Sonex Foundation BBQ 2016

[Sonex Foundation]

Hi everyone

I am posting this where we can have a discussion rather than a locked thread. Once again this year Wayne and Kathy Daniels hosted a wonderful and very successful BBQ at their "7th Heaven" on the southeast corner of KOSH. A huge THANK YOU to Wayne and Kathy not only for hosting us, but also for taking time to buy all the food, cook it, and set up the BBQ.

So - a follow up from my perspective, and I encourage others to reply to this post IF THEY ATTENDED!

Things I think we could have done better -

- Post their address if it is ok with Wayne. The one complaint I had was from someone that sent me an email 90 minutes before the BBQ asking for the address. I never saw that email because - well, I am at Oshkosh. I don't check email at Oshkosh regularly.

- Drop getting the Sonex van. For the second year, most of the attendees found a way to get there. If we do not borrow the Sonex van this eliminates some of the headache associated with it and reduces liability for the factory and the foundation.

- Do a better job of helping people understand how to get there. I picked one person up at the terminal building who had clearly walked part of the way. I felt genuinely bad for the guy - he was wiped out.

- Nametags. My bust - I completely forgot them this year.

- Forgetting to tell people to bring chairs. Again, my bust. Too many things going on.

- Organization. Again, my bust - I juggled too many things and did not do a great job of organizing it. A huge thank you to Michael Radtke for stepping in and up to make sure the event occurred - I almost had to bail due to weather. Luckily Michael volunteered and was a HUGE help!! He drove me back to Camp Schoeller after dropping off the Sonex van.

- Not collecting from those who committed but did not attend. We spent more this year because we expected over 100 people based on the signup. By my estimate we had about 85 or so show up. Not a big deal but at $5 a head that extra 15 people matters.

- What do those who actually attended think we could do better? Please - be specific.


Things I think we did right -

- We successfully pulled off a second consecutive BBQ at Oshkosh and for the second year we had a huge turnout. Judging by most reactions and responses I am going to say it was a success.

- Shuttling people around. In spite of some chaos we managed to get over 80 people to and from 7th Heaven during Airventure.

- Priced it right. Seriously - for $5 at the show you would be lucky to get a brat. Kudos to Wayne and Kathy for making a DELICIOUS BBQ meal!!!

- Brought together builders, pilots, and a couple of people interested in building. I am terrible with names, but I spoke to a few of each and they all commented on how much fun they had.


Finally - I need to ask the community to organize this next year. I would like to have four people step up that are CERTAIN they will be there for the BBQ (that way when one or two cancel it works) and help us organize it.

We did this at Wayne's because doing it on site costs literally thousands of dollars and we do not want to try that. I have no idea if Wayne and Kathy want to continue to host us. But if they do, we need a group to organize it for all of us. I can help, I can tell you what we did to make it happen - but I do not have the time and the energy to keep trying to organize this. It is a great event and I would love to see it continue, but I know my limits.

OK - please chime in here and lets see what we can do together!

Robbie Culver
President
Sonex Builders and Pilots Foundation
http://www.sonexfoundation.com

[fastj22]

Robbie, Mike and I punched out Wednesday morning due to forecasted weather. But I'm more than willing to pay my share if necessary. Just need a link or address to send the bucks. Maybe require a pre-pay next time to catch us no-shows. Also, Uber was operating at KOSH this year. Easily get a ride from the terminal to Wade's.

[thomasjones42]

Robbie,
For whoever manages the BBQ next year (assuming there is one) it would be nice if people had a name tag with their Forum "Handle" as well as their name. While people frequently introduce themselves, I for one don't always associate their name with things they have posted and their background.

On another subject as to $5.00 for dinner being a real deal, I was hungry for a hot dog on Saturday and paid $6,75 for a "German Frankfurter" which looked just like a normal hot dog. Not complaining about event food prices so much as just pointing out the bargain the BBQ was.

Tom Jones
ONEX 0133
Aerovee Turbo

[sonex1374]

Robbie,

I think it was a great success. The food was wonderful and the location is perfect. I'm looking forward to next year. That said, maybe there are things we did that annoyed Wayne or made his decision to commit for next year unceartain. I'd like to know and address those things. We don't want to ruin it because we were inconsiderate and didn't know it.

I also the the price may be too low. I don't want Wayne subsidizing the event out of pocket. The BBQ has inherent value way above $5, so raise the price if needed to keep it going. You could use a paypal account to let people prepay when they register and this would eliminate coming up short. It may discourage people committing early until they know their plans, but still could be useful.

