2004 Nationals in Charlotte

[dekko]

We do have two places here in Charlotte that have very good wooden floors and they are very nice. I do know what it cost to install those floors. I suspect the price would be very high to put any kind of wood, even just under the strips, in the convention centers.

I know the carpet seems useless but really isn't that bad. Also, the USFA has purchased several strips moving to replacing the copper mesh commonly seen over the part few years. These are hollow, extruded aluminum and they do have some drawbacks but are very nice for the fencer. I don't think they have 50+ of these but they do have several and they will be in use at every nationals event, not just nationals.

If this is a real concern one thing that can be done to help the fencer is a very close look at the shoes they wear. Try to stay away from shoes with thin soles and tread. A shoe with a thick, soft sole and tread will help overcome a hard floor and help the knees and ankles.

[mlr2fence]

I vote to post the notices with the seedings, pools, DEs in many different places and with larger font. Fighting the masses to find strip assignments or the frequent looong treks to find out if they have even been posted since the PA announcements are usually indecipherable adds to long, tiring days.

[edew]

Don't expect to get wooden floors anymore. No large convention center will be able to afford to install and maintain 150K sqft of wooden floor. Many convention floors need to accept heavy machinery like cranes and lifters. A 2-ton truck will destroy a wooden floor.

Don't expect too many wooden floors.

[Victor]

Originally posted by Dee EffEll
Assign someone from the LOC to ride herd on a section (10?) of strips. Let the bout committee know which strips are in use in an event at all times. ...

Like a restaurant hostess?
"Fencing for 87? Would you prefer copper strip or non-copper strip? ... Ummm, the bus boy is just about finished cleaning up the blood from Strip 14. Janet will take you there now ... Hello! Welcome to USFA Summer Nats! How many are in your pool? ..."

[pacer]

The NAC's I've been to in Overland Park were well run. The convention center location had some employees just walking around the lobby area asking if anyone needed anything. They were great at giving directions to the amenities. (ahh, there was an espress bar!) Overland Park seemed to be large enough so everthing was in one place - not like the prior NAC in Louisville where rooms across the hall from each other led to some confusion. ( if that must be done, I agree with the suggestions that results, de's, and piste assignments be posted on something other than one 8-1/2 x 11 piece of paper.)

Chairs are always a problem - but I've taken to putting one of the collapsible camp chairs in my equipment bag.

[Mo]

You know those rubber interlocking things they have in restaurants??
-I would like those for me to stand on while I watch my kids fence. That way if I drop the camera, it won't break.
-Hey how about some lockers that you can put your stuff in and not worry about it getting ripped off??
-There should be at least two Latte Carts for enough coffee for everyone without having to stand in line.
-A temper tantrum room would be nice, maybe some padded walls so people who just spent $1000.53 could go in and yell and scream because they fenced a round of pools and lost their first DE. (like Inquartata)
-if someone gets the brilliant idea for a barbecue and firework display, charging the people 15 bucks a head, make sure they have enough food.
- a line for the referees to stand in with all the fencers passing by and engaging in madatory kowtowing.
-organized lines for anyone to stand in and get a shoulder massage, you know you kind of form a circle and everyone rubs the person in front of them?? Maybe every 2-3 hours.
-a waitperson taking drink orders....
-a dog walking service
-a free shuttle service to a water park
-have the USFA pay someone to play "Hail to the Chief" on a Kazoo whenever an elite fencer needs to get to their strip. All the non "hoi poloi" will be required to clear the way and hold their masks to their chests and weapons raised in a salute.
-all female division chairs should be given tiaras and free margaritas whenever needed.
-microphone kill switches located by flashing blue beacons where anyone in the venue can disconnect George K. if he begins one of his patented tirades: "If you are not a fencer or a referee...."
-on site physician with free sedatives for any parent whose child has reached the round of 8.
Just a few more ideas

[dekko]

Something tells me the $10-$15 collapsable chair has become standard equipment for these events, especially for lots of parents. The chairs issue is always complicated. They are expensive and usually part of the contract between the USFA and the cc. I hope this is not an issue at our event.

[Tireur]

All the non "hoi poloi" will be required to clear the way and hold their masks to their chests and weapons raised in a salute.

Actually the "hoi polloi" ARE the unwashed masses, it's just that the Three Stooges got it mixed up. As they were wont to do.

[dekko]

Mo,

So far most of the poasts have been useful and worth while, I am not sure what caused you to post this but this is not helpful or useful. Please keep this kind of banter to yourself.

[hello?]

I hope all events are held in the same room. Last year, at JOs, coaches who coached more than one weapon had to run from room to room and even from building to building.

[dekko]

I do remember JO's Colorado Springs and while that was by far the nicest hotel to ever host a national event it was a pain to have to get equipment checked in one room then hike about 1/2 a mile to where the sabre was being fenced. I still remember the annoucement the first day that a van was waiting outside to carry 2 epee pools to the other room for competing.

I have no doubt, with the possible exception of a finals room possibility, all the fencing will be in one room. This place is huge.

[Repechage]

Originally posted by dekko
Mo,

So far most of the poasts have been useful and worth while, I am not sure what caused you to post this but this is not helpful or useful. Please keep this kind of banter to yourself.

Would you stop trying to hush people up? Other people are also reading this thread, not just you. The post was funny and I enjoyed it.

