I'm beginning to doubt that these folks talk to each other
much or that they have anyone with any planning or, worse,
organizational ability.
I suspect that SFBAAPS is more like most rather than an
exception. We must adapt to the prospects because the
prospects have a devile of atime adapting to AGA.
Michael suggests that we send out a formal RFP. Well, we
pretty much did; if we could spec out the whole convention
beforehand, we wouldn't need the local club, we could
literally just bid out the local work to some laborers. And
anyway, ff we did put even more "specs" in the the
document, I think we would just cause even more folks to
not read it. I suspect that the comprehensiveness of the
current "Guidelines and Requirements" doc is simply too
daunting in appearance and therefore, not really read. It's
like showing them a contract full of fine print; who's
gonna read that stuff? Yet, obviously somehow we have to
make our document plainer, easier to read, and more
inviting, by which I mean, mapping out steps.
Next year I think we *definitely have to have* a
fill-in-the-blanks form of requirements document -- a
seriously revised version of the current "Guidelines and
Rquirements" doc. I can work on this over the holidays, or
shortly thereafter and before I get to work on the 2005
IRS filing. But even with a "fill-in" document, unless we
want to leave prospective proposers no latitude at all for
creativity, there will have to be large portions where
"essay" answers are required.
I'm only suggesting something that might help, not solve
the problem. I fear there will always be those wastes of
perfectly good oxygen that can't understand what it means
to fax a photo release with signature or to plan and
propose an event, no matter what help you give them.
sh
--- Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com> wrote:
I thought I would share another impression from an
SFBAAPS organizer on
how the bidding process is going.
My thoughts in next e-mail...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 05 Dec 2005 21:49:44 +0000
From: Michael Laflamme <spicolte@hotmail.com>
To: erik@thekrib.com
Subject: SFBAAPS bid for the AGA 2006 A/V requirements...
[the e-mail begins asking for any changes in A/V
requirements as part of
firming up his budget -- snip]
Lastly, I have been on the conheads list reading the
banter concerning our
convention. I will preface my comments below with the
statement that I was
only added to the list a few months ago by Jim, so I may
have missed some
earlier conversations. If so, and my comments have
already been dealt with,
then I apologize.
Concerning your e-mail detailing your frustration with
our bid. I understand
your frustrations and let me say that the SFBAAPS would
be happy to place a
bid. However, before we can accomplish this, what we need
from the AGA is a
Request for Bid outline. This would include all of your
"must haves" and your
budget. If the AGA could provide us with a standard and
customary Request for
Bid we could reply to it with our information and show
your organization how
the SF bay area would be a wonderful place for this
conference. We are happy to
do the work and outline how the project would proceed
before you accept our
proposal but we cannot do so without knowing what you
have for requirements. So
far, we seem to have only had bits and pieces of what is
required, via the
e-mail correspondence to our questions.
By stating that we should look at other cities bids, are
you implying that
these cities have provided for all of your requests? It
seems to me that you
should cull from past meeting and conferences those must
haves and budgets and
place them into a short Request for Bid and then allow us
to respond. This is
the most efficient way to get what you want without
spending countless time on
emails asking questions in order to project manage this
task.
You mention spending time on the phone back and forth
ironing out the details
of the last bid. If this was to clear up the fine details
of the bid, I would
find that acceptable. But, if this was the process from
the initial contact all
the way up until the bid was accepted, then time was
wasted on both sides.
During my time in the Air Force, annual inspections were
customary. However,
if a section failed an inspection, the blame was
essentially their own. The
reason why was simple; The Air Force had detailed
instructions and inspection
reports that allowed each section of each unit, each
base, etc. to prepare and
pass an inspection because all the info needed was
presented beforehand. What
would be inspected, what was acceptable/unacceptable, all
guidelines and what
was needed to accomplish the goal. Essentially, the
instructions to prepare
for and pass the inspection were handed to you months,
even a year, before the
inspection.
These type of guidelines apply here as well. If we, or
any other bid contender,
could receive a detailed list of what is needed to meet
the needs of your
annual show, then we only need to fill in the blanks and
present you with our
bid. This would also benefit the AGA, as it would make it
much easier for other
local groups to put a bid package together, and then the
AGA would have several
locations to choose from; all the while feeling confident
that all the areas
where covered. Local groups wouldn't need to continually
bother the AGA folks
over all the details, except the fine details after the
bid was submitted and
accepted. Perhaps many local clubs are intimidated, and
don't wish to make a
bid because they have no idea what is needed, what it
entails, etc. If you had
a standard Request for Bid that you issued every year to
all local clubs, you
would only have to sit back and what for the bids to come
in. Less work, and
e-mail chatter for everyone involved. Plus...more clubs
making a bid. A
win/win all around.
Last year during our last bid attempt, I contacted you
concerning our
audio/visual needs, as I am again.. What you sent me
(below) was a concise,
detailed list of everything that was needed. This is
making my task much
simpler, since I know what you need, and what I need to
obtain. This is exactly
what I am asking for the AGA to provide to us now.
Thanks for your time and help Erik.
Best Regards,
Michael Laflamme
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