• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

Closing Ceremony

One more on the vendors

Based on what I have seen at other rally's, why does everyone feel so obligated to the vendors. This is a business transaction. You don't owe them anything.

I think you undervalue what you sell to the vendors.

MOA provides an advertising venue to put their name and products in front of a very tightly targeted group of potential customers. To the vendor it's the top 10% of their target audience.

That is extemely valuable to them. Having been on the vendor side, it's a business deal to them and it's perfectly targeted marketing which has a tangible benefit to their bottom line.

No need to take the role of the begging for or pandering to sponsors, if you do, you are undervaluing your product (the venue).

We are not asking them to sponser a little league baseball team here (which has little value to them), we are offering them product placement to their target audience.
 
There were a few vendors that ponied up alot of $$$ in support of the rally, and the GS Giant in particular. While they may or may not recoup in sales, they were supportive to the overall effort and deserved to be recognized. In addition to their money, they also gave their time and efforts and for that, I feel they deserved their moment.

With that said, there is nothing wrong with asking them to limit their speeches. i don't think anyone was particularly long winded as much as the heat and number of participants made it seem that way.
 
Good Feedback

Good feedback Jim, hopefully your suggestions will be taken seriously this time. I agree with your contention that the ceremony should be designed from the perspective of the audience. As the old saying goes "The mind can absorb only as much as the seat can endure" applies here and with the added issue of the heat this becomes a safety issue for the audience. Although I was saddened by the booing of the crowd, I think that they were making it known that their needs were not being taken into account at this ceremony. I appreciate the efforts of everyone who worked on the rally and the sponsors who contributed to make this such a great event. Thanks to all, I had as good a time as was possible under the circumstances. Don
 
i don't think anyone was particularly long winded as much as the heat and number of participants made it seem that way.

Someone WAS longwinded or we would not have sat in the hot sun for 2 hours!!
This is the 12th closing ceremony that I have attended and it was the longest!
There are lots of suggestions in this thread. I don't think we want more excuses or rationalizations. I personally am hoping that some changes will be made so that future closings will be more entertaining and time efficient. This is the reason that I felt the need to start this thread.
Rob
 
I think the vendors that donate prizes deserve recognition. Having them speak at closing ceremonies is not the way.

Here is an idea. How about giving away some major prizes between sets during evening entertainment? It would let the vendor talk to a friendly audience. Give people tickets to drop in upon arrival, if it's a must be present to win prize, then people should drop off tickets when they arrive!!
 
1st Rally

First rally for me and quite an adrenaline rush Thursday through Saturday. I loved the location and the people in the greater Bloomsburg area, the Fairgrounds worked great, the vendors were outstanding and a highlight of my trip, lots of wonderful entertainment, enjoyed the good food and reasonable prices.

We road bikes on the back roads for three days prior to the event, visited Gettysburg and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Topped our touring off by riding a new 1600 GT for one smooth and powerful experience.

Many farkles I need/want and meeting and talking with vendors in person will make purchases over the internet/mail easier, and I loved seeing and touching so much equipment in one place. All the eye candy such as bikes, tents, gear along with the educational events kept me happy and busy from 8:00 AM till dark.

Closing ceremony waaaay too long. I also heard someone say it was too hot but who noticed. See you in Missouri and recommend that everyone "volunteer" to do something as it made the Rally more enjoyable.:dance
 
It seems ironic that those who are at the Closing Ceremony to be honored most likely end up feeling dishonored when a frustrated crowd starts to vent their irritation & dissatisfaction. Being hot and sitting through a slow moving overlong program will do that to people.

I believe that Mr Shaw was correct when he indicated that the "show" should be for the audience.

When the audience starts heating the tar & gathering feathers it's time to speed things up.
 
I didn't need to see a video AND hear about seven minutes about the GS events, even if they did consume 100 pounds of roast beef. Handing the emcee's microphone to anyone not scripted is your best chance of boring the audience, BMW Bob notwithstanding.

check your watch, jim. my talk lasted just a few seconds over the allotted two minutes.

many, MANY people came up to me after the show and thanked me for keeping it short.

ian
 
There were a few vendors that ponied up alot of $$$ in support of the rally, and the GS Giant in particular. While they may or may not recoup in sales, they were supportive to the overall effort and deserved to be recognized. In addition to their money, they also gave their time and efforts and for that, I feel they deserved their moment.

With that said, there is nothing wrong with asking them to limit their speeches. i don't think anyone was particularly long winded as much as the heat and number of participants made it seem that way.

The grand prizes are just that... grand. The vendors should be allowed a little recognition and advertisement of their generous gifts. Bob (Bob's BMW) has been a regular contributor, and he cut his presentation short in recognition of the audience's mood to keep things moving along.

I'm curious... how many people waited for the end of the ceremonies to hit the road? Would it have been terribly bad to delay the ceremony until dusk? It cculd have been announced over the grounds PA system, or by cart/shuttle drivers as they rode around. We'd have been a whole lot more comfortable in the grandstands and those flame shooting cars would have been a whole lot more interesting as darkness fell...
 
