Seating in a public venue

[jbofkc]

For those that hold their Pack or District races in a public setting ie - mall or business. What type of arrangements do you make to provide seating? Our district race is being held at a Bass Pro Shop and have about 70 cars registered. We might have 150-200 people attend.

We want to spice up the venue to give folks something to occupy their time during the inspection period and to make it more exciting. I am a rookie district coordinator and that was one of the complaints from previous years - as recounted to me. The past venue, which were church fellowship halls, were boring and there was nothing to do while the cars were inspected.

The Bass Pro folks are clearing out the boat showroon area. We will have about 50 chairs, but space is limited. What is your experience?

[davem]

We like to show the "Down and Derby" movie if you have a sound system / projector / DVD player that can be used at the venue.

[Pinewood Daddy]

We like to show the "Down and Derby" movie if you have a sound system / projector / DVD player that can be used at the venue.

That movie is a little risqué (Big Jimmies wife) and un-scout like (stealing the "Fluke") in spots. We showed it once at a Pack meeting and got a few comments. It did hold the kids attention though.

[Stan Pope]

Check on availability and usability of portable bleachers. Our local sports complex has four of these ... about 20 to 25' long and 4 or 5 seating rows deep. They can be raised to stand on the back on rollers for portability and lowered to stand on legs for use. They are routinely trucked around town for use when the state basketball tournament is held across the river. I think 4 of these would handle about 200 adults. Rental cost? No idea!

[jbofkc]

The venue of Bass Pro will keep them busy during the inspeciton period -- Shopping. This is good for men and women. Just curious on the seating input. Thanks Stan on the bleachers.

We have seating planned for 50 and the rest can stand or sit on the floor. I have noticed over the years that most boys sit on the floor and many adults just stand. Perhaps too nervous to sit. Space is limited to bring in seat to hold everyone.

Your guess: how many complaints will I have if say 200 people total attend and there are only 50 seats?

Regarding budget. Hold onto your hat ... there is a budget of $100 for this event per the district. I informed the district executive that this needs to change for next year. They spend this $100 on participant patches. The trophies, track, venue, etc, etc must be donated. I have a commitment this will change next year.

[CuriousGeorge]

Regarding budget. Hold onto your hat ... there is a budget of $100 for this event per the district. I informed the district executive that this needs to change for next year. They spend this $100 on participant patches. The trophies, track, venue, etc, etc must be donated. I have a commitment this will change next year.

You don't charge a registration fee? This year we charged $6 per scout. The $6 covered the cost of postage (mailed out 601 fliers) and printing costs ($.05) incurred by council. It also paid for some of the trophies (Overall and top trophies donated) and the custom patches (1.86ea). I was also able to order 6 stands for the cars (from scoutstuff.org), an extra scale (official BSA), extra wheels and axles, etc....etc...

I figured at $2.50 per participation trophy, $1.86 per patch, $.41 for postage and $.05 for printing each scout would cost at least $5.00 and that would leave $1.00 for whatever....

As for seating, we didn't have any except for Inspectors and me.... but we had it in the mall and there were plenty of benches around if someone needed to sit down. From my experience if there are a limited amount of seats, people tend to 'camp-out' and everyone else has to stand anyway. Some people did however get folding chairs out of their cars and set them up. It probably wasn't the best thing to do, but it was a call I made.

[Stan Pope]

Depending on a number of factors, bunches of standing people means that few can see much. If the event is very long, then their general demeanor deteriorates.

If you are "really good" you can reserve a set of front row seats and rotate parents of the current heat through them. You might need a pitch fork to move them on after their son's heat, though! That means name tags for the parents as well as the scouts! And good communication is needed for upcoming heats. It would be better than seeing nothing, though.

[3 Cub Dad]

We normally line the sides with seats, but leave the end of the track open with no seating. We have the track roped off. But after the kids take their cars to the track, one side is left open enough for plenty of room inside the rope for them to walk down, and plenty of room inside the rope at the end of the track for them to sit on the floor at the end and watch their run.

CuriousGeorge,

I made a rookie mistake this year! In setting up our first district derby in Many, Many years, I forgot about a registration fee! Oh well, we'll cover it some how. We're asking each pack to kick in $5. If they don't, no big deal, THIS YEAR!

Steve

[CuriousGeorge]

When we set up our track at the mall, we roped it off to make a big circle, everything for the race was inside the circle, ie: registration tables, computer, track, trophies, etc..... If you make it a circle instead of a rectangle you have a much larger perimeter for people to stand around and watch, plus you have plenty of room for the kids to sit inside (we only allowed kids inside if their division was racing). With 40 kids racing in each division, there was plenty of room. Most people that weren't racing were off shopping or doing whatever and would come back close to the time their division would run. We had a good PA system to announce everything.

In a nut shell, I liked having the circle for the increase in the perimeter size.

[jbofkc]

Dealing with the budget this year and have agreements for more next year.

Sounds like the races in the malls, folks dealt with the seat as they could or wanted to. Not much if any seating provided - ie: folding chairs. Heck the DMV does not provide seats and folks stand in lines for drivers licences for hours on a Saturday.

This is the one area complaints will come from. I did address the multitude of complaints that the race was held in a boring setting the past few years. Eliminate one source of complaining and another arises??? Can't win.

Thank you for your input.

[3 Cub Dad]

jb,

One other note on holding in a public venue, you should stress and enforce that final lubrication be done prior to bringing the cars into the building. Or, provide a bunch of wet wipes around the pit table for people to clean their hands. If the people at Bass Pro, or a mall have been good enough to let you use their venue, you don't want to sour it with a bounch of complaints the next day about there being graphite smudges all over their merchandise for sale!

Steve

[Stan Pope]

In a nut shell, I liked having the circle for the increase in the perimeter size.

This statement has been bugging me since I read it earlier today. The truth is just exactly the opposite! A circle is the SHORTEST perimeter than encloses a given area! It is why surface tension makes bubbles round and why water droplets on your car's hood make round spots!

This does not imply that a circle is not the best shape for your event perimeter. But you have not yet stated a valid reason!

[jbofkc]

Already made the request about the final graphite application be made outside the building. Preferably at home. Thanks for the reminder.

[CuriousGeorge]

This statement has been bugging me since I read it earlier today.

My bad. What I said about the shape was wrong. This year we enlarged the perimeter and made it technically an oval, not by just changing the shape, but also adding about a 100ft more checkered pennant banner.

The truth is just exactly the opposite! A circle is the SHORTEST perimeter than encloses a given area! It is why surface tension makes bubbles round and why water droplets on your car's hood make round spots!

However, a perimeter is a perimeter. If you take a length of rope and place it on the floor in a rectangular shape, then change the shape of the rope to a circle, the perimeter would be neither shorter nor longer either way.

This year we just bowed out the long sides a lot and made it bigger. It seemed to flow pretty good. On one side of the track we had the kids, on the other side we had all of the registration tables, computer, PA system and trophies. We put all of the display tables with the cars behind the start of the track.

[Stan Pope]

Yes, in general if you scale up the area, you increase the perimeter, allowing more room for the boys and more "front row space" for the parents! If you make the circle big enough, all the parents can have a front row seat and the boys can play softball while they are waiting to race!

Fitting the spectators and the participants into the space available is a challenge! Putting them in the hallway of a mall gets an entirely solution than putting them into a high school gymnasium!