Paul Renneisen can not confirm for events below. If anything changes, I will be drop in only. Thanks.
> Hi everyone, > > This is addressed to everyone but especially those in South Florida who > would like to exhibit their EVs in Miami on Sunday April 20 at an Earth > Day > event there. I am especially interested in Allan Miller's take on this, > as > he is local and closest to both of these venues and as such knows them > best. > > The problem is that there are two different Earth Day events taking place > in > Miami on the same day, Sunday April 20, at two different locations. The > two > are separately organized, and neither has anything to do with the other. > We > have been invited to exhibit at both. The decision we have to make, for > those interested in exhibiting their EVs at an Earth Day event in Miami on > April 20, is which one do we choose to go to? Or maybe would some of us > like to choose one of the two events and others choose the other event? I > don't think it really has to be a group decision (which with as > individualistic a group as EVers are, can be like trying to herd cats :-) > but rather should left to each individual in terms of which event you want > to attend. > > I will list the two events and what I see as the pros and cons of each. > These pros and cons are just my own opinion, and I may be way off base on > some of this, especially not being from Miami, which is why I'd really > like > to get Allan Miller's take on this. The two events are: 1) The Green > Apple > Festival Earth Day Celebration, being held in Bicentennial Park, and 2) > The > Key Biscayne EarthFest, being held at the Biscayne Nature Center in > Crandon > Park on Key Biscayne. > > -------------- > > 1) The Green Apple Festival Earth Day Celebration, being held in > Bicentennial Park > www.greenapplemusicfestival.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=17&Itemid=34 > > Pros: > > a) I'm not entirely sure about this, but this event *may* have a bigger > promotional/publicity/advertising budget this year than the Key Biscayne > EarthFest. This is a large nationally-based organization with a national > series of events that are taking place simultaneously in 8 cities around > the > country: Washington DC, New York, Miami, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, LA, and > San Francisco. This could be seen as either a positive or a negative, > possibly a positive from a promotional/publicity/advertising budget point > of > view, but a negative in other ways, as I will discuss below. > > Bands that have confirmed they will be playing: Menudo (the pre-pubescent > Latin boys group), and hip-hop group Arrested Development. I'm not sure > whether this is a pro or con, hence I've put it in between the pros and > the > cons. :-) > > Cons: > > a) The main organizer of this event is in Berkeley, California, from where > he is handling all the Miami event details. There does not appear to be > any > locally-based organization coordinating the effort. This is a decided > negative in my view. > > b) I'm not sure that Bicentennial Park is such a great location. First of > all, it is not near any residential areas. Second, there is all kinds of > construction going on right along that part of Biscayne Blvd. there, and > parking and accessibility always seem to be a big problem around there. > If > they wanted to hold the event downtown, I think Bayfront Park would have > been a better location. What do you think, Allan? > > c) This is the first year for this particular Green Apple Festival Earth > Day > Celebration in Miami. They don't appear to have any exhibitors that have > yet signed up and committed to exhibiting at this event. > > d) Exhibitors are responsible for bringing and setting up their own > display > booth tents, tables, and chairs. > > -------------- > > 2) The Key Biscayne EarthFest > http://earth-learning.org/page.aspx?vpageid=1002&itemid=1383 > > Pros: > > a) This is the second year for this event. (I exhibited at it last year.) > > b) In my view, this location is very good, about as good as you can get in > Miami -- the layout, parking, ease of accessibility, the beautiful > setting. > It is immediately adjacent to the upscale residential neighborhoods of Key > Biscayne, which is one of the most progressive and environmentally > conscious > communities in Miami-Dade County, actually in all of South Florida. There > are more NEVs there than anywhere else I've seen in South Florida, other > than maybe Key West. Most families seem to have two vehicles, a gas car > for > driving into work in downtown Miami, and a NEV that the family uses for > all > their local errands on the island, running the kids to school, going > shopping, going out for meals, etc. People on Key Biscayne already *get* > it > about EVs. So the audience at this event is generally very receptive and > EV > friendly. It's the right demographic. > > c) The event is locally-based and locally-organized, which I always feel > has > a better prognosis for being a better event with better attendance than an > event that is being organized by outsiders 3,000 miles away. > > d) The bands playing are some of the same bands that played last year, > which > were well received. They are locally-based bands, some of them made up of > local environmentalists, Miami Sierra Club members, etc. > > e) Exhibitors will be provided with display booth tents, tables, and > chairs, > which the event organizers will have already set up in advance for > exhibitors. > > OK, now we transition from the pros/positives to the cons/negatives, and I > guess I will just do this narrative style with an explanation of what is > going on with this year's event that's different from last year. > > Last year, in its first year, this was by far, without a doubt, the > absolute > best event, and best attended event, that I have ever exhibited at > anywhere > in Florida in my 