In a message dated 6/14/02 8:27:52 AM Central Daylight Time,
Jkinser77@aol.com writes:
> I have a maybe stupid question, but WHO has the say so and decides on where
> and who has a divisional?
For the SEDiv, the Solo2 Steward controls the program decisions within the
general parameters specified by the division. I report to the senior
divisional management, abide by the treasurer's accounting methods, and
follow the guidelines specified in the Solo2 rulebook. Otherwise the rest of
the decisions are made by me with some input from the membership. Most of
my decisions are influenced by the time I can devote from my business and
personal situations. Three or four events per year is the limit that I can
accommodate, frankly more than two is pretty tough for me personally.
A divisional Solo2 town hall meeting is held annually at the Area 3 Meeting &
Awards banquet. That's the time for people to come forward and have their
say in the divisional series. We often take votes from those attending to
decide some of the specifics of the series. Rarely do we ever have any firm
schedule dates in place that early in the year. It's hard for the regions to
have any site dates locked in that early in the year. We try to account for
National, Pro Solo, and specialty local events, plus the Steward's personal
schedule. Manuevering through all that is not easy.
Also, none of the sites selected for 2002 are free or low cost. That
business model has changed as the financial status of the program has
improved. When I took over the series it had just ended it's first year in
the black with $800 in the bank. That's no reflection on the person I
succeeded, Mark Chiles. Mark revived the series by borrowing money from the
division and obtaining substantial sponsorship. Mark has an uncanny talent
for attracting sponsorship; deep down he's really a likeable guy. Back when
he ran the Central Florida series he obtained sponsorship & contingency for
the regional program that rivaled the National Tour events! Mark Chiles &
Brenda Ashburn did an outstanding job with the series. I still to this day
cannot fill their shoes.
With Mark's departure, the writing was on the wall that we were going to lose
several thousand dollars a year in sponsorship. When I took over the series
I stated that my one primary goal was to build upon Mark's solid foundation
to make the program financially solid. Just like a CEO that's responsible
for making a business a financial success, I had some hard, short-term
decisions to make for the long-term benefit of the program.
Putting on an event at an expensive site is a significant financial
undertaking. If the turnout isn't sufficient, you can lose some serious
money. It's not unusual for a large number of entrants to decide at the last
minute not to attend an event if the weather channel predicts it will rain
cats & dogs all weekend long. It was my decision that we could not afford to
take such risk due to our financial status at that time. We have to clear
approx. $2,500/year from the events to maintain the current quality of
year-end class championship trophies.
As the start of achieving this end goal, it was my sole decision to focus on
free or low cost sites because these have the least risk of a large financial
loss. Unfortunately, the trade-off from the low financial risk is the
volatility of securing the site. We had a number of cancelled dates and only
2 events/year for the last two years. Trust me, when the military decides
they are going to use a site instead of us on the Wednesday before the event,
I do not enjoy having to spend the late evenings of my business trip
personally phoning 140 people to say I'm sorry but the events been cancelled
at the last minute for reasons beyond our control.
Just like any financial venture, the last two years were not easy. As
happens in this scenario, doing what's required is a struggle and burden for
all involved. However, our struggle has paid off. We've been extremely
fortunate for the weather to reasonably cooperate with us at almost every
event. After we closed out all our bills at the end of 2001, we now have a
sufficient financial buffer on which to fall back on. We have since taken on
these more expensive site risks.
Based on the increased entry turnout for 2002, the SEDiv program is going to
have a banner year. This program is now ready to move on to the next level
and rise to new heights with someone else at the helm. It's up to the
membership under the direction of Karl Rickert to chart the course of the
series in 2003. If possible, I'll be available to assist in any way that I
can, as Mark & Brenda did for me. Maybe Karl has the time to devote to
hosting more events or is more open to changing the operation of the series
from the traditional format that I followed. That's totally up to him and
each of you. It's your series, what do you want?
If you want to be heard then I strongly suggest you attend the Area 3 Solo
meetings. However, don't be like some people; sit there like a bump on the
log and not open your mouth, then lay off some mistakenly scathing post or
article at a later date. Nothing positive can be accomplished that way.
Mark Sipe
SEDiv Solo2 Steward
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