Region 11 Cancels Annual Rally

[Alumaholic]

Region 11, the region that could find no compelling reason to charter a new unit based on an extended membership pool across state lines, more interesting activities at beautiful camping destinations, and internet based communications, has just announced that its annual rally has been cancelled due to lack of interest.

Hmmmm.

Oh, the irony.

[Condoluminum]

Ken-

Thanks for sharing. It was a good chuckle, though somewhat sad as well...

I hope some good can come from all this churning, and look forward someday to the Four Corners Unit newsletter via e-mail...

Presiding over a fundamental change in an organization is not easy, and sometimes the entrenched must yield painfully rather than peacefully, or the transition is just rough. ( I may be influenced by the current PBS specials on British Royalty and Marie Antoinette...)

Look at the bright side - since all but a handful of the current execs at WBCCI own Motorhomes, and Airstream doesn't make those any more, sooner or later there will have to be a new style of leadership at the top...

John McG

[Fyrzowt]

Very interesting.

Maybe after all is said and done, this will have been the event in a string of decisions that was the impetus for change. Many are the decisions I've made over the years that I've regreted, or wished I could do over. I hope for you and others that are directly involved, that the current leadership will view their recent decision in that way.

[47WeeWind]

Originally Posted by klevan

Region 11, the region that could find no compelling reason to charter a new unit based on an extended membership pool across state lines, more interesting activities at beautiful camping destinations, and internet based communications, has just announced that its annual rally has been cancelled due to lack of interest. Hmmmm. Oh, the irony.

Ken:

I feel a teachable moment coming on and don't have the will power to surpress its Old Faithful strength. So, before you get all ironic over this announced cancellation, please stop and:

1. Think about implications and side effects and what they might actually be communicating in the cancellation announcement. And before your head becomes buried in your hands in a reactive jerk of overwhelming disappointment and tears, causing your keyboard letter and numeral ink to dissolve, please consider carefully the ideas inherent inside cancellation and what there might just be worthwhile there to try to understand and contemplate.

2. Is cancellation what WBCCI is really all about? ...or at risk of becoming? Are these the kinds of things that attract new members? improve retention? avoid dissatisfaction with the organization? Are these the kind of things that would have kept those 20 people who sought to form the Four Corners Unit active in their existing units? Or are they more attracted to different types of cancellations? And if so, how frequently must such hunger be fed?

3. How can Region 11 members remain active in the face of cancelled regional events? Or is Region 11 actually frontiering the concept of virtural Region Rallys in a sly effort to reach out to the disinterested underneath the National radar? What values and policy implications are involved in shifting Regional Rallys from actual to virtural by first visiting nonexistant?

4. What each of us has to do is to decide what is rally important. Why do we band together? Why do we join WBCCI? What are we looking for? How do we find it? What makes us proud? What makes us feel like a part of something great? And finally, how does event cancellaton satisfy the human wants and needs subsisting within each of these questions?

5. We all have our work cut out for us. A first task is not to be immediately suspicious of others who don't think the way we do, cancellation or not. One of the great things about WBCCI is being able to learn from others cancellations. Maybe they are just visiting sympathic actions upon themselves in a spirit of unity and wholeness after disapproving the proposed Four Corners Unit provisional charter. Maybe they are transitioning Regional events to a provisional status. Then again, maybe they are not. What do you think? Listen to your heart but don't speak its beat.

6. Keep in mind Wally's four freedoms and the WBCCI Constitution article III list of its mission and purpose. Listen, contemplate, learn, and find out what others think and why. Allow your ideas and opinions to be seasoned. They will be stronger for it, if not sooner cancelled.

7. Don't delete or ignore this important message. Instead, if you need to mitigate its profound effects, chant "OOOHHHHMMM" and focus on a null set.

WHEW!! Glad I got that out of my system.

[dscluchfc]

Why am I not surprised?

[myboyburt]

We are still in (and are now wicked active) the WBCCI because we took a chance and attended the 2004 Region One Rally. We had been in the WBCCI for 1 year, had not attended any club events but were active on the forums where we heard mostly negative remarks about the club. I said to my husband, "well, I hear it s**ks but I'd like to go to the region rally just to see what the club is like and to see a group of Airstreams together."

Well, it was great! The Charter Oaks Unit put on a fantastic event! And even though it wasn't "their" Region 1 Rally the folks from the NEU were so very welcoming; making sure we were having fun, making sure we understood the ropes, i.e. bring your own plates for dinner (this still cracks me up). Letting us know about future club events....

