I broke this down into sub groups so we can track each item to conclusion. Only post in the information about the website in the thread.


Rich and I talked about the web site today. I contacted my sons friend Forrest who works at a web design business. He agreed to get us a domain name and host a site for us.

He will need some art work. Anyone have 914 related photos we could use on the home page post them here. Something from an east coast gathering would be best. The only photos I have are from WCC's and FFC's in the middle of the country.

I want to have the site up in the next two weeks on the outside.

Forrest will make an online entry form if we need but we will need a pay pal account for the event payment and someone will need to be incharge of collecting the entry forms via their email address I think. I will know more after my meeting with Forrest.

Someone post when we have locked down now.

Event date and itinerary:

Cost:

Lodging:

Cost:

AX:

Cost:

PDF: format Maps of the area. people can print. All materials online will need to be printed by participants to save us the cost of printing and mailing.



Is there any group activities planned?

Anything you want on the website post it here!

Sick of me yet?

Map of how to get to Hershey...its pretty simple...take the exit marked Hershey..follow the road to hershey park..

I think we should plan two evening get togethers.
It will be hotel dependant.
Friday night...welcome party/dinner/drinks
Saturday night..dinner/awards/drinks/bs

AutoX awards will be after the autox awards for the event (the PCA ones)
Then everyone can rush home.

RIch

I have TONS of pictures from the past 3 years of 914 related events in the MidA. Many of them are online via flickr and can be linked from there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vacca_rabite/...57607559098366/ ECC 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vacca_rabite/...57602036305263/ ECC 2007
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vacca_rabite/...57600151947841/ Hershey 2007
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vacca_rabite/...57594287955829/ ECC 2006

High Res images up to 2048x1365 are there for all sets except the ECC 2006 set, which was made before I joined Flickr as a paying customer.

Closing down Hershey in 2007:



Zach

Cool, thanks Zach. I'll boost some photos off the link for the new page if you don't mind.

I have a web meeting set up for Sunday night with Forrest.

We have a domain name! midengineinvasion.com

I met with Forrest yesterday. We discussed the site basics. I sent him out an email today with a basic event outline. As I was typing the information out I realized the only thing we really had a lock are the items that we are crashing that are going on with or without us.

So before the site launch it would be nice to lock down the following in what I think is the order of importance.

Home base hotel:
When we launch the site and point people to it, some may be ready to pull the trigger. Lets not give them a chance to have a second thought or feel uneasy about the validity of the event. A hotel sign up is key.

To reinforce this, check the event forum in the garage. Clay posted that he and Betty are thinking about flying in Friday night. They will need lodging and Clay is asking about Saturday night group dinner info.

Meet and greet:
What to expect as an attendee. Social, snacks, BBQ in the parking lot. Sign in?

Swap meet:
We all know we will be caravaning over to the swap meet to invade the event. This is paid by the induvidual at the gate. I was speaking with Rich about this. I guess we can't have an invasion BBQ. Food and beverage is controlled and sold at the event.

The concours is also controlled their. If we are going to have our own show and shine, we will need to do it after we leave the swap meet.

Is there anything we will offer the group at the swap meet? What will we offer to the group as part of our own social event or will the day be a free for all? Which is fine but I think if we have something to offer in the way of a social function at the swap meet we should capitolize on it.


Saturday night social:
Where can the group count on finding like minded Mid-Engine Invaders? Are we having our own parking lot car show after Hershey?

Then are we getting a conference room at the home base hotel or are we invading the hotel or local bar? Other events I attended around the country usually have a dinner , social and awards ceramony planned. Saturday night would be good for this as people will be splitting off all day sunday.
Dinner can easily be dutch. But a central spot to meet would be key.

Sunday will bring the AX.
This cost will be on the induvidual at the door. Who is going to track our group for a judging later? We may not get a special concession for a 914 group judging.


I will add these questions to the induvidual posts as they apply as not to get a bunch of info posted in the wrong thread. It will be easier to track this way.

Keeping specifically on topic to the web site.
Is the site up and running?
Did you get access for us to edit the pages and upload new pages?
Did Forect create a form? if not, did he enable the forms to work...this requires java or activeX on the server...or PHP,,,

We need to know what he is using so we can get the right forms put together...

