2004 COUNCIL OF COUNCILS MEETING
Comfort Inn
Tampa, Florida
7 February 2004
Brian Walker called the meeting to order and welcomed the reps.
A motion by Raoul to waive reading of the minutes of the 2003 meeting was carried.
Brian introduced the Council of Councils (CofC) Board. He also noted that the National Truck-in (NATS) Board representatives were also in attendance, scattered throughout the room.
Russ Stumpf, president of the Florida Van Council (FVC), the host council, welcomed the reps to Florida, introduced the Florida reps and thanked the volunteers from FVC who did all the work for this weekend.
Brian had the reps introduce themselves during roll call and asked that they give any updates to their council address to Kathy Willis at the break.
There were 32 councils in attendance at the meeting.
Two bids to host the CofC meeting in the Year 2005 were presented.
Wisconsin Van Council made a bid to host the 2005 meeting on February 11 - 13, 2005 at the Regency Suites in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Room rate = $85/night (up to 4 people per room). All rooms are suites. Rooms include complimentary full breakfast and free drinks from 5 - 7 PM. The hotel is attached to a shopping mall via a second story walkway. The hotel offers a free shuttle service to nearby Austin Straebel airport. The hotel shuttle will also ferry you around, provided they are free at the time. Rental cars are available at the hotel. There are currently no tours or seminars planned.
Van Council of Victoria had originally planned to make a bid to host the 2005 meeting in Australia. But, Wacko said, there was a meltdown with the hotel regarding increase of prices at the 11th hour, so they pulled the bid. They did note that, if you had already been saving for the trip, come on over to the Easter Nationals in Australia anyway. The reps thanked, with a round of applause, the Van Council of Victoria for their efforts in trying to host the 2005 meeting.
Since Wisconsin made the only bid, it was accepted by acclamation, and the 2005 CofC meeting will be held in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
31st National Truck-in
Donny Noone, of Hardcore, noted that the 31st NATS spent $50,000 but didn’t take in that much. He thanked all who attended and thanked DIVC and SOVC for their support. There were 470 vans in attendance, including Hardcore, the host. They didn’t have much, but donated, to a round of applause, $500 to Van Club Association of Michigan (VCAM), host of the 32nd NATS, coming up this summer.
Judith Pilon, speaking for the NATS Board noted that the question, "Motor homes should be allowed in the Nationals, if they are towing A VAN." was rejected by a 2 to 1 margin (49 "Yes", 85 "No", 6 "Maybe"). Those numbers were the results of 7.6% of the attendees responding. Bucko, of Wisconsin, complained that it was hard to find the survey. Judith noted that the survey was available at the pre-reg. booth and the "bitch" booth.
After some discussion that it would be better to get more than 7.6% response to the survey, and, the folks that drive motor homes weren’t at the NATS to vote, a motion was made and carried. Each council will get two votes on the topic of allowing motor homes in the National Truck-in if they are towing A VAN. The reps will take the matter back to their councils and the topic will be voted on at the next CofC meeting. The results of that vote will be presented to the NATS Board as an advisory opinion of the CofC reps.
There were no answers to the question, on Vannin.com, "How do we help vanning grow and survive?" Judith will put a box in the back of the room for vanners to put in their suggestions.
32nd National Truck-in
Hosted by Van Club Association of Michigan (VCAM). Boski, the chairperson, noted that the 32nd NATS will be held in Harrison, Michigan on July 7 - 11, 2004. There are 149 pre-reg. to date.
There was the usual discussion regarding electrical availability. Boski said that we'd work it out and share so that everyone will have some electric.
There will be a potluck on Wednesday. On Thursday, take the kids fishing, plus casino trip, scavenger hunt, mud wrestling and adult scavenger hunt. On Friday there’s a tequila race, Show n’ Shine, and more mud wrestling. There will be a Blues band one day, a Reggae band one day, a Rock n’ Roll band one day, and a Country band one day. You guess which band is on what day. They will have recycle bins.
Silver Streaker (Danny Knight), president of VCAM, thanked Hardcore for their $500 donation. He noted that VCAM is charging $35 pre-reg. for this NATS, but that price will likely have to go up in the future. They have got trophy sponsors, but would like more this weekend, as well as more pre-reg. They’re also putting on a raffle to help raise money for the event.
Geoff asked about facilities for those who arrive early. There are plenty of campgrounds nearby and one campground across the street.
