Who did not attend because of the heat?

[CaptRehkopf]

Never been to an RA Rally, BUT this looks like a good deal to me! I'm in!

June 20-23, 2013 for a return trip to the Biltmore!

The RA rally in the spring at the Blitmore in Asheville..... Seems like a win win for many!

Ride Safe,
Robert

[CaptRehkopf]

I agree completely, I can't believe school age children are the driving force/reason for Rally scheduling! Where does this come from? Is it another survey where less than 3% of the membership responded?

Looking at our membership I cannot believe school is a problem for most. I betting more do not go because of the heat than would not go because of school. JMHO.

Ride Safe,

[r11rs94]

Never been to an RA Rally, BUT this looks like a good deal to me! I'm in!

June 20-23, 2013 for a return trip to the Biltmore!




Ride Safe,
Robert

I will pre-register for this Rally. I went to the one in 07 I believe. It was a little warm but not bad.

[Rob Nye]

Boy this thread has legs.

It reminds me of town council meeting where I used to live (Little Compton, RI).

LC has the lowest taxes in the state and probably close to the oldest demographic. There are so few kids in town (or ones whose parents can't afford private school) that they send the kids to another town for high school.

Try to get anyone in town to approve another buck for the school, playground or community center and whoppie. In other words, kids, issues surround kids and supporting the parents of school age kids doesn't matter in LC or apparently the MOA.

For all the retired, semi-retired or folks with kids in college think back to the first 17 to 18 years of their lives.

Were you in a position to leave home for a week or two during their first month of school?

I've taken plenty of family vacations. In 1999 the family vacation involved renting an RV parking it Rhinebeck and taking the whole crew to the rally. In 2011 my family vacation was riding to the National with my middle son, me on a GS and him on his F650GS.

Camp Gears and the kids of current members are the closest thing the MOA has to building a future with the next generation.

Move the rally to September and it all goes away.

What's more important, the future of the MOA or having the party when it suits the retirees?

[Rob Nye]

Rob,
I was at the IBA Denver meeting also and talked to Tony and also worked a few hours for Tony at the Cycle Nutz booth at the MOA. He said his business wasn't what he expected and didn't seem to happy about the attendance, ask him for more detail.
As I have said this is all a moot discussion because when people speak with their feet and don't come, then there will be a correction. And I'm betting the correction will be away from a location of miserable weather conditions and toward something better.
Ride Safe,
Robert

My conversation with Chris was about heat. He mentioned traffic was down but his sales were ok. Perhaps folks wanted some seat beads to get some air flowing "down there."

Seriously folks, want a great summer?

Come on back to New England, we'd love to have you. I'd step up to do it again in a heartbeat. For a change of pace come on out to our Damn Yankees rally for a taste of New England in the summer. Nights cool enough for a sweater and days warm enough to enjoy a swimming hole.

Fist weekend in August.

[kantuckid]

I agree completely, I can't believe school age children are the driving force/reason for Rally scheduling! Where does this come from? Is it another survey where less than 3% of the membership responded?



Ride Safe,

As to young members going to a the rally-We raised three sons at our house & going to a M/C rally in July wasn't a priority to child rearing. How many of those that you want to attract to the rally have kids & thats the reason they don't go, no matter the month held? I didn't choose to leave my wife & kids @ home so I could ride around a lot in the summer. You cannot talk about attracting younger set w/o looking at ALL the reasons they don't join/attend. While I don't fault anyone with kids for taking some "family time off" for a rally, I do fail to see the connection with younger members raising children getting to a rally because schools out. For working age adults the summer is mandated vacation time for many, heat or no heat.
It's a fact, people vote with their "feet", so lower attendance is a reality for various reasons. I/we go to FB games & attendance is down these days at places that were automatic sellouts in recent years.
Is the rally a "cash cow" that has to answer to the most attendance or a date variable activity that can try for pleasing a majority of members over time?
The best riding time in my E KY location is spring & fall, hands down. Not so hot & humid and the scenery is at it's prime time. Many of the smaller rallies revolve around these seasons. As an e.g., craft shows are also frequently held at these same times-some for many decades on the same dates each year, in fact. They revolve around attendance, period. Not a criticisim, but time for a fresh approach to date selection, I think.

[CaptRehkopf]

What's more important, the future of the MOA or having the party when it suits the retirees?

I don't see it quite that way, if there are no retiree's or non-school needy attendees there is no future MOA, they'd go bankrupt. Simply look at the numbers, 7xx responded to a survey of an organization that has 3x,xxx members, and the survey only allowed response periods of mid-June thru July (completely biased IMHO). I don't see any effort to 'suit the retirees' in the survey question, all I see is keeping the Rally dates the same. However, the reality is 3% of the membership tells the other 97%, and we go along with the 3% as gospel, does that about sum up the keystone pathway of entire future of the MOA?
Ride Safe,
Robert

[bikerfish1100]

Seriously folks, want a great summer?