[dreadfoily]

Not to belabor a POINT but, large gymnasiums have wooden floors, why hot try to find a University or large college to host the Nationals during the summer months, their students are off for the most part. They almost all have dorms they can rent out for a decent price and many are close to pretty good hotels. Almost all universities are built near hotels for guests to stay at. If they don't go this route, you'll end up forever bemoanng the loss of wooden floors

[Inquartata]

I HATE those sectioned aluminum strips. The cost to ankles and knees if one treads on the very edge of one is far worse than that to the legs from mere impact on a hard floor. I'd love to see the back of the dumpster taking them away for good...

[Mo]

Originally posted by dekko
Mo,

So far most of the poasts have been useful and worth while, I am not sure what caused you to post this but this is not helpful or useful. Please keep this kind of banter to yourself.

Dear Dekko,
If you cannot figure out why I do this I must tell you. "Banter" is fun. Some of my suggestions were valid.
You are kind of a control freak so I have to play with you. It is my obligation of a mom to help someone as ummm anal as yourself to lighten up and not take yourself so seriously.
Telling me and others to stay on topic is pedantic and annoying. From this post and perhaps best of all, thanks to Tireur, I learned that "Hoi Poloi" ARE the elite fencer types. Oh and if I don't harass Inquartata as much as possible he will think he is not liked. That would not be good.
Now, I need to find a music store for my source of kazoos.
So dude, lighten up for crying out loud.

[Mo]

Originally posted by Repechage
Would you stop trying to hush people up? Other people are also reading this thread, not just you. The post was funny and I enjoyed it.

Thanks dear.

[Capt. Slo-mo]

Originally posted by dekko
I am not sure what caused you to post this but this is not helpful or useful. Please keep this kind of banter to yourself.

Dekko: Paper bag, dude! Head lower than your knees! I hate to point this out, but you have zero ownership of a thread once it's been posted. Frankly, after four pages of replies, a little levity is much more interesting than your dour, lowered eyebrows, replete with huffing and puffing.

Besides, there are a few nuggets of wisdom buried inside Mo's facetiousness:

Originally posted by Mo
-Hey how about some lockers that you can put your stuff in and not worry about it getting ripped off??

After losing a $1,400 video camera that someone "borrowed" from a closed fencing bag in Orlando, some secure storage isn't a bad idea.

Originally posted by Mo
--There should be at least two Latte Carts for enough coffee for everyone without having to stand in line.

Take this as a suggestion that 8 hour old nuked coffee for $3.50 at the facility snack bar is not what we're all looking for.

Originally posted by Mo
---if someone gets the brilliant idea for a barbecue and firework display, charging the people 15 bucks a head, make sure they have enough food.??

This actually happened at Greenville. We also paid $15 a head to go to the "special" barbecue for fencers...less than 45 minutes after the event began, they were out of barbeque, and started peddling boiled hot dogs. Outside the building, other "non-official" food vendors also had an identical barbeque menu...for $5. If your organizers want to do something similiar, pay attention here and get it right.

Originally posted by Mo
--- a line for the referees to stand in with all the fencers passing by and engaging in madatory kowtowing..??

Again a nugget. At the Denver NAC a while back, the OC put Dr. Scholls insoles in each referee bag. Doing a little something extra for the refs is actually a great idea.

Originally posted by Mo
---a waitperson taking drink orders.....??

Given that many fencers have to grab a bite to eat in a hurry, why not encourage the food services folks to staff the cash registers with more than one yawning, romance-novel-reading matron who appears to be moving at a glacial clip?

Originally posted by Mo
---a free shuttle service to a water park.??

It's the South. It's the 4th of July. Some accomodation to the local water park is an excellent idea.

Originally posted by Mo
---microphone kill switches located by flashing blue beacons where anyone in the venue can disconnect George K. if he begins one of his patented tirades: "If you are not a fencer or a referee...."

Do a thread search for previous posts on this subject. You'll find a number of folks who'd wholeheartedly agree with this idea.

[KShan5[PrFC]]

Amen....every now and then you need some variation from the topic, expecially if it is humurous.

[CaptCosmo1]

A quandry:

Dekko requests meaningful suggestions and appeals to us to stay on target; not asking for such can result in a thread lacking point control (ugh).

The paradox: those objecting to Dekko's scolding appear to be scolding Dekko (oooh, aaah, hmmm)...

I vote for minimal flaming and diversion in favor of a thread most readers will find useful for event ideas.

Meanwhile, perhaps someone will start a separate "food fight and erudite nationals" combo thread for our collective amusement?

Fire Away (if you must),
Cosmo

[edew]

Originally posted by dreadfoily
Not to belabor a POINT but, large gymnasiums have wooden floors, why hot try to find a University or large college to host the Nationals during the summer months, their students are off for the most part. They almost all have dorms they can rent out for a decent price and many are close to pretty good hotels. Almost all universities are built near hotels for guests to stay at. If they don't go this route, you'll end up forever bemoanng the loss of wooden floors

Not all universities are built next to large hotels or groups of hotels.

The universities don't like to have their floors ruined.

The square footage of such a space may be only 50K, which is not nearly enough for a Summer Nationals.

Most universities have activities during the summer which use those facilities anyway (although if you plan ahead, you might be able to get reservation on these things). They're not cheap. Universities use these facilities as money makers, so they're not going to offer competitive rates like convention centers, which are there to help the local hotels.

Most hotels that are near the university won't be near enough to walk to the venue. For example, let's look at Stanford University. The several large gyms, Ford Gym and Maples Pavilion are all far away from decent hotels.

Same with UC Berkeley. Indeed, I know of no university with a large group of available hotels nearby. (But then, my intimate knowledge with universities is limited to about 6.)

It's possible to use the dorms, but that's not great either.

But the most important factor is that the universities don't like to have their floors trashed with strips and people banging their blades on the floor. Like I said, they're expensive, so they don't like them banged up.