Howard noted that this is an exciting time for vanning. The NATS Board wrote a set of by-laws for the Board, updated the "Show n’ Shine" material, and got two very good bids for the next NATS. Thirty years ago vanning was NEW. Now, it’s NEW again. Good vanning articles are appearing again. We have a chance to steer a better course than was done 30 years ago. We can get to the 25-year-olds and the magazines, but NOT if we sit on our behinds. We need to get articles to the magazines, and let everyone know we’re here. In other words, we need to become much more pro-active.
Vannin.com is putting together a DVD of vanning events, etc. to send to magazines. It was also suggested that we have a combined list of "snail-mail" and e-mail addresses for the magazine editors, especially the event calendar editor. And, the reps were reminded that national magazines set their galleys six months in advance for ads and calendar events. It won’t do any good to send them information 3 months ahead of your event; it has to be at least 6 months ahead.
Joe Madonia noted that tomorrow’s seminars would be held in conjunction with the van show in the front parking lot at 10 AM. There are 20 vans in the show and room for about 4 more.
Old Business:
Scheduled Topics
Promotion of Vanning. New England Van Council noted that one way to promote vanning is to subscribe to magazines as "Name of Your Van Club/Council" c/o "Your name and address." Otherwise, the magazine has no idea that you are a vanner.
What would happen if you flew to the NATS and couldn’t get a rental van when you got there? Geoff noted that, if you flew in and couldn’t rent a van, somebody would let you borrow a tent or something for the weekend. Linard noted that you should have pre-reg., so all you have to do is unload the car and park it outside. Peter Lee noted that they wanted $900 a week for van rental to UK folks, but Brian got the same van for $400 a week. Also, don’t forget to check with Ryder and U-Haul; they rent vans.
On the topic of what van councils charge for dues, there was a wide range, anywhere from FREE to $100. The average seemed to be about $20.
Progress of vannin.com. They are incorporated, have more workers, who get paid "nothing" and "next-to-nothing." There are about 200 folks on the site per week on a regular basis. They also bought the name "vanning.com" so it will be easier to find.
The goal is to have vannin.com/vanning.com be the place everyone looks to for information on vanning, NATS, CofC, events, etc. If the vanners will just send in articles on vanning, your event, etc. one of the staff members will "polish up" the article for you. Send inputs for the On-Line Calendar to staff@vannin.com.
The guys are selling Vannin.com calendars to help cover expenses for running the site. They also have hats, stickers, dash plaques, etc.
One vanner who got lost thanked Vannin.com. He had left all his CofC info for this meeting at home. So, when he got to Tampa, he just stopped by the nearest Kinko’s, got on line, went to Vannin.com, got the hotel info, and came to the meeting.
Topics from the Floor
Peter Lee noted that the new contact information for the UK is www.nsva.co.uk.
Dan Thomas is looking for information about deceased vanners so he will have more than just a name in the Vanner's Memorial book. You can send him the information at superpolempl@aol.com.
Vannin.com said they would like to instigate a Vanner’s Hall of Fame so the folks get recognized now, not when they die.
The lunch break was taken at this point in the meeting.
There was a complaint about the way the "Long Distance" trophy was awarded at the last NATS. The winner just told the host how many miles he drove to get to the NATS. It turned out he had taken a route that took him several hours of extra driving. DIVC noted that there is software available that can figure out the mileage between two ZIP codes. Ohio had used a map and a piece of string to get the longest "straight line" distance. Linard suggested that the award might be presented only to those who pre-registered. Others said that wasn’t fair.
Open Discussion
Steve (DIVC) said they got involved with a promoter in St. Louis and put vans in the shows. It worked well and they will have a van class next time. The idea is to get the vans out and show them. Show them wherever you can; rod shows, car shows, motor sports tours, etc. The Power Tour (sponsored by Hot Rod magazine) starts in Texas and ends in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Cruisin’ Easy Van Club (SE Virginia Van Council) noted that we have heard complaints about letting trucks into the NATS, but it’s OK at local events. Vans can’t pull a heavy trailer over the mountains. Why is it OK to let a vanner park his car outside, and bring a tent inside to be at the NATS, but not let another vanner pull a 28’ trailer with a pickup into the NATS to camp with their club. Joe Madonia re-iterated that it is the VAN that must come into the campsite. It’s a very different situation if the van unexpectedly broke down on the way, and all the vanner had was a car and a tent.
Geoff said he just had a bad case of "Vous ja de." Don’t mix up a van breakdown with bringing in a 28’ trailer towed by a pickup. As for the case of this causing the death of vanning, he noted that Vanning would NOT be killed by having to bring a van to ONE event per year (the NATS).
