2013 KCBS Meeting thoughts
 

What'd everyone think?

Overall I thought it was a better experience than the last one I attended. (Philadelphia)

A few random thoughts:

• The plated dinner was a huge improvement
• If you're going to have a vendor show / area at least put a sign out.
• I would suggest having the rules meeting in a more private area

I thought the banquet meal was the best I have received. Lots of good food. My steak was done the way I like and was tender enough to cut with a butter knife.

And a plated meal is sure the way to go. Everybody got fed in a timely way.Repeat that: everyone got fed. And doing that efficiently is very difficult to do for this large a group.

Kudos to KCBS and the hotel for the banquet meal.

The sessions I attended were all good. Got good ideas from all of them. Would have been nicer if there was more separation between meeting area and vendor area. Just had to concentrate more to filter out the extra noise. But really liked having vendors there. No vendors in San Diego and that was a disappointment .

Rules meeting is going to be a boisterous tussle no matter where it is held. Just wish that there were more members there to participate. Thought the Dave did a great job running it though.

What I liked best was the organizers roundtable and marketing bootcamp. Thanks Jeff for doing a great job there.

Most of all it was a great time to reconnect with old friends and make new ones.

I have been to Philly, San Diego, and a couple in KC. None of them were bad. All were worth the time, effort , and expense in going to them. Looking forward to Nashville.

Sorry we didn't have a chance to chat (or maybe we did).

I thought the vendors got a little bit of the short end. There was no signage pointing out the vendors, and no one from KCBS even came over and said "hi". The vendors I hung out with had never been to one of these events and had no clue as to what was going on. A number of members were very helpful in making them feel welcome but if KCBS wants to continue to encourage new vendors they might want to consider having someone act as a vendor "host" for the new vendors to help them understand who and what we are.

I can see it from both sides. Personally, I bought knives from both vendors, books, a t-shirt and visited with every booth on the vendor side. I did not buy many contest raffle tickets! May not count as just strictly KCBS "host" since I did sorta have a table though I only spent Saturday afternoon there. I was disappointed that the turnout (vendor and public) was not what it was in 2011. Sign of the times, I'm afraid.

Banquet attendance in San Diego was about 280 last year and only 323 in Kansas City. Voter participation was up a bit this year -- 17% last year 18% this year. Both banquet participation and vote percentage show a "core" KCBS member base of about 20% of total numbers.

Yes you did and you were very warm and welcoming. It was nice having a neighbor on Saturday!

Slam Dunk- we may have talked. Don't know. We all need a Brethren pin so we know
who each other are when we have not met face to face yet. Were you over by Candy Sue's booth?

Candy Sue - was great to talk with you - as always.
It is good to continue to think of ways to make things better. The last banquet in KC was an anniversary for KCBS and got a lot of build up. Besides sign of the times, that could be why attendance was down a bit in KC this time. Did not see a lot of pre banquet hoopla.

Our table has had a history of not receiving food at the banquet, this year, it left a LOT to be desired, but, we received it. The exhibitor area....sparse, especially compared to 2011's showing. It makes me wonder if the price of poker went up. The Rules Meeting would probably have more participants if it didn't start in the middle of the day. Being the BBQ Capitol of the World, you'd think there'd be a planned bbq crawl, beer crawl, foodie fete or something to entertain folks.

Just some observations from the weekend . If you didn't know there was an exhibitor space, you would have never found it. As Steph stated, more options for planned events. Seemed like the only things that were pushed had to do with MMA and what they were selling. Wondering why it wasn't supported more by the local cooks? The meal... Everyone got a plate. Whether or not you would eat it might be an issue. Not sure about other tables, but you couldn't even eat the chicken.

It was chicken?????:shocked:

When we were sitting in the exhibit hall Friday afternoon wondering where everyone was I checked registration and was told that less than 60 of the expected 400 had shown up. On Saturday morning it looked to be about 100 so I suspect that there were no activities for Friday night since no one was coming in until Saturday afternoon.

Honestly I'm not sure I'd go to another one. The pork rule meeting was the same thing I heard in Philly; I don't really care what MMA has planned since it never seems to filter down to the membership; the Great American BBQ tour doesn't impact me in the least; I'm not an organizer looking to buy MMA services so the only reason to go is the raffle and the ToY awards.

When we had the BBQ expo on the east coast we had a number of break out sessions and mini classes on a variety of subjects during the day for people as well as couple of Friday evening activities such as group dinner reservations, show/activity tickets, a bar crawl, that kind of thing. If KCBS reached out to the membership I suspect that things like this could be made to happen at the next meeting. If not then it might as well be a one day event.

In what fashion? I believe, the exhibitor space was all MMA, in that they handled that portion of the program.

I took that gloppy stuff off the top of the beef, it didn't help. I didn't eat the chicken because someone at the table had taken a bite and warned us. The salad dressing was SALTY, and I like salt. We asked if it was possible to get a different dressing and were told no. The potatoes would have been better if they had been hot. The high point of dinner were the rolls.

Food and drink specials in the bar would be nice, it would have kept a LOT of revenue at the hotel, but, there weren't any. There was really no other place to congregate.

Sorry, not the exhibit area, but the banquet. Seemed like a bunch of locals werent there?

I think you might be missing something that was outstanding at the meal, Steph... the butter was top notch! :-P

For $60, you would expect a little better. I am thinking family style with pasta, beef, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies would be an upgrade.

I agree about a 'meeting place'. The banquet ended and that was it. It seemed rushed so the room would be empty by 10:30. Give the cooks a little credit for their awards. For some that may only be their time getting a top 25 ToY award.

And for those that say why dont you do it? I have sent Carolyn an email volunteering to have the banquet in Chicago. 2 world class airports, plenty of hotels, transportation, awesome good and restaurants.

would like to know if public was informed at all? was this advertised at all too try to get public to come to trade show? no goodie bags this year !!no general raffle this year for fun stuff. we got in later on friday,did any one do the scav.hunt ?glad we brought our own drinks!!

I've planned trade show hopsitality as part of my job and have been to hundreds of banquets like this one. For my part:

- Activities were non-existent. Do something fun and get people involved.
- For $60, buy me a couple beers with dinner.
- Put a welcome bag together with a few "goodies".
- Rent the room for the WHOLE night and get a DJ or band after the awards.

These are the people that MAKE KCBS possible, make us feel like you want us there and want us to have fun.

3 couples did the scavenger hunt.