2006 COUNCIL OF COUNCILS MEETING Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites Anaheim, California 11 February 2006 Geoff Koome called the meeting to order, welcomed the reps and thanked Left Coast Vanners for hosting this event. A motion by Lynn Harmonson to waive reading of the minutes of the 2005 meeting was carried. Geoff introduced the Council of Councils (CofC) Board. He also noted that Brian could not make this years meeting as his father is in Hospice Care and is not doing well. Left Coast Vanners (LCV), the host council, welcomed the reps to Anaheim. Geoff 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. The NATS Board introduced themselves, also. There were 29 councils in attendance at the meeting. One bid to host the CofC meeting in the Year 2007 was presented. Vanners Without Borders (V.O.I.C.E.S. and Ontario Federation of Vanners) made a bid to host the 2007 meeting on February 7 - 11, 2007 at the Holiday Inn Grand Island, 100 Whitehaven Road, Grand Island, New York 14072. The hotel is located an equal distance from Niagara Falls and Buffalo. Hotel is 15 minutes from the Falls. Bring overcoat and umbrella. The hotel has 263 rooms and a hotel shuttle from Buffalo. Phone 1-877-472-6310/fax 716-773-1229 Group Code is: VAN Group Name is Voices/OFV. Rates are Two Double Beds Non-Smoking One King Bed Exe Lvl NS Rate USD 89.00 up to 5 people per room. Cot 10.00 extra per night. Since this was the only bid, the bid was accepted by acclamation. There will be two hospitality suites, one American, one Canadian. It was noted that the hotel is in the U.S., and, according to U.S. Customs, starting in January 2007; you will need a passport to cross over the border and back. You can walk across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada from the Seneca Nation Casino. Two groups indicated that they would make a bid at the next meeting for the 2008 CofC meeting: Joe Madonia said Aloha Vanners planned to make a bid to host the 2008 meeting in Waikiki at the Pacific Beach Hotel. Each one of the 500 rooms has a balcony. Rates would be $150/night for 2 persons per room. $35 extra per person. Come early and stay late. Kids under 19 free. Polynesian Pajama Party Friday night. Saturday night traditional Hawaiian Luau. $50 per person for dinner and the show. Thursday or Friday trip to Pearl Harbor is only $10. Typical airfare from NY City to Honolulu is $437. From San Jose to Kona is $500. Peter Lee said the NSVA planned to make a bid to host the 2008 meeting in England. They are looking at hotels in Milton Keynes, Brighton, Hastings and the Home Counties. Flights are currently $462. They are looking at trips to Warwick Castle, London Boat Trip, Hastings Castle, Ford Transit Plant, Stratford on Avon, and Gaydon Motor Museum. And, of course, the famous English Pub Crawl. They are planning for a 7 to 8 day event. Peter indicated that this would be the last CofC bid proposal he would spearhead. Other vanning interests have come up that will consume his time. 33rd National Truck-in There were 647 vans at last years NATS. They made a little money and gave $500 (to a round of applause) to support the 34th NATS 34th National Truck-in Update on this years NATS Everything is go. They won't have a carnival. There will be pole barns and port-a-potties for rent. You can pre-reg and pay through PayPal. Joe said to take the information back to the clubs. Please encourage members to pre-reg. They are 50 pre-reg behind what the 33rd NATS was last year at this time. Bucko gave $75 to sponsor NATS trophy. Judith, representing the NATS Board, said there were 3 sites for the 2007 NATS. They are still checking out one site. A decision will be made in the next 30 days. It will be posted on Vannin.com. She noted that the NATS Board website is: http://www.NATSBoard.webhop.org. Old Business: Joe Madonia noted that he built a trophy to honor the "Best Bright n' Shine" of all the NATS. He is still missing some info. Please get in touch with him if you have some info on the older NATS. Hot Rod Power Tour. This year's tour is starting in Kissimmee, Florida and ending in New Jersey. Participation in this run is a good way to get magazine publicity for our sport. Current schedule is: June 3 Leave Kissimmee, Florida at 9 AM June 4 Gainesville, FL June 5 Perry, Georgia June 6 Columbia, South Carolina June 7 Roanoke, Virginia June 8 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania June 9 Englishtown, New Jersey June 10 Englishtown, New Jersey (Ceremony and Awards only) You can sign up for the whole tour ($65) or one leg at a time ($22 per leg). New Business: Scheduled Topics, from Registration: Vanners Memorial: Tom Chronister asked that you please send in more than just a photo. We'd like to