Annual North American contest soaring development panel?

I am interested in organizing an annual North American Contest Soaring Development Panel for winter 2016 (hopefully 2015). The event would be held in the winter months. No flying, no gliders, no glider-ports and not in conjunction with the SSA convention (this topic deserves more focus and requires MUCH more time)! The event would be based around an expert panel of top pilots (perhaps 1-3 top, TOP world level pilots) along with a group of our top North American pilots. These experts would each develop a series of presentations, lectures, discussion topics and chair various breakout sessions. Each evening would have organized social activities (dinners, etc). Imagine a 3 day seminar environment in a nice urban (Chicago, Orlando, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas) or resort locale.

The event would strive to provide a highly interactive and focused agenda which promotes detailed discussion (and knowledge transfer) in all key elements of contest soaring. The principle goals would be to improve the collective skills of North American contest pilots while developing youth pilots (perhaps youth pilots attend free?). This events content should also be highly valuable to the intermediate and advanced cross country pilots.

My vision for a schedule would be to arrive Thursday evening for a welcome reception. Friday and Saturday would be full content days and Sunday would adjourn midday for goodbyes return travel. There would of course be a registation fee which would include event expenses, hotel rooms, breakfast, lunch, etc. Overall the registration fee should be reasonable. Depending on the number of attendees, potential sponsors or "other" means of funding it could be negligible. I believe that late January, early February would be ideal.

I think this kind of Annual Contest Soaring Development Event could be something special. There is so much knowledge and experience out there in our top contest pilots. That said, it is also incredibly difficult to find meaninful time to really talk to them in detail about these topics. We need a better mechanism for sharing this knowledge. Supporting and growing this annual event is how I would propose solving that problem.

I would like to gauge the interest level for this kind of event.

1) Would you be interested in attending such an event?
2) What über World level pilots would you most like to learn from?
3) Please list the areas of discussion (top 5) that would be most interesting to you.
4) Does location matter to you? What city would you prefer?
5) Other comments, idea's and thoughts?

TIA,

Sean

Very much like the Byars & Holbrook XC/Contest seminars of the late 60's and early 70's (still good reading)

On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 12:29:10 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
I am interested in organizing an annual North American Contest Soaring Development Panel for winter 2016 (hopefully 2015). The event would be held in the winter months. No flying, no gliders, no glider-ports and not in conjunction with the SSA convention (this topic deserves more focus and requires MUCH more time)! The event would be based around an expert panel of top pilots (perhaps 1-3 top, TOP world level pilots) along with a group of our top North American pilots. These experts would each develop a series of presentations, lectures, discussion topics and chair various breakout sessions. Each evening would have organized social activities (dinners, etc). Imagine a 3 day seminar environment in a nice urban (Chicago, Orlando, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas) or resort locale.



The event would strive to provide a highly interactive and focused agenda which promotes detailed discussion (and knowledge transfer) in all key elements of contest soaring. The principle goals would be to improve the collective skills of North American contest pilots while developing youth pilots (perhaps youth pilots attend free?). This events content should also be highly valuable to the intermediate and advanced cross country pilots.



My vision for a schedule would be to arrive Thursday evening for a welcome reception. Friday and Saturday would be full content days and Sunday would adjourn midday for goodbyes return travel. There would of course be a registation fee which would include event expenses, hotel rooms, breakfast, lunch, etc. Overall the registration fee should be reasonable. Depending on the number of attendees, potential sponsors or "other" means of funding it could be negligible. I believe that late January, early February would be ideal.



I think this kind of Annual Contest Soaring Development Event could be something special. There is so much knowledge and experience out there in our top contest pilots. That said, it is also incredibly difficult to find meaninful time to really talk to them in detail about these topics. We need a better mechanism for sharing this knowledge. Supporting and growing this annual event is how I would propose solving that problem.



I would like to gauge the interest level for this kind of event.



1) Would you be interested in attending such an event?

2) What über World level pilots would you most like to learn from?

3) Please list the areas of discussion (top 5) that would be most interesting to you.

4) Does location matter to you? What city would you prefer?

5) Other comments, idea's and thoughts?



TIA,



Sean

Very good idea Sean.

Please consider central Florida if it's to be a winter event. We got close a year or two ago with the SSA convention, but it stalled when the owner of the 60,000 facility needed refused to widen the access doors for the larger trailers.

It's where we have had the closing banquet the last couple of years at The Seniors, has a hotel, conference rooms etc. It also boasts one of the top 10 golf courses in Florida (Google El Campion), and for the family, is close to the Orlando theme parks.

Orlando has excellent flight availably (Disney, Duh), and, as a bonus, The Mission Inn (in the unlikely named Howey in the Hills) was able to secure some county funding for the proposed event.

I love Chicago, but in the winter...

Well I am going to "go for it" and begin working on this. Website, logistics, panel members, financial plan, etc.

I agree that Orlando is a strong choice. I love Orlando and yes financially it is an excellent location with lots to do, including great soaring nearby.

Ideas for panel members? Doug Jacobs, Karl S, Sean Franke and Dick Butler, come to mind along with any of the current team members. I'm sure I am missing many. For international I simply refer to the Worlds results. Names like Kawa and Sommer. Again I'm sure I am missing many. I would love to hear more suggestions!

It will be a challenge getting these great folks to attend. Scheduling and expenses, etc. That said I think this can be a huge, huge success and a really fun event to look forward to each year. I'll kep you all informed.

Sincerely,

Sean
7T