Highlander

After experiences with IPMS Nats and booking hotels at other events with an incredibly high demand for hotel rooms, I concur with the above. In sort, it seems: 1. That the organizers make all due preparation for the opening of hotel room reservations. They check and double check. 2. In spite of those preparations, the hotel chain's system is seldom in synch with that preparation. Computer systems, the host hotel itself, central reservations (located somewhere in Sri Lanka), and individual hotel chain employees seldom are on the same page. 3. Problems occur. 4. The hotel/hotel chain apologizes, but the damage is then in the past and cannot be rectified. Most recently, the magic words --- "The pandemic is at fault because....." are seen as clearing the hotel/hotel chain of responsibility. 5. People who played by the rules are unhappy. 6. The organizers get blamed. In short, it seems that the current technology and the state of the hotel industry are not up to a massive rush to reserve rooms held in convention room blocks. And the organizers reap the whirlwind.

Impressive.

One of my favorites, in arguably the best Western ever is: "You skin that smoke wagon and we'll see what happens! " Very good work.

CA would be an issue for me.

I am not disagreeing, but I would be more convinced if I had data on: 1. The number of room nights required to subsidize an IPMS Nats ... the recent average. 2. The number of rooms reserved by the venue for the convention block. 3. The number of times, before each Nats, that the host chapter has asked for more rooms to be released for the convention block. My experience has been that (1) all the rooms sell out immediately (or before immediately, but that's another story), (2) the host chapter asks for more rooms to be released -- sometimes multiple times, and (3) the various forums and social media sites have multiple complaints from IPMS members about not being able to get a room. My experience would lead me to believe that the appetite for rooms significantly exceeds the number of rooms available. Which leads me to wonder that, if more rooms are available, they would be easily sold and generate the room nights required to support a larger venue in a bigger city. HST, I have also observed the cancellations that occur 3-4 weeks before each Nats. I did not go to Columbia because I could not get a hotel room within reasonable distance of the venue. I was on several waiting lists, and, two weeks before the Nats, the host hotel called and offered me a room. It was too late. The hotel informed me that they had about 20 cancellations starting three weeks before the Nats. One might wonder how many people cannot come because of issues that impact upon their lives and how many people make reservations just in case they later decide, maybe, could be, things could fall into place, to attend -- after all, they can always cancel. HST, again, I have overheard Nats sponsors, during registration, worrying about whether they will generate enough room nights because of the number of last minute cancellations. Finally, as if this post is not already long enough, I've pointed out elsewhere that hotel rates for conventions have been rising for years. IPMS's members expectations of a room for less than $200 a night will soon be dashed; IPMS is already an anomaly. My wife is paying @$260 for a convention in Houston this fall. And, now, let's factor in runaway inflation.....

From the 2022 Nats Contest Rules: To enter the model contest, a member must be registered for the convention and have an individual IPMS member identification number. This includes individual (senior or junior), family, international, or proxy registrations. It does NOT include general admission / walk-in visitor attendees. A member may also serve as a ‘proxy’ to enter models for an absent member who is not attending the convention. Entry fees for absentee/proxy entrants may be set at the discretion of the Host Chapter. Can anyone direct me to the policy that Omaha has established for fees for proxy entries?

I know. I much prefer the Cafe du Monde at the Riverwalk. Same offerings and you get to sit watching Old Man River roll by.

If we have to give up something, I'm suggesting the model. Breakfast at the Camellia Grill, hit up the WWII Museum, down to Cafe du Monde for some beignets, and then to the bars. Greatest Nats ever.

My three choices would be: Tahiti Maui London In the unlikely event that none of these come about, then: Dayton, OH Boston, MA New Orleans, LA I can dream, can't I?

It has been pointed out over and over, but it might bear being pointed out one more time. Judges are volunteers. If you don't like the judging, volunteer and become one yourself. Then, I'm sure, perfection will ensue. Besides, the pay rate for judges has nearly doubled over the last three Nats.

