Robert, not sure if you are just arguing to satisfy yourself or not, but we have ran MANY events with our club. Including two ZCONs (2002 and 2009). He is right, you do not want to order trophies ahead of time and waste money. Especially when you don't know if you are getting paid by Nissan and left in limbo till the day of the convention.

When you actually run a event like this, you will understand what it takes to run one and understand the logistics. Till then, you might just want to end it at that.

Just to clarify I don't know how 2010 did it am just pointing to how we decided to do it. That doesn't make it the best way, it's just how it best fit our needs and budget while assuring a trophy at closing for those who pre-registered.

100% agree on the 74 days and counting been completely out of line.

Actually, I do understand what it takes although I don't understand why would you just assume I don't. I have run events both larger and smaller than ZCON; they had nothing to do with automobiles but the mechanics of running a large convention don't change that much regardless of what the conventioneers are convening about.

The concept of not ordering the trophies ahead of time as some sort of money saver seems silly to me nor has that ever been my experience. I've been in many, many dozens of car shows over the past 30+ years and I've never once gone to a single one where the trophies for the categories were purposely not ordered ahead of time (nor would I bother to go to such a show if I knew that was the plan). Trophies are ordered ahead of time so that they can be presented at the event which is what winners expect (not to mention saving the headache, time and expense of mailing out afterword).

That said, I don't understand why are you concentrating on that issue anyway since that is NOT the issue with trophies at ZCON 2010. ZCCA has never suggested that any trophies were purposely not ordered ahead of time - this was a colossal screw-up; it's just that simple but even that isn't the main point any longer.

The real point now is why, 72 days post event, hasn't everyone who won a trophy gotten their trophy yet?

Not getting them at the "Closing Banquet and Awards Ceremony" (which at this point is an oxymoron) as promised and as most anyone would expect is troubling and should not have happened but what is far more troubling is the apparent and continuing lack of responsibility and response in addressing the problem.

Well then Robert, you run the event then if you think you can do it better than anyone else that is experienced in running these events for years including the ZCCA. Oh that's right, you had that opportunity, but you couldn't do it. LOL


And you are right, I do agree 72 days is way too long for those to receive their trophies and their DVD's. I still haven't gotten mine.

I will end it here.

So you "end it here" after making snide remarks about me MTZC? That's not very nice of you.

I never said said I could "do it better than anyone else" or anything of the sort nor did I try to give that impression.

I've never said putting on an event like ZCON was easy nor do I think it is easy - I know that a large convention of any kind entails a tremendous amount of work and I HAVE said many, many times (including within this thread) that it was a great event overall.

However, that doesn't mean that I should turn a blind eye to what went wrong and in fact it would be a disservice to the Z community to do so. It would be an even greater disservice to overlook the continuing lack of response to the remaining issue (primarily; getting the trophies out to those who should have received them the night of the banquet) from ZCCA.

That we are so far past the event and still have the trophy issue outstanding is a continuing black eye on ZCCA.

Every Zcon has had and will have challenges, and volunteers who do the best for the Z community with what they have. I witnessed the work and the issues that were a part of 2010, and I don't know anyone who could have done a better job of trying to avoid issues, and reacting to them when they occurred than Chris, Chris, Todd, Bob, and their team did.

Robert is right it is about the people. Without people passionate enough to act on their own and volunteer to enable the enjoyment of others, there would be no Conventions.

I know how difficult turning down a opportunity to have hundreds of Z friends come visit you had to have been.
I also know difficult it is to host a convention-having volunteered at three of the last four. That said, I have to admit I could not have pulled off what Chris Karl, Chris Wenzell, Todd Wagoner, and Bob Bosse did-they are from Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Texas. Hosting a convention within a couple of miles of home is challenging enough, but these four guys took on a long distance convention in the midst of their already in place daily lives, and added hundreds and hundreds of miles between each other (and the venue) and through their efforts made it the largest convention by far!

I was the second person registered on line for 2010(see my avitar), I had indicated on registration I wanted to volunteer, and when I saw the registration challenge my Z friends were facing, I asked if I could help more, immediately, and how. After getting a "yes" I got my wife and monsters situated in the hotel room and told them I would see them when the day was over. That was about 3pm, I registered sometime after 2am the next morning, after we got everyone in line taken care of-and let me say Chris, Todd, and Bob were right there the whole time-well before I stopped in-and well past when I left. They did everything in their power to take care of the issues with registration right then and there, and didn't leave until everyone was taken care of and a plan was in place for the next day There was only one feeling in the room and it was the commitment to focus on the task at hand and get Everyone registered as quickly and efficiently as possible-given the circumstances of that day that is exactly what they did.
The unintentional situation surrounding the trophy issue a good lesson as well.

While there were issues with Zcon 2010, they have been thoroughly detailed, have a resolution in progress, and all involved have apologized for and learned from them.


William Stokes
Convention Chairman, ZCON 2011
President, Coastal Z Club of Savannah, Ga.
Proud Supporter of the Datsun Heritage Museum
Z enthusiast since 1971 owner since 1982

I don't really disagree with your post above - the ZCCA folks did work hard and I don't think anyone could dispute that.

With regards to the registration issue; there would have been very little that could have been done to mitigate the problem once the convention began. It was one of those things that really had to have to have been addressed before the convention started.

What could have helped a great deal (and what I think most people who preregister expect) would have been a registration line only for those who had preregistered. For those folks, all their "stuff" should have been ready and prepackaged so that all they needed to do was walk up, show some ID and have their goody-bag handed to them. For me at least, avoiding long registration lines is one of the primary benefits of preregistering.

Of course, as you know, that wasn't what happened - what did happen was that all the preregistered folks were mixed in with the boatload of folks who didn't preregister and had to do everything at the registration desk - given the numbers of attendees in general coupled with the large number of walk-ups; it was an unstoppable tsunami once the convention began.

I wish you and your team a lot of success with the 2011 convention - Savannah is a beautiful city!

See next post!

If you want more information about this continuing mess, I suggest you visit this thread: http://www.the370z.com/zcon-2010/233...tml#post782236

I think it will be worth your while to read it!