symposiums.....

[rick stoehrer]

with many of us having travelled far and away this year for instruction, classes and assessments, i am wondering what kind of interest we could generate within the club for a kind of skills based east coast symposium? something for EVERYONE on the water from 2 star to 5 star....get us all on board. hell, we could maybe even inlcude those twigger heretics! just like in georgia. there's room at the paddling table for all so pull up a seat damnit...nobody cares what anyone paddles...just paddle!

could we generate enough interest (and by interest, i suppose i mean MONEY and TIME) that would make an northeast coast symposium feasible? could we generate the buzz and the bucks to get it off the ground?

what would it take to get folks like shawna and leon from the west coast? to get nigel dennis, nigel foster, to get karen knights, steve maynards to make time? for that matter, tom is literally world class, right up the road and can draw the talent, kids.....if we could get them...could we have something local like dale has down in georgia then we would get the folks repping their wares ....could we get something going?

not an nspn event, something bigger. the interest and commitment would initially come from our and other clubs as members of one big paddling culture - sure, but not just us or ricka or connyak, bskc or any one club. everybody, all, en toto. we keep talking about what the club is, what we do, should do, etc....what better place to have this discussion? what about we help organize or drive such a thing? that'd be a mark and a certainly a worthy acheivement towards our overall goal of on water safety.

so think about it....where could we do this? would we want to do this? when could we do this? could we draw enough of the paddling community together?

before anything "is" someone, somewhere dreamed of it....dream on it.

maybe i'm way, way off base, maybe it's not a good idea or there'd never be enough folks, time, venue, etc....but the way i'm thinking this morning, those are all excuses.

[cathyfoley]

Rick:

I like the idea....count me in as a volunteer to help with anything you need. Having never attended one, I would think the first place to start is getting as much information as we can from the people who have been to one. Then get some interested folks together, create a task list, divided up the task and get to work on it.

[rick stoehrer]

see? there's one!

...and so the grass roots "we want a skills based symposium" campaign starts...

come on folks!

[Suz]

Count me in!

Suzanne

[jason]

Please count me in to. I please let me know what I can do to help.

Thanks -Jason

[Bill Gwynn]

Rick, This is such a great idea!!! Not having ever been to a symposium, I don't have a good feel for what the requirements are for the venue, ie lodging/camping, water conditions, surf, tidal rips, etc. I am going to the Sweetwater Kayaks BCU week/Symposium this February in Florida, so I will have a better idea what it's all about. Count me in to help however I can.

[scamlin]

It would be exciting to have one here in the northeast and there is an unfilled need, but the economics and the near saturation of mega events in the kayaking world make it imperative to find the right time and niche. It seems every outfitter and retailer on the east coast has its own symposium or 'paddle days', so there are a lot of competing events.

Based on what I saw at Sea Kayak Georgia, it takes a HUGE amount of work as well as infrastructure (meeting space, housing, dining or restaurants, transportation, launch facilities, boats for those from away, gear to rent/loan, reservations, administration, etc.). Not to mention someone or several entities willing to put cash up front and absorb the risks. And realistically, it may take a few years to develop it to a point where it would pay for itself.

I think it would be difficult to pull off without the sponsorship/collaboration of one or more outfitters as well as some vendors. Not to mention the ability to pull in some well-known and highly-regarded instructors as a draw.

What is the target audience: general kayaking or advanced paddlers? Vendors or training? BCU only or ACA too? Or non-certification courses? What would be different and attractive? A BCU symposium on the known model but in a different location and at a different time of year?

How would it be distinguished from, say, the Gulf of Maine Sea Kayak Symposium in July? That event is sponsored by a number of small scale commercial outfits in Maine and a large number of volunteers. The clubs attend and do some promotion, but are not organizers. GOMSKS brings in some of the same instructors and vendors we see at the BCU symposiums here and on the west coast, but the event is not oriented towards BCU instruction.

Great idea; lots to think about.

Scott

[Brian Nystrom]

I've been part of organizing large events before (archery tournaments that drew 1200-1400 competitors annually), so I feel somewhat qualified to speak on the subject. As Scott pointed out, it takes a LOT of work. You'll need a substantial and dedicated staff of volunteers to pull it off. We managed to do it profitably (that is, we didn't lose our a$$e$) for three years running, but we had some things going for us:

1) My (now ex) wife worked in the trade show industry and had a background in event organization.