Panel lines is another area in which reality -- particularly in used and abused aircraft and used and abused vehicles -- is not at all necessarily neat or aligned or gap free. But, at scale, most of those interesting variations from perfection disappear from view. So, in the IPMS world, it has to be "perfect". I note also that, when you compare a photo of a model that is blown up to the same visual scale as the real thing, the model is nowhere near as tidy and detailed as the real thing. It is usually quite unbelievable as a representation of the real thing. It is a coarse approximation. But, hey, we do scale models ... not 1:1 models.

In another hobby, which features an annual convention, the national headquarters had to step in and sponsor 2021's annual convention .... due to no bidders. They did it virtually. I have no idea how successful it was, though national claimed success. 2020 was slipped to 2022. The national headquarters also sponsored the 2019 convention ... no bidders ... which they did as a cruise out of Florida. The national headquarters first move was to ask my club, which was committed to sponsor the nationals in 2020 to move it up a year to 2019. We declined. With the impact of COVID, we slid our nationals to 2021 and then again to 2022. During that period we were asked to move back to 2021 from 2022. We declined...it was possible, but the workload would have been extraordinary. To my knowledge, there is no bidder for next year. Which leaves it in the national organization's hands.

A common topic in my club is where the upcoming Nats will be, combined with where we would like them to be. It usually boils down to an area that (1) hasn't had a Nats at all or had one in the last couple of decades or (2) has other attractions. We talk about the Nats we really enjoyed ... one of our guys loved Chicago. I really liked Anaheim and Oklahoma City. Our consensus recently has been Dayton OH ... so we could arrive a couple of days early and spend them at the AF Museum. I lived in Dayton and I could easily spend three or four days visiting my old haunts. New Orleans has been popular ... the WWII Museum is a big attraction. In my case, again, I've spent time there and can navigate the bus/streetcar system and know where to eat. There are many places that are attractive. Even Hawaii and Alaska. Once IPMS members get over the hurdle of understanding that hotel prices will never go back to what they used to be, we might see some exciting locations.

Are you sure you didn't mean that the Hawaii guys have been begged to host a Nats? As to transport, IPMS could charter a cruise ship. However, if all of the rooms were taken up instantaneously, like within CONUS, not many who missed out would rent an outrigger as an alternate.

Yes? I assume tentative had become actual. But confirmation would be welcome.

Much appreciated. Per the 2020 post, the the dates seem to remain in tentative status.

From time to time, I get a wild hair and like to analyze stuff. I wondered, by region, who supports IPMS by sponsoring a Nats. Here's what I got over the last 20 years (2004 - 2023) . 2004 - Phoenix (R10) 2005 - Atlanta (R3) 2006 - Kansas City (R14) 2007 - Anaheim (R8) 2008 - Virginia Beach (R2) 2009 - Columbus (R4) 2010 - Phoenix (R10) 2011 - Omaha (R14) 2012 - Lake Buena Vista (R11) 2013 - Loveland (R10) 2014 - Hampton (R2) 2015 - Columbus (R4) 2016 - Columbia (R12) 2017 - Omaha (R14) 2018 - Phoenix (R10) 2019 - Chattanooga (R3) 2020 - Cancelled 2021 - Las Vegas (R8) 2022 - Omaha (R14) 2023 - San Marcos (R6) Giving us: 4 Nationals - Regions 10 and 14 2 Nationals - Regions 2, 3, 4, and 8 1 National - Regions 6. 11, and 12 0 Nationals sponsored: Regions 1, 5, 7, and 13. Region 13, because of its nature, is unlikely to sponsor a Nats. Not going beyond satisfying my curiosity, but it is interesting to see which Regions have stepped up over the last two decades. I am very appreciative of those Regions which have ... especially multiple times. Good on you.

