Hey Clark, All,

I thought Naperville was good. This was only my second
time, but I really learned a lot and enjoyed meeting
everyone.

Business first. I've used Ted Culotta's Southern and
Seaboard HO decal sets--many of them--and they are
VERY THIN. Thinner than anything I've ever used. For
example, when applying decals, I normally lay down a
light wash of Micro Sol and then lay the decal on top
of it. I did that with Ted's decals and they curled up
and were ruined. From that point on, I laid them down
on a light coat of distilled water and had terrific
results.

Back to Naperville. I was disappointed that Sunshine's
room opened without notice, but it's their meet and I
guess I don't have room to complain. It was like a
feeding frenzy in there. On another note, I arrived at
1256 hrs. on Thursday and Tricia frantically informed
me that I was presenting at 1300--just four minutes
away, and that I was "not allowed to start late". I
managed to get my show off without too many problems,
but I wish they could've notified me beforehand. At
least the episode gave me a good story to bore
everybody with.

Frankly, I had a better time making fun of Ed Hawkins
running around with his briefcase. It was chock full
of photos and other secrets. He should've had it
handcuffed to his arm. He had it the entire
time--maybe he had the "launch codes" in there...

Oh yeah--another note. I spent $70.00 and a heck of a
lot of time making 135 quality handouts for my
presentation. Every one of them were distributed to
attendees. I note that many other presenters didn't
bother making or distributing handouts, which, quite
frankly, pisses me off. It's a requirement for
Naperville to have a handout. As Martin says, "It's
expected". I went to a lot of trouble and expense for
the benefit of others, and am very disappointed that
many other presenters didn't reciprocate. I probably
came back with three handouts from other
presentations--that's it.

Ted's new Southern and SP gondolas were there at
Naperville and looked terrific. I was a little
disappointed with the rest of the model vendors,
except for the photo dealers which were terrific as
always. I was quite surprised to see the number of
diesel (disease-el, as one of my buddies says) era
models in the display room. They're slowly taking over
the meet. Plus, most of the award winners in the model
room were disease-el era models.

John

John Golden
O'Fallon, IL

Message: 3
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2005 08:50:26 -0600
From: "Clark Propst" <cepropst@...>
Subject: N'ville atfermath

I was just scanning through the latest message list
at Yahoo groups. I see lots of messages about
Martin's stuff, but little about the rest of the
meet.

I'm curious as to what people thought of the
'vendors day' this year. I picked up Gene's new
reefer book (which is well worth the discounted
price) I also got some of Ted's stuff. Has anyone
tried his decals yet? I didn't get a chance to ask
if you could order the new resin kits there.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Clark Propst

John Golden
O'Fallon, IL
http://www.pbase.com/golden1014

John Golden wrote:

[snip]

Back to Naperville. I was disappointed that Sunshine's
room opened without notice, but it's their meet and I
guess I don't have room to complain. It was like a
feeding frenzy in there. On another note, I arrived at
1256 hrs. on Thursday and Tricia frantically informed
me that I was presenting at 1300--just four minutes
away, and that I was "not allowed to start late". I
managed to get my show off without too many problems,
but I wish they could've notified me beforehand. At
least the episode gave me a good story to bore
everybody with.

One of the pre-meet mailings to clinicians had a section where you
could note if there were any times when you couldn't (or didn't want
to) present. I marked "not Thursday afternoon" on mine.

[more snippage]

Oh yeah--another note. I spent $70.00 and a heck of a
lot of time making 135 quality handouts for my
presentation. Every one of them were distributed to
attendees. I note that many other presenters didn't
bother making or distributing handouts, which, quite
frankly, pisses me off. It's a requirement for
Naperville to have a handout. As Martin says, "It's
expected". I went to a lot of trouble and expense for
the benefit of others, and am very disappointed that
many other presenters didn't reciprocate. I probably
came back with three handouts from other
presentations--that's it.

I plead guilty on that one, John. We returned home from a four-week
trip (during which the hard drive on my laptop crashed) late on
October 17th, I put my clinic (96 PowerPoint slides)together from
scratch the following weekend and boarded Amtrak for Naperville on
the 26th. I just didn't have time to digest it all down to a two-
page handout so I printed all 96 slides to an 11-page PDF file and
put it on the web. And gave the web address on the first and last
slides of the presentation. While I am in awe of your handout and
the expense of it, Martin _did_ suggest that clinicians prepare 150
copies of a one or two page handout.

On a related note, thanks very much to Ted Culotta for letting me
use his laptop for my presentations.

Ted's new Southern and SP gondolas were there at
Naperville and looked terrific. I was a little
disappointed with the rest of the model vendors,
except for the photo dealers which were terrific as
always.

I missed the last three Naperville meets, but in previous years I
remember the vendor's areas opened Friday evening and closed late
Saturday night. This gave Martin a one-day head start. This year the
vendor's area was in the main ballroom which was unavailable until
Saturday and had to be prepped for the banquet that evening. I guess
I preferred the vendors being in several smaller rooms and open for
longer hours. How did things work in 2002 - 2004??

