State Meeting

[Joe Stack]

Perhaps because of the fact its been 2 and a half weeks since the email announcement and there has been no discussion here on it, there isn't any real interest. In case there is, I thought I would bring it up.

I know these locations depend on chapters coming up with a host bid but does TASO really think having the meeting again in McAllen is going to draw people? Nothing against the folks down there -- I'm sure they put on a great meeting (and Padre is always a good idea), but drive time from, say, Tyler, is 9+ hours, 8+ from Dallas, 8+ from Abilene, and even 6 from Houston. Flight time from north Texas is at least 3 hours due to stops. We should probably throw deep south and west Texas a bone once a decade or so, but if they really want attendance at the state meeting, it will have to be somewhere people will go to.

I think we need to do away with the state meeting and go to regional field and class clinics. Pay several clinicians to cover about 5 spots (somewhat rotating) around the state every year -- DFW, Houston, SA, Panhandle, and W. Texas. DFW, for example, could rotate between Wichita Falls, DFW, Waco, and even Tyler; Houston -- Beaumont, College Station; SA -- Austin, Corpus, etc.

[Headlinesman]

I have always loved going to the state meeting. One does, however, wonder about the efficacy and stewardship of continuing to have one. If they are intent on having one large state meeting, the optimal solution would be to find a central place and have it there year after year - some place, just for example, like Tenroc Ranch outside of Salado (with on site lodging, or within 20 minutes of ample hotel space and within 2 hours of the metroplex, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio). The problerm is that TASO has traditionally made the local chapter do all the work. In this day and age of instant communications, all the arrangements could be made by the TASO office with some town's convention and visitor's bureau, and the local members could enjoy, not dread, the meeting. Or if it was somewhere like Salado, it could be a joint effort between the Central Texas and Austin chapters. Just an idea.

[rickref]

I agree that either more central locations should be used.

[Arbitrator]

 

With gas prices ever escalating, I agree that the annual meeting should be logistically held in the same locale, preferably rotating between Austin and San Antonio. Economically speaking, that would make far more sense. Now if the vast majority of TASO members should indicate a marked desire to rotate the State Meeting, then I'd say that it ought to only be rotated between Austin/San Antonio, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Houston.

And I believe that points value for attending those Regional Meetings in those areas where the State Meeting is not being held should be accordingly increased, whereas Regional Meetings held in the locale where the State Meeting is later scheduled should be effectively reduced.

I'm not trying to knock my brethren in those far reaching parts of the state, because there have been some very good and productive state meetings held in those venues. But the downside of that equation is that those far-out venues tend to draw far fewer members to the State Meetings there as they are grossly inconvenient, as far as logistics are concerned, to the vast majority of TASO members on a statewide basis!   

[TexDoc]

Aside from geography, like having a meeting in McAllen, it is fairly simple to understand why state meeting attendance has so dramatically declined over the last 10 years. 

Looking at my chapter, in 2011 we had 140 D1's, 61 D2's, 47 D3's, 45 D4's, and 45 D5's.  With 41% of your membership in D1, and 59% in D1/D2, and no real incentive to attend the meetings (other than a few that want to continue to learn at that venue), why attend?  D1's don't need the points.  The state meetings really are not as enjoyable as they used to be, and we aren't all exactly swimming in money in this economy.  Going to a clinic in McAllen would mean 90% of those going would probably have to stay overnight, adding to the cost.  When I started, there was a much smaller percentage of officials in D1 than there is today and those points were important.

There are arguments that you have to have a wright-off anyway, and you should always continue learning to get better, etc.  These are valid, but not so much so to overcome the fact that you can learn anything at your local meetings and training (if done correctly) that you can at the state meeting, and that for many of us, rehashing the same mechanics and rules you've been studying for 25 years has dulled your interest a bit. 

My main objective each year before the beginning of the season is to get into the book and make sure I understand the new rules (which come out every two years now) and any new mechanics that might have come along.  Both of those can be done in an hour.  Really, why drive to McAllen?  I'm not knocking the state meeting for those that like to attend, need points, need more education on basics, but for the seasoned guys, there just isn't much reason to attend.  That will rub a lot of guys the wrong way, but that's the reality.

[Arbitrator]

 

Well-said, TexDoc! I don't really believe that if TASO were successful in setting up a "dunking booth" with both the Good UIL Dr.  and his celebrated Dancing Monkey  as the designated "dunkees," that it would increase attendance by very much at an "out-of-the-way" State Meeting such as McAllen~ although I'd sure have to give considerable thought to it, given those circumstances!

But I'd have to say that it's totally contingent upon TASO to work out some kind of strategy to encourage attendance by the "older heads," whether it is offering a round table discussion of the rules and the mechanics, with the net result of that discussion being forwarded on to the TASO Football Board for its due consideration. And they might also have to give credence to extending the D1's some type of discounted registration fee for that State Meeting. But, in no way, should they continue with the "occasional" state meeting being set up in some random corner of the state where attendance would be severely hampered by TASO members of all divisions. State Meetings, as a rule, should be as centrally located as they possibly can for the convenience of the vast majority of the TASO state membership!