2009 National Meet

[John]

Rob Sando, our Northeast District Director, made the decision to place the 2009 Ameraucana Breeders Club National Meet at the Ohio National, in Columbus, on November 14-15.
http://www.ohionational.org/

[faith valley]

May I ask a questin as to why one person selects the national?  I am not familiar with the running of the office board of the Ameraucana club so was just curious as to why this was not something that goes to a vote by the board?

It certainly is a large show- 5300 birds exhibited last weekend.. goodness we had 25 largefowl Ameraucanas in Juniors.

 Just curious as to how the selection of the national is made each year.

~Patty~

[John]

why one person selects the national?

Patty,
It\'s outlined in the club by-laws.  We used to have the Board vote on a location, but made a change to this procedure for several reasons.

Article VIII - Club Meets
The Ameraucana Breeders Club shall hold an annual National meet to be rotated clockwise each year among the club districts.  The District Director will place the National meet by November 15th for the following year. If it is not placed, with notification to the Board, by that date the Director of the next District in rotation will have 30 days to place the National meet.   Should a district be unable to host the National meet in its allotted turn the meet shall pass on to the next district in rotation.
The placing of the annual District meet shall be the prerogative of the District Director, who shall assume responsibility for its planning and execution and who shall coordinate these activities with the Secretary/Treasurer.  The District Director shall be responsible for a detailed report of results and awards to be sent to the Secretary/Treasurer promptly at the termination of the meet.
Annual State meets and Special meets shall be placed by the Secretary/Treasurer at the request of any member.   Members requesting such meets shall assume the responsibilities as outlined for District Directors if the Director is not in attendance.

[faith valley]

How does this method work out?  Is everyone happier? Does it make for smoother nationals? The Call club is kicking around a rotation type of system so just curious if you all are happy with your system of rotation... I know that with everything, there are pros and cons-  Care to share how you all like the way this system works?

Patty

[Mike Gilbert]

Patty,
Each system has its advantages and disadvantages.   It does give the district director a major responsibility, and I think that is good.   But  I do not personally like the idea that one person makes a decision that is binding on all.    This year is a good example of why a majority vote of the board might be a better option.   Rob is district director now, but next year when the National is actually held he won\'t be, as someone else was elected.    Now who is responsible for the follow through and coordination of the event?     Who is going to solicit and arrange for awards?   Who will do the publicity?    What exactly is the Ohio National\'s bid - do we get choice of judges?   Are they providing any awards?   And the list goes on.
I voted against this proposal that has become a part of our, bylaws,  but as always we must go along with majority rule.
This is the way we have always operated from the beginning.

[John]

Is everyone happier?

Oh, that\'s a good one.  You\'ve already forgotten rule number 1...you can\'t make all the people happy all the time.  We\'ve only used it for the last couple years and I don\'t see any problems with it.  
Most Ameraucana breeders are in the mid-west and most nationals were in this district.  Now each district has a shot at a national.
It is sometimes difficult to get members to become officers and by putting this decision in the hands of a Director I see it as an incentive and reward of sorts.  Kind of like with any  representative democracy the Directors should try to do thier best when placing the meets to make the members happy or lose the next election.
If there is little to no interest in the breed in a certain district the Director may let the national pass to the next in rotation.   Some will try to place it closer to other districts to get the most members from other districts to attend.
November 15th is the deadline to submit reports and the like for the ABC Winter Bulletin, so that is the same deadline for placing the upcoming national.  This gives it full exposure to the membership with plenty of advance notification to start planning to attend and planning for hatches so the birds will be ready.
I see many more pros than cons with this system.

The dates for the Ohio National show are good for me, but bad for the deer hunters in some states.  Also the show club (or at least some members) historically hasn\'t been very receptive to Ameraucanas.  If you go the the list of breed clubs on thier website you\'ll notice many are listed in alphabetical order, but the ABC is on the very bottom of the list.  

[faith valley]

I remember that Rob did not rerun for the director slot.  Which state does the new NE director come from? Having done several nationals, I can see where a national meet will be a huge undertaking for a new director.

Please let me know if you all need a hand- that show is an hour and a half from home so it will be an easy one to help out with.

Columbus usually gives out pretty nice bids.  Did they send in a bid package for the club to consider or did Rob place the meet there without agreeing on a competitive package?

I too am curious as to what all was on the bid that they offered.

Patty

[John]

bid package

The information will be in the next Bulletin, but regardless of the offer the director can place the meet as he/she wants.  Show dates, location and other details may or may not be considered.  If offers were the only consideration Lucasville would get it every time.
Rob didn\'t run for re-election.  Harold Knapp, of NY, will be the new NE director effective January 1st.  ABC Secretary Michael Muenks and Harold will coordinate everything. B)  
 

[bantamhill]

Unfortunately, only one \"official\" bid was received in time to place the 2009 National Meet in the Northeast District and that was from the Ohio National, Columbus, OH. I will not go into all the gory details, other than to say that five clubs in the western most portion of the district were sent Requests for Proposals for the 2009 National Meet and only one submitted a proposal in time for Rob to make the placement decision.

Rob has graciously extended his willingness to assist Harold and the club in any way to help with organizing the meet and Patty, I will also take you up on your offer of assitance.

