Registered and confirmed but DIDN'T make it? Let us know!

[Doug Taylor]

We had some no shows this last weekend and we're trying to determine some of the causal factors:

[Sprint100]

Last minute schedule conflict

[B]

I did register, and was planning to attend NJC this year. Unfortunately my CFI check ride that was scheduled for OCT 1st was rescheduled for the 20th. I spent all my money on that check ride, which I passed! I hope that you continue with events of all sorts, It is part of what makes this site so good.

[Kristie]

It's hard to justify continuing them when we have no shows that don't tell us what's up ahead of time...I did ask over and over again last week. We did have a few people call or txt msg at the last minute, but we even had some who lived in Las Vegas that didn't show. We take that somewhat personally since it's just the two of us that go through all the work of putting this all together.

So we appreciate those who at least notified us that they weren't going to make it.

We may have to make this a "pay ahead of time" event in the future if we continue to have so many sign up and then not show. To this small website, that's a lot of $$ down the drain.

[Dazzler]

Decided to go elsewhere to celebrate wife's birthday and our new baby.
Didn't think getting drunk at NJC with a bunch of aviation peeps was appropriate.
Maybe next year.

[Kristie]

Daz, we knew why you wouldn't be there - I had you off the list! no worries mate.

and no, not everyone drank either!

[aloft]

Originally Posted by Kristie

It's hard to justify continuing them when we have no shows that don't tell us what's up ahead of time

I know where you're coming from, Kristie--nonetheless, this is a rather odd comment given all the superlatives gushing forth about the event! Doesn't seem like the no-shows impacted the event's success in the slightest!

[mpenguin1]

Originally Posted by aloft

I know where you're coming from, Kristie--nonetheless, this is a rather odd comment given all the superlatives gushing forth about the event! Doesn't seem like the no-shows impacted the event's success in the slightest!

Just off the top of my head, there were more than "20" no-shows, think about the cost involved, they could have had food & drinks for 40 people rather than 60.

Personal pride, think about throwing a party at your house and a large % of the people do not show up, your first reaction is what did you do wrong.

Respect, very disrespectful to say that you are going to attend an event & then pull out with no good reason.

I could go on, but, maybe you get my point.

Now for the people that showed up, we had a blast........

[JEP]

Originally Posted by Kristie

It's hard to justify continuing them when we have no shows that don't tell us what's up ahead of time...I did ask over and over again last week. We did have a few people call or txt msg at the last minute, but we even had some who lived in Las Vegas that didn't show. We take that somewhat personally since it's just the two of us that go through all the work of putting this all together.

So we appreciate those who at least notified us that they weren't going to make it.

We may have to make this a "pay ahead of time" event in the future if we continue to have so many sign up and then not show. To this small website, that's a lot of $$ down the drain.

That might not be such a bad idea. I could see charging a small fee that may be refunded upon arrival. If you say you are going to be there, pay the fee, and then don't show up, then you would lose the fee. The lost fees could go to help paying for things that were purchased and not used by some no-shows.

My .02 worth.

[EatSleepFly]

Originally Posted by aloft

Doesn't seem like the no-shows impacted the event's success in the slightest!

There were a lot of nametags for people who registered and didn't show.

Some (like you) have excuses and let someone know in advance, but I have to wonder at the people who registered, and confirmed they were coming, and then just didn't show without any warning. Not cool... especially since a lot of them probably knew several days in advance that they weren't coming.

All that being said, we better see you there next year, aloft! I owe you a few beers!

[Kristie]

Originally Posted by aloft

I know where you're coming from, Kristie--nonetheless, this is a rather odd comment given all the superlatives gushing forth about the event!

sure, we had a good time.. but I don't think it's odd at all...we had an excessive amount of no-shows compared to last year... we did have a few who txt msg'd the day of saying they weren't going to make it, but honestly...it's all about the time & costs associated.

Heck, i even kept everyone on the contact list apprised of the situation until they told me they weren't going to make it, then i took them off the list... all weekend, I was txt msging to let ppl know where we were when, what was going on etc etc.. that's an excessive amount of work on my part because honestly, i didn't *have* to do that.

