March O Scale Meet 2021 in Chicago

Goody!  Maybe l can get some parts!

Interesting news

I don't do Facebook - but if you let us know here I'll get a hotel reservation in

@Brad Kowal posted:

A new Facebook Page has been created and can be found by searching:  March-O-Scale Meet.

 

A lot of your attendees are not users of Facebook.

Getting that registration info out directly to here and a lot of similar places will serve you better

Agreed. I don’t use Facebook either.

Dear Brad,

Great news. Who are the new management for the show?

Thanks, John

Another issue is the age of a lot of us.   Making reservations for something that may happen 9 months for now is far into the future unknown.     Some of us may feel we cannot commit now for something like, after all, some of us no longer buy green bananas.   

The two guys and I who generally travel together and have had tables  do not use facebook.    Only one of the 3 of us has a smart phone.    The other two have old fashioned phones that are just phones.   

I do really like the show and the trip.  

I'm sure David will post more about this as soon as the hotel gets the coding done. For sure this is a pay-to-play event in that, if the reservations don't come, the plug will be pulled. Hotel reservations, table and GA. I think we should all be glad he has picked this up.

As far as Facebook vs. this board or anything else, please feel free to repost the event information (as soon as it is posted) we all need to work to get the word out. Not just the few guys doing all the leg work.

Charlie

Certainly good news. Maybe I can finally make it there.

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!  GREAT NEWS   THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH IS BACK!!!!

Brad, This is great news. Please keep us updated here as well as Facebook.  I am not Facebook user so will look to get info here. Thank you.

Tom

MARCH “O” SCALE MEET FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT 

Flyer Link: https://marchmeet.net/WP/PDF/2020ERegistration.pdf

Website: www.MarchMeet.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarchOScaleMeet/

The March “O” Scale Meet scheduled for March 26-28, 2021 is now ready to accept registrations and the Westin Lombard/Chicago is accepting room reservations.  Please share this information with anybody that might be interested.  Our Hotel Room Blocks include Thursday through Sunday nights.  Upgraded rooms and additional nights are also offered by the Hotel subject to availability.

We are asking everybody to please register for the Meet and reserve your rooms now if at all possible.  For those who cannot attend, consider registering for the Meet anyway.  We will print a name tag for you and have it available in case you do make it and your contribution will help keep this event a success.

By “O” Scale Meet standards, this has been a large event for years.  Our attendees travel from around the World to attend.  Those who haven’t attended a March Meet previously or who normally don’t participate on an annual basis should consider doing so for 2021.

Hotel Room Sales are very important for the hotel.  If you normally stay at the Westin, please consider an extra night.  There is a lot to do in the Chicagoland area and Sunday at the Meet is more active than some might think.  If you normally stay at another hotel, please consider making the Westin your choice for 2021.  If you are local, depending on distance and circumstances, it might make sense to spend one or two nights at the Westin, especially if you are a table holder setting up late Friday evening.  We realize that some of our attendees live close or visit family during this period of time, so this might not make sense for everybody. If it does make sense, please give it some consideration. The more rooms our event consumes, the better chance we have at securing the space for 2022.

The effects of Covid-19 have created some minor challenges as we move forward.  The minor inconvenience necessary to overcome these challenges is that our usual block of rooms at the March “O” Scale Meet rate has been split into 2 blocks.  In order to secure the same 20,000 sq ft of ballroom space, the first block must be RESERVED and PAID FOR by July 25th (less than 30 days from now) and carries a NO CANCELLATION policy.  Once the first block is fully reserved, rooms from the second block will be offered with standard terms allowing payment upon check out and standard cancellation terms.

Please note: If the March “O” Scale Meet is canceled, the Hotel will issue refunds.  Additionally, once the first block is fully reserved, refunds may be possible.  The March “O” Scale Meet will coordinate cancellation requests with the hotel. 

These unusual requirements will be for 2021 only and are absolutely necessary for the March “O” Scale Meet to continue. 

The March “O” Scale Meet Committee is very approachable, so feel free to ask questions here now or at a later date by contacting us by email, through our website, by phone or on our Facebook Page.

Regarding the use of Facebook, it is just one method of communication..  We have the revamped website and will try to post information within this forum.  I have found this forum difficult to use.  Half my posts have been rejected for violating some rule.  Given the placement of this topic, I doubt many will actually see it.  There are two O Scale Facebook Groups.  One has 2,000 members and the