*** Post JAE 2008 discussions thread ***

[Sted]

 

I think you have some good questions there but as a member of a couple of years or so I must have got some things wrong. Last year JAE ran like clockwork and although there were a couple of issues it ran a damn sight better than the event I have just been to. I was of the impression that this club had at around 8 moderators and a few events organisers and that the club had a hierachial structure both on the internet AND at meetings.

 

Last year the event was attented by a large number of mods and everything went well, we even won the best club stand. What I have just seen and someone please tell me if I'm wrong, is Daman C have the whole responsiblilty of this event dropped on his shoulders, he spent £1500 of his own money and never really got a minute to relax and enjoy the event. We arrived to be told that there was no drink at that time and that Ian R hadn't turned up.....:blink: We were later told that Steve R and Ian R had agreed that Ian was not coming at all and that Steve had not told Daman? Why was this chain of communication not made a lot simpler by just talking to Daman directly?

 

 

Darryl, Dragonlady is not alone in her feelings on this issue.

 

I had a great JAE in truth as the event is what you make it!! I personally expected a presence from the moderators and the events organisers, there were times during this weekend where decisions needed to be made and there was no one to take responsibility. Daman has done a wonderful job and he gets my sincere thanks and a massive amount of respect from me personally as I would have lost my rag within the first hour that things started to go wrong. He has been back and forth to the cash and carry, ASDA, attended a wedding on the Saturday afternoon. I can't believe for one minute that he has enjoyed this event but surely he will clarify this himself as I can only state what I saw and heard there.

 

On the whole I had a great time, met some new members, was disappointed that a lot of my other favourite members didn't attend. I lost my car on the Thurday night as the garage hadn't fixed my ball joint problem. After sulking and saying that we were not going I changed my mind on the Friday morning and took the BMW. The drive there took an eternity and was a lot longer than I was expecting. We get there to sounds of chaos and no food, we were on the wrong pitch and nobody had any real answers. The JAE events people tried to extend our patch but this was during Damans absence which left me and Ian Ian making decisions that may not have been to everyones liking. We got pi$$ed and ate well and as all members do on events like this, had a really good laugh at times. Daman and Nikita came to our group to apologise to us as they felt that we had not had a good time, this for me was quite upsetting as it showed that they obviously felt like thay had let people down and they were quite clearly stressed out and out of pocket. They were told how much we appreciated their efforts. We left at mid day today and only got back 6 hours later with only one toilet stop. I am of the opinion that this event was good as so many people helped out and had a great laugh, it just could have been so much better with a bit of guidance and more brains think about all of the possibilities.

 

Thanks again to Daman, Nikita, Dibbley, Steve and Diane Crane.

 

H.

 

 

 

Another big thank you though to Daman C and all who did so much this weekend. The club came into it's own as when needed everyone helped out and made a success of it.

[Branners]

Not sure how mods supporting the event would have changed anything.

 

Its already been said that many of those who went last year didnt go this year. The mods had nothing to do with that. The change of date, change of venue, change of distance, difficulty in getting there all contributed.

 

The mods had very little to do with JAE last year, Tom ran it with a group of volunteers. We may have been there but Tom handled it all, and I expected this year to be no different.

 

I can see this is going to rumble on and on. The mods were not there and there will be other events where the events organisers run it and we dont attend. Japshow at Pod is an example of where Lui runs it all and we dont get involved.

 

You can all cling on to the view that the mods led to the downfall of this event and use that as an excuse. But at some point we have to look at all the reasons there were problems and not assume that moderators are super human and can fix any issue.

[mawby]

Thanks Harvard, you've given a nice overview of the good and bad that happened whilst Daman was away which is helpful in making sure these problems don't happen again.

 

To everyone, please don't think that we, the moderators, did nothing for events. We often attend events and have the same nightmare Daman did - running around trying to sort out issues, spending our own money when needed, and generally sacraficing our 'great time' to ensure the members have one. That was one reason I decided to introduce a team of events organisers so the moderators could have an easier, more enjoyable time at events. I thought that was the least we deserved given the number of hours we give up for the club each and every day. Unfortunately this year for various reasons no moderators could make JAE, and it was also regrettable that Daman was the only events organiser that could attend. This certainly was not intended and we'll try to ensure it doesn't happen again. But as with all events they are normally only successfull because the members pull together and turn an event into a 'great event'. It sounds like this happened at JAE so hopefully the majority of members did enjoy themselves and we thank all of those who helped support the club on the day.

