Dave's Garden national party - dead idea

We ran a poll: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/802625/

We also put a banner up on top of DG site-wide to solicit feedback and responses.

610 votes, and only 64 people committed to coming no matter what. Historically, half the people who commit to something will follow through, so we have about 32 committed people. That's just not enough.

I'm officially calling it: the idea is off. Maybe in a few years we can revisit the idea. For now, we can continue to enjoy our regional roundups.

Dave

I am very sad Dave, you would think that with so many members we would have had a better response. Maybe what we need is a very special Roundup without commitments, you call it and we come wherever you choose.
Josephine.

Too bad...however, I think it was hard for some (like myself - I was "yes, if") to commit when we really didn't know what we were committing to.

Would I come to a "Garden Party" (which sounded pretty much like a big RU)? Only if I could afford it without advance planning and could take the time away. Would I come to a "Garden Party Conference" with seminars and speakers (that were of interest to me), field trips to area gardens, and a big dinner where we could all spend time together? This I would save money to attend!

There are many wonderful Round-ups all over the country throughout the year. Many wonderful coordinators put a lot of time and energy into making them great, and they do a great job! The Round-Ups belong to the people, and the people are free to make them whatever they want them to be.

I'd like to thank the committee members for all of the thought and excitement that they put into this project. Your passion really showed.

Thanks to everyone else who took the time to give us great feedback!

It is a shame that we didn't get more votes than we did! I do understand where a lot of folks are coming from though, wanting to know where and when before making a commitment. I certainly hope in the future we can have a get together somewhere in the country where a lot of folks would make the trip. It sure would be fun - I can just picture thousands with their DG T-Shirts, hats, tote bags, all of our gardening buddies together in one locale, meeting old and new friends. So, I will be watching and hoping for a "someday" National Dave's Garden Party!

Even if you count all the "Yes, if..." votes, the response to the poll wasn't what I'd hoped! I admit, I voted "Yes, if..." rather than "Yes, no matter the cost," because if the cost turned out to be, say, $2000 for hotel and registration, I wasn't likely to make it.

I still think it's a wonderful idea, and I'd love to see it happen "someday!"

Thanks for the opportunity and let's all keep the roundups going.

I also voted "Yes, If" I have young kids and this would have to be part of a vacation for us. I would go if there were something fun for kids as well. My kids come first so i had to write "Yes, if".
Sorry.

Thanks, committee. I know you spent a lot of hours on our behalf doing what you did. We appreciate you.

Thanks to you, too, Dave and Trish.

Pat

I think I will continue putting my extra change in my Dave's Garden Cup....then maybe I can attend a different RU this year!! Jo

Maybe it was just a little premature. I haven't made it to a round up yet but that is on my agenda this year along with the state and national av convention and the begonia convention in Houston this year.
Thanks everyone
gail

I agree with Critter - I voted "Yes, if" depending on expenses.; even though I knew that we couldn't establish anything like that without some sort of head-count. That said, I'm going to follow roadrunner's idea and continue to save my change, in the trust that this idea will bear fruit in the future.

A very heart-felt "Thanks" to the committee - a great deal of dedication and effort went in to the initial planning of this, and I appreciate that very much.

Thanks Committee!

I too, would like to let the committee members know their time and efforts are appreciated. I had to vote no, but thought it would have been fun for those able to attend.

Thank you all - our spirits are crushed, but we hope one day maybe soemthing good will come out of this in the form of a National event.

Thanks to the committee for all the work and spirit that was exhibited for this idea. I had started saving money for it and knew that by 2009 I could have a good portion of the expenses saved up. I'm disappointed and I think that maybe in a couple of years when the economy is in better shape, that people will have more disposable income to commit to something like this. Hope Springs Eternal!!! LOu

Amen to that Lou.
Josephine.

I'm very sorry to hear the idea was ended without really giving it a chance. I think it was completely unrealistic to be looking at the "yes no matter what" votes rather than the "yes, if" votes. Very few people can commit to something over a year in the future in an unknown place at unknown cost with no specific time stated. In addition to that, the voting was only up for a few days!

Not everyone even comes to the forum every day, and I, for one didn't even hear about the idea until a few hours ago even though I am at DG almost every day. Why wasn't there a sticky post that linked to a thread about it in every forum for a month before conducting the vote? I do go to the birding forum almost every day since discovering it about a month ago, and I visit indoor gardening, roses, clematis and others occasionally, but I didn't see anything about it. Why didn't the vote go for at least a full week since many people don't have time to visit DG except on the weekends? I think 300 yes votes in such a short period of time is amazing! Why give up so easily? If you plan it, we will come.

It looks to me like a number of people went to a fair amount of time and effort to explore the possibility, but only 300 yes votes in two days wasn't enough to validate their effort? I'm sorry, but again, I have to use the word unrealistic if you were expecting a thousand "yes no matter what"'s. I think those of you who were very involved with it may have been unaware of those of us who were unaware of the idea. You had probably been discussing it so intensely amongst yourselves in certain threads that you couldn't imagine that the majority of DGer's didn't even have a clue there was something in the works.

