XtremeVette

So Iam wondering if anybody has any new information besides what is posted on the NCM's site. I was at the C5/C6 bash and was pleasantly surprised to find some vendors and food services on the NCM's grounds for the bash. The Chevrolet display/setup as well as the test drives being offered was really cool. None of this was documented in the agenda on the NCM site and I honestly don't know why.

So yeh...is there anything extra going on for the Cruise In?

Thanks
Jeff

savewave

My impression is that the "extras" you refer to often are not in the agenda because Roc and his staff don't know early on who is going to show up and what they are going to bring with them.

barkingowl

I thought that the C5/C6 Bash generally attracted a larger number of participants than the CI. I could see vendors coming out if they believe that they could make a good profit. There are generally a few vendors set up at the NCM for CI. But never having been to the Bash I have no idea if there are more or less than at a CI.

XtremeVette

From the 3 years I have been there has always been more vendors at the Bash. I really hope that proves to be wrong this year...just have to wait and see!

KLO

I am thinking about coming as a vendor, I sell Zaino at several of the Corvette shows at the NCM, I was there for the Bash this year but did not stay for Sat as the storms came in. I talked to Karen at the NCM (she works with Roc with the vendors), she told me last week that if I did come and set up and sell that I would at this time be the only vendor at the Cruise In.

I am trying to gauge interest from the folks here whether it would be worth the trip as far as sales are concerned.

Thanks, Kevin

XtremeVette

I hear ya Kevin I do. I wish as just a member of the forum that more interest was there. I really do. I can see it from the NCM and the corvetteforum's point of views as well as just a spectator for the event. It really is a shame that the event has dwindled down to this as far as interest goes. I don't know all the politics involved but one looking in would have to assume that in order to change the outcome of this event each year that some type of major change would have to happen. Just haven't seen that over the past years. I would love to see other vendors out there bite the bullet jump aboard and say they were going if "X" amount of people signed up. Would sort of be an incentive kinda deal. However the number would have to be realistically low. I mean you have to crawl before you can walk. The first Cruise In's must have had somewhere around 300-500 people??? (Iam sure someone has the actual figures) and lately I think we are lucky to get 200 registered and even luckier to have all 200 show up? So by realistic I mean...set up like levels of supporting vendors. Level 1: 100 or more people to show: vendors...XXXX Level 2: etc etc...you get the idea. I understand that for this event, as well as any, it only seems worth wild to come if only a certain number of people are going to be present. Normal times YES, but lets be honest, these are not normal times. The economy is still trying to recover and both Kentucky and Tennessee have been hit hard with the floods. I think now is a better time then ever to show really what certain companies are worth and have them show up out of the kindness of their heart and even better yet...how about donating a % of the proceeds to the relief fund for the flood damage victims not being covered? Just sounds like a cool idea to me and with vendors showing up I could almost guaranty others to follow suit. It is probably too late for this event but there can always be other events created during the year. Just a thought

KLO

As of the middle of last week, there where only 85 people registered for the Criuse In, and with there being no BBQ at the Baymont as I understand Roscoe can not make it due to an injury, I doubt they get 150 that will come. I just can not take off two days from my regular job and drive over 500 miles to sell to such a small crowd, plus the gas bill and two night stay bill at the hotel.

I am going to talk to Karen again middle of this week, and if there is a surge people coming I may be able to make it. I would like to have 300 registered cars at the event.

XtremeVette

I hear ya man....ok wanna hear something funny...Your my Zaino rep! lol. I just put 2+2 together and thought your name seemed familiar lol. Iam Jeff from Murfreesboro that buys the Z-9 and the leather conditioner from you regularly. Funny small world.

KLO

Hi Jeff, look me up if you need anything else. Looks like I will not be coming to the Cruise In, I spoke Karen at the NCM today and they only have like 100 registered for the event, very, very small turn out this year.

XtremeVette

No problem man....and there is always next year!

yamahajo

They need to REALLY revamp this to get attendance back to what it was.

XtremeVette

Oh I know and totally agree Jo, This year was just one bad thing after the next. First the "no vendors" cause of poor attendance, then the floods hit, then Rocoe and his bbq are out cause of his injury, then the drag racing is canceled, cause of poor attendance and cause the fact that Beech Bend is about 12ft under water, then the autocross is canceled. All this plus no official dinner/ceremony is taking place. I was almost waiting for the "canceled event" to show up on the NCM calander. In the 11 years this event has taken place this by far will be the worst attendance yet and not all of it could of been foreseen. After this year Iam going to try to get more involved and will try to get others involved off the forum as well to try to make a better effort to do something to help turn this event around. It use to be a highlight each year and I can remember traveling 1200 miles to go to it. Things have certainly changed since then.

XtremeVette

I'll try to get together with Roc and see if I can't get other forum members interested as well for next year to see what we can all come up with for ideas to help to try to revamp the event. Maybe for a start we can try to get commitments so that events can be scheduled ahead of time? I dunno just some brainstorming.

KLO

Speaking for myself and many of the other vendors will tell you the same, since the NCM started with all of the road tours they conduct, the vendors do not like them as they take a ton of people away from the event for most of the day which translates in loss of sales for both the food and non food vendors. The people who attend may love all of the road tours, I do not know, but I know for a fact the vendors do not care for them.