It was noted that Wisconsin has formed American Van Enthusiasts (AVE) to keep a young man’s vision of vanning alive. Their first event will be in Jefferson in August, designed, primarily, to introduce outside folks to what vanning is all about.
Vannin.com will host a Vannin.com auction on Friday at the 32nd NATS. Bring in your old collectibles and van parts. All profits will go to charity.
Joe Madonia noted that he didn’t think less of his non-vanning friends than he did of us. He noted that he met all of us, and most of his friends, via the VANs. He works at car shows for a living, and those folks can party with the best of us. The point is that we get noticed by other people (Hot Rod magazine, Truck-In magazine, Cruisin’ Style, etc.) not by what we do, or how good we are, but by the VAN. Our sport has leveled off. We’re not going to increase our sport and get noticed unless we do it with the van. We want to keep one event per year pure, and that event is the NATS.
One rep noted that vanning is GROWING in Michigan.
Judith Pilon had two comments regarding the NATS:
1. She noted that Lynn Harmonson has stepped down from
the NATS Board, and Ma, his alternate, will take his place. That leaves
one alternate position open on the Board. Judith announced that anyone
interested in getting on the NATS Board should send their resumè
to the Board by May 1. The Board will select one member from the applications
sent in. The resumès will be kept on file, in the event future vacancies
occur on the Board. She also noted that you don’t have to be an American
to be on the Board.
2. There were two bids for next year’s NATS; one from Virginia, and one from Pennsylvania. Next year’s NATS will be in Pennsylvania, but Virginia will be re-submitting its bid next year.
Peter Lee noted that, if Brian Walker doesn’t remember to bring the gavel to next years CofC meeting, he has to buy the first round of drinks on Saturday night.
On the topic of seminars at the CofC meeting, Geoff noted that there were only 9 folks in attendance at one seminar on Friday and 5 at the other. The group response was that they wanted seminars but the timing may not have been ideal for good attendance.
Sonya said we need to have them on another day, since lots of folks arrive on Friday during the day. Another suggestion was to offer the same seminar more than once during the weekend. A number of vanners complained that half an hour was too short to get the information in. Perhaps the seminars should be at least 45-minutes long. One vanner suggested that the seminars be put on VCR and/or DVD, to be viewed later.
It was also noted that the seminars were not advertised well enough. There should have been a big sign in the lobby with all the seminar information on it. The vanners were advised to take some of the suggestions for seminars back to their truck-ins and events. It might be a good idea.
Desperado noted, that we might just be biting off more than we can chew in one day, what with the NATS Board meetings, the CofC meeting all day Saturday, and seminars. Maybe it’s time to consider having a longer CofC meeting weekend, with business conducted on Friday and Saturday. That way we could get all the good stuff in.
Judith (FVC) presented each council attending this years meeting a souvenir Paper Towel Holder. Each CofC Board member got a paper towel holder. Judith thanked Cathy Smith and John Cunningham for putting on the Friday seminars.
Bev, of the UK, was presented Long Haul International trophy. Bubba, of Washington State, got the Long Haul U.S. trophy.
This ended the "reps only" portion of the meeting.
OPEN DISCUSSION:
Judith handed the "pass along" plaque to Wisconsin. Wisconsin noted that the vanners should wait a week or two before making reservations for the 2005 CofC meeting. They also noted that the Regency Suites are around an atrium. The party room is a separate room from the hotel. They also noted that the hotel has no problems if we walk all around the hotel with our liquor. The hotel will not guarantee adjacent rooms for a club. There are 224 rooms in the hotel. We are guaranteed to have 100 rooms. As a matter of interest, there were 80 rooms booked in St. Louis at the 2003 CofC meeting and 130 rooms booked here in Tampa at the 2004 CofC meeting.
A motion was made to adjourn and the meeting was concluded.
ATTENDEES AT THE 2004 COUNCIL OF COUNCILS MEETING:
| A.L.I.V.E.
All In One Alliance Colorado Van Council Corn Belt Van Council Downstate Illinois Van Council Florida Van Council Greater New York Van Council Heart of America Van Council Hoosier Van Congress Maritime Van Council Maryland Van Council Midwest Van Council M.O.V.E. Missouri Van Council National Street Van Association - UK New England Van Council |
New Jersey Van Council
New York Van Council Northeast Ohio Van Congress Northern California Van Council Northwest Van Council Ontario Federation Of Vanners Pennsylvania Van Council Quebec Van Council Southeastern Virginia Van Council Southern Ohio Van Council Texas Van Federation Van Association of New Zealand Van Club Association of Michigan Van Council of Victoria – Australia West Lake Erie Van Council Wisconsin Van Council |