[12990] in APO-L
Summer Conventions...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Christopher Nelms)
Tue Oct 17 02:28:36 1995
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 01:25:27 -0500
Reply-To: Christopher Nelms <Christopher_Nelms@TECHSOL.COM>
From: Christopher Nelms <Christopher_Nelms@TECHSOL.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Some issues and discussion.
Cost:
Hotel cost comparisons are irrelevant if data is taken from the media. The
hotels with which APO arranges contracts for convention space are negotiated to
the $40-50 price range. Hotels are in business for profits, they *never* begin
their side of the bargaining with a $40 room rate.
Meeting space is usually comped if room volume meets or exceeds projections.
Banquets are arranged, and negotiated in the same way as the room rates.
You'll recall that we have had the benefit of banquets at or about the same
prices for a few years now as well.
Airfares are largely irrelevant where undergraduates are concerned. It is fair
to say that about 80% of the undergraduates attending a National Convention
arrive by ground transportation such as chartered bus, private or rented van,
university van, or private car. Airfares affect alumni much more than
undergraduate brothers.
Also worth remembering is that *virtually all* hotel properties are trying to
attract the vacation traveler(s) during the summer. With the noted exception
of the rocky mountain ski basin region, and new england attracting large crowds
during the winter. They simply don't have to deal during the summer.
Regardless of whether 'cost isn't the only issue', cost does impact
participation. The combination of a summer convention with increased cost,
will be reduced attendance numbers.
Time Flexibility:
Many universities and colleges, especially those offering accelerated programs
are on a trimester system. The summer break for these brothers is quite a bit
shorter than those on a semester calendar system. Yet even the trimester
calendar permits a Christmas break of sufficient duration that brothers from
these campuses can participate in a convention held during the break.
Summer is work, or potentially co-op time for many students. Our 4 day
convention would disrupt summer work or co-op schedules.
Safety:
You could make the argument that winter driving conditions are often worse than
summer conditions. For the majority of the US you'd be right.
Accidents occur in summer as well. In fact, since road conditions are so good
during the summer, and since the speed limits have been turned over to the
states to control, effectively making all rural interstat speed limits 65 mph,
this can encourage drivers, all drivers, to exceed the speed limit. I've
noticed that I drive a lot more carefully, and slower overall, in winter than
in summer conditions.
I coordinated the *blizzard* convention in St. Louis in 1990. During the
convention, some brothers coming in from the east had a rollover accident. As
I recall, everyone was OK, but one brother did spend some time in the hospital
for what seemed to be some pretty serious injuries. I mention this only so you
realize that I am *keenly* aware of the safety aspect.
Air travel is really no less dangerous in summer than winter. I'ven personally
flown over 275,000 air miles over the last 2 years, thats at least 2 flights a
week, every week, since January 24, 1994. The difference is the condition of
the ground in winter that makes for treacherous flying. Runways ice over, snow
cover, etc... Its usually landing thats the issue. In some cases, aircraft
wings must be de-iced immediately before take-off. Icing occurs when ice
builds up on the leading edge of the wing and diminshes the wing's ability to
generate lift.
In summer its unstable air that causes most of the problems. High pressure
systems meeting up with low pressure systems, thunderstorms, tornadoes,
thermals, hurricanes exacerbating weather conditions far up from the gulf into
the US. Flying has its own set of problems no matter what the season.
Some additional points to ponder.
Chris Nelms, Director
Region VIII - Alpha Phi Omega
