[Pushing Fifty]

And Al, FWIW, I sincerely Do admire how ToD started just a few years back and grew quickly. For whatever reason, TSD has hit too many bumps and isn't even close. Part of that could indeed be me and my lack of promotional skill, but what is seriously missing in any semblance of TSD planning is dialogue. People start talking up ToD and to a lesser extent, RTR for weeks prior to those respective events, and then, even for a while afterwards. Conversely, I have to pull teeth to get more than 3 people talking about TSD, at least on FB. A HUGE pet peeve of mine is being ignored, and for reasons that baffle me, this seems to be normal FB protocol. People have come to believe that not responding to an invitation is the same as saying either, "not interested," or "not sure." I get my hopes up when 2-3 people say something like, "Yeah, this sounds cool, tell me more about it," then nothing, either for weeks or never again. It's not just TSD, either. I've run into the same trouble in a couple of Passat/All-VW FB groups as well. Put simply, the art of RSVP no longer applies, and that is something that really, really, upsets me. To me, a non-response/failure to follow up is a blow-off, Period. The first thing I look at when I go onto FB is Notifications, especially those from specific groups. So whatever you guys did with ToD worked. As for my attempts at putting stuff together? Not so much.....No matter how busy someone may be or how much of an other life they may have outside of VW stuff, it takes no more than 10 seconds to type something like, "Not sure, or "Sorry, I can't make it." To add, if they're not looking at their notifications to check updates to a specific event, then in my book, they're not really interested in it in the first place.

 

[scarabY2k]

Pat, as one of the T.O D. planners, one vital key to a events survival and success, is positivity. The body of your post, albeit pointing true points, has a negative vibe. All we can do is throw out positive bait and P.R., hoping others will not only reply, but attend.

We're working and communicating with adults; living their own lives, schedules and issues. If YOU are the sole person bumping the thread, keep bumping and promoting, and do so with positivity and good energy. A potential GtG attendee seeing a promo thread with nothing but lament and negativity, will be soured on attending. Folk want to be welcomed to an event; reading pessimism and cynicism only pushes folk away and makes them reluctant to post and reply.

T.O.D grew not in and of itself. First it started with a network of friends on the org; a repoire was generated long before T.O.D. ever started. Long before T.O.D., Gary started a "meet and eats" GtG, in Savannah; followed by Michelle's Stone Mountain GtG. After Stone Mountain, Gary and the rest of the now maiden voyagers, came to a consensus on what is now T.O.D.
This cascade of events took time, yet it's results lit up the new beetle scene on the east coast. We even had a 2-year run of a Dreher Island, S. Carolina GtG.

T.O.D. wasn't done in a microwave...it takes time, enthusiasm and self initiative- promoting when others don't. T.O.D ran into a speed bump some.years back concerning bumping, promoting and replying- T.O.D almost died because of it. We rebooted, restarted the thread and got the ball rolling again. So I come to you out of experience on building an event via forums and how to keep it alive.

As a planner, you have to keep some to most of your frustrations left off of forums and social media..If you must, You really have to find a way to be more diplomatic about your posts- find a way to make your concerns more palatable. You draw flies better with honey and not vinegar.

Hence the reason for a core planning group. We can express frustrations/concerns and work out a way to express them in a more positive light.

Keep it positive and bang the drum, even if you're the only one in the band. Others will join in, just give it time. Dustin and Randi are just the right people for the job. Besides, their infusion of youth, is the life's blood every event needs.

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[Pushing Fifty]

For a while, my discouragement, which I see could very well be interpreted as negativity,was limited to PMs that nobody could see but the recipient I voiced my frustrations to, but after a while, I felt they needed to be seen publicly. I thought maybe, just maybe, more people would be sympathetic to my concerns and start talking. Part of that is my years on the Vortex long before the Org and/or FB. I'd like to believe that I've never crossed the line of making needlessly cruel remarks as some Texers are well-versed in doing, but rather the truth, to get people thinking.

Speaking of negativity, I find that Orgers referring to O1M automatic transmissions as the "autotragic" or just plain "junk" is just as negative if not more so than me trying to get people to see where I'm coming from in regard to discussions about events. It's one thing for someone to say, "VW automatics have been problematic to a few owners" and quite another to say, "If you have an automatic, it'll be shot before you reach 125K miles." Comments like the latter are deserving of purging just as any negative "Glass is half-empty" comments I might make.

But back on the topic at hand, what really concerns me, based on standard FB protocol, is that established events started by older generations that put the concepts of RSVP into practice could very well fade away due to today's apathy and "I won't decide until the last minute" attitudes of today's younger generation.

 

[scarabY2k]

Enough Pat...Enough.

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[Pushing Fifty]

You got it. I'm done.