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NASSAM 2020 Rapid City

18K views 118 replies 27 participants last post by  mysolst 
#1 ·
Hello, welcome to the NASSAM 2020 thread.

As was announced at the 2018 NASSAM banquet, those who brought you NASSAM 2015 (Pacific Northwest Roadsters - PNWR) with some help from Ohio, Arkansas, Minnesota and the wonderful province of British Columbia are happy to bring you the 2020 version of NASSAM, this time hosted in Rapid City, South Dakota.

This thread in no way is an intent to take focus and planning effort from the 2019 event (some of us are working on that one too), but rather to simply let the community know that there is a 2020 event planned for June 21-26, 2020. As this constitutes a long drive for just about everyone, so we thought we'd get the word out and perhaps folks could plan a once in a lifetime trip to see Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer National Park, Devils Tower and my personal favorite, the Badlands of South Dakota.

Best regards from PNWR and our cast of thousands.

Hope to see you in 2020.
 
#2 ·
Thank you for the heads up. I was hoping the 2020 NASSAM would be in Canton, Ohio to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the highest attended NASSM or NASSAM ever. Why isn't there a poll on the Kappa forums (including Facebook) to see where everyone that wants to go to a nationals can cast a vote?? Living in Northeast, Ohio, I have a choice of driving 4.42 hours to Corning, NY in 2019 or 18.47 hours to Rapid City, SD in 2020. For various reasons, my wife and I were unable to attend the prior NASSAM's that were closer to us. I hope that everyone who attends the 2020 NASSAM has a great time. God willing, my wife and I will be in Corning, NY for the 2019 NASSAM.




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#3 ·
Why isn't there a poll on the Kappa forums (including Facebook) to see where everyone that wants to go to a nationals can cast a vote?

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I think the simple answer to your question is that the folks who volunteer to host the event (and do all of the work) are given the choice of location. Pacific Northwest Roadsters hosted our first event close to home in Portland, Oregon knowing that we would not attract too many people from 3,000 miles away. Thus, for 2020 I was hoping to split the difference in mileage driven. And I might point out, if this were put to a vote each year...I'd speculate it would never occur west of the Mississippi River.
 
#4 ·
I would have loved to make it to Colorado this year. It's about an 11 hour drive for us. Would have gone but just had too many other trips and work that got in the way. I didn't own my Sky in 2013 when NASSAM came to Flagstaff, AZ. Only a 2 hour drive.

I agree that if its up to a vote it would always occur in the mid-west or east coast region where large cities are closer together. The west is spread out so no concentration of owners in any one area. I would never be able to go to an east coast event.

Rapid City is an 18 hour drive. Unlikely we could make it. Time off work is the main issue.
 
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#5 ·
The NASSAM is always up for a vote. If you want to host one you state that fact and a discussion ensues. Generally we are lucky to find anyone who is wiling to do the work necessary to host one. The Ohio group did a great job then fell off the map never to be heard from again. Which is typical for events. The effort needed to conduct a national can burn out any small group of people.

If you want one in Ohio, stand up and say so. Get several people to work with you and let everyone know. Asking others to create an event for your convenience just does not work.

I never asked anyone to "create an event for my convenience" Rob. I simply stated that I was hoping it would be in Canton, Ohio to celebrate the 10 yr anniversary of the 2010 NASSAM. I would be more than happy to assist anyone that asked me. From what I understand, you (and your planning team) did a great job with the 2018 NASSAM. As far as "NASSAM is always up for a vote", where did the 2020 NASSAM vote take place? I checked the Kappa forums and I didn't see any discussion on 2020 NASSAM whatsoever. Not using the assumption that you made on the Sol forum (see below) why not take a poll on the Kappa forums and Facebook to gauge what locations the majority of people would like to and be able to attend. After that, put two or three places that the majority picked, and ask those two or three locations to come up with a planning team. If nobody wants to take on the task in a timely fashion, then on to the next location. Of course it is much easier to just get five or six people together and say here is where we are having the next national event.


It is put to a vote effectively and we have not had more than one location be in serious competition. Several times an individual or small group will volunteer and withdraw. Plus, the vast majority of attendees don’t regularly come to the forums anymore. They share on FB so any kind of voting would have to be implemented outside the Forums’s




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#6 ·
From my perspective and I believe is the same thing Rob is saying, ....... whoever puts together a team and begins the ground work with a team, choosing a logically sized location with potential facilities and a true workable plan can almost assuredly announce their intention to hold a NASSAM and will go uncontested.