Come on back to New England, we'd love to have you. I'd step up to do it again in a heartbeat. For a change of pace come on out to our Damn Yankees rally for a taste of New England in the summer. Nights cool enough for a sweater and days warm enough to enjoy a swimming hole.

Fist weekend in August.

hmm, you managed to forget "and humid enough to drown a fish."

[xp8103]

hmm, you managed to forget "and humid enough to drown a fish."

Oddly enough, while the NORM is generally humid, this summer has been relatively dry.

[osbornk]

Never been to an RA Rally, BUT this looks like a good deal to me! I'm in!

June 20-23, 2013 for a return trip to the Biltmore!




Ride Safe,
Robert

I was at the last rally and I will be at this one. I live semi-nearby and that year it was the hottest and dryest summer we had ever had to that point. It was warm and uncomfortable to us mountain folks but probably cooler than the vast majority of the membership were accustomed to.

The problem with the last rally was that there were far more attendees than they anticipatated and the showers and other things were not adequate. I hope they anticipate the turnout better this time. That is one good reason to pre-register.

[sibud]

I don't see it quite that way, if there are no retiree's or non-school needy attendees there is no future MOA, they'd go bankrupt. Simply look at the numbers, 7xx responded to a survey of an organization that has 3x,xxx members, and the survey only allowed response periods of mid-June thru July (completely biased IMHO). I don't see any effort to 'suit the retirees' in the survey question, all I see is keeping the Rally dates the same. However, the reality is 3% of the membership tells the other 97%, and we go along with the 3% as gospel, does that about sum up the keystone pathway of entire future of the MOA?
Ride Safe,
Robert

Robert,

The forum is a great place for members to discuss things with each other. You can tell from my post count that I discuss a lot of things. With the post count over 200 on this thread, and with 88 different posters, there certainly has been a lot of discussion on this topic. However, BOD members don't monitor the forum. It is not an effective way to provide them with your concerns and ideas.

Have you sent an e-mail to the BOD expressing your concerns? If not, why not? It is easy to do: Board@moa.org . If so, have you received a response? I would suggest that you will get a much quicker response than posting here on this issue. During the several years of membership ,I've been told by several BOD members that very few folks bother to communicate with them directly.

The future of MOA is dependent on may different things, the Rally being one of them. I'm not sure that we can continue to exist for the next 20 years without attracting younger people who have multiple activities competing for their time and resources. What suits me, a retired old phart who can go to a Rally any time during they year, may not be the best criteria to make decisions on how we continue to exist and grow as an organization.

Challenges abound. Hopefully we will find ways to meet those challenges as we look to the future.

As an aside, while we were burning up in S. Illinois the last of July, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter were enjoying the cool temps of the Florida panhandle. Who would have picked Destin, FL for a summer motorcycle rally?

[r11rs94]

I was at the last rally and I will be at this one. I live semi-nearby and that year it was the hottest and dryest summer we had ever had to that point. It was warm and uncomfortable to us mountain folks but probably cooler than the vast majority of the membership were accustomed to.

The problem with the last rally was that there were far more attendees than they anticipatated and the showers and other things were not adequate. I hope they anticipate the turnout better this time. That is one good reason to pre-register.

From what I've been reading in the RA site, lessons were learned and they will be more prepared this time.

[36654]

Boy this thread has legs.

It reminds me of town council meeting where I used to live (Little Compton, RI).

LC has the lowest taxes in the state and probably close to the oldest demographic. There are so few kids in town (or ones whose parents can't afford private school) that they send the kids to another town for high school.

Try to get anyone in town to approve another buck for the school, playground or community center and whoppie. In other words, kids, issues surround kids and supporting the parents of school age kids doesn't matter in LC or apparently the MOA.

For all the retired, semi-retired or folks with kids in college think back to the first 17 to 18 years of their lives.

Were you in a position to leave home for a week or two during their first month of school?

I've taken plenty of family vacations. In 1999 the family vacation involved renting an RV parking it Rhinebeck and taking the whole crew to the rally. In 2011 my family vacation was riding to the National with my middle son, me on a GS and him on his F650GS.

Camp Gears and the kids of current members are the closest thing the MOA has to building a future with the next generation.

Move the rally to September and it all goes away.

What's more important, the future of the MOA or having the party when it suits the retirees?

It's interesting, but I don't see any retirees in the following picture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fo....jpg#filelinks

In fact, those guys look like they might have some kids and limited vacation time. However, but likely more than we do today........

[Rob Nye]

It's interesting, but I don't see any retirees in the following picture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fo....jpg#filelinks

In fact, those guys look like they might have some kids and limited vacation time. However, but likely more than we do today........

Yet they set it up so the primary event of the organization (ergo the Rally) would take place during school vacation.

Game, set and match.

[rjzinc]

Only a few days until this poll closes. We have 5295 that attended the Rally and 25 who pre-registered but did not attend. That pretty well sums it up. The number attending far out paces the number of those who pre-registed but did not attend on account of the heat. Let's roll!