2) We owned a related business that helped cover some of the costs.

3) We were well known within our industry and had many close corporate contacts.

4) There was an annual trade show that we attended where we could drum up support for the event while we were there buying product for the business.

5) We had an exceptional core of incredibly dedicated volunteers to help us. Most of them stayed with us for all three years, but by the end of the third event, many were burned out and probably would not have done a forth event, at least not on a volunteer basis.

While successful events have been run with much less, you need every advantage you can get.

I like the idea of working with an established event like GOMSKS, but IMO, their location is a double-edged sword. On the downside, they're simply too far away from the bulk of paddlers in the Northeast. On the plus side, there's a huge facility with all the necessary infrastructure, the Maine Maritime Academy, that's got nothing going on during the summer. Which begs the question, where would you hold such an event in the greater Boston area?

One avenue that's worth exploring is to see if there's a coastal town that's willing to get behind such an event as a means of boosting the local economy. That might be difficult, though, since the coast is flooded with more visitors than it can handle every summmer. Locally, you'd probably be forced to have the event off-season. Fall would be the best draw, but then you're competing several other other local kayaking events, not to mention other unrelated events. Unless a private location for the event can be found, you're likely to find yourself competing for resources and dates.

From a financial standpoint, getting industry sponsorship would be pretty much a must if you have any hope of getting it off the ground, as these types of events are costly. For example, the tournament I referred to cost $40,000 per year to put on, and that was using a location that was provided free by Anheuser-Busch. The business I owned at the time ponied up some of the up-front cost and we got some ad revenues in advance, but it was still a huge risk, as participant registrations accounted for the bulk of revenues. All it would have taken was some bad weather and we would have lost our shirts. IIRC, GOMSKS lost a lot of money in its first year. I'm not sure if they did any better this year or not.

I DO like the idea of a major event here and we certainly have the market for it. It will take a lot of planning and organization and realistically, you'd be looking at an '06 date. While the idea is definitely worth exploring, I have reservations about whether a coastal event is feasible in the local area.

[donperry]

I think Falmouth has great potential for a post-Labor Day event. Chances for good weather are best around that time and the business community would probably be more than happy to extend the summer season a little. The water is warm and there are paddling conditions there for everyone from Woods Hole to the Islands or just inside on the salt ponds.

[wernermaas]

Rick,

this is a great idea!!

Having just been to the NorCal Symposium in California, I have seen firsthand that these events can be run on many different levels:

-Running a symposium from a camp or campground brings down costs as well as organizational efforts;

-Limiting the number of participants allows one to better plan the number of instructors needed;

-Offering a large variety of short-courses (2 and 3 hour events) make the symposium attractive to a larger crowd, i.e. not just the BCU track folks;

-IMHO a mix of both local and guest instructors would please more people;

Anyway, not enough time now to continue, but count me in if you want to brainstorm to develop this idea further.

Werner

[Guest guest]

I think a BCU Symposium similar to the Sea Kayak GA BCU Week would be a worthwhile event. I'm not sure if most people know what those events are like. I do know some folks bristle at the very mention of BCU and I think this comes from misunderstandings. I can tell you that in the 30 years I've been involved in all kinds of kayaking, the BCU Coaches are the some of the most highly skilled, well informed, and quality controlled group in paddling. I went to the BCU Week in GA.; came in with an open mind and left with one of the best experiences I've had in kayaking.

It's a pretty straight forward event based on BCU Star awards or BCU Coaching awards with some other special classes on Greenland Skills, Surfing, Strokes, etc. No boat building, no bird watching or naturalist type things that are well covered in the other symposiums already, like Arctic Boat in CT, Newfound Rendezvous in NH, Goose Hummock in MA, GOMSKS in ME, LLBean ME, UNH- Kittery TradePost etc.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think NSPN needs to run such an event?? It's a full time job putting it together, probably best left to professionals. If it is demonstrated that there is sufficient interest and real commitment to participate as students, the local BCU Center at Atlantic Kayak and Mikco will probably call in the troops from Anglesey like they do in GA.