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NAR National Events - Why So Many? |
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Written by Mario Perdue
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Wednesday, 28 November 2007 |
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I’ve been a member of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) for a number of years and I’d have to say that I’ve supported many of their efforts over those years. I currently edit the NAR Member’s Guidebook and I was the event director for the National Sport Launch (NSL) in 2007. Doing the planning for NSL got me wondering why such a small organization has multiple events – it doesn’t seem to make any sense.
A Little History (as I understand it) In the early days of the NAR there was only one annual event, NARAM. This was a contest event governed by the “Pink Book.” After a few of these meets were held it became apparent that the contestants needed something to do when they weren’t flying in their chosen events. Some of them would sit around discussing various rocketry subjects and some of them take a pad to another part of the launch range and conduct a few test flights or just launch something for the fun of it. Over time these activities were incorporated into NARAM.
As the hobby grew some NAR members thought it might be fun to split off the discussion part of the event and have a separate annual meeting to discuss the esoteric aspects of the hobby – NARCON was born. NARCON is a weekend long event that takes place earlier in the year. Like NARAM it travels around the country but it seems to hover in one location for a few years before moving on.
Later, after the NAR accepted high power rocketry as part of the hobby, a larger sport rocketry range made its debut at NARAM. Eventually this part of the event became significant and it was spun off as NSL, an annual event held in late May or early June. Officially this is the NAR’s big high power event but there are still a large number of mid and low power rockets flown. Additionally, the sport range at NARAM was never eliminated so the two events end up competing with each other.
All of the changes were made with the best intentions but I think that the current setup is really working against us.
What's the Problem with Multiple Events?As I see it, there are several problems with the status quo. First, people’s vacation time is limited and even though two of the events are held on weekends; most people still need to take time off for traveling to and from the event location. Having multiple events forces people to pick and choose which events they can attend. Having all the events together would allow more members to get the most out of a single vacation.
Conducting multiple events has the advantage of making each event smaller and thereby easier to manage, but that management task is now multiplied by three. It’s difficult enough to get one section to step up to hosting a national event so why make it harder on ourselves by artificially increasing the number of required host sections? A single event could benefit from economies of scale so instead of requiring three times the effort, as it does now, it could be hosted with something in the area of 25% to 50% more effort. Having fewer sections hosting a national event each year would help reduce “volunteer burnout. “
As it now stands, each national event is smaller than what a single event would ultimately be. Having a larger crowd at our national event can work for us in the publicity department. News media are much more likely to cover a large event than a smaller one. Media coverage brings spectators to the events and some of those spectators get involved in the hobby. Bringing new blood into the hobby is something that needs to be made a priority at both the local and national levels.
A larger event would also generate a synergy among the attendees. We’re all into rocketry – obviously – so having all the different aspects of the hobby in one place at the same time could lead to members exploring other facets of the hobby. Some sport flyers might actually find that they like competition – others might move into high power. The technical presentations would be valuable for all attendees. Isolating these events from each other tends to build "classes" of rocketeers.
A single event would decrease costs and increase profits for the national organization and the hosting section. We can certainly use the extra cash at both levels. The extra profits can go to growing the hobby on the national and local level and they would also serve as additional incentive to getting a section to host the event. Costs would be trimmed by reducing duplication – one hotel, one launch range, etc – further increasing profits.
Finally, having a single event makes it much easier to schedule it for a month that isn’t so hot. Let’s face it, pretty much everywhere in the USA is hot in August – late May to mid June would be a much better time to be outside flying rockets. You are also more likely to attract more spectators in cooler weather. Ask yourself a simple question, “If you’re a kid and you have a choice between video games in an air conditioned room and chasing rockets in 100+ degree heat; which would you choose?”
That’s my opinion – I could be wrong.
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I think there will be more in attendance than every before. 
