. The Closing Ceremony (a name I like much better than Awards Ceremony) is the final chapter in our annual meeting and it deserves the time it takes. If it can be shortened it should be done by reducing the back-slapping and self congratulations.

From the Awards Chairman's point of view- it is much, much easier for the Awards Chairman to read the winners and present the trophies at the ceremonies than to have to box and address and insure and post each one for shipment. In the years I was chairman we presented more than 70 awards. I also believe that a rider who may put in more than 3000 miles in the saddle deserves to be recognized in person, as does the 93 year old man who rode to the rally (and these were actual winners). Just putting their names in the magazine four months later is not proper recognition IMHO.

Bill Hamilton
 
Bill:
I agree that we should recognize award winners. But the rally goers I talked to, and this one as well, really weren't interested in who was the 10th youngest male passenger, the 9th youngest male passenger, the 8th youngest male passenger, the 7th youngest male passenger.... get the drift?

And there wasn't much more interest in who was the 10th oldest female rider, the 9th oldest female rider, the 8th oldest female rider....:snore

That part of the program was a real sleeper.

Hawk Hawthorne
VP BMW MOA
 
That's my take on it, even though my club, Yankee Beemers, has been in those positions. Generally, during those listings there's so much yakking going on in the audience you can't hear what's going on anyway.

dave
counting down to heading east
 
Just don't change the rules in the middle of the game.

Attendees at last year's rally in Trenton, Ontario were repeatedly told they ÔÇ£must be present to winÔÇØ a major prize, including the R750/5 and the F650CS being given away by the ÔÇÿMOA at the Saturday evening awards ceremony. The admonition was printed in the ÔÇ£EventsÔÇØ listing of the official rally program and I was told the same thing when I got my door prize tickets at registration.
Consequently, I'm pretty sure everybody who walked into the amphitheater that Saturday evening was under the same impression. Yet, when it came time to draw for some of the prizes - notably the F650CS - we were told that was not the case.
Now, I have no quarrel with requiring people to show up in order to win and I think the majority of rally-goers would agree. It's really the only carrot the rally organizers have to lure us into a ceremony that has traditionally been an exercise in tedium, punctuated by embarrassing examples of self-congratulatory insider humor.
I believe most of the crowd was there because they wanted to qualify themselves to win a major door prize. Otherwise, we might have made an early start for home, gone riding or headed off to dinner. We dutifully schlepped folding steel chairs up the hill to the amphitheater to fulfill our part of the assumed door prize contract. That's why there were shouts of outrage when the rules were changed as it came time to draw tickets. For whatever reason, the assumed contract was broken and the trust was betrayed.
I was startled at how many genuinely angry people I saw on the way out of the amphitheater. The folks on the stage doubtless thought the crowd was downright rude when we bolted after the CS winner's first name was read and before the last name could be puzzled out from her handwriting. No, we weren't rude - we were angry and felt betrayed. Those of us who aren't named ÔÇ£LisaÔÇØ didn't care to hear a last name, since it didn't matter to the organizers whether she was there or not. If they didn't care, why should we?
I'm pleased that Lisa was, indeed, there and I'm sorry she didn't get the recognition and cheers of the crowd she deserved for winning an F650CS. That's a big deal - the centerpiece of the awards ceremony - but its impact was destroyed by the way the drawing was bungled.
Likewise, if I'd been on the ÔÇÿMOA committee that acquired the two bikes to be given away, IÔÇÖd be hopping mad about the way the presentation was handled. Instead of being able to revel in a golden moment of a lucky rider getting a free bike, those folks witnessed a mass stampede for the exits and left the amphitheater with boos ringing in their ears.
There were several rally forum posts on this subject in the days and weeks following Trenton and, to his credit, the rally chairman took the blame for changing the rules at the last minute because it seemed to him to be the right thing to do.
I don't think anyone wants to see that kind of ugly scene at this year's rally. The solution is simple: state the rules and stick to them.
 
Who needs recognition...I got the bike!!!!

I hope everyone has agreat time in Charleston this year. I can't be there but I wish I was just the same..........
 
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