[Thursday] Capacities

[Randall Snow]

This is something that has been on my mind in light of Saturday's success
as well.  We can only hope to keep the momentum going and build it further
next year, and need to be ready.

There is one very big consideration that may alter the equation a bit.  I
think we need to consider whether we should make this a 2 day event.
Perhaps that change doesn't happen immediately, but perhaps in the very
near future.  I realize completely that would be asking significantly more
of the volunteers, and perhaps too much, but it needs to be discussed.  We
have all of the arrangements made, and all of the components in place. A
second day would hopefully alleviate some of the load on one day and allow
more people to come who may have had a scheduling conflict on the
Saturday.  Ideally it would equal more revenue and a less crowded
experience on either day.

Barring that. I would agree that we should begin clearing part of the
racetrack.

Admission ticketing is a problem.  We could simply eliminate the ticket
tent along the driveway, get the cars in and parked, and then put a ticket
booth at the head of the walkway.  It would have worked well for this year,
but might be problematic if the sawmill is ever operational and visitors
are back and forth a lot to see that.  I don't know if Warren and Dick had
any Boy Scout assistance out there, but perhaps some younger hands would
help speed it along in the configuration it's in now.  Walkie-talkies may
help coordinate efforts among the parking crews in particular.

It's absolutely true that we would have been dead without the Boy Scouts.
They did an excellent job in both the parking field as well as with food
service.  Steve has already made notes on how the layout and process of
food service can be modified for next year to speed it up with fewer
hands.  I have no doubt he will have that operating infinitely smoother
next year.  That should free up some Boy Scouts, assuming we have them, for
other tasks.

We may have lost a few exhibitors to CAMA due to the scheduling overlap.
Ernie and I went there on Sunday and I can say they had virtually no models
on their tables.  The one guy who was there attending to his model was, I
believe, a typical attendee of NEWSM.  Ryder was also there operating an
engine, and the gentleman with the orange GMC truck and his steam engine.
It was Sunday, we may have missed the bulk of it on Saturday, but from what
we saw there wasn't a significant detraction.  Car clubs would be a great
addition.  We may get in touch with some local clubs simply to see if they
would like to piggyback on the day.

I'm so glad that we're thinking through some of this now.  We have time to
plan, we may as well take advantage of it.  The interest and enthusiasm
that I heard from some of the visitors was amazing.  I really think we can
continue to build upon this years' success with a little careful planning.

On Tue, Oct 2, 2018 at 7:22 AM David Caldwell via Thursday <
thursday at newsm.org> wrote:

> In the middle of the night I got to thinking about Steam-Up, what size we
> want it to be, and the our current capacity limits. Here are a few
> thoughts--please add more.
>
> Parking. It looks like we just touched our current max parking capacity
> this weekend. Several of you have suggested clearing more space around the
> racetrack. In the short term we might get a little more visitor space in
> the parking field by parking all the volunteers in the north end by the
> exhibitors gate.
>
> Admission gate. If we're backing up cars out to Tillinghast Rd, moving the
> ticketing a few feet up the road won't make much difference. We either need
> to move ticketing all the way to the top of the hill (at the entrance to
> the parking field) or broaden the lane where the ticketing is currently so
> the line could divide into two 'toll booths' for speedier processing. Or we
> could pre-sell tickets and open a gate (the exit gate) at the bottom of the
> parking field for people with tickets just in the morning. Or?
>
> Bathrooms. It seemed like we had enough, but still had a big line in Mayes
> Building sometimes. We need sign and map there to direct people to the
> portables. Also, a few years ago, instead of hiding the portables behind
> the Massie Station, we placed them 10 or so feet farther north, so the
> first ones were visible across the grounds. That and some Big Friendly
> Signs would help people find them.
>
> Food. The food line moved right along, never seemed to get out of hand.
> This a tribute to Steve and the Boy Scouts.
>
> Food tickets. We've trained our visitors so well that they lined up in the
> Mayes Building for food tickets. The new ticket station at the Food Tent
> was busy but not overloaded--we should promote it, to take some congestion
> out of the Mayes Bldg.
>
> Volunteers. We would have died without the Boy Scouts. As has been noted,
> we could use a few more knowledgeable adult volunteers for the Wireless
> Building. If we change the admission ticketing, we'll need extra coverage
> there. Anywhere else come to mind?
>
> Exhibit space. Seemed like there was still space on the model tables. Was
> steam and air adequate? There was open space for exhibitors along the rope,
> and we could have handled more old cars.
>
> Other thoughts?
>
>
> Dave
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-- 
Randy Snow

Snow Findings Company <http://www.snowfindings.com>
Lovements.com <http://www.lovements.com>
New England Wireless and Steam Museum <http://www.newsm.org>
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