USA NE region listers(others may ignore)

[Brett Dikeman]

Wrapped up the Thursday->Sunday driving marathon (Boston->NY to visit 
Dan, NY->Lime Rock for a PCA event, Lime Rock->Boston, 
Boston->Berkshires, Berkshires->Boston) attending the NEQ(NE region 
of QCUSA) board meeting.  Lots of fun, learned a lot about the 
regional club, saw some familiar faces, etc.

One of the many things that happened today included my appointment to 
Chair of the Social Events Committee.  Basically, all 
non-track/driver-ed events fall under this category(see below for a 
list of the kinds of things we have in mind.)  The board made it very 
clear that they are very enthusiastic about doing socials, so much so 
that the meeting went over by a good 30 minutes discussing this 
stuff.  It's one of those classic misunderstandings; some of the 
board thought members were not interested in socials because they 
were not hearing any comments from members...and from what I've heard 
and/or suspect, many members were not making noise because they 
thought the board/club didn't want to do socials.  The air has been 
cleared quite a bit after today's discussion; everyone is on the same 
page, and you'll see the gears go into motion RSN(Real Soon Now.)

The trick is that there's no Social Events Committee(just one guy, 
and you're lookin' at him), so take a wild stab at what one of the 
top items on my todo list is.  There's only one of me and the NE 
region is rather enormous(seven states, I believe NJ is now its own 
region), so the board agreed with my opinion that sub-regional 
reps(for at least social event organization to start with) would be a 
dandy idea...aka, similar to how the PCA works, BMCCA, etc.

Since we're in somewhat of a rush to get up to steam and start 
planning events and such(we're already 1/4 of the way into the year, 
after all), I figured I'd see if I could informally drum up interest 
from club members who happen to be on the list(I imagine something 
will go into the next issue of the gripster to let all of the 
membership know.)  Feel free to pass this on/mention this to any 
friends who are in the club, and extend my apology to them that 
they're not hearing it through official club channels(such as the 
gripster) first.

I'm looking for volunteers who are NEQ members(QCUSA members in any 
of the seven states the NEQ covers, ie ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI, NY are 
automatically NEQ members) to act as a regional social events 
coordinator.

What does the club need in a regional social events coordinator?

Someone who:

-knows their area well(ie, good restaurants, places for sightseeing 
drives and meets in places like parks, that sort of thing)
-is good at reaching out to folks in the club in their area, as well 
as area businesses, in particular dealers and shops
-has some spare time to organize events(on any of a number of levels; 
we're not fussy) and deal with associated work(answering emails/phone 
calls about social events in their area, talking with local 
businesses like dealers, maybe the occasional writeup of an event for 
the Gripster, etc.)

...but to be honest, what's most important is an eagerness for this 
sort of thing, and the time to carry through.  The only real 
requirements are that you be a club member in the NE region, and that 
you conduct events in a well organized, professional manner; the 
board stressed that quality and safety are very important if an event 
is going to have the NEQ banner on it, and I fully agree; we really 
need to conduct events with the same professionalism you see in, for 
example, events organized by the PCA regions.  I'm going to try and 
do as much as possible to provide resources, guidelines, etc for 
regional reps(for example, a set of guidelines for scenic tour 
participants.)

The kinds of events we're looking to do:
-group dinner/lunch meets
-scenery drive/tours(ie "Rambles", maybe even those treasure-hunt 
type drives if you're really feeling your wheaties, but i suggest 
starting out simple :)
-tech sessions at area mechanics, dealerships, etc.
-group arrangements at motorsport events(ie similar to what has 
already been set up for Lime Rock on Memorial Day weekend)
-whatever else members suggest or you can think up

For the moment, I'm going to cover eastern MA and nearby areas; Mark 
Rosenkrantz has already volunteered to help out with mid-NY, at least 
to start with.  Pretty much everything else is wide open and just 
begging for a rep.

I'm sure at least a couple of you are probably thinking, "why do an 
event with the NEQ, why not just do something on my own?" or "why not 
start my own little club/go to an event at one of the small informal 
groups?"

Well, a few things off the top of my head:

-liability coverage.  The NEQ has general liability insurance that 
will cover these events, and we have waivers.  Both keep you(and your 
sponsor) from getting sued out of house+home if someone gets injured 
at an event, etc.  While the Audiworld spinoff clubs have been rather 
lucky, one can only wonder how long that luck will last.

-help organizing the event, both logistically and financially.  We 
can help secure sponsorship, and the national club has made it clear 
that money is available for social events and such.

-publicity through the club's newsletter, website, etc.

In general, I think you'll find that we'll do whatever we can to help 
you, and that sure beats going it alone.

If it sounds good to you and like something you'd like to do, drop me 
a line!  Please include at least some geographical information like 
your zip code so I can start on a map.

Lastly, I'd like to solicit private comments from both members and 
non-members on all the above, or even just what's on your mind re:the 
regional club or QCUSA as a whole.  Please keep it constructive, I'll 
probably end up reading at least some of them to the board :-)  I'd 
be most interested to hear if members(and non-members of course) like 
the sound of all this and think the club is taking a step in the 
right direction.

Just to stress the last two paragraphs, please reply in private.  Thx!

Brett
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