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A little feedback, please

Cottontail

Three-De Off-Road
NAXJA Member
Location
Nashville, TN
Again, a big thank you to all that participated in the Crawl this year. I believe it was a successful event and that everyone enjoyed their time at one of the best wheeling parks in the Southeast.

I want to publically recognize again:

  • HD Off Road Engineering for sponsoring the event
  • Sunshine Robbins for her raffle donation
  • Ed Robbins for his raffle donation
  • The Manuelitos for their raffle donation
  • Ed Robbins and Mark Morton for leading one moderate group, and Brad Nabholz and Matt Stillson for leading the other
  • Jim Busch, Glenn Fulmer, the Empire guys - all y'all that took care of the hard rides - I'm not sure who really lead and gunned, but thanks.
  • The Harlan County Coal Burners for supplying the BBQ dinner
One word of clarification - on the schedule of events that was passed out as part of the registration packets it indicated that the Friday night potluck was sponsored by Logan's Metal Products. In exchange for that recognition, Logan's promised to provide us with some significant product for the raffle. Several attempts were made to contact Logan's for final confirmation but all calls and e-mails were left unanswered. We did know that the Logan's folks were going to be out at an event in central Tennessee the week prior to the event, so we chose to take them at their word and honor our half of the realized that they were going to stand us up it was too late to reprint the schedules. Phone calls made to them during the event have still not been returned.

This year we attempted to work out some new procedures for the Crawl in terms of pre-registering and signing up for the trail rides prior to arrival, providing a welcome letter, and providing a schedule of events. As always there is room to improve and make this event bigger and better year after year.

Please take a few moments and leave us your feedback - good, bad, or indifferent - so that we can take those comments under advisement as we prepare for the 2016 Cherokee Crawl.

Thanks,

Tim, Andy, and Dirk
 
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I think you guys did a jam up job. I have been attending the Crawl for 14 years now and this has been one of the best. I think the meal was one of the best ever. The only thing I see that could be done different is the leading of trails. I as you know served on BOD for a while. Personally Dirk I think you do a better job then I ever did. There were a few years where I lead groups around even though I wanted to be with a different group. There is no reason you guys cannot alternate leading and only one of you come back early to deal with the registration business or have a set time for people to come register. Of course this is my opinion and we all know what they are like. Also the group picture. I think a better time would be half hour or hour before the Saturday meal. Most of us extreme guys are broken by then anyway. :looney: Thanks for making this one of the best Cherokee Crawls I have ever attended. :kissyou:
 
I thought it was one of the better crawls i have been to as well (4th in last 5 years). Everyone involved should be very proud of themselves. i like the dinner/raffle at the campground, and the food was excellent.

things i noticed:
-group picture was pretty early (as other have said). i will repeat what glenn said and say that it should have been on saturday night or possibly on the trails somewhere that everyone can meet up at. those that want to keep wheeling dont have to come all the way back to camp. we drive 12+ hours each way and i personally want to wheel as much as i can and friday will most likely be the longest day on the trails. i dont really have an interest in leaving at 9:30 and having to be back at 4 for a picture. i do appreciate the group pic, and dont want to sound like i am dogging it.
-where were the awards? carnage award, best rig, ugliest rig etc...
 
where were the awards? carnage award, best rig, ugliest rig etc

Last year the feed back we got was that the awards were haphazard and had little merit other than a popularity contest. They were totally subjective, not based on anything quantitative, and last minute so we decided to not do them this year. The Carnage Award - we are discussing "revamping" the physical award since it has gotten so large and unwieldy. I'd expect it to be back for 2016.
 
Last year the feed back we got was that the awards were haphazard and had little merit other than a popularity contest. They were totally subjective, not based on anything quantitative, and last minute so we decided to not do them this year. The Carnage Award - we are discussing "revamping" the physical award since it has gotten so large and unwieldy. I'd expect it to be back for 2016.

fair enough. i figured it had something to do with that.
 
Last year the feed back we got was that the awards were haphazard and had little merit other than a popularity contest. They were totally subjective, not based on anything quantitative, and last minute so we decided to not do them this year. The Carnage Award - we are discussing "revamping" the physical award since it has gotten so large and unwieldy. I'd expect it to be back for 2016.

I think the awards are fun, but doing them based on who shouts out names and how much applause they get is what makes them corny. The chapter BOD and whoever else they want to include should vote on it ahead of time and hand them out.
 
1. Trail groups should have a predetermined route. Prerunning and the weather makes it hard to do in advance, but I think you'd have more participation in the sign up threads if the groups knew what trails and obstacles were planned rather than labeling them easy, moderate, etc. If you're someone who's never been or someone who's been a lot, you'd like to be able to plan your two days of wheeling around what trails are planned rather than the difficulty. This also means your trail leaders might end up on the same trails twice, but not necessarily with the same people.