One more point, and I'll stop. How many people voting yes would it have taken to have it? I made a post somewhere (can't even remember which thread it was now, but it was the first one I saw about this) about a sugar glider event that I go to every year very similar to this one. It is nationwide, many people drive 12+ hours to attend, or fly in but it is under 200 people. There are only about 20 of us who would be "yes no matter what" attendees, but every year new members who weren't even on the forum until months before the event show up, sometimes from across the country and Canada. Why would there have to be a minimum number of people? Okay, maybe if the first one was small you couldn't have major vendors and speakers there, but many people would still find it worth going to and it would grow. If you got 300 yes votes in just 2 days, imagine how many people would turn up after the specifics were announced and there was a "buzz" about it on the board for over a year!

Okay, that's all I have to say now. I'm just very disappointed. I only heard about this a few hours ago, and yet I was excited enough to run right over and vote yes, not even realizing that I was too late!

Peeper, I have been trying to a big girl but I have been crying since last night.

I prefer to think of this as a "not yet", rather than a "never" decision, and will keep my fingers crossed and hopes up that we'll be able to start this in the future. I may be inferring, but I don't think Dave's said Never....

hmmm ... I think it would still be nice for some of us to take a little summer vacation to that area of Texas? We could maybe find a nice park somewhere to have a Dave's Garden Picnic - very informal get together with whoever wanted to show up on a Saturday afternoon ... a bring your own lunch type thing. But, I guess that's what the Regional Round Ups are like. I've never been to a RU and was really looking forward to a DG Garden Party!


.... hopefully some day.

It would be fun but would just be too far to travel right now. Maybe after I retire I would have more time to do that sort of thing.

Well hopefully we can still have our RU in College Station this spring. I wouldn't call it a convention, but it is a good time. I pass right by the airport in Austin on my way there and could pick someone up if anybody is interested.

There has not been any talk of it this year - but there will be the big Texas Round Up in Dallas Oct like every year. We are all near the DFW and Love Field and would love to have anyone there.

I think it is a shame...truly a shame, that so many people were so critical of something that was just in the planning stages. Instead of everyone giving their own opinion of what they felt should have been done, if they had just answered the question, perhaps all the negativity would not have caused this to be abandoned. Of course any plan that far in advance would have to be contingent upon all the whims and follies of fate...No one can be certain of what their life will be like a month from now, let alone a year from now. It should have been simple...would you come if you could. But everyone started ganging up on the committee, you should ask this, you should do that...its always so easy to be critical of someone else's efforts. Could you really have done better? How would you have felt if two months of your effort was being harrangued like this? The people that started this idea, did so with an idea to spread the joy they felt when meeting and getting to know other DGers...and they were then bombarded with more criticism than we give the politicians that lie to us on a daily basis.

After reading so much of that criticism, I was thinking that I wouldn't want to go meet them anyway...and then I would read a post from someone who was just as excited at the idea as I was when I first heard about it. It's a shame...truly a shame that those excited, happy, enthusiastic voices were drowned out. My garden gets salty tears today.

Islandshari: Well stated. It was such an exciting idea and I for one was really looking forward to it, wherever the location would have been. I still have hopes that someday there will be a Dave's Garden Party.

It would be a wonderful thing.

I didn't think people were ganging up on the committee. I think many didn't understand that they HAD to have a number before they could proceed with contacting locations. Like I said in my post there, it is an unfortunate "which came first, the chicken or the egg" thing since many could not commit until they knew more specific information about the event. I'm sorry you committee members have had to put this idea on hold. Like dryad57, maybe it can be approached in the future.

I can totally see PeeperKeeper's point that the vote was not publicized enough in advance. It was also, I think, hard to go through the planning threads and pick out the plans - there was so much conversation going on about the possibilities.

(((Hugs, committee members)))

I worked for a company and organized a national convention. It is very difficult and time consuming.
We started 11 months in advance every year. We had to have a pretty big budget too, there are always expenses you forget about until they come about.
We had to set our plans up, knowing that we would be paying for any services/rooms that were not used by attendees.
Then we would promote, promote, promote like mad to get a really good attendence.
We co-ordinated room sharing, shuttles,speakers, vendors,a theme, decor, entertainment, meals etc.
If vendors did not make the sales they needed to make their attendence worth while then you couldn't get them back the next year. It is definately worth doing IF you have enough folks attending, and $$$$$$$$ and enough help, but in the meantime....

Mitch I think you have hinted at a great opportunity to get this started in a much easier way and that is to just name the Oct Texas RU the "National Convention". Promote it here on DG like crazy and add some live music and an outing.
Folks could be picked up at the airport by local volunteers and even a trip to some gardens could be carpooled and organized with all the locals help. You guys could help find acomos at local hotels/or at folks houses for people too.
Folks who wanted to drive and camp could do that too.
There is no place like Texas and no friendlier place to be greeted by... ( speaking as a former Texan)..lol!
I know it's not the same as the big dream, but you gotta start some where and I hate to see all you guys hard work go down the drain at this point without a result, or any satisfaction. That's why I suggested a more laid back thing in my response to the poll,cause that way you don't need to have the commitments ahead of time or the budget and you can just let it grow.

BTW, I can't imagine doing this like you were planning without corporate backup. My hat is off to you guys who were the dreamers and decided to be the doers too!