[Supradoopa]

Got loads of pictures, haven't got software to re-size them for here (old laptop got nicked in burglary

 

Have put them in my FaceBook account... search under 'Pamela Reeves'!

 

EDIT: Try this... http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=730997804

Please mention mkiv (I get some very weird friend's requests!)

 

(Still trying to work out how to add the video!)

 

 

Added

 

I would like to see some pics rather than look through endless posts of arguments Hope everyone had a great time, certainly sounded like it.

 

Pete

[Stevie Boy]

As already said, a BIG thanks to Daman, Dibbley, Steve and their very helpful better halfs!

 

Great seeing some new and old faces as always with these events.

 

The weekend could have been a real shambles considering the circumstances, but in my opinion turned out the be a good crack and great show of club spirit with most members mucking in to try and make things a bit easier for Damon and Co.

 

Weather was fantastic, i now look like i spent the weekend in a George Forman Grill , unforunately not looking any leaner after all the burgers, sausages and alcohol i chucked down my neck.

 

Hope weather next year is as good and with some better organisation will be a weekend not to be missed off anyones calender!

[michael]

So in summary Tom is better than Daman when it comes to organising JAE and SteveR and IanR ran off with the money... right, let's move on.

[RedM]

So in summary Tom is better than Daman when it comes to organising JAE and SteveR and IanR ran off with the money... right, let's move on.

 

Michael! Why I oughta.....

[Dragonlady]

So in summary Tom is better than Daman when it comes to organising JAE and SteveR and IanR ran off with the money... right, let's move on.

 

That's out of order, Daman did a dam good job under very difficult circumstances and we do not know what happened with the money.

[Havard]

So in summary Tom is better than Daman when it comes to organising JAE and SteveR and IanR ran off with the money... right, let's move on.

 

Sounds fair to me.......

 

Thanks for the feedback Mawby. It will take a lot more than a couple of cock ups to bring this club down. I just feel that we are the best club by a mile and although I have recently considered selling my car, it is now very far from happening as the club is full of great personalities and selfless individuals. I really hope that in future national events we can show a few other owners clubs how things should be done.

 

As with all the events/meets I have been to, we could all have fun at an insurance seminar!! It is what you make of it at the end of the day and although I had a few rants, I have had a great time and made some real friends!!

 

H.

[Mrs H]

That's out of order, Daman did a dam good job under very difficult circumstances and we do not know what happened with the money.

 

 

 

Vicki x

[Dr_Doom]

Well I had an excellent weekend & it was really nice to see everyone again! A massive thanks to Daman & everyone else that helped it happen You did a superb job!

 

What can I say that hasn’t been said?

 

In my opinion, we are one of the biggest and best car clubs. I’m proud to be a member and I’m sure everyone else is. JAE is our annual opportunity to show this in a public light but unfortunately, for whatever reason, we were really short on numbers this year. Our club winning best stand last year seems to have upped the ante and there were some very impressive ones this year, a lot different to JAE at Peterborough (not too sure about the GTO OC Christmas fancy dress party on Saturday night though lol!). Admittedly the location wasn’t ideal but seeing as though it’s only once a year I didn’t mind the long drive. Maybe there are sour grapes about it being moved from Peterborough and people whinging about it being too far away but the distance definitely didn’t affect the other clubs, they had massive turnouts! I think we were struggling to outnumber the Primera owners club next to us! The Irish Jap Car club managed to attend (seriously:)) and other clubs had members drive all the way from Sweden!

At the end of the day I (and everyone else) had a superb weekend due to Daman etc. working exceptionally hard unfortunately I do think though that JAE is way too big an event for one person to organise. Hopefully next year a lot more people will get involved regardless of location and we can show that mkivsupra is still the best Japanese car club!

