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I happen to be in favor of day passes. Full rally gets a red wrist band. Thursday gets blue. Friday - yellow, Saturday green. How hard is that. .
Either way (wristband or neck placard), the event is still open solely to MOA members, eliminating concerns about theft and undesirable elements - it's not rocket science.
I thought anyone who paid the $80 fee could walk in.
Since I chaired that rally, let me debunk that story.
1) The BMW MOA has never offered day passes (with the exception of Rhinebeck in 1999)
2) 2005 - Lima - did not offer day passes for locals to see George Thorogood.
3) The police on-site at that rally were part of the beer garden security as per local regulations
4) The only disturbance at Lima was the storm that rolled though with high winds on Thursday night.
Carry on.
As I am involved in a lot of things- my observations of a well run show/convention/rally-So ... let's talk about budgets, since this proposal of day passes will impact the bottom line.
Assumptions:
..........more people will opt for a one day pass at a lower price
..........conversely, there may be a few more people who may attend the rally, who would have skipped it at the higher fee
..........the rally venue will still need to offer the same amenities:
---------------air conditioned buildings plus:
---------------plentiful portapotties, portable shower trailers, tables, chairs, pipe & drape, shuttles on site, wristbands, various tents for registration, rally programs, staffing for all things MOA related, entertainment, water for the volunteers, a beer garden, seminars (with requisite AV equipment), multi-media sound systems, etc, etc
So - how would you develop a budget which would give everyone the rally experience they have come to expect, without the income at the gate?
You have to know that the venues we are using now are no longer the old fairgrounds of the past.
Sadly, costs have gone up on everything. Would you prefer that we step back in time?
Maybe a more appropriate question should be is, are rallies a dying thing? Should the board consider discontinuing the national rally?
+1 to the OP and the day passes.
If you do not camp, the rally fee looses its value. Overland Expo's rally fee is significantly higher than the MOA, but somehow they are able to offer a day pass for a nominal fee. The day day pass allows someone access to the rally and vendor areas but not any of the seminars. Seems fare and apparently they do it without drama.
Different colored wristbands for 5-8 thousand attendees each day would be a logistical and financial burden.
A single wristband for registered MOA members intending to stay multiple dates, and a different coded 'day pass' to be worn about the neck for MOA members that can only make it one day (I could only have made Thursday in St. Paul, and did not endure the 6 hr. one-way commute due to no 'day pass').
Diligent attention by the Security Committee volunteers would promote compliance.
Either way (wristband or neck placard), the event is still open solely to MOA members, eliminating concerns about theft and undesirable elements - it's not rocket science.
I feel it was a bargain at twice the price! I mean come on, a modest dinner for two costs more than that. If you can't afford this, I can't imagine how you purchase and maintain a motorcycle, regardless of make. Geez!Now that the 2014 Rally is over, I just sent the following email to our Board of Directors:
"I believe the MOA should change the fee structure for its annual rally, and offer a day-pass for a single day visit. Here is why I support a fee change:
I bought my BMW motorcycle and immediately joined MOA in August 2012. I have attended two MOA rallies (Sedalia in July 2012, and Salem in July 2013) and enjoyed them, but decided at the conclusion of the Salem rally that I will not likely attend another three-day rally. I do not camp and therefore do not participate in one of the ?benefits? that seems so enjoyable to a large number of regular rally attendees. Mostly, I go to a rally to look at motorcycles (old and new) and visit all the vendors?and I bought several items of gear at each of the two MOA rallies I attended plus the multiple motel nights and all the meals I consumed while there. But, three days is too long for me to be entertained at a rally, and the full entrance fee is too much for a single day admission. What I would like is to be able to ride to a great motorcycle-friendly location (Billings next year, for instance), spend a night in a local motel, attend a day of the rally, and then mount up early the next morning and continue a great motorcycle ride (again, next year perhaps into western Canada) before heading home.
Significantly, I opted to NOT attend the just-concluded MOA rally in St. Paul because of the three-day ?requirement? and the expensive fee. Instead, I spent a few days in early July riding around the Dakotas and western Minnesota, enjoying the scenery and friendly locals of that area. I would have preferred to have sandwiched that ride around a one-day visit to the MOA rally in St. Paul."
+1 to the OP and the day passes.
If you do not camp, the rally fee looses its value. Overland Expo's rally fee is significantly higher than the MOA, but somehow they are able to offer a day pass for a nominal fee. The day day pass allows someone access to the rally and vendor areas but not any of the seminars. Seems fair and apparently they do it without drama.
http://www.overlandexpo.com +1, Gunny; Travman has hit the nail right square on its head, Overland Expo offers a day pass and their attendance numbers are growing by leaps and bounds: While our own BMW MOA Annual International Rally attendance numbers over the last 2 decades remain fixed at the same count!
That simply didn't happen - not as described at least. There were NO day passes at that rally. If the riff-raff arrived it was at full boat price.
I happen to be in favor of day passes. Full rally gets a red wrist band. Thursday gets blue. Friday - yellow, Saturday green. How hard is that. As for theft, etc. If a thief want to come steal cameras, phones, tents, and blankets, they can afford to pay the price for the whole rally. I wish the Board would just decide to do day passes and make it work.
Their admission is also $280.00 with a $20.00 day pass.. would be interesting to know how they administer that.
Karol I'll be at the next Overland Expo held in Arizona, I'll directly ask them that question! They are showing a profit, so they must be doing something right!
I'm in favor of a Saturday only day pass.. I think different colors for different days would be too hard to administer. We would need a much larger pool of security volunteers.