XtremeVette

hmmmmm very interesting point. I do agree as I never thought too much about them myself. Seemed to be counter productive as you so pointed out. In my honest opinion, people that originally went to the Cruise In did it to meet other people at the NCM and not to just meet up and then drive away for 2-3 hours. I do agree and will mention it to Roc. I think possibly maybe have 1 road tour but make it be more like a quick 30 minute "parade like drive" nearby the NCM. Like a giant line of Corvettes. This way we keep people at the NCM and have activities on site. I only know of the formula from back in the day that worked. Again thanks for your input. The more input we get the more we can brainstorm and come up with a definite plan that will make efforts in working.

savewave

The NCM does a survey after each year's event, asking what you liked, what you didn't and what your suggestions are for the next event. If all of the NCM's events seem to be similar in the activities, it's because Roc and the NCM's events team aren't getting suggstions.

Let 'em know what you are interested in and bear in mind, the event agendas are set pretty early in the year -- January, I think.

XtremeVette

Ok and no problem Jim, I'll be talking to him soon and will try to get up something on the forum by August or September so that we have plenty of time to brainstorm everything.

Just J

We need to find a way to make both work. I know that I really like the road tours, but I sympathize with the vendor concerns. Maybe arrange the schedule to have at least one "on site" day where all the activities take place at the museum (car show, ceremonies, meetings, golf cart autocross, group photo(s), etc.) But I don't know if only one day like that would be enough to attract the vendors or what the best day would be given travel schedules.

XtremeVette

Thanks for the input J, I'll be putting together a bunch of ideas and will be submitting it all to Roc at the NCM once this years Cruise In is over and then we can focus in on next years.

Mr Mojo

Having been to every single Cruise In, here's my take.

Cruise In I was the very first time that we all got together in a nonlocal location. many members know each other from local events, but the Cruise In was a way for everyone to get to meet in person for the first and in some cases the last time.
Me and Jeff met on the first Cruise In after being forum friends since we both joined. Half the fun of Cruise In is just getting there.
It was a fun ride down from the northeast, we used to have 20 cars in our group and by the time we got to I-65 south, we'd meet up with the Chicago crew and end up with 40+ vettes pulling into the Assembly Plant for the tour, then off to the various hotels.
I believe we had 300 people show for CI-1 which at the time represented 10% of the forum population.
Cruise In II we had about 150 people from CI-1 show up plus an additional 150 who had never been.
I don't know how many for the rest of them, but I do believe it was always 300 or more everytime except maybe last year.
This year doesn't look good if we only have 100.
As for the drag racing, the cost was too high in recent years, people would rather spend their money on beer than a few bucks to test their cars and have a friendly safe competition.
Burnouts at the track are much safer than the hotel parking lot.
What I've noticed is that the various groups set up a tent at the Hampton parking lot and really never leave for fear of losing their seat.
Parking was alway horrendous no matter whic hotel was the "host" hotel.
I remember when the Best Western and the Country Hearth were the places to be since they were both located near the NCM and the Assembly Plant. Obviously we out grew thse two places and the Hampton and baymont offered more room, nothing wrong with that, but it just isn't the same.
As for the events the NCM hosts, some are good, some not so good. I love the road tours and since everyone has to show at the NCM to get their credentials, they all have an opportunity to see the vendors. In the past the vendoor booths were always full of people asking questions and buying stuff.
More foucus should be on having parties and such at the NCM especially now that they've expanded it.
People didn't want to leave the Hampton because of Roscoe setting up shop their, why? Because it was good eating for cheap.
I always paid for my Roscoe meals, but I also went to other places since I need more than just BBQ and beer to survive(and since I don't drink anymore, I need something else).
The Autox was always the most popular event with drag racing second. We've had road tours since the first one and the best one was the OMGWAGTFD Tour that Adam lead. There are similar ones but none have been as much fun as that one.
The BBQ at Wendells was always a highlight and we no longer do that since Roscoe took over. We used to have our crash up derby at the go kart track, I know some still do, but in the past we used to have that place filled.
The biggest disappointment for me this year is the Banquet and Member meeting. The banquet always had poor attendance and it was for various reasons that I won't go into. It was a place were you could get a little dressed up and have a more formal dinner than sitting on a curb eating.
The membership meeting is just as important as the event itself. This is where we know which direction the forum and the NCM is headed.
I hope that when the Motorsposrts Park is open that attendance will improve.
I hate hearing that the economy is playing a role. I haven't been paying attention, but how many people on this forum are not attending because they needed to sell their vettes to pay the bills?
I think the economy is more of a result of Chciken Little, eveyone thinks the sky is falling because some ******* on TV said it. Most people just started laying off for fear of losing money, found out they could do the same job with less people and make a bigger profit. Up here in NJ there is no shortage of money. I haven't had a break since 2003, business has been booming and I'm making more money than I ever have. My job makes it very difficult to plan vacations, but yet I manage to do it every year. This Cruise In will cost me less than $1000 for the entire trip. That'll pay for all the gas,food and lodging as well as some merchandise from the NCM store. That covers me and the wife.
Some people here spend more than a $1000 on their car for unnecessary item such as wheels. Skip the wheels this year drive one more year on those tires, come to Cruise In, have a good time and buy the wheels next year. Very simple.

The road tours may take away from you vendors, but the also bring people to the NCM for staging and that allows for more people to see and hopefully visit the vendors.

No parades for me, my clutch foot can't take it, we want high speed runs through the hills of KY.

I fill out the survey everytime