A location vote? .......... never happen. Outside opinions are just that, outside. The strength behind any NASSAM20xx is the commitment of that local team.

Furthermore, in the event of two strong challengers, one from East and one from West, would more than likely end up in two Regional Meets, OR one succeeding to a later year. IMHO.
 
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#14 · (Edited)
If YOU can pull together a group to compete for 2020 then make a proposal. There is plenty of time to have a conversation and go through our normal "voting" process.
I've been debating whether or not to address this suggestion primarily because I wasn't sure if it was intended to be taken literally. So, just in case...the planning for 2020 is well underway, in fact, in many respects the planning for 2020 is ahead of that for 2019. 2020 in Rapid City has a hotel contract signed, we have runs mapped, and the agenda is planned. My wife and I will be meeting with the hotel in person in August and we'll be running the roads. The team is assembled and the budget is all but planned. Consequently, I hope that no one is really planning to challenge the idea of going to Rapid City. And forgive me if I never should have taken Rob's comment literally. It kind of just scared me a bit.

There is also some misunderstanding that there might be a kind of on-going group now planning 2019 and 2020, that isn't really quite right. 2020 is being planned by Pacific Northwest Roadsters, yes, with some help from a few folks who've worked the recent events. I myself have been on the teams (at least as a run captain) from 2015 on with the exception of Kentucky.

Lastly, while this discussion is an interesting one...may I suggest that if a continuing dialog pertaining to choice of venue for future events beginning in 2021 is needed...could you guys start a thread on that subject please? I was kind of hoping to keep this thread to 2020 information I'd like to share with the community.

And a request to the moderators, would it be proper to make this into a "sticky" so folks can find it? And I'd guess the same for 2019 though I don't speak for that team.
 
#8 · (Edited)
those who brought you NASSAM 2015 (Pacific Northwest Roadsters - PNWR) with some help from Ohio, Arkansas, Minnesota and the wonderful province of British Columbia are happy to bring you the 2020 version of NASSAM, this time hosted in Rapid City, South Dakota.
...
2020 event planned for June 21-26, 2020.
My second job in Silly Valley was named for Rapid City. And luckily, my employer's huge user conference will be three weeks before NASSAM 2020 (whereas this past year it was the week before), so I hope to be able to make it.

Not sure I can drive from San Jose to New York, and I don't know how much sense it would make to rent a car (unless I could rent a Kappa) to fly in for 2019. :)
 
#9 ·
A significant change has taken place regarding NASSAM. In the past, it was planned by various regional groups; for 2019 and 2020 a widespread group has taken the lead. One person from Oklahoma, 2 from Washington, 1 whose location I don't know, and a "boots on the ground" person from the event area. Is this the way things will be done in the future?
 
#12 ·
Could be. I've been drafted into the 2019 effort and I'm 750 miles away from Corning, NY. Several on our committee are much further away than I am. We'll see how it works out. The key is that we all support the kappa "community" of owners, and have for the last 10 - 13 years.

:dunno:

.
 
#10 ·
I am just happy that someone has taken these on.

California is just too far from everywhere it seems, and people here have too much to do, or that is the excuse they use. Why would I drive thru the desert to Colorado or Ohio, New York or any place else is the normal comment. We mentioned the idea, at our Palm Springs event, and not a single person raised their hand. I never expect to see a National in the state of California. Pretty sure it would be the least attended one in history.

But I never expect to cross the Mississippi to go to an event. Going to New York is a three week trip. Too many miles and too much possible bad weather between. I would love to go, as I know that the area is absolutely gorgeous, I have been in the area for motocross and mountain bike events. The wife has never been in the area.

I am glad that Sooner is doing this, as I know it will be a great event. And I am amazed that he has taken this on. Some of us are gluttons for punishment I guess. I have always had a love/hate relationship with Sooners, but this one is one of the nicest people on earth, and always seems ready to give of himself. Again thanks Sooner, we all owe you for seeing the next two years happen.
 
#11 ·
Carl, it appears that things are changing and possibly a group is truly being formed to run and operate these events. Non profit organizations can have employees, can bring in major sponsors and can put money away for future events. I hope that this is the plan, as it is just too much work for a single group to learn and do it every year.
 
