2011 National in Austin Texas Special Announcement!!

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Member Gallery

[Coupe 112]

We are pleased to announce that the 2011 Solstice & Sky National Meet will be held in Austin Texas. Mark your calendar for the third week of June 2011 and be watching for the release of the Official Website.

The roads in the Texas Hill Country are off the charts and you will be amazed at the Twisted Sisters. We want to offer group runs as well as self-guided runs, and each run will include some sort of lunch stop. We are going to offer a Zip Line Run and also a Tubing Run down the Guadalupe River along with a Segway Tour to visit the Famous Congress Avenue Bridge to watch a colony of over 1.5 million bats take flight near downtown Austin - they look like a cloud forming over the bridge! - as well as other activities. Each night there will be a number of group dinners at various restaurants with a final dinner at the hotel on Saturday night.

We have been working in the background on this since the first of June and it is finally starting to come together. We have a number of forum members from the Texas area as well as in other states working on this along with an advisory group with valuable knowledge of large events.

This thread will be used for any comments and suggestions on what you want. We will also be posting our planning runs for mapping if you would like to join us. We want the planning of this National to be as open as possible.

We will be posting an Official National thread as soon as we open Registration.

Let the suggestions start.....

[Solsticeman]

 

My suggestion: I get OFF MY and get to this one!

 

Thanks for setting the dates so early so I can get saving and planning!

[DRUID]

Wishing you great success Bruce

and as always the NEO's    are ready to help when requested

[SolNut]

#6

  WooHoo 

We will be there!! 

Steve
 

[RandyRay]

Great news, I just signed up on this forum today to find some information on this very thing.  I am overseas right now but will be back the first week in Jan.  If there is anything I can do to help when I get back let me know as I am not so far from the area (San Antonio near Sea World)   Again Great news

[Coupe 112]

Folks on the Big Board have been kicking around the idea of mid-week National.  Seeking input from this group about such an idea.


 Originally Posted by JRinKY:
1) This may be worthy of consideration for a future event, but throwing this kind of variable into the mix for Austin 2011 doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
2) This would certainly add the option of two additional travel days, and would move events away from the weekend rush.
3) Having the main activities in mid-week would require vacation to be taken by just about everyone, and would likely keep a lot of people who do not need the extra days from attending. Look at Canton, where many people didn't arrive until Friday evening, and the Saturday events seemed to be by far the most in demand.


Reply by SlyGuy:
JRinKY.. I appreciate you attempting to take the monkey off the back of the Austin 2011 planners to incorporate this idea. Clearly they have a lot on their plates but I think they are early enough in the process to consider ideas like this.

Frankly, points #2 and #3 add a strong argument to this approach. I still think that the event organizers should only be responsible for 3 contiguous days of a National Event, but if that is say "Monday through Wednesday", that still fits the general concept.

The negative on this is the local folks as you also pointed out. For those who lived in Ohio and/or in close proximity, they didn't have to take time off from werk. They may have simply showed on the weekend (perhaps Druid could do an analysis of those who showed up in Canton Saturday to see if that was the case). If it is, then Texas presents a special challenge due to the sheer size of the state (my birth place) and the number of active Kappa folks (far larger than NEO.. probably the largest). It would be nice to see if the Texas folks would still come if the date was shifted to mid-week. I think we need their input on this front.

[JBD]

Bruce - it would be easier to comment with more context of what "mid week" is actually considered to be.
Initially my reaction would be that people are not considering the enormous traffic issues in Austin during the week. 
I will hold any comment till I better understand the context however

[Coupe 112]

"Bruce - it would be easier to comment with more context of what "mid week" is actually considered to be.
Initially my reaction would be that people are not considering the enormous traffic issues in Austin during the week.
I will hold any comment till I better understand the context however"

The event would be the week of the Summer solstice, and Mon-Thur has been kicked about.  Traffic would be worse in town and better in the boonies during the week, but already I see momentum shifting back towards the traditional Thu-Sun time frame.  The event date is not set in stone yet, so I wanted to let any "out-of-the-box" ideas be considered and discussed in these threads.

[1KULSOL]

"Bruce - it would be easier to comment with more context of what "mid week" is actually considered to be.
Initially my reaction would be that people are not considering the enormous traffic issues in Austin during the week.
I will hold any comment till I better understand the context however"

The event would be the week of the Summer solstice, and Mon-Thur has been kicked about.  Traffic would be worse in town and better in the boonies during the week, but already I see momentum shifting back towards the traditional Thu-Sun time frame.  The event date is not set in stone yet, so I wanted to let any "out-of-the-box" ideas be considered and discussed in these threads.

my 2 cents ... keep to the traditional Thu-Sun time frame ... possibly throw in an activity or 2 on Wednesday for people that can afford the time off  ... but the main thrust should be for the traditional time frame ...

[O.G. the Chemist]

my 2 cents ... keep to the traditional Thu-Sun time frame ... possibly throw in an activity or 2 on Wednesday for people that can afford the time off  ... but the main thrust should be for the traditional time frame ...

  I concur.

[SolNut]

 

Steve
 

[stuck]

Thursday through Sunday has worked just fine since Kansas City. Folks from out of state don't need to worry their little heads about whether we'll show before the weekend. In fact, the only people I know of who are dumber than a Texan about driving for days just so they can drive some more are the WISSOLS' Shes Who Will Not Be Named. For the folks that will be inevitably concerned about driving for 2 days to get here, I believe a hearty "HAZZAH" and "Welcome to our world" is in order. Coupe, you've set the days...Drive on.

[KosmoKappa]

If everything's bigger in  . . .  then 4 days are not enough 

[JR Dallas]

Thursday through Sunday has worked just fine since Kansas City. Folks from out of state don't need to worry their little heads about whether we'll show before the weekend. In fact, the only people I know of who are dumber than a Texan about driving for days just so they can drive some more are the WISSOLS' Shes Who Will Not Be Named. For the folks that will be inevitably concerned about driving for 2 days to get here, I believe a hearty "HAZZAH" and "Welcome to our world" is in order. Coupe, you've set the days...Drive on.

Yep, we resemble that remark.  I also agree with the Thursday-Sunday for "formal" schedule.  We always found our own additional itinerary to add front end and/or back end fun stuff to all our Nationals trips.  I'd just toss out a list of fun things and let everyone figure it out on their own!  Sounds like a fun week!  We'll be there early and often! 

[Baconbits]

Thursday -Sat...sounds good I35 here I come...