2. Registration went well, but the distribution at the campground was difficult. I know that no one wants to nail down a time and a place, but at the very least participants shouldn't have to find 2 or 3 people to get a packet, shirts, etc. An hour of registration pick up time before the trails start on friday and saturday would be convienent and probably wouldn't cause a lot of heartache on the volunteers part.

3. Mix up the raffle a little. 15 minutes of gift certificates to the same vendor loses your audience and we start talking, then nobody can hear, then you have to try to get us back. Get yourself a cheap chinese hopper and use it to shuffle the tickets. It's not much different than shaking an ammo can, but it gives the naysayers less to grumble about when someone wins a bunch.

4. FRS radios. Most of us have them already and I think everyone can agree that they work much better. You guys need to continue to push in that direction for better comms with trail groups. If you publish enough in advance, you should be able make it a strong recommendation on your required equipment list and everyone will have one. It's very nice to be in a group of 12 rigs and be able to hear the leader talk to the gunner and everyone in between.
 
I think you guys could have called the local weather folks and offered them a bribe! We couldn't run this...we couldn't run that...it was WET! LOL

In all seriousness it was great. You had BIG shoes to fill as I feel Nick and his crew did a wonderful job the last 2 years and you did a fine job.

I do agree with RedHeep on his # 2 statement.

I also think the last couple years the participation from the rest of us seemed a bit higher than it did this year... which I'm sure weighed on the BOD. This year it took a while for folks to sign up for trail rides and for the potluck etc. These folks on the BOD have volunteered their time to make this event what it is and the fact that they ask for feedback and take it into consideration is wonderful. Again this year was great...wish we were still there!!
 
This was my first time attending the crawl and my first naxja event. It is impressive to get the number of people to show up that did in my opinion. I was nervous driving up by myself knowing no body but I was fortunate to catch Glenn and Carmine Wednesday morning before they set out to search for some "Ghost" trails that were not on the map yet.

I think RedHeep got it right about the predetermined trail route idea. I was someone with no prior knowledge about the park but understanding general weather and the amount of rain I planned on moderate trails being a mess so I played it safe and always signed up for easy trail rides. There was never a time where I thought that safety was an issue but a lot of the time it wasn't clear where the group was going. I commend the trail leaders for stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility for directing.

Last thing about the set up trail ride was the length of the ride. Maybe there can be one group that guarantees to be back for dinner and one group that wants to be out just a little bit longer? Maybe hit one or two more trails before heading back? That is another variable to add to the size of the group and the difficulty but maybe something to think about.
 
The group photo has been beaten to death, but that was my biggest "gripe" so to speak. This was my 2nd NAXJA event and I had just as much fun as last year if not more. Good people, good wheeling, and good food. Thanks to he SEC BOD for putting it together.

1.) For the raffle, I know space is limited, especially when raining and under a pavilion that is a little small for our crowd, but what about having bucket or a ticket receptacle of sorts for specific items that you wish to win. If you want to win a $25 gift cert to ECGS you put all your tickets in that bucket. If you want a winch put your tickets in the winch bucket. Just a thought.

2.) I saw an inordinate amount of trash all over Harlan/ Baxter/ Evarts. I try to pick up trash on the trail and throw it in my Jeep but I didn't get to grab as much this trip as I normally do. At a few other events I have been to there have been trash bags given out in your registration packet and you are given more raffle tickets for bringing trash back and properly throwing it away.
 
2.) I saw an inordinate amount of trash all over Harlan/ Baxter/ Evarts. I try to pick up trash on the trail and throw it in my Jeep but I didn't get to grab as much this trip as I normally do. At a few other events I have been to there have been trash bags given out in your registration packet and you are given more raffle tickets for bringing trash back and properly throwing it away.

That's not a bad idea. I mentioned the stupid amount of trash to Tim also, and we tried to pick up as much as we could.
 
I think the trash bags is a great idea, I know the onion sacks have been passed around before but offering an incentive for folks to pick up trash, that's a plus. I know I stopped and loaded up several beer cans on a trail.....in fact I think they are still in my trasharoo.
 
I picked up a bunch of trash and threw it in the yota's bed and sean's xj. the trails were trashed this years compared to years past. a trash bag is a great idea for next year.
 
The way I look at it you are a bunch of volunteers doing the best you can with what you have.

You put out an agenda stick to it, you are not personally responsible to make sure people do what the agenda says. Nor are you responsible to really care, I think you guys did a great job this year.
 
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