[JONAT] JONAT 06
Mark Stephenson
jonat@autox.team.net
Thu Dec 2 20:32:01 2004
Dave,
I was skeptical from the beginning that someone might take the entire tour,
however I thought we might have one or two. Gary Singer from Albuquerque,
who met us in Colorado, who was planning to run from there until his XK120
broke down. Unfortunately, the 120 wasn't ready and he brought his e-type
which began to suffer clutch problems and he left the tour at the end of the
Arizona sector.
As the tour planning evolved, I began to view it not as a continental tour,
but as a series of local tours strung together as a big relay, with Jay as
the baton. I think every club has a group of people who want to get out and
drive to new places and see new things. The secret to the success in our
area and the good ones up the West Coast, play to your audience.
If you look back through the old posts or archives if we have them, I wrote
up what I thought was successful.
Here are a few things that worked for us.
1. We took over Tuesday night and ended on a weekend. A Saturday or early
Sunday handoff gives people leaving at the end of the segment the ability to
get home for work on Monday. A weekend start and a mid-week end would work
just as well, I think, because it fits most people's "long-weekend" mindset.
2. I planned a loop that started in Phoenix and tied into the tour at the
handoff and returned to Phoenix at the end. So it wasn't just a going from
point A to point B and leaving people on their own to get to A and back from
B. In fact, I planned alternate connecting points for people who were taking
Friday off and those who weren't, instead driving up late Friday. So,
basically, I had a self-contained tour that would have run with our without
JONAT. However, the idea of being part of a continental route was intriguing
to people. It made it more than just a local club drive.
3. We had our sector planned out early. If people are going to take more
than a day off work, often they often need at least 2-3 months notice. We
were still tweaking the schedule a few weeks before the start. That made it
especially difficult for the early segments, but since I set up my segment
independently, and had a couple items cast in stone, the segments on either
side had to conform to my schedule. This gave me a lot more time to
concentrate on the details and get people interested. If we can the handoff
dates for each segment set and immutable three months in advance of their
departure, it will allow participants to plan.
4. Promote the daylights out of the thing, with the emphasis on local
participation. If you have a reputation for putting together some neat
drives, that helps. I think that if you aren't a member of a local Jaguar
club, you are going to have a hard time getting people involved because you
aren't known and you don't have the communications line already in place.
That's why I think JCNA involvement would be a big help.
5. You have to have some fun and interesting things to do on the segment.
Every state has it's old roads and interesting history. Carl, it sounds like
this is where your segment had problems. If your club takes this route you
proposed several times a year, you should have scouted out a different
route. Out here in the West, roads were built after the car. An Arizona road
map looks like an airline route map. There are population centers and a main
road between them. It's almost is if it's either a major paved road or it's
dirt. We lament that there are only so many ways to leave town and you
really have to work to come up with something new. Having grown up in
Pennsylvania, there were so many back roads, that I still go exploring when
I go back there. There are probably 25 ways to get from Harrisburg to
Philadelphia, from Turnpikes to Interstates and two or three four-lanes to
dozens of wonderfully windy two-lanes.
But, hey, if it doesn't work in an area, then perhaps the tour should run
somewhere else. We can't and shouldn't do the same route every JONAT. Again,
this is where JCNA would be invaluable. The communications lines are already
in place. Every club must have their "drive guy" (or gal). Presented in the
right way to all the clubs, you see who wants to do a segment and the route
will lay itself out. OK, there may be a little begging to fill in some gaps.
6. There's a lot to be said for momentum and this gets to Robert's point.
There was some confusion about the sector prior to Colorado. There was no
SC, IIRC. I remember Robert trying to figure out what he had to plan for, so
he could actually plan. With no participation heading into his sector and
not a lot of time to really sell the idea. He had no momentum and his sector
ended up being just him until a member from our sector joined him in the
Rockies. We built upon what Robert started, and that carried over to San
Diego and all the way up the West Coast.
7. Keeping it simple. After a lot of discussion and a number of attempts at
what I'll deem "unnecessary complexity," things smoothed out and in the end,
it was really not much more involved than setting up a club drive. We had
the stickers and license plates and money to collect, but that was pretty
straightforward. The ideas about sponsorship are good, but the more it adds
to the complexity for the SCs, the harder it will be to recruit SCs.
Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts. I'll probably kick in some more
as more people respond.
Mark - AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: jonat-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:jonat-admin@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of dave.belanger@exxonmobil.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 7:24 AM
To: jonat@autox.team.net
Cc: jonat@autox.team.net; jonat-admin@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: [JONAT] JONAT 06
Mark -
By way of introduction, since I haven't participated in previous
discussions, I was the ASC who laid out the Texas leg, and I escorted the
tour (one driver) from the border at Orange to Galveston, Due to personal
commitments, I was unable to stay with the "tour" thru Houston and into
central Texas, and when Bill turned back to return to Florida, "Jay" and the
rest of the materials went via Fedex to Colorado. My observation as I read
the subsequent reports was that other segments had some pretty low levels of
participation, too, although I don't recall anyone else falling to the zero
level we reached between Texas and Colorado.
Has anyone ever questioned a basic premise of the tour - that there are a
number of persons who can and want to take 2-3 months off and drive around
the continent at an average cost of several hundred dollars a night? I
suspect that there are not many who fall into this category, and this may be
a factor in the low turnout and general lack of interest from the local
clubs.
As an alternative, have you considered an event with a central meeting
point? This could involve a number of convoys from all parts of N.
America, and no one would travel more than 1500 miles (3-4 days?). If,
eventually, the meeting point coincided with a JCNA event, such as the
Championship Challenge, I'm sure it would be a lot easier to bring them on
board.
_______________________________________________________
Dave Belanger - UTeC / Planning & Security / Coordination Greenway Plaza 3 /
Room 620A (713) 431-4580
"Mark Stephenson"
<marks@jaguarot.com> To:
jonat@autox.team.net
Sent by: cc:
jonat-admin@autox.tea Subject: RE: [JONAT]
JONAT 06
m.net
11/30/2004 11:38 PM
Please respond to
jonat
I think a discussion of the route and things like JCNA and sponsor
involvement would be appropriate. If JCNA is going to give us any kind of
official sanction, it will have to be presented at the Annual General
Meeting (AGM) the end of March.
I think if we can get JCNA behind us, local club participation will be a lot
easier.
Just a side note, everyone had so much fun last year on the Rt. 66 Fun Run,
that I've been tapped to come up with a lead in to it this year.
Mark - AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: jonat-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:jonat-admin@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Fazal Cader
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 3:48 AM
To: jonat-EC/SC
Subject: [JONAT] JONAT 06
Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment but I was wondering if the thought
of JONAT 06 is too much to think about right now? Or, whether we want to do
it at all?
Just that I had a chat with the GM of Jaguar Australia who has, naturally,
direct lines into PAG and Dearborn and has said he is happy to assist where
possible. If PAG get involved I guess it would be a start at Irvine, heading
East this time and a visit to Ford HQ along the way, as well.
Let me know.
Fazal Cader
Executive Committee, ISC - Australia
Jaguar Owner's North American Tour - www.jonat.org
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