Rich

The site is on hold pending lodging information and saturday night dinner and meeting location information. I'm not interested in launching a half ass web page with no information on it.

TBA is not an event. Mike posted he will check into this Sunday.

We have a hotel now...sound like a plan.
The TBA will be fine for Saturday night for the short term.
We can always book a restaraunt...those are fairly simple to book out with time in advance.

Lets get the site up!!!!

Trade me the Oval...

I spoke with Forrest, He said Friday night. I emailed him the hotel info.

Actually, the Grantville exit is the 1st one off of 81 and is a poor choice for exiting due to the casino. Its best to exit at 39/Manada Hill. Plus, it ends right at the event.

I had to drive the International Falls today and then west in to Rural I Falls. 350+ miles today. I just got home. My phone went dead. As soon as it charges enough to turn back on I'll call and check on the site progress.

It's up. Motel info will be added tonight. The cost is free. Forrest is borrowing my trailer today to move a car.

http://www.midengineinvasion.com/

Already found a typo, the dates are the 24-25-26, you have the 23-24-25 listed

I'll have this fixed. Good eye.

ok date is fixed but nothing else added yet. I sent Forrest an email and asked him to put up the hotel info. I also told him Rich offered to work on the page. So lets see what happens in a day.

Ok, Some of the Motel info is up. Someone make an annoncement in the main forum and on Club, NARP and Pelican. Post a link to the invasion site. We can add the event cost, Swap meet and AX costs soon.

I talked to Forrest tonight. He's coming over to use my nice warm garage tomorrow night to change the timing belt in his new (to him) Audi Avant. Coool!

Anywho... He told me he's working on the entry form and needs to know who's email to use. He's building a form that will send an email notice when completed I guess... Then he mentioned there would be a viewing area where anyone could see who is attending and where their from. No email or other info though.

So, Who wants the page linked to their email?

I am not clear on what will need to be done once the form is completed, but it sounds like something I can do at the end of the day so you can use my email.

MakeMy914go at yahoo

Cool, It will likely be some kind of email notice. I'll give Forrest your email and see what he does with it.

Hey Guys,

I received the below text from Forrest. He's working to complete the sign up for the event.


" I'm currently working on the signup page and just wanted to confirm
some specifics.

- The event is free, correct?
- I'm collecting name, email, phone, bringing someone?, what car,
city, state. Of these only name, car, city, state will be publicly
viewable.
- Is there anything that entrants should be agreeing to? (legally wise)

Also, I'm at a bit of a loss as to some good copy on this page. Any
thoughts on what it could say above the signup form? "


First we need to address the cost issue. Ray is working on locking up a deal with oldshcool for shirts or something. These will be available for anyone to order without upfront costs to use and will be mailed directly. When this comes together, we will have a link on the site with the order info.

Which only leaves the cost of group swap meet space and saturday night eats right?

Anyone have any legal disclaimer they want to cut and paste here I will forward it to Forrest.

I think if everyone puts out an idea here we could wrap this up by next week.

I dunno what to add. Event cost? What are we offering? Have we solidified that yet? Legal? I would put a disclaimer in that everyone is operating under their own recognizance. No dumbass driving, no drinking and driving, etc.

Do we have our fixed costs formalized yet? X number of spaces at Y cost, website design fees, etc?

What about variable costs like food and beer, shirt costs, are we paying for spaces in the concourse?

Once we have our fixed and variable costs, we can do a break even analysis at different cost points and see where we need to set cost:person ratio. I have not been paying much attention lately, are we still targeting 40 cars and 80 people?

If we can confirm the specific costs I'll do the analisys and provide you guys with some costing structures. But, I don't have the time right now to surf this forum to ferret out the info. I need:

Fixed:
Event space cost (how many spaces * cost per space)
Tentage (if any)
Website costs (if any)
Banner cost (if any)
Prizes (our prizes, not Hersheys)
Room rental (bowling alley or bar, not hotel rooms)

Variable
Food per person (if we cover that)
beer per person (if we cover that)
1/2 Concourse costs per person (assume that 1 car will hold 2 people)
Give-away shirts per person
AX fees per person (if we cover that)

Zach

have Forrest email me, we can work on the form and the copy that he needs.

