Gentlemen.... This email is somewhat lengthy and not particularly interesting. It deals with the nitty gritty of the procedures the NMRA is using for registration, hotel rooms, tours, etc. for the 2011 NASG/NMRA convention in Sacramento. While not exciting (no color pictures), it is important that you read this and act swiftly when the time comes. Things might change and, if they do, I will send out another email.
1. There are two convention hotels -- the Sheraton and the Hyatt. Both are really close to the Sacramento Convention Center and it is an easy walk. The Sheraton is directly across the street and the Hyatt is about two short city blocks away. Approximate cost will be $109+tax per night at either hotel. 2. If you are registered for the convention, you will receive an email informing you that your hotel room request can be submitted to the NMRA via an online shopping cart system. All hotel rooms will be assigned by the NMRA and you will be informed appropriately. As a general rule, if you are reserving for the full week (Sunday through Saturday) then you will probably be assigned to the Sheraton. If you are staying for a partial week, then you will probably be assigned to the Hyatt. The exact date this email will be sent out is unknown, but possibly around the first of the year. There are no provisions for sending in a letter or filling out a form to make hotel reservations. The age of the internet has arrived! 3. If you are not registered for the convention, then you will not be able to register for a hotel room at the special convention rate of $109. You certainly can contact the hotels in question, or any other hotel, and attempt to make reservations on your own. You might find the "sold out" sign or you might not. No way to predict at this point in time. 4. Email messages will also be sent out to Registrants informing them of the opportunity to sign up for layout tours, the NASG banquet, all events, extra-cost clinics, buy merchandise, order the official S scale convention cars (both scale and AF), etc., etc. As with hotels, you will use an online shopping cart to sign up for things and have it all charged to your credit card. I doubt that PayPal will be acceptable, but that might change as time goes on. Nobody is excited about the PayPal fees. Signing up for things promptly is the best way to be assured of getting what you want. 4 (continued). Note that some events have limited quantities. For instance, there are only so many tables at the NASG Roundhouse Revue & BBQ too!! (which is a fancy name for our annual banquet). Yes, we are investigating some professional entertainment. So bring the whole family. Other events, such as bus tours, train rides, speeder rides, diesel engineer opportunities (drive a real diesel), certain clinics, etc. also have limited quantities. Once they are sold out, they are gone..... The early bird gets the worm! 5. Certain events will be marked as "NASG" or "S-oriented". For these events only, folks who have checked the NASG box on their registration form will have a unique window of opportunity to sign up without competition from the hordes of non-S folks. If you did not check the NASG box on your registration form, you might want to contact the Registrar and ask him to check it for you now. It is not necessary to be a member of NASG to check this box. This window of opportunity will be quite short -- maybe only a few weeks. When the window expires, then anyone attending the convention can sign up for any S-oriented event. It is very possible for S-oriented events to be totally filled up with S guys and S gals. That would please us all, I am sure. If an S-oriented event is not sold out to us S folks, then the HO and N folks will be able to join us if they choose. Think of it as a missionary opportunity. Get my drift? 5 (continued) This window of opportunity will be announced when you receive your email regarding tours and events. I do not know when this email will be sent out, but one possibility is mid-December. If that actually happens, you will have at least two weeks (until the first of the year) to sign up for S-oriented events without any competition from the non-S registrants. I am working toward getting this window of opportunity extended, but we cannot count on that happening for certain. For the time being, it would be best for you to act as if the window will close in two weeks. The exact dates will be included in the email when it comes. Read it carefully and act quickly. 6. At some point in time, you will be able to sign up for non-S-oriented events. For these events, you will be in competition with everyone else -- all 1,200 of them -- since regular events will be open to everyone else. Even for these events and tours, you should act swiftly. The email for the regular events will probably be sent out right around the first of the new year. Note that these projected dates are estimates and could change. 7. If you have a low registration number, you will get your emails early. If you have a high registration number, you will receive your emails later. Now you know why I exhorted everyone to register early. I do not know exactly when all this will happen, but it will begin sometime in January (we think). The first batch of emails will be sent out to those people who registered before the Hartford, CT NMRA convention in 2009. The next batch will be to those people who registered before the Milwaukee, WI NMRA convention this past summer. And so forth. I cannot tell you when your email will be sent out based on your registration number. If your email address has changed, you should provide your new address to the Registrar so that he has the correct email in his computer. If you cannot be reached by email, you will not be reached easily. 8. At this time, we do not know the price of the NASG Roundhouse Revue & BBQ too!!, the S-oriented home layout tours, or much of anything else that is S specific. Please do not ask me about prices at this time. The price will be shown on the online shopping cart when the time comes. I will say that, in my opinion, you will have superb events for a reasonable price. California is an expensive state and we are right in the middle of the capitol city. I am dedicated to making this the most memorable NASG convention ever in the entire history of mankind on Planet Earth, but it will not be at the low end of the price range. But you will still be talking about it years from now..... As usual, you can check out the web site for all kinds of detailed information regarding the S convention cars (yes, plural), banquet, home layout tours with both S and Sn3, the Welcoming Gathering with a special guest speaker, and -- have I mentioned this before? -- the NASG Roundhouse Revue & BBQ too!!. http://www.x2011west.org/nasg.html See you in "S"acto......Ed Loizeaux ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! 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