#21 ·
I wish this was the case, but I don't see this happening again. Originally there was NASSOA (North American Solstice & Sky Owners Association, which was partially funded by General Motors, (Pontiac) and maybe a bit by Saturn. With the GM bankruptcy. and the dissolution of Pontiac and Saturn, the funding from the GM side evaporated. It was also partially funded by membership fees, and that part also dried up about the same time and for a bunch of reasons. The funds remaining were used for the Canton meeting in 2010.

Since then, each event has been hosted by a different group in a different location by Kappa owners that stepped forward when needed. I was peripherally involved with the Asheville effort, having independently reviewed and driven their runs while I was in the area. I haven't been involved with any other events until this recent stretch.

There is a core group of people that support these get togethers, almost regardless of where they occur. These same people are involved in supporting 2019 in New York. The Pacific Northwest Group, which put on the Portland meeting, appears to be behind the 2020 Rapid City event. There isn't a lot of crossover between these two groups.

That's about it as far as I can see down the road. I would love to see a national group emerge to take over the planning of these events, but I don't see any funding coming from the ranks to support it. Our kappa enthusiast groups are just too small. and too highly, regionally based.

I don't know.

:dunno:

.
 
#15 ·
I'll chime in since my name was brought up by skersfan and in support of mysolst's comments.

Way back in the beginning of this group, we had a governing body that selected the NASSAM site. However, NASSOA eventually fell apart, and selection of a NASSAM location sort of fell to whoever was willing to take on the event. Rarely do we see competing proposed locations, and in the rare instances where we have, it has always resolved quickly and amicably. This method worked just fine though 2016 and again in 2018. However, in 2017, we faced the real possibility that there wouldn't be a NASSAM, but fortunately JohnWR stepped up and kept us on track. For 2019, we again faced the possibility that there wouldn't be a NASSAM, but someone reached out to several past NASSAM hosts and committee members and asked us to all work together to make the 2019 event happen. In the meantime, mysolst was already working on 2020 and he asked some (but not all) of the same people to help out with that event.

There is no group that is going to do all NASSAMs going forward. The partial overlap of staff between 2019 and 2020 is partly coincidence and partly because the people doing the work to make NASSAM happen, tend to wind up doing it over and over again. NASSAM requires hundreds of hours of organizational effort, fronting start up money, taking on financial risk, and recruiting other folks to come in and do all the necessary chores. The number of folks willing to do that is pretty limited, as is the number of people willing to do the various jobs (stuffing attendee bags, registration, run captain, sweep, fundraising, assisting vendors, and on and on). Most people want to come to NASSAM to have a good time without responsibility, and there is no problem with that. But that's why you see the same people over and over again running the events, because they are the ones willing to do the work. [As an example, 2019 and 2020 will be the 8th and 9th NASSAMs that I have worked on in one capacity or another, and I do it because I love this event and the people that show up].

In short, NASSAM doesn't happen so much because of where the majority of people want to go or where they "vote" to go, but because of where someone is willing to step up and do the work.

Planning and pulling off NASSAM is usually a two year endeavor. JohnWR worked on a short timeframe in 2017 and the 2019 committee is working under similar constraints. Mysolst is ahead of the game for 2020 and that bodes very well for the event. I think offering up a competing location at this time would be counterproductive given how far along mysolst is. However, whoever wants to step up for 2021 and subsequent years, get after it! I've heard rumblings about both Florida and California and I can't wait to see where we go next!

And just to clarify...I am not the host for 2019, I am just a committee member, but I happened to be the spokesman in Colorado. This is truly going to be a group effort. As for 2020, I am whatever mysolst wants me to be, just as he did for me in 2016.
 
#16 ·
Some people have certain talents, others not so much. Ones that offend people normally are not in the promotion side of business. All must understand that these things are a business venture, you need attendees and with out them, you fail in your mission. For me and a few friends, the door of going to New York keeps narrowing. Just recieved a text from a friend that the door has closed.

No I's in the word team, unfortunately this group seems to have a huge arrogant I in it. Here is hoping Sooner and Dave can make this happen in spite of some of their help.
 
#20 ·
I suggest you just do everything from now on. It is quite obvious no one is as qualified, knows anywhere enough to do these things. Personal oppinion here, "I"could not care less about you being mad. Just shut up and do what you said you would and quit whinning about it. Do you like those words, I hope not, because none of us like the crap you have been spreading.
 