 

[Guest CoolsBlue]

That's out of order, Daman did a dam good job under very difficult circumstances and we do not know what happened with the money.

 

Why do you need to know what happened to the money? lets leave that for the mods to sort out, i dont think it is any of your business.

[michael]

That's out of order, Daman did a dam good job under very difficult circumstances and we do not know what happened with the money.

 

I'm not suggesting Daman did anything less than an amazing job under the reported circumstances, I'm just saying that feedback from yourself and others suggests it simply wasn't good enough compared to the work Tom did last year.

 

As for the money... we'll see where their postcard comes from I guess.

[jevansio]

You just know this thread will be locked/moved by the morning

[Ian Ian]

Ooh, so much to say and such little time for me to post before I go back to sleep!!:d

 

 

 

Hi Michael.........

 

I think you have some good questions there but as a member of a couple of years or so I must have got some things wrong. Last year JAE ran like clockwork and although there were a couple of issues it ran a damn sight better than the event I have just been to. I was of the impression that this club had at around 8 moderators and a few events organisers and that the club had a hierachial structure both on the internet AND at meetings.

 

Last year the event was attented by a large number of mods and everything went well, we even won the best club stand. What I have just seen and someone please tell me if I'm wrong, is Daman C have the whole responsiblilty of this event dropped on his shoulders, he spent £1500 of his own money and never really got a minute to relax and enjoy the event. We arrived to be told that there was no drink at that time and that Ian R hadn't turned up.....:blink: We were later told that Steve R and Ian R had agreed that Ian was not coming at all and that Steve had not told Daman? Why was this chain of communication not made a lot simpler by just talking to Daman directly?

 

 

 

Yes mate. I offered him a grand or two to get him out of the mess he was in.

 

 

 

Great post....;)

 

 

 

Darryl, Dragonlady is not alone in her feelings on this issue.

 

I had a great JAE in truth as the event is what you make it!! I personally expected a presence from the moderators and the events organisers, there were times during this weekend where decisions needed to be made and there was no one to take responsibility. Daman has done a wonderful job and he gets my sincere thanks and a massive amount of respect from me personally as I would have lost my rag within the first hour that things started to go wrong. He has been back and forth to the cash and carry, ASDA, attended a wedding on the Saturday afternoon. I can't believe for one minute that he has enjoyed this event but surely he will clarify this himself as I can only state what I saw and heard there.

 

On the whole I had a great time, met some new members, was disappointed that a lot of my other favourite members didn't attend. I lost my car on the Thurday night as the garage hadn't fixed my ball joint problem. After sulking and saying that we were not going I changed my mind on the Friday morning and took the BMW. The drive there took an eternity and was a lot longer than I was expecting. We get there to sounds of chaos and no food, we were on the wrong pitch and nobody had any real answers. The JAE events people tried to extend our patch but this was during Damans absence which left me and Ian Ian making decisions that may not have been to everyones liking. We got pi$$ed and ate well and as all members do on events like this, had a really good laugh at times. Daman and Nikita came to our group to apologise to us as they felt that we had not had a good time, this for me was quite upsetting as it showed that they obviously felt like thay had let people down and they were quite clearly stressed out and out of pocket. They were told how much we appreciated their efforts. We left at mid day today and only got back 6 hours later with only one toilet stop. I am of the opinion that this event was good as so many people helped out and had a great laugh, it just could have been so much better with a bit of guidance and more brains think about all of the possibilities.

 

Thanks again to Daman, Nikita, Dibbley, Steve and Diane Crane.

 

H.

 

 

I Agree with Paul and Dragonlady, Lyndz, Mrs H etc etc

 

Ive just like to add i was disapointed at the turn out BOTH by the Mods and everyone else after last year with all the bad weather we had there there still was a good "turn out" but this year looks like its been as Brian says " been hung out to dry " because of the location maybe ? but myself and others came down from the N/West and it was only another 1 and 1/2 hours further down from Peterborough ....to me thats ok if your stopping the whole weekend,

 

I would like to point out there should have been a Mod there so we could have ( what we have on the past JAE events ) a prize giving ie best car at show and the Rik Gardner award etc etc have these all been sidelined now as well as the Charity contributions we have done in the past

 

 

I would like to add my thanks to Daman and Nikita, Wayne ( dibley ) Steve and Diane Crane for all your efforts you did a top job

 

 

Cheers

-Ian-

[Dragonlady]

Why do you need to know what happened to the money? lets leave that for the mods to sort out, i dont think it is any of your business.