have the vanner's name, club, council, handle, something about his van, and contact information for the person sending the information in. Joe read aloud a letter addressed to the NATS Board that said that there should have been a moment of silence for our fallen brothers. He said that the opening ceremonies of the NATS are not the appropriate time for such a moment of silence. The moment of silence should be done just before the awards ceremonies. This suggestion will be made to all future NATS hosts. West Coast Nationals (why not): The question was raised, "Why can't the East Coast and Heartland come to the West Coast, since we come to the East Coast?" South Dakota put in a bid and the NATS Board rejected it. Judith said the bid needed more work. It was not rejected because of geographic location. It was rejected because the budget was based on 400 vans, which the NATS Board thought was unrealistic for South Dakota. The budget should have been based on 300 vans for South Dakota. There is no minimum amount of vans required to host a NATS, but one has to be realistic about how many vans will show up, based on the location. She said we don't know why the vanners won't go West of the Mississippi any more than you do, but they don't, and we have to be realistic about that Raul said they have the West Coast Van NATS every year. They have events out West all year. Desperado said that the folks in this room are the core of vanning. We need to convince those folks who aren't in this room to get out and support the NATS and all the other events. Seminar on how to approach a prospective campground or fairgrounds: Judith said it was a good idea. Geoff asked if there was anyone who would put on such a seminar. The silence was deafening. Gomer said that topics on how to do paint, tires, etc. would make excellent seminar material and help folks get excited about vans. The seminars could help with stuff like how to get the right tires to go with certain rims to get the best handling. It was noted that you could go to Vannin.com and there is a section where you can ask those type questions and get an answer. Seminars are only good for those who come to the CofC meeting. Younger vanners are at home. Gomer noted that, if we get good seminars at the CofC meetings, then the younger vanners just might have an incentive to attend. Chooie said we need to get this information back to the councils. Kathy said we need volunteers to run these seminars, the host council is way too busy hosting the meeting to do seminars also. All they can do is provide the place to hold the seminar(s). Geoff suggested that we may have to have a "brain storming" session on this topic. Bottom line is Gomer will coordinate. That's mvlgomer@vannin.com Trophy Plates from 32nd NATS: Joe Madonia said to give him specific info about missing trophy plates and he will be sure to get the info to Danny to get the matter taken care of. Pre-reg fee of $10 per person to attend CofC meeting: Lynn ( NCVC) said it is expensive for groups to host CofC, so a small fee to attend is in order. Chooie said it can be a low-budget gig if you work with the hotel. Bucko said, from an administrative point, the host council can just have raffles, etc. throughout the year to raise the money. Kathy said $10 per council would be easier. There aren't many vanners in California. Maybe $30 per council is reasonable. Kathy said to take it back to your council. Chooie said $10 - $15 per council would help cover cost of mailings, etc. It was noted, that during the bid, the proposed host council could state that there would be a fee to attend. A motion by Doc, seconded by Taz, that we table the discussion was carried. How to increase attendance: Bring one new member or guest to each event. The need for better media relations for Vanning: Chooie said we get better media relations if many different folks give input instead of just the same weekly input from Chooie and Virtual Vanner. Geoff said Doug & Chooie have done a great job of being a conduit between vanners and the media. Lynn noted that you have to consistently keep getting info to the media and sponsors. Peter re-iterated the importance of seeing the media person or sponsor in person and find something you have in common. And, always be sure to send them a thank you letter for whatever they have done for you. Dennis suggested sending an event flyer to the magazine with a free pre-reg or two so the photographer gets in free. Peter Lee asked that all the reps sign a book for Brian, who couldn't be at the podium this year because his father is critically ill. The lunch break was taken at this point in the meeting. How can Vannin.com better serve the Vanning community: Vannin.com runs raffles to help keep the organization