#23 ·
After 2010 a group of us discussed putting together a "Technical Services Group" that could work from home on an event anywhere in North America to help a local group host an event. The idea was to provide web services, vendor contacts, merchandise source recommendations, and procedural advice to a group so that they could focus on the local aspects of the event. I had hoped that 2011 in Lexington would provide the springboard for that group, mainly leveraging the knowledge gained during the 2010 event (although probably not most of the people who were quite burned-out by that time) but that never happened. Conversations after 2011 failed to generate any traction for a variety of reasons.

My belief, solidified by my experience last year, is that one or two motivated people can successfully plan and prepare for one of our NASSAMs in one year without excessive stress or effort. tarting more than a year in advance is really only necessary to ensure that the date is available at the chosen venue. I learned the hard way what I should have already known, that it takes more than four people, however motivated, to successfully execute that event without excessive stress and effort.

The hardest part of the planning and preparation is figuring out what you don't know. Given a pre-existing website design, tested and proven registration, payment, and merchandise ordering arrangements, reliable and experienced sources for merchandise, known contacts with major vendors, and a guide-book of what to look out for, the rest is really pretty easy, if somewhat time consuming on occasion. Any area that is going to host an NASSAM is going to already have a catalog of good runs and car activity destinations, and is going to have a suitable hotel and banquet complex. Having a TSG to provide the backbone needed to build the event around frees the organizers to sort out local vendors, schedules, and on-site assistance.

I still think the idea of the TSG is valid, and requires very little in the way of organization, but it is going to take the right group of people to set it up, and the right group of event organizers to actually take advantage of it. So, yeah, it will probably never happen.

Can a moderator slice all of this non-2020 crap out of this thread and put it in its own? I don't feel that it should be deleted, unless by the posters, but it shouldn't clutter up the event thread.
 
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#24 ·
Can a moderator slice all of this non-2020 crap out of this thread and put it in its own? I don't feel that it should be deleted, unless by the posters, but it shouldn't clutter up the event thread.
Agreed.
@Robotech

(Hope your notifications are working better than mine with the shift of Autoforums "to the cloud".

(They'll get it figured out, sooner than later I hope.)

:thumbs:

.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Good Evening:

As was done for 2018 I've posted 2020 information on the three forums and Facebook. Thus far Kappa Performance - No discussion to date, Solstice Forum - A little discussion to date, but I think generally positive, Facebook - 236 folks are now following and a fair bit of excitement, and this forum. Only here has any discussion ensued pertaining to process of choosing a site. Clearly a few of you gentlemen have significant information and perhaps sentiments with which I was entirely unfamiliar when I queried a handful of folks about organizing something for 2020 so that we'd know there would be a 15th event.

I'd like to make my request of the moderators at this juncture to completely delete this thread so that you folks may start one of your own, or better yet...if possible, keep the thread with a new name but delete my posts as they don't seem to be relevant to the discussion.

My further request is that if this group of individuals feels that I've overstepped my bounds in coordinating a Nationals without proper authority I will gladly offer Rapid City as a suggestion for competition with other sites, or simply cancel what we've planned thus far outright, there is no harm done and no funds expended.

Just let me know before August 15th please so that I can let the hotel know that there may be no event, and I will further have any threads edited to insure the community knows that I miss stepped.

I was just trying to help, but I seem to have inadvertently brought to the surface a discussion I'd no idea had even existed. You all have my sincerest apologies if I'm to blame for any harm done.

Best regards,

Rick
 
#28 ·
Rick it sounds like you have a lot of work done .Stick with it no one else has said they will do the work.
 
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#29 ·
Rick, hang in here, I know you have a lot of time and effort into 2020, this has just been a blip in the road, and much of this discussion should not be in this thread.

Let's see if this can get split into at least two threads, and we can get the stuff that is not pertinent to 2020 moved elsewhere.
@Robotech

:thumbs:

.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Well, I know folks are looking forward to next month in New York, but some of us are actively finishing up planning for 2020 in Rapid City. Looking forward to both. While I'm sure there will be some conversation here on this forum after the 2019 event, we'll be asking folks to look first for information on the website nassam2020.com when it goes up on July 15. If you can't find what you're looking for there let us know and we'll remedy that. Event and hotel registration will be available at that time.
 
#36 ·
I've been to Sturgis three times on the Harley. I rode the whole way from Dallas every time. The area is absolutely beautiful. I will be looking forward to this event. For me that means a heater for Raton Pass and an air conditioner for the places in-between!
 
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