Tom Madden

John Golden wrote:

Oh yeah--another note. I spent $70.00 and a heck of a
lot of time making 135 quality handouts for my
presentation. Every one of them were distributed to
attendees. I note that many other presenters didn't
bother making or distributing handouts, which, quite
frankly, pisses me off. It's a requirement for
Naperville to have a handout. As Martin says, "It's
expected".

John, it's NOT "required" at all, as Martin will tell you, though of course it is very welcome. Not every presentation lends itself to a handout. When I have done talks which so lend themselves, I am happy to make the effort; other times, a handout doesn't make sense. To say that other speakers "didn't bother" is insulting and may be inaccurate in some cases.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

Bob, of course Martin will listen to suggestions. But you'll have to
write him a letter, because they don't use email! :-) (At least they
are wise enough not to reveal their email address to most of us.)

I agree, a VENDOR room (no sales) and a PHOTO ROOM & LOUNGE
would be just peachy. And open Fri & Sat all day too.

Tim O.


Bob Webber wrote

--- In STMFC@..., John Golden <golden1014@y...> wrote:

I was quite surprised to see the number of
diesel (disease-el, as one of my buddies says) era
models in the display room. They're slowly taking over
the meet. Plus, most of the award winners in the model
room were disease-el era models.

John

John Golden
O'Fallon, IL

John, as someone who puts on a meet, you should know that the models on
display are what are brought and you have no control over what shows
up. I don't think Martin has "limited" the display to a specific era.

As for what got awards, those choices were made by his chosen "judges".

Dave Hussey

On Nov 8, 2005, at 12:22 PM, dh30973 wrote:

--- In STMFC@..., John Golden <golden1014@y...> wrote:

I was quite surprised to see the number of
diesel (disease-el, as one of my buddies says) era
models in the display room. They're slowly taking over
the meet. Plus, most of the award winners in the model
room were disease-el era models.

John, as someone who puts on a meet, you should know that the models on
display are what are brought and you have no control over what shows
up. I don't think Martin has "limited" the display to a specific era.

While I have little interest in modern stuff in general, good modeling is still good modeling and I always appreciate seeing it in any format.

Regards,
Ted Culotta

Speedwitch Media
645 Tanner Marsh Road, Guilford, CT 06437
info@...
www.speedwitch.com
(650) 787-1912

We're likely treading on the good graces of our fearsome moderator....

Having returned from Gaithersburg, I can attest that a three day (well, 2.5 days) of selling can really burn out vendors. Bob's choice is to do it from his room and that seems to work for him as he can lounge and his security is pretty good - though I do fault him for not taking that extra effort of saving his collection when the fire alarm sounded. I fully expected to see all those priceless photos in the parking lot....

The way the clinics are set up leaves precious little free time to go hobby shopping or vendor shopping as is. I don't have the former issue, living nearby, but the other issue does come into play. I liked the two day availability. I also liked the "buyer regret" aspect of that second day where, if an item were still available, you could go back the next morning and purchase that photo or other item that you had decided against the day before.

I will write a letter to Martin, after all, I don't need a reply, and there *is* a little time between if one is warranted. If for no other reason than to show some appreciation for having the show and gathering the experts as he has done in the past years. No other experience quite like it and too often such things go unremarked upon. His family's unfailing good cheer in the admin part of it should also be remarked upon.

At 10:41 AM 11/8/2005, you wrote:

I agree, a VENDOR room (no sales) and a PHOTO ROOM & LOUNGE
would be just peachy. And open Fri & Sat all day too.

Bob Webber

It is most enlightening...and entertaining...to read about Naperville. Although I fully intended to attend, while you that were there were fighting each other to get to the head of the line in the Sunshine Room, I was watching a fairly competent roofing company replace and repair a section of roof over the train room. Most concerning. For those not living in hurricane highway [ as opposed to tornado alley ], there is about one roofing company for every 100 roofs needing repair. One odd aspect of hurricanes is that, unlike tornados or earthquakes, one see's them coming. Only problem is...you can't do a damned thing about it. I mean...bomb a hurricane?

As far as hotels go...it is very true that the key to the cost of meeting rooms is the number of sleeping rooms one sells. However, what some might not realize is that you should write your contract in terms of room-nights AND you should be sure to get credit for every room-night including those before and after the event. My favorite attendees are those that come early and leave late.

Unlike Martin, I AM on the internet...rather exposed actually...and welcome comments about Prototype Rails...Cocoa Beach. Incidentally, Martin has an open offer to come down and sell anything he has left. The comments about chairs and Bob's Photos got my attention and so...we'll have chairs for Bob and Mainline Photos as well. However, I don't really like the idea of putting them in their room somewhere, so Bob will be very assessable in his usual location with Mainline across from him.