Doug and I were talking about this a bit earlier... if we're sponsoring an event, then we need most of the people who say they're going to come, to come to the event.. we pay for food, drink, a place to stand around & talk, we get information from our advertisers to hand out, we have goodie bags, posters & prizes ready to go (and Pengy works really HARD on gathering everything too), we set up somewhat of an itinerary... and nametags, i won't tell you how much time it takes to do the nametags & contact list alone...esp when i have a full time job and a website of my own to work on (not that i'm complaining about doing all of this cuz i'm not - i'm happy to do it!!)

speaking of contact list - we might not be doing that anymore since we had so many no-shows...first and foremost because of the fact that i give the attendee information out and I'm no longer comfortable with doing that since someone can easily sign up, no show and have someone else's personal information....

not to mention that doug and I would have had a ton more fun if we hadn't have had to go out get food/drinks...We had more of a happy hour/gathering type networking session in mind this time, so we decided to do it ourselves, save some $$ and get everything set up and ready on our own... heck, we didn't even get to do a JC craps table or hang out with anyone saturday morning/afternoon because of time & hotel issues...

we heard everyone speak last year about not holding the event in a convention/conference type setting, so we decided to take the money we would have paid for a meeting room and put it into a suite instead...neither one of those (esp in vegas) is cheap. the only thing we depend on with vegas is that it's self entertaining, so if doug and I have to go do somethings ahead of time, it's all good and everyone has something to do - it worked great for our wedding.

the only way Doug and I know that everything we do for NJC is appreciated, is by who and how many show up to take advantage of the situation.

so, if things like this are gonna happen where we get 2/3 as no-shows, then doug and I might scrap the whole networking thing and just say "doods, we're going to vegas, anyone wanna meet us up there?" and be done with it....cuz then we don't have to set anything up and we, ourselves, can go play too. We don't do this for our benefit... it's for yours.

[Kristie]

and just to make it clear...the poll isn't for the folks that registered and then had to un-register due to something coming up.. the poll is for those who said they were coming - even PM'd me at the last minute saying they were coming - and then did not show. We just want to know if it was something we didn't offer, if it was something about accomodations or travel or if it was just *because*...that's all we're asking, cuz it'll really help us figure out whether or not to do an NJC next year.

your not going to hurt our feelings by saying "we just didn't want to come" or like what dazzler said about getting drunk...

NJC is an "at your own risk" event.. the only thing we do is make sure that your old enough to drink...we're there to provide the event, not police it....we don't make you do anything you don't want to and at our events, you have a right to speak up and say "knock it off" or who knows what...

again, the event is for you - the members - to meet & greet your fellow JCer's who might one day help you make the next step up careerwise...it's not for us. it's our way of "paying it forward"

[Doug Taylor]

Originally Posted by mpenguin1

Just off the top of my head, there were more than "20" no-shows, think about the cost involved, they could have had food & drinks for 40 people rather than 60.

That's exaaaactly my point.

These things are expensive and labor intensive to set up and you're literally in limbo for 8 months trying to figure out if X people are going to fit into a particular space, then registration may double to 2X so you start looking at other venues. Then you have 3X and we start sending out information to people about how many attendees we're going to have, plan food, beverages and timing around a certain amount of attendees.

To register and then say "can't make it!" a few weeks out is dandy, but to confirm shortly before an event occurs, we started thinking about if the SMS message was sent correctly, if people are lost in the hotel and a lot of time and effort is spent making sure everyone got the word where it's taking place because, after all, they confirmed their attendance.

Not that we're disturbed or upset, we're just trying to error check the system so we can continue to throw NJC events tailored to what our users are flying all the way out to Las Vegas for, or devolve the event into what we did back in 2003 which was a weekend-long 'meet and greet' without a centralized meeting point and thousands of dollars less expensive.

If we're throwing events that turn people off, or that don't seem worthwhile, we need to hear about it so we can re-tailor the event.

It's 100% planned around attendee feedback.

[Mr_Creepy]

I certainly hope you had time to pull my name tag.

I agree with Kristie about the contact information also - that should probably be kept private.

Doug I would gladly pony up a modest "registration fee" for next year, say around $100.

[Cruise]

I didn't attend and didn't say I would be attending......although I truely wanted to. It sounds like you guys had a blast. Unfortunately, I was flying. However, I totally agree on the small contribution to "hold" my spot in the future. If I no-show, I lose it. Show up and then I have a little gamblin' money! Or, if it's needed to offset the cost.......just have a small fee to attend.

Either way, I don't think that would be asking too much.