The R1R this year was hosted by the NEU, folks on the forum know how successful it was. Highest attendance for a Region 1 rally in many moons. WBCCI International Vice President saying it was the best region rally he had attended in 30 years. More than 6 new member rigs signed up in the NEU, unknown to me how many folks joined other New England Units because they had "Fun at Region One" and wanted to be part of our adventure.

"If you build it, they will come". If we can transform our club (and we are really, really working on it) new members will come!

[Goin camping]

This is many things. Ironic and telling but mostly sad. For people to want to be in the WBCCI it has to have an attraction. If Region 11's participation has dropped to this level new ideas must surely be looked at as their attraction has diminished dramatically. Other Regions are thriving so the problem must be in the Region as opposed to the Club as a whole.

I truly hope that the leaders either reevaluate their policies and practices or take a much earned rest and allow some fresh thinking to perculate up.

[overlander63]

I wonder if something has to be destroyed before it can be renewed...

[myboyburt]

Originally Posted by overlander63

I wonder if something has to be destroyed before it can be renewed...

Oh, like the phoenix:

The Myth

The phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection and life after death. In ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology, it is associated with the sun god.

According to the Greeks, the bird lives in Arabia, near a cool well. Every morning at dawn, the sun god would stop his chariot to listen to the bird sing a beautiful song while it bathed in the well.

Only one phoenix exists at a time. When the bird felt its death was near, every 500 to 1,461 years, it would build a nest of aromatic wood and set it on fire. The bird then was consumed by the flames.
A new phoenix sprang forth from the pyre. It embalmed the ashes of its predecessor in an egg of myrrh and flew with it to Heliopolis, "city of the sun," where the egg was deposited on the altar of the sun god.

[Fyrzowt]

Originally Posted by overlander63

I wonder if something has to be destroyed before it can be renewed...

With a hammer in the right hands, you can turn a lump of brass into a fine tool or a work of art. But it does take some bangin'.

[InsideOut]

Okay, so at the risk of going out on a limb here...if you are a Region 11 member, why didn't you plan on attending the Region 11 Rally?

I'll go first.

For us, it was planned in Anthony Texas, over 700 miles away! If you look at Region 11 geographically and take into account there are only a handful (if any?) members in Mexico, it really was a poor choice of location, in my opinion. For 90% of the Region to drive 2+ days to just get there during "the school year" is not feasible, especially for the younger family oriented or still working vintage owners that make up a large part of Region 11.

That coupled with the fact it was scheduled as a Monday thru Friday event (October 16th - 20th) it made it impossible to just drop in for a few days without making it into a major 10 day trip using 5 days of precious vacation time.

FWIW, I have attended Region 11 Rally's previously when they are more centrally located ~

Anybody else?

Shari

[Coloradobus]

I agree with Shari! If the rally was a days drive, and straddled a weekend, then we could manage a friday and monday off. That way, altho short, we could have 2 whole days to relax and rally. Per MapQuest, Anthony Tx is 700 miles away from Denver. At a minumum, its 10 hours driving straight thru, at 65 mph on those Goodyear Marathon Trailer Tires. We need to stop to stretch, "rest" the doggies, fuel, etc. Its just toooo far!

[flyfshr]

Me too and we live in Phoenix. I just don't see what the attraction is in Anthony, Texas. Sure, it's the western most part of Texas and on the Rio Grande but I like to take in the historical sites, wonderful eateries, famous museums, etc. I just don't see us taking a week of vacation time to go to a place only heard of in reference to this particular rally.

Brad
FF

[47WeeWind]

The canceled Region 11 Rally in Anthony, TX. was to be held at Amercian RV and Marine, a large RV dealership and RV Park that also sells Airstreams. A full service Camping World is right on the property, so this must be a camping rally, right? I have never been there but I imagine it is a beautiful full service facility located on the banks of the Rio Grande River. However, this year's Mid-Winter IBT Meeting was convened at the exact same facility on January 9-13, 2006, so many potential Region 11 Rally attendees had just been there 10 months earlier and probably had no compelling reason to return so quickly. Repeating the same rally venue in such a short time probably took a lot of the wind out of the sails for this Regional Rally.

For others, like me still working in Denver, it was a long 700 mile drive each way for an event that took up an entire M-F work week. If I wanted to spend quality time in a RV dealership facility that had Camping World next door, I could simply drive 15 miles across town to those two adjacent businesses and park there for a few days until that got old. Why travel 1,400 miles to do that?