Good point. "Powered" entries are always interesting and they add to the quality of the contest. The issue seems to be whether the contestant is going to be responsible for providing their own power ... or if the contest is going to subsidize them. I was unaware that each Vegas powered entry cost the convention $110; that is quite a subsidy. HST, the option of an individual entrant "purchasing" power from the host site seems problematic. It is one thing to pay for power; it is another to arrange and coordinate power for each powered entry. Especially within the context of a contract with the host venue. Who will arrange for the power -- the entrant or the host club's contest chairman? What happens if an entrant decides, after arrangements have been made, that he doesn't want the power and doesn't pay ... or doesn't show up after arrangements have been made? What happens if the entrant pays and then the venue doesn't provide the power -- with the common excuses about miscommunication and physical impossibility of providing power in a specific location with the required quality. I like the concept of having each powered entry be accompanied by its own independent power source ... provided by the entrant. That places the responsibility for power on the entrant who decided to create a requirement for power. And would, it seems, simplify the whole issue. Until someone wheels this in:

Not sure of the protocol either. It can't be a state secret ... unless it is.

What are the dates for the 2023 Nats? I need to plan pretty far out. The dates should be established, right?

Good news on the bid. Good info on the Drover.

After attending closely to these interchanges, I conclude that the IPMS approach, although imperfect, is really pretty good. As I have said elsewhere, I was/am involved in a major national convention for another hobby. The structure for that convention is that the National Office owns the convention while the local chapter largely organizes and executes it. Thus National could and has and does direct various aspects of funding, programming, content, advertising, timing ... and theoretically has final say on most everything. Which might be fair, because National signs all the contracts and pays all the bills. So, if there is a disaster, National bites the bullet and our local chapter is financially in the clear. The local club provides the foot soldiers and "middle management" for the national convention. HST, the issue here is that communication between National and the local club is critical, but has been problematic. Thus, the local club makes decisions because someone has to and National -- which is not keeping itself constantly informed -- often asks if the decisions can be changed. National can be pretty uninvolved until somebody at National wants to make a decision and discovers that it is really too late. BTW, nobody has bid for 2023 or 2024 for a national convention. IPMS lays the responsibility on the local chapter ... where people know what is going on locally and can adapt and improvise and make timely decisions. It seems that the IPMS Board pretty much runs the contest and has a few meeting and the local chapter does everything else ... and bears most of the financial responsibility. It seems more efficient but is riskier for the locals.

Interesting observations. I quite agree that interrupted patterns are difficult to reestablish. Whether the interruption was the primary cause is debatable; I personally don't adhere to that belief. But it is, I think,, a factor. Which leads us to .... In other venues, on other threads, I have observed that the cost of attending a major convention has gone up, is going up. and will go up more. My wife, who attends several in her areas of interest, has noted the same. And we haven't factored in the cost of travel ... I checked some airline fares last night and noted that (1) they have really gone up, (2) flight availability and convenience has declined, and (3) the flights are still filling up. Combine that with the "cheap bastard" phenomenon and convention planners now have to be more concerned about attendance than previously. Yet another factor is the issue of having enough main convention hotel rooms to hold a significant fraction of the attendees, without regard to the cost. My wife is attending a big quilting show/contest later this year and the convention hotel rooms went at $279 ... and sold out within three hours. This fall, at another convention, the hotel has now released two additional blocks of rooms ... prices went from $129 to $159 to $189 ... and sold out. However, even if the convention hotel is completely committed to the Con, it usually cannot hold enough attendees to make the convention a success -- there need to be some number of attendees staying at other hotels. I have also noted that, in our neck of the woods, the number and the content of local contests has dwindled. Apparently no regional again this year (BTW, IMHO, slapping a last minute "Regional" label onto an existing one day contest does not make it a Regional). It seems that, other than the one day quickie, clubs have lost enthusiasm for larger, longer, more extensive contests. I hold that the primary cause of lack of bids is the "let somebody else do it" zeitgeist. If that spirit leads to a year without a Nats, IPMS will need to take a very hard look at what we are all about. It is getting interesting.

I'm guessing that nobody gets it and there isn't one.

Too bad I don't have an endless stash of kits, accessories, paints, and decals. If I had, there would be no impact upon me. HST, I feel for the hobby suppliers in the Ukraine.