I also suggest Foundation Swag at the BBQ next year. Everyone loves shirts and hats, and you could take pre orders and deliver them here, and maybe even have some extras. This could also provide some modest income for maintaining the foundation.

Thanks for all your hard work organizing!

Jeff

[Sonex1517]

Jeff

To my knowledge we did not annoy Wayne, and we actually came out slightly ahead cost wise.

I do think pre paying is a must going forward.

We have tried shorts in the past and lost a fair amount of money trying to do it. We can still revisit the idea though.

I would love to see this event continue!

Robbie


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[vwglenn]

Don't be too hard on yourself. The BBQ was a great time. Wayne was a fantastic host. I'm sure we'd all throw in to help out with cleanup or be better guests. I think setting up a simple paypal payment is the way to go. The price could go up a little. Something like $10 if you preregister and $15 if you can't commit up front. Seems there were enough volunteers to shuttle the 10 or so people who made the trek over to the terminal. If you need help with the organization next time, I'm here for you (provided I ever get Rosie out of IL). I sincerely hope we get to do it again.

[WaiexN143NM]

Hi all,
First of all robbie , pat yourself on the back! It was your first year getting your plane to osh, and taking care of your family . Great job! You did enough! The bbq was a great success. Yep all above great suggestions. Wayne and kathy were great hosts! As always! They have a busy week , as they host guests inside their house and camping outside. They host the able flight bbq tue afternoon, sonex bbq wed, relatives on fri and sat bbq. So today , mon morn when i left wayne was wore out. If someone asked him for next yr, well he wasnt even done with this yrs bbq's!! There is an office max accross from friar tucks , next yr i'll get the name tags. Yep sonex very nice to let us use their van, but i think a few private vechicles makes it doable. Was happy to drink only cokes all nite. In fact sun morn was very quiet at the sonex booth. Got a one on four w john joe kerry and jessica. Great convesation. I thanked them from all of us for the homecoming , hangar party, and van use. I'll post some more osh info tomm under a diff thread. I do think the bbq was great and can only get better, thanks to all for a fun event.
WaiexN143
Michael

[DCASonex]

I was not able to get to Oshkosh this year, but couple of thoughts. Cannot buy much of any meal for $5 anymore, so moderate increase would seem appropriate. Pre-pay creates its own hassles that you may not want to be bothered with, and suspect some last minute additions may offset some no-shows.

As for foundation swag: iron or sew on patches are a universal fit. Also transfer decals for aircraft might prove popular.

David A.

[dtwolcott]

This was my first time attending the BBQ. I thought everything went very well. For all of you members that attended I would like to repeat something that one of my guests, an RV owner and former Mooney owner, said after we were back at our rental house.
He said that this was the first Type Club meeting that he had attended where everyone was so upbeat about their plane including one that had flew his plane all of the way Boston. He also said that he heard no one complaining or saying deparaging words about the Sonex.
I thought that was a very good observation coming from someone that was neither building or flying a Sonex.
Don

[Oshpilot]

Thought I'd wait a day to see possible concerns before I weighed in on the discussion.
First, anyone who may have thought we were annoyed by anything...PLEASE put that thought to bed. Kathy and I are delighted to have the venue and host the event for the Sonex community. I really don't even mind doing all the grilling...I stay home Tuesday afternoon, watch the afternoon show from my deck, grill the burgers 'n brats...takes a couple barley pops to get that done!! :lol:
ALL of our costs were met and Robbie even threw in a few $$ for our efforts, so we're perfectly happy with the financial's, at least on our end!
As I said, providing the venue and doing the food end of the event is not a hassle for me, so I'll consider that my contribution to organizing and leave the remainder (rides, reservations, fee collection etc) to others. I DO think name tags would be a great enhancement...hell, by noon I usually forget what I had for breakfast so unless I've met someone several times their name simply roams the space between my ears!
We host three gatherings here during the week, totaling about 350 people so we've pretty much figured out what needs to be done..just need a bit of help pulling it off!
If there were any possible annoyance, it would be disposal of trash. I have separate containers for trash, aluminum cans and glass/plastic. If that were adhered to it makes my job the next day far simpler. As well as insuring beverage containers are empty when disposing of them..just dump it out in the grass away from where people gather!! Thats the ONLY rant I have, and only a minor one at that! Thanks for any help on that!

All that said, PLEASE begin making plans for the 3rd Annual Sonex Foundation BBQ in 2017! We enjoy hosting it here, and if I may indulge myself a bit we think "7th Heaven" is a better place to watch the show that the "paying side"!
Wayne & Kathy Daniels
Purple Haze - N444SX
7th Heaven - Oshkosh