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RE: Convention St. Louis Memorial Day Weekend 2002

RJ wrote:
>>>Killie people are especially intelligent and therefore should have little problem with putting bags in numerical order.<<<

At 3:00 a.m. all of the numbers begin to look alike.  ;-)  The biggest concern is just getting the fish bagged and the tanks broken down and packed.  In practice, just making sure that all of the fish from a given class end up in the correct boxes for staging is a challenge.  To try to sort hundreds of bags while dozens of folks (hopefully there are dozens of volunteers) are continually adding more bags in random order is hoping for too much.  One could offer that if the classes were bagged in entry number sequence it would be easier, but it's impossible to have several folks standing that close together to bag entry 1, then entry 2, etc.  You usually spread out a few feet to give each other some working room.  Also, tanks are not always benched in entry order.  Entry 1 in class 5 may have registered first thing in the a.m., but the owner benched all of his or her natives in class 1 first.  Then maybe the first dozen tanks in class five are filled already.

Bar code labeling of the bags is a real possibility.  It would allow the runners to scan the fish coming up for auction to be displayed on a projection screen.  This does not provide much advance notice, but it does reduce error and helps ensure folks don't miss the fish they want to bid on because they didn't here the auctioneer call of the entry number.  But as Mike points out, any computerized solution can't be whipped together fifteen minutes before the show.  In fact, if anyone wanted to see such a program, now is the time to do it.  

Here are some random thought so on that subject.

The best way would be for the AKA to sponsor development of an official show management software package.  There are several out there already that have been used by various clubs.  The features should be inventoried, evaluated and chosen (i.e., attendee registration, show fish entries, name badges, auction list, bar code scanning option, etc.).  The registration component would include cover letters for sending out registration packets and track receipts at the convention for late arrivals.  

Microsoft bashing aside, several AKA functions exist on the MS Access platform already so that would seem to be a logical choice.  That would also make pre-populating the membership data into the system easier.  Valid names and location codes would be in lookup tables to reduce nomenclature errors.  Any entry fish being registered under an unknown name would be held out for evaluation to determine the correct name.  

The design would have to be flexible enough to allow use for several years.  In fact, it should be flexible enough for affiliate clubs to use it for their local shows.  That may help affiliates report back results to the AKA for awards.  The system would have to work both in a networked environment for conventions where multiple workstations would ease show management, as well as stand alone for local show use.

Aside from computer tools, I believe that class order auction makes the most sense.  That makes it easier for folks to make sure they're paying attention when the fish they are interested in come up for bid. 

Bill Vannerson
McHenry, IL
http://vannerson.home.att.net/

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