IPMS/USA Nationals 2011 - Day 1
By Matt Bittner
The first day of the IPMS/USA Nationals is on its way. Officially it opened at 2:00pm, but as you can see in the photos, things were happening before. Way before.
Vendor set-up actually started at 7:00am. Not all had finished setting up by the time the doors were officially opened, but it wasn't that bad. Enough wares were in place to make most plastic modelers happy. Vendors such as Eduard, UMM-USA, Stevens International, Revell, Dragon USA, etc. are here and in droves. There are three rooms set up with vendors of all types. Plenty of room, and plenty to choose from.
You can see in the images some of the vendor set-up, as well as an empty contest room (lots and lots of room!!), and the registration area.
So far, so good. The snags have been minimal and haven't really caused big delays.
One important thing comes through this, as looking through the eyes of the hosting chapter. Not one person can do everything. Yes, you need one person to be "in charge", but that person needs lots of help, as well as people willing to take over certain duties. For example, you need a volunteer to handle the registration-end of a contest. Another person to handle the raffle. Yet another to handle the vendor area, etc. Everything will be better if you not only can delegate duties to other individuals, but those people are reliable enough you truly don't have to worry how they handle the job but know those jobs will be accomplished.
Stay tuned. I'll provide more as I see fit. Models have started to trickle into the contest area and I'll be taking more photos as I can, and posting them. Naturally the quality so far is out of this world...