Rich

Fixed:
Event space cost (how many spaces * cost per space) Rich was checking this
Tentage (if any) ? Unknown
Website costs (if any) I took care of it. Done $0.00
Banner cost (if any) Unknown
Prizes (our prizes, not Hersheys) Ray is working on some free stuff
Room rental (bowling alley or bar, not hotel rooms) Dr. Evil's checking on that

Variable
Food per person (if we cover that) This may be one of a very few things that would be part of the event cost.

beer per person (if we cover that) I say open bar everyone buys their own.

1/2 Concourse costs per person (assume that 1 car will hold 2 people)
Give-away shirts per person Ray is working on a method to have attendees order and pay for their own event shirt. The shirt will be drop shipped.

AX fees per person (if we cover that) attendees pay their own way.

40-50 per spot, we should consider 4 adjacent spots.


I had one of our members contact me about this...its in one of the threads on one of the boards...I will dig it up. He lives nearby and offered a few easy up tents for us to use...that will be the best...he has a truck and trailer to deliver them.


I am still awaiting response from Forrest so I can get him all straight on what the site should say and put together some marketing type wording etc.


I would say that if Ray can do this cheap, we should do a MEI logo banner that will fit on one easyup tent...so figure 6 foot by 1.5 feet.


Ray, I think, is doing this.


Noth sure if this is in another thread already.


No, we cannot do any food anything within the event. Its very strict.
We can bring our own personal sandwich type stuff etc, but we cant go out for pizza and bring in a load of pizza...Hershey park has the concessions monopoly within the event...this is covered on the PCA site for the event....in detail.


we are not a club, org, or anything more than a group of hobbiest that agreed to meet at the same time, same place.
The minute we start to think otherwise or behave in a fashion that would be considered a group or and org, we get into liability.

We can make a beer run if everyone chips in, we can behave like it a party and BYOB...we cannot provide any alchohol..


Price of entry to the event is up to each person attending.
Details are on the PCA site, and as soon as Forrest emails me, I will put them on the MEI site also.
Again, we are just a group of guys.
The event is PCA, and they are insured...
We dont charge.


Cool


Attendie is responsible for this. They must sign a waiver with the local PCA to attend the event...and pay them to attend.
I have asked, any porsche can run, any motor, and setup...so all of us will run.
We will be classes based upon standard PCA classing.
We will get a copy of the results so that we can award our own group afterwards if we want...and we can class people anyway we want.

Rich

I just received an email from Forrest. He now has a sponsor link on the site. I sent him the links Zach posted for event photos.

Just a couple more issues to resolve and we will have a completed signup sheet.

We still need to know what meals will cost and if there is a cost for the banquet room.

Forrest stopped over today. We talked about the web site. He told me he could add a general contact email address like mid engine invasion dot com or something and give us a password to check it.

Rich, he's waiting for disclaimer verbage

all sponsor/supporter banners are "now" pointing to the corrrect websites....so I forwarded the link to each supporter. Now I could pressure them for more stuff.

I received this email from Forrest.



Hey,

I've setup the contact page and a contact email. People may email you
at "info@midengineinvasion.com" directly, or they may use the form
located on the contact page.

info@midengineinvasion.com is accessible at webmail.midengineinvasion.com

login credentials
-----------------------

username: info
password: Z#wgzEaT

Try out the comment form and then try logging in to check it and make
sure you guys can get to it.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks,
Forrest

Just checked the email link. No messages yet except from Ray running a test.

webmail.midengineinvasion.com

login credentials
-----------------------

username: info
password: Z#wgzEaT

Check this thread: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=93454

OK, I sent my self a test email through the site. Lets see if it works.

Also, my logo is not in the sponsors section. You dont want my sponsorship?

Other than that, it looks nice.

Yup, it works

Either send Forrest an email with your logo or post it here or something. Ray was getting sponsors stuff to Forrest.

No worries, just messing with ya. My logo is on the shirt, which is plenty fine since I dont have a web site and cant handle the volume advertising would bring