banquet reviews

[Chunky]

I would sure like to hear from some of the members that were not involved in setting up the banquet what they thought.

Things like the informal dress
The amount of raffles and auctions
The kind of fund raisers...like the card games, silent acutions, etc...
The speed we went
The expo part before the dinner
The food
Not having a guest speaker
The kid activities
Is it worth setting up the mounts
The giving of the Awards

Any new ideas


This based not on patting ourselves on the back for this one...but rather how to make it better for next year. Those of us that worked on it are probably too close to get an unbiased assessment.

The banquet is probably our biggest single event and the most important night of the year for the club.....we want it to be as good as possible.

Mark Johnson

[Chunky]

I almost forgot, bringing back the photo contest.

[BrandonH]

I know you said you didn't want my opinion, but I'm giving it anyway :)

Things like the informal dress: It doesn't matter one way or the other for me, but it seemed a little more relaxed.

The amount of raffles and auctions: One of the best banquest I've been to in regards to sheer quality and quantity of raffle and auction items.

The kind of fund raisers...like the card games, silent acutions, etc...: I think there was a good mix of fund raisers, but maybe only do 1 card game next time to speed things up.

The speed we went: Everything seemed to move along fairly quickly considering how many raffles and auction items that had to be gone through.

The expo part before the dinner: I think this is the area that we could look at improving the most. With the help of Buff we should be able to expand the expo part of the banquet. I like that there were a couple of traditional manufactures' present, but wouldn't mind seeing a booth or two from some compound vendors. Most of the manufacturer's have a regional rep that can setup a booth on there behalf and with enough advance notice I think we could get some of them to have a booth. I also like the idea of more outfitters present for the expo part. My main concern is that our turnout would be too low to justify there presence. If they aren't going to get any clients due to a low turnout they most likely will not come back. This is where it is very important to try and have the largest banquet we can. I'm not sure what avenues of advertising we need to do in order to boost banquet attendance, but I think it can be done.

The food: This was the best food we've had at a banquet in the past several years. I also like the buffet style dinner rather than being served a set dish.

Not having a guest speaker: I know it wasn't meant to turn out like this, but it almost seemed like General Sisco was our guest speaker. He was very entertaining and with him not being labeled as our "Speaker" for the night he wasn't too lengthy. I could go either way on having a guest speaker.

The kid activities: My kids had a blast.

Is it worth setting up the mounts: Yes the mounts are worth setting up. I think if we try we should be able to get more mounts there. I don't have anything too large, but I would be willing to bring a couple mounts next year.

The giving of the Awards: Unfortunately our annual "Awards" Banquet doesn't seem like it has much to do with the awards being handed out. to me the biggest problem is that only a few of the people that are receiving awards even bother to show up.

[BUFF]

I feel like we can do so much better. We are after all the state bowhunting org. We need to think about having it in a city like Dallas or Houston. Paying for some advertising and turning it into a real deal.
This was my first one and I felt all night we were pretty much out of control. There was just so much we had to do in a short time period.

[BrandonH]

I agree Buff...I think we can do a much better job, and in order to do it we need to all pull together. In the past it has more or less been up to the Banquet Chair to get everything lined out with a little help from the EC at the banquet. I think if we all take on a position such as you have done with advertising we can make this thing huge. I also agree that location will play a large role in the overall success of the banquet, however as mentioned in the past the cost of facilities in some of the larger cities falls outside of our budget.

BTW, you did a fine job as the auctioneer:)

-Brandon

[Chunky]

Hum, I made a post that looks to have dissapeared.

It went something like this,

Thanks for your input and feedback Brandon. I did not mean that I did not want to hear from the EC or people who pitched it....sorry if it came out that way.....I just wanted to hear from some of the others that I have little contact with as well.

To those that don't know, Lynette Starr is going to head up the banquet for next year. With lots of help from us...of course.

[Ronny]

With lots of HELP from us, I think that is the key

[NDNRoger]

This was my first banquet, so I have nothing to compare.

Overall:

Pretty good. Not sure why we couldn't have started on time. Was it the hotel or a hold up because there was only one person running the tickets and raffles?

Raffles:

Lots of great stuff to give away. That is why most enjoyed themselves. The idea of winning something is a great hook. However, running late and lots of stuff to auction with the raffles was far to much. Something needs to give there. Not many can afford to drop a grand or more on a hunt, so I vote for trimming the auctioned items. Buff did a great job for keeping things moving at break neck speed.

Awards:

It would have been better if you had the award winners to sign in when they arrived. That way you know upfront who is not there and can skip over them. Saves time. Maybe even have everyone with their awards take pictures at the end. Another time saver.

Food:

Ok. Not great. Service sucked! I had to go back through the line three times before I managed to get any beef. Until then I had one piece of chicken. If you wanted tea or coffee, forget it unless you got up to get it yourself.

Dress casual was a good thing.

Campfire was a nice surprise. Don't think that will happen every time.

Great turnout.

[tsadler]

I would sure like to hear from some of the members that were not involved in setting up the banquet what they thought.

Things like the informal dress Awesome
The amount of raffles and auctions Awesome
The kind of fund raisers...like the card games, silent acutions, etc...Awesome-but 1 card game would have been enough
The speed we went Awesome (a little too quick on the live auction
The expo part before the dinner Awesome-ok, I'm fudging - I missed it.
The food Not so awesome - no gravy and no BBQ sauce for the brisket was unfortunate. Desserts were not that tasty, either. Blame the hotel.
Not having a guest speaker Bob Lee and all of the other Legacy winners was more than enough.
The kid activities (Awesome
Is it worth setting up the mounts Absolutely. I spent more time looking at those than the raffle items.
The giving of the Awards Awesome

Any new ideas


This based not on patting ourselves on the back for this one...but rather how to make it better for next year. Those of us that worked on it are probably too close to get an unbiased assessment.

The banquet is probably our biggest single event and the most important night of the year for the club.....we want it to be as good as possible.

Mark Johnson

The banquet was really good. I think more items on the silent auction and less on the raffle may speed things up a little more, so we have time for other activities.

Y'all did a great job for the kids and I've never been to a banquet that did things for them. We enjoyed that more than some of the other things.

[Ronny]

Looks like Tracey had a good time. Thanks for being there, hope you got the info on the duck decoy

[TexasRio]

Lots of fun details are coming soon for the LSBA 2008 Banquet. I will be sending emails this week. The results from the 2007 Banquet and Photography Contest will be available this week too!!

[Tomme]

Look forward to the upcoming details on next years.

I personally thought that Marty did a tremendous job on the auction. When it got to 9:10 without the auction having started I thought we were doomed. I've seen the auction start much earlier and with fewer items to sell and end later than we did. He really made it move and still brought in a lot of money.

We could probably give out some of the raffle items earlier. Like during dinner and that might speed it up some, but these have always run fairly late.

Someone mentioned that we might change the awards part of this. Don't know why that the people who win seem not to come anymore. I do remember some of the early banquets that I went to that Ed Foreman just read off the names in a blur and asked people to gather at the front for a group photo. Perhaps we could do that, rather than a lot of time on each. That way too we don't have to wait for each person to come up and maybe waste time because they aren't there. I really liked the slide show, both during the day and during the banquet as you could see the people with the actual harvest in the field.

I too liked the kids part and the photo contest was about the best it's been in years.