afloat. Also, it runs raffles to help other good vanning causes, such as fundraisers for the NATS Board. They welcome inputs from vanners on all topics. Joe commented that, as a result of Vannin.com, he got an e-mail from and old vanner interested in returning. There was a request from the audience to check out how to get a proper appraisal (from the insurance company) in case your old, super-custom van gets hit. There are several specialty insurance companies that handle this type of insurance. Check in Hemmings Motor News, for example. Judith mentioned that she carries and extra $10K on her van to cover this situation. She does have to have a new photo of the van taken every 5 years. Is now the time to stop the teenage curfew at events: Wacko told his security story with teenager. The kids like to come to events when they're small, and they would like to be vanners when they grow up. But, when they get to be teenagers and are stuck in the campsite at 10 PM, they can't wait until they're old enough to stay at home. 10 years old 10 PM curfew 14 years old 11 PM curfew 18 years old No curfew It was also noted that there is a difference between a teen and a delinquent. Peter and Deb said, "We never had curfew and have had no problems. My 17-year-old is going on 30." As in the past, we concluded that it is always up to the parents to police their own children. Treat kids with respect. Gomer said we make the kids games, etc. fun and have a lot of activities. One lady said she won't return to a certain event because they didn't enforce the curfew. 10-year-olds up at 1 AM is a bad idea. One guy said his 16-year-old son took his old van to a truck-in. He couldn't play in kids or adult games. Too old for kids games; too young for adult games. So, he had to sit in the van and play cards. He won't be around anymore. There was a long discussion regarding the potential conflict at the 2007 meeting because there are planned bids for the 2008 meeting to be held in Hawaii, or England, both of which are great destinations, and some reps would like to have the bids staggered by a year so they could go to both places. Peter noted that he couldn't re-schedule the bid for England because he has too much on his plate. He's agreed to start up a Ford Transit Van Club in the U.K. Cari noted that Hawaii is a dream vacation, but the NSVA UK has been coming to the CofC meetings and supporting us for years. Open Discussion After a cell phone interruption, Wisconsin suggested that, if anybody's cell phone rings during the meeting, they have to pay $10 to the host council of the next CofC meeting; $20 if they actually answer the phone. John, who used to be in West Coast Vans, is from Rancho Cucamonga, CA, said he still has old custom wings, flares, etc. He does ship stuff every day. He can't help you out with hardware, like starters, etc. You can find him at www.trucknvans.com or 1-800-924-0647. Item suggested to NATS Bitch Booth: Vanner's sons are building a Van-wagon (that's a wagon, with a Van body on it) and they want to show it off at the NATS van show n' shine. VAM said the upcoming NATS in Virginia will have a custom Van-wagon show. There will be trophies for the Van-wagons. Woodstock's cell phone rang at this point in the meeting. He owes $10 to Vanners Without Borders. Gomer noted that there is an Events Happening in Truck-In magazine and Street Trucks. A rep commented that Hot Rod magazine is also putting in van information. Judith said that she is collecting information on vanning events for the Florida Van Council newsletter and website (floridavancouncil.com). Please send her your event information via flyer or e-mail if you want that information included. Her e-mail is judpilon@aol.com. Kathy thanked BeerBob, Bill O, Tom Chronister, and all of the folks who worked so hard on this CofC meeting. Peter Lee thanked Geoff (to a round of applause) for doing an excellent job of running the meeting in Brian's absence. . Bill O (Left Coast) handed the "pass along" plaque and $300 to Vanners Without Borders for the 2007 CofC meeting. Missouri Van Council made a motion to adjourn and the meeting was concluded. ATTENDEES AT THE 2006 COUNCIL OF COUNCILS MEETING: A.L.I.V.E. All In One Alliance Arizona Van Council Colorado Van Council Downstate Illinois Van Council Florida Van Council Heart of America Van Council Hoosier Van Council Maryland Van Council Midwest Van Council Missouri Van Council National Street Van Association - UK New England Van Council New Jersey 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 California Van Council Southern Ohio Van Council Texas Van Federation Van Association of New Zealand Van Council of Victoria - Australia V.O.I.C.E.S. West Lake Erie Van Council Wisconsin Van Council