So...I usually don't like to promote Cocoa Beach prior to another event...like Naperville...but it's now time. Here's the latest flyer:

PROTOTYPE RAILS

COCOA BEACH, FL, JAN 6-8, 2006

A PROTOTYPE MODELING MEET FEATURING
MODULAR LAYOUTS IN O, HO AND N SCALE

OVER 400 MODELS ON DISPLAY, 7 PROTOTYPE BASED LAYOUTS
PLEASE BRING MODELS

CLINICIANS

Mike Rose John Roberts Bruce Smith John Golden Chad Hewitt

Robert Hundman Bill Darnaby Tom Bisset Larry Kline Ben Hom Ed DeRouin

Andy Sperandeo Tim Frederick Andy Harman Richard Hendrickson

Scott Chatfield Clark Propst Ken Edmier Stan Rydarowicz Jim Singer

Steve Orth Brian Nolan Jeff Cauthen Tom Wilson Bill Schaumburg Ted Culotta

Greg Martin Mont Switzer Jon Cagle Tony Thompson Tom Madden

Keith Williams Bill Welch Joe Oates John Wilkes George Eichelberger

David Marquis Al Westerfield Roger Hinman Jim Singer Stephen Funaro

Lance Mindheim Bob Webber Gail Komar Mike Brock

Manufacturers/Dealers: Branchline, Walthers, Westerfield, F & C, Bob's Photos, Mainline Photos, Southern Car & Foundry

HILTON HOTEL, COCOA BEACH, FL, 1-800-526-2609 or 321-799-0003. $97 Room Rate. Refer to Prototype Rails. Preregistration $30, payable to Prototype Rails, to Marty Megregian, 480 Gails Way, Merritt Island, FL 32953.

Jan 6, 10 AM -Midnight, Jan 7, 9 AM-Midnight, Jan 8, Layout Visits.
5 prototype based layouts will be open for visits locally on Sunday, Jan 8. Ken Farnham's FEC [ 1970s ], Lou Ullian's On3 Logging [ 1930s ], John Shankland's O scale 3 rail CB&Q, Tom Wilson's HO scale P&WV [ phone # 863-424-7343 ], and Mike Brock's HO scale UP [ 1954 ].
There will be two op sessions available on Thursday Jan 5 at Tom Wilson's and Mike Brock's layouts. Those wishing to join in a session should indicate their choices in preregistration and contact the host. Selection will be on a first come basis.
A special dinner on Saturday, Jan 7, for Prototype Rails attendees only will be available for $16/person. Tickets are required and must be purchased no later than Saturday morning. Tickets may be purchased and reserved in advance and included with the cost of registration. Registration plus dinner is $46/person. Spouses not attending presentations do not have to register. FOR INFORMATION: Contact Mike Brock at: brockm@... or 321-453-4140.

On Nov 8, 2005, at 12:37 PM, Bob Webber wrote:

We're likely treading on the good graces of our fearsome moderator....

Having returned from Gaithersburg, I can attest that a three day
(well, 2.5 days) of selling can really burn out vendors. Bob's
choice is to do it from his room and that seems to work for him as he
can lounge and his security is pretty good - though I do fault him
for not taking that extra effort of saving his collection when the
fire alarm sounded. I fully expected to see all those priceless
photos in the parking lot....

If a fire alarm goes off you forget every thing in the room except your wife and yourself (your kids also if they are there) and you use caution as you get out of the building. Having been a volunteer fireman I ask you the question "Have you ever seen the body of someone who was over come by smoke while trying to save other things besides themselves"? Not a pretty thing. So never never fault anyone who gets out when the alarm sounds and leaves his Rembrant painting behind.
Thank you
Larry Jackman
ljack70117@...
The 50-50-90 Rule: Anytime you have 50-50 chance of getting something right, there is 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

As I now recall, Martin specifically told me I must have a handout
and that I couldn't charge for it.

I had one and I charged for it.

Most bought one and no one complained to me about having to buy it or
my price. If there were complaints I wish I had heard about them. I
spent more than John Golden on my handouts and ran out so I mailed
out a bunch more later on.

I have also paid others for their handout. Like John, I consider the
handouts to be important and valuable. If a clinic lends itself at
all to a handout, I'd like to have one.

I wouldn't mind paying. No one should go too deeply into their own
pocket for me.

Gene Green
Out in the West Texas Town of El Paso

--- In STMFC@..., Tony Thompson <thompsonmarytony@s...>
wrote:

John Golden wrote:

Oh yeah--another note. I spent $70.00 and a heck of a
lot of time making 135 quality handouts for my
presentation. Every one of them were distributed to
attendees. I note that many other presenters didn't
bother making or distributing handouts, which, quite
frankly, pisses me off. It's a requirement for
Naperville to have a handout. As Martin says, "It's
expected".

John, it's NOT "required" at all, as Martin will tell you,

though

of course it is very welcome. Not every presentation lends itself

to a

handout. When I have done talks which so lend themselves, I am

happy to

make the effort; other times, a handout doesn't make sense. To say

that

other speakers "didn't bother" is insulting and may be inaccurate

in

some cases.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@s...
Publishers of books on railroad history

I have no problem with paying for photocopies of the
presentations... And I'd be very happy to pay for CD's
for some of them too!!* It cracks me up when people gripe
about paying a buck or two for photocopies when they've
spent a thousand bucks or more in travel, hotel and lost
work time (or used up vacation time)! Many people spend
a lot more than that.

* Especially John Golden's! :-)

Tim O'Connor