As a side note, the New Mexico Unit new officer installation meeting was scheduled to be held during this Region 11 Rally in Anthony, TX; see the September 2006 Blue Beret at page 48. The presumptively mid-week date and non-local location for unit officer installation would make it inconvenient for younger, still working unit members to attend or maybe hold officer positions in the NM unit. This might be another small reason why some younger, still working WBCCI members are seeking to charter a new unit in Region 11 with a internet based business/communications model and different types of rally venues.

[richg]

Maybe this will be a wake up call for International bigwhigs who insist on having their rally during the hottest time of year plus all the gala of opening and closing and boring dress affairs. I am fed up with the whole origanization after the Name Change fiasco. They wasted my time as President putting out voting ballots instructing delegates and being back at square one. Too bad we could not just go to a camping rally and have it laid back and fun and short 3-4 days and centrally located. I really do not know if I will be part of WBCCI next year or not!!!

[streamer23]

Originally Posted by richg

Maybe this will be a wake up call for International bigwhigs who insist on having their rally during the hottest time of year plus all the gala of opening and closing and boring dress affairs. I am fed up with the whole origanization after the Name Change fiasco. They wasted my time as President putting out voting ballots instructing delegates and being back at square one. Too bad we could not just go to a camping rally and have it laid back and fun and short 3-4 days and centrally located. I really do not know if I will be part of WBCCI next year or not!!!

Only you can make that decision.There are many of us within the organization that are working very hard to promote positive change.It's not an easy task to say the least but I truely believe the winds of change are blowing and starting to pick up strength. Time will tell.I will continue to plug away one small step at a time.Good luck and happy camping whatever you decide.

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by richg

Too bad we could not just go to a camping rally and have it laid back and fun and short 3-4 days and centrally located.

You can, it's called a forum rally.

I am amazed at this situation. I think holding the region rally in a far-from-central location, during the week, during the school year, AT an RV dealership, just shows how much the WB is unaware or doesn't care about all the working families in their region. That's practically a slap in the face - "Oh, you folks wanted to come too?"

Hopefully the poor turnout and cancellation will get some of those people thinking a little harder about who their membership is and trying to be more inclusive.

[Alumaholic]

Originally Posted by 47WeeWind

The canceled Region 11 Rally in Anthony, TX. was to be held at Amercian RV and Marine, a large RV dealership and RV Park that also sells Airstreams. A full service Camping World is right on the property, so this must be a camping rally, right?
As a side note, the New Mexico Unit new officer installation meeting was scheduled to be held during this Region 11 Rally in Anthony, TX; see the September 2006 Blue Beret at page 48. The presumptively mid-week date and non-local location for unit officer installation would make it inconvenient for younger, still working unit members to attend or maybe hold officer positions in the NM unit. This might be another small reason why some younger, still working WBCCI members are seeking to charter a new unit in Region 11 with a internet based business/communications model and different types of rally venues.

Region 11 comprises Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and that little chunk of Texas that Texans won't claim. We like to say it also includes Mexico, but we have no members there.

It seems to me, a region rally should be geographically central to the membership population it serves, and it should accomodate the schedules of those who work by opening on a Friday and having major events on Saturday and Sunday. That means the Region 11 rally should be somewhere in the Four Corners area. Hmmmm.

The region rally should also be held in a place of scenic beauty, geographical interest, or recreational opportunity. Anthony is none of those things, as the folks who attended last year's IBT undoubtedly discovered. Being a native New Mexican, and having lived in El Paso, the only reason I would go to Anthony is if I ran out of diesel half way between Las Cruces and El Paso.

As for the NM Unit installation of officers, they did the the same thing to me last year before I resigned. The Unit President and his Treasurer insisted on having the installation at the Region 11 rally in a fairgrounds near Casa Grande, AZ. Wanting to attend our own installation, the Second VP and I (the 1st VP) wanted to have it somewhere in south central NM. We were installed in absentia with role players taking our places.

[azflycaster]

Here is an interesting quote from Region 11's newsletter dated 11/05. This rally was held in a fairground in Casa Grande, AZ.

The Region XI Rally “Best of the West”, 18-23 October was a success even though only Sixty Seven Airstream RV’s and 130 members were in attendance. Was this due to fuel prices, weather or??? Probably fuel prices, we have not had enough time to adjust.

The newsletter can be found here:
http://www.cessna150.net/wbccireg11/...Newsletter.htm

[Goin camping]

The region 11 newsletter did cite cost as a factor.