 

Why are you always attacking I was merely replying to Michael's post.

[Mrs H]

Why do you need to know what happened to the money? lets leave that for the mods to sort out, i dont think it is any of your business.

 

I'm not sure I agree, that money was paid by members? I also think Dragonlady's point was that it was a little out of order to state that someone 'ran off' with it:blink:

 

Vicki x

[Havard]

Why do you need to know what happened to the money? lets leave that for the mods to sort out, i dont think it is any of your business.

 

You are doing well tonight.......: It was nice to meet you there, thanks for your support........FFS!!

 

H.

[Dragonlady]

You are doing well tonight.......: It was nice to meet you there, thanks for your support........FFS!!

 

H.

 

Funny we were just thinking the same lol

[Guest CoolsBlue]

Why are you always attacking I was merely replying to Michael's post.

 

Becuase your pretty much chatting a load of shit. YOU my dear were the first one to have a little old rant on a public forum and start this of, look at everyone elses post up until yours, if you wernt happy with it you should of contacted a mod. I was really trying not to be rude, but you should of just kept your mouth shut. I mean come one, what do you have to do with the money?!

 

Also im a little bored...of this thread...i think it needs to be locked personally. Ready for the next one to be made.

Edited August 31, 2008 by CoolsBlue (see edit history)

[Pixelfill]

I Agree with Paul and Dragonlady, Lyndz, Mrs H etc etc

 

Ive just like to add i was disapointed at the turn out BOTH by the Mods and everyone else after last year with all the bad weather we had there there still was a good "turn out" but this year looks like its been as Brian says " been hung out to dry " because of the location maybe ? but myself and others came down from the N/West and it was only another 1 and 1/2 hours further down from Peterborough ....to me thats ok if your stopping the whole weekend,

 

I would like to point out there should have been a Mod there so we could have ( what we have on the past JAE events ) a prize giving ie best car at show and the Rik Gardner award etc etc have these all been sidelined now as well as the Charity contributions we have done in the past

 

 

I would like to add my thanks to Daman and Nikita, Wayne ( dibley ) Steve and Diane Crane for all your efforts you did a top job

 

 

Cheers

-Ian-

 

I'd just like to point out that due to the number of members who had definitely indicated they were going to JAE it had already been decided beforehand that the Rik Gardiner trophy would be presented at SupraPod.

 

Mike

[Havard]

Becuase your pretty much chatting a load of $#@!. YOU my dear were the first one to have a little old rant on a public forum and start this of, look at everyone post up until yours, if you wernt happy with it you should of contacted a mod. I was really trying not to be rude, but you should of just kept your mouth shut. I mean come one, what do you have to do with the money?!

 

Also im a little bored...of this thread...i think it needs to be locked personally. Ready for the next one to be made.

 

Just for the record. I was going to post up any complaints but I went to bed when I got home and I was fooked from all the driving........

 

Congrats on your moderator status......

 

H.

[mawby]

The money aspect doesn't need to be discussed here. We will sort it with Daman privately. He will not be out of pocket.

 

Now please, lets hear the good not the same old bad otherwise you're not convincing me or the other mods that we should spend this much time and money again on next years JAE.

[Guest CoolsBlue]

Just for the record. I was going to post up any complaints but I went to bed when I got home and I was fooked from all the driving........

 

Congrats on your moderator status......

 

H.

 

Well lucky you didnt or it would of been a instant ban:innocent::D

[Swampy442]

Didnt go to JAE, was never planning to attend, but having a good old read of this thread. If mods, or lack of is the percieved problem then appoint more mods? im a mod on another smaller site and its purely an admin task, as said before editing posts etc but when there are meets I assist in running. This is a big club, with alot members. Maybe appointing a group of dedicated Events personnel whos sole job it is to run meets etc? 2 pence chipped in, I thankyou