Always right

check your watch, jim. my talk lasted just a few seconds over the allotted two minutes.

many, MANY people came up to me after the show and thanked me for keeping it short.

ian

We have noticed: even when you are incorrect, you are right. You do a lot of good here. A reality check is in order. Read what's been written. Go forth and do briefer.

 
The earlier comments about making it about the attendees and not the vendors and volunteers makes sense to me.

well, here is the deal, and i am going to stick to the GS Giant session, as it's the only one i am guilty of.

the talk I made *was* about the attendees. there were about 100 attendees in those stands that had a very good time at this event. They enjoyed reliving the experience and sharing it with their friends who didn't get to see the event live. if you think one minute about that is a big time waster, then be a little charitable to others and go buy yourself a coke during that part of the show.

the talk i made thanked the volunteers who helped put this event on, who, btw, are rally attendees, too. It took 20 seconds to thank the top people on the team and show the other names on-screen. while some people may be completely insensitive to the motivational effects of being recognized, i bet they never had a bunch of young & enthusiastic volunteers come up and shake their hands after the show saying "thanks for a great time!" after working their butts off for the past 5 days.

and, if it weren't for vendors we wouldn't even have grand prizes & sponsorships worth nearly one hundred thousand dollars, meaning we wouldn't have to sit through a boring giveaway ceremony in the first place. certainly there are shorter ways to give supporting vendors their due, which we should implement. but i'd personally take the current approach over the lifeless, no, soul-less but yes, shorter closing ceremonies being recommended, and i sat through both of versions of them.

ok, now i will SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP! ( :ha sorry rob)

ian
 


We have noticed: even when you are incorrect, you are right. You do a lot of good here. A reality check is in order. Read what's been written. Go forth and do briefer.


thanks for the complement, i think. :)

fwiw, i set the timer on my phone to 2 minutes and started it when i started talking. if i set my timer wrong, then shame on me, but i walked up to that mic with every intent of keeping it really, really short.

when the timer went off, i wrapped up very shortly afterwards. so shortly that i forgot to recognize one of our sponsors.

a happy mistake, btw, as it led to what some say was the most interesting moment of the rally: The GS Giant riding his new toy out to the track and getting it dirty.

to each his/her own, i guess.

ian
 
Rally Thoughts....

I have attended a lot of Rallies but this one will go down in history for me. I do feel bad for the Organizers, because they had no control over the weather. Unfortunately the venue had little control over their AC. The vendor areas were hot hot hot...and that was inside. I went there with a big laundry list of things I wanted to buy, but honestly had no energy to even consider trying on pants or even buying a new helmet I needed.

I think, the vendors were even happier to see this rally over.

No need to comment about the closing ceremony. Everybody else echos my exact thoughts....too long...too long...and the cars needed to END!

The good thing is that I still had the opportunity to visit with old friends and make some new ones...so....I guess thats what this rally was suppose to be all about.
 
I think the vendors that donate prizes deserve recognition. Having them speak at closing ceremonies is not the way.

Here is an idea. How about giving away some major prizes between sets during evening entertainment? It would let the vendor talk to a friendly audience. Give people tickets to drop in upon arrival, if it's a must be present to win prize, then people should drop off tickets when they arrive!!

Great idea Gail!
 
I'm glad that we got some feedback after my comments. I certainly did not disparage the GS Giant concept, ONLY the AMOUNT of time spent on it relative to other worthy topics:

To requote myself: "GS Giant was a big time-waster and didn't deserve the amount of program time it took."

Great feedback, I hope they are listening!

Mark

Mark, I humbly accept your feedback due to your life experience but the GS Giant, a new MOA event, generated alot of funding that was given to the MOA to be given back to us the organizers to purchase goods and services. So at my level of understanding, I don't know how one could recognise with time restraints or ignore such generous contributors and keep the doors open for future event funding. There is more here than a few extra words in a closing event speech by my Co-Chair Ian. Like where is the beef in the future ?

What would you expect in return if you gave considerable amount of funding to an organization even if the event was self serving company exposure ?

Thank You
 
While the booing was a disappointment to me, I think all of us on the stage understood, and took no offense. At least we had some shade - - many of the people in the stands did not. We were all aware of that fact.

We all agree that the awards ceremony went on too long. We will try to do better.

-----------------------------------------------

The booing was not a disappointment (to me). The fact that the crowd booed, the flame cars kept on doing their low brow thing and the crowd did not riot WAS a disappointment to me. At least, like the free people we all claim to be, the crowd should have gotten up and left. Leave the honored ones on stage in the shade with their flame throwing cars.
Do I sound angry? - you should have seen me then !!!
 
well, here is the deal, and i am going to stick to the GS Giant session, as it's the only one i am guilty of.

but i'd personally take the current approach over the lifeless, no, soul-less but yes, shorter closing ceremonies being recommended, and i sat through both of versions of them.
==================

You got it all wrong.
We are the ones that sold our souls to get "something-for-nothing". Do guys go to rallys to get free stuff? What is all that craziness with "gifts" and vendors giving prizes? It all looks worse and worse the more comments I read.
It is about motorcycles, friends and riding. Wake up guys and smell the coffee.
 
Back
Top