3 years of doing such events. But that was no accident > or > happenstance. As I have learned in 3 years of doing such events, the > quality of any particular event and its attendance are directly related to > and primarily determined by the quality of the organizers and the effort > they put into organizing the event. Last year, in its first year, this > event was put on by two of Miami's best known, liked, and respected, well > established and best connected environmental movers & shakers -- Rebecca > Carter of GreenerMiami and Theo Long, Director of the Biscayne Nature > Center > at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. Rebecca and Theo were the two primary > organizers and literally put months and months of work into organizing the > event, about 6 months of continual hard work and enthusiastic, passionate > effort. They hired one of Miami's best connected, high-powered PR firms > to > handle the publicity for the event, and that was also done months in > advance. Every single Miami TV station was there covering the event > (which > was a miracle for a Sunday, as it is extremely difficult to near > impossible > to get the TV stations to come out and cover anything on a weekend in > Miami). I was interviewed on live TV with my RAV4-EV. > > OK, that *was* the positive, at least for *last* year. Now we get to the > negative for *this* year. > > Rebecca and Theo had initially started the process of organizing this > year's > event towards the end of last year. I got an email from Rebecca in > December > telling me to expect updates from her throughout the winter on the > organizing effort for the April 2008 event. Well, I never received > anything > from her after that, nor anything from anyone at all. > > Curious, I wrote Rebecca several days ago to ask what is going with the > Key > Biscayne EarthFest and if it is going to be held again this year. A few > days later, I got a short email back from Rebecca telling me that she is > on > maternity leave and expecting to deliver her baby soon, so she had to drop > out of organizing the event this year. She also informed me that her > co-organizing partner from last year, Theo Long, had some family issues > that > similarly required her to drop out of organizing the event this year. > Rebecca didn't answer my question about whether they have hired the same > PR > firm to handle the promotions, publicity, and advertising for this year's > event, but the answer to that is obviously "no". > > Rebecca informed me that she and Theo have turned over the organizing of > this year's event to a couple of low-level Miami-Dade County Park Service > functionaries/bureaucrats and referred me to them. I started thinking to > myself -- Oh no, this event has been abandoned and is doomed, and > immediately thought back to that ill-fated 2006 Miami Beach Earth Day > event > that was similarly organized by a couple of low-level City of Miami Beach > functionaries/bureacrats without the passion, enthusiasm, energy, > high-level > connections, support, nor advertising budget to organize a high-quality > event, and we all remember what a flop and fiasco that event was ... > basically a complete waste of our time. > > I have now been contacted by these two low-level Miami-Dade County Park > Service functionaries/bureaucrats who are organizing this year's Key > Biscayne EarthFest. In looking over the material they just sent me, it > looks like this year's organizing effort is coming together very late and > that few exhibitors have signed up yet. Furthermore, it doesn't look like > there is going to be any serious publicity and advertising effort this > year > like there was last year. In particular, I would not expect even a single > TV station to be there this year. I would also expect this year's > attendance to be way down from last year. Last year, there were probably > like around 2,000 to 3,000 people there during the course of the > afternoon. > Allan Miller remembers; that's where I first met him. This year, I'm > guessing they'll be lucky to get a few hundred. > > -------------- > > So anyway, folks, that's the situation on these two events as I see them > and > my read on them. As I said, I'd really like to get Allan Miller's opinion > on all of this and which event he thinks has the better chance of being > the > better event to attend. As I said, maybe some of you would like to attend > the Bicentennial Park event and others attend the Key Biscayne event. > Despite my disappointment in the abandonment of the Key Biscayne event > organizing effort to low-level Park Service bureaucrats, I myself am > leaning > towards going back to Key Biscayne again this year, just judging and > taking > everything on balance. Also, just the fact that it is still a local, > community-based event means more to me than a national series event being > organized 3,000 miles away with little-to-no apparent local organization. > Maybe Andrew Roddy or others would be interested in going to the > Bicentennial Park event, and then we could compare notes afterwards. > > Depending on what Allan Miller says, I think I am going to go ahead and > sign > up for the Key Biscayne event. If any of you want to sign up for the > Bicentennial Park event, please let me know and I will send you the > relevant > contact info and details. > > Sorry for the length of this post. Just wanted to give everyone as > complete > a picture as possible with which to make your own judgement/decision about > which event to attend, if any (or maybe neither). > > Best regards, > > Charles Whalen > Florida EAA > Delray Beach, FL > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > _______________________________________________ > Florida EAA mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.floridaeaa.org > _______________________________________________ Florida EAA mailing list [email protected] http://www.floridaeaa.org