Two pieces I have learned in the last two years about placing national meets:

1. Show clubs have very different methods for responding to Requests for Proposals and many have to have a club meeting to vote on whether to respond and then have to construct the proposal.

2. The dates in the constitution are not realistic and will need to be revised. Based on my experience the last two years I believe that it would be nearly impossible for a district director who was just passed the national meet placement to do the job in 1 month. I suspect 3 months would be pushing it.

I will be reminding Barbara about 2010 starting January 1, although I know she has been testing the waters already.

I like the idea of rotating the national meet in an official way . . . I know the members out in the West/North West really enjoyed having the national meet and were stunned that folks from the east made the drive.  I know that the consentrated placement \"power\" is unique and that could be changed to some sort of committee led by the district director.

My thoughts, for whatever they are worth.

Michael

[faith valley]

Can we know what all was included in the  award package the Ohio National gang offered in their bid?

Patty

[bantamhill]

The placement of 2009 National Meet has certainly been a learning experience for Rob and me. The club is in the second year of rotating the National Meet among the districts. Requests for proposals were sent to shows in New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Responses were received from only one club by the November 15, 2008 deadline for the meet to be placed in Northeast District. If the 2009 National Meet was not placed in the Northeast District by November 15, 2008 the meet would have automatically rotated to the Southeast District for placement.

The 2009 National Meet will be in Columbus, OH November 14-15, 2009. Rob made the decision to place the meet at the Ohio National so the meet would be in the Northeast District instead of passing the meet to the Southeast District. The following is the letter from the club:

2009 Ameraucana Breeders Club National Meet

The Ohio National would like to place a formal bid to host the Ameraucana Breeders Club National Meet for the 2009 show year. The Ohio National will be held on November 14, 15 2009.
   The Ohio National can offer $100.00 in awards to be dispersed at the direction of your club.  The only restriction is that all monies must be dispersed at the Ohio National show. The Ohio National will provide your club with a meeting room, and four trophies (champion, reserve champion large fowl, champion, reserve champion bantam), and a club table for you to promote the Ameraucana Breeders Club and to sell or raffle any items your club sees fit to do.
The Ameraucana Breeders Club will have its choice of judges from the list of judges that the Ohio National will hire for the 2009 show. The judges list will be published in early June of 2009.
   If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at any time at the contacts list below. Thank You for your consideration.                                                    __________________________

                     Eric Markley
                     Secretary Ohio National
                     Email markley@ohionational.org
                     Phone 419-568-7402
                     Cell 419-303-6909

Several members in the Northeast District would have liked to have seen the National Meet at the Southern Ohio Poultry Club Show in Lucasville, OH. Lucasville has a very nice national meet package of $500.00 for awards, a free meal, meeting room and choice of judge. Unfortunately, Lucasville had many requests for national meets and the club had to vote where to begin extending offers to host national meets. Tim Bowles was very nice to visit with and took our request to the club. As Tim indicated, a club can only host so many national meets well. Neither Rob, nor I heard from the Southern Ohio Poultry Club before the November 15, 2008 deadline.

As a club secretary I have learned several lessons regarding show clubs throughout this process that I have passed along to Barbara Campbell regarding the placement of the 2010 National Meet. First, start early! Second, many show clubs only have one or two meetings a year and do not authorize the club officers to make bids on hosting national meets and additionally most do not have standing national meet packages, so the general first reaction is silence and then the need to bring the national meet request up at the next club meeting. With the help of John Blehm I have developed a request for proposals document that explains what the Ameraucana Breeders Club minimally requires for a National Meet. I plan to work with the board on a proposal evaluation for the district director to use to score proposals in the event more than one proposal/bid is submitted. I personally believe it is not too early for Paul to begin talking to clubs in the South Central district about hosting the 2011 National Meet, which I believe he has started doing.

I want to personally thank Rob for his offer to help our incoming Northeast District Director, Harold Knapp, with logistics and organization for the 2009 National Meet at the Ohio National, Columbus, OH November 14-15, 2009. I believe that Patty and Kathy have also offered their assisstance and it should be a great time. Columbus, here we come!

[John]

Michael,

Thanks for taking the bull by the horns and working with Rob to get the meet placed.  
Look out Buckeyes here we come!

[bantamhill]

I had to share that the same discussion has been going on in the Araucana Club and the board there was leaning heavily toward linking the Araucana National meet to the APA National. There seems to many of the same questions and issue. Among Araucana Club members currently showing, there seems to be a preference for large shows, but that may be just my perception. Although I have a few Araucana, I have not been showing them.

I have personally enjoyed the variety of show sizes and places that the Ameraucana National Meet has been since I have been involved in the club. I think variety is good and I have enjoyed the \"special attention\" we have received as a club at the smaller shows. There are advantages both ways.

Michael

[Guest]

Most Ameraucana breeders are in the mid-west and most nationals were in this district.  Now each district has a shot at a national.

Even though Ohio is in the NE district for some reason, its really not the Northeast.  When was the last time the National was somewhere in the NE district other than Ohio?

[John]

When was the last time the National was somewhere in the NE district other than Ohio?

I think the closest was in 2001, in Galax, VA.