There's been some talk about clubs hosting only one day contests.

My thought is:
When I go to a contest, whether it's 20 minutes or 4 hours distance, I like to fly. I like to spend time visiting with other pilots. I like to relax and have fun. I like the hoopla at the awards ceremony. I like the raffles and door prizes. And I like entertainment.

I just think it's hard to squeeze all of that into a one day event.

What's your thoughts? Don't hold back your true feelings.

Frank

I think that new events should start as one great day that can grow into two days. Existing events are probably best based on previous year's attendance.
Some of that is probably dependent upon on how close people live to the event. If I am closer, I would lean towards two day since the drive to and from is shorter, and of course vice versa for far away contests.

Agree with Jeff... start with one day and make it worth someone to come for a one day and then go into a two day....

scott

Guy's, I have held both, one and two day events this past year, and they both have there own merits. We did an end of the year, one day SPA contest that went over very well . Everyone that attended seem to enjoy the contest and got as much flying in as possible, for a one day event. The contest was in Alabama, and had 17 pilots from 3 states, we got in 5 rounds with two flight lines.
The only complaint's we had were from people that could not make the event because of distance. I agree that the two day would be better for people that are going to spend time and money for travel would prefer a two day event ...

Dave..

The reasons we went with one day events is work/travel conflicts, expenses, CD proficiency, and participation.

We have some folks from the East make the trip and it's bad enough driving that far, but add two days worth of events in the sun to two days of driving equals some tired folks.
Also many local participants can only get one day off during the weekend. So with at least 4 rounds are flown on Saturday they opt for Saturday off and work Sunday.

The two day events are more costly and time consuming for everyone. With the second day comes an expense to the club to provide lunch for the extra day which is a load on the CD and it requires the out of town people to add an additional stay at the hotel and other expenses.

How well an event is organized or the experience of the CD plays a factor. I think with a well organized event you can successfully get in 5 rounds with 25 pilots in one day. I had about 18 contestants and was able to get at least the B-Novice finished with round 5 by 5 pm on Saturday and that's with holding the drawing that Saturday because several couldn't attend both days for work and travel reasons and I was running a single flight line in 97 degree heat.

Finally, the participation dictates the decision too. Naturally if you have 30 attendees then you'll need two days or you're really proficient and everything flows smoothly.

Tim

Well, it thinks it plain to see from the number of responses to this question, that people really don't care one way or the other. I was hoping to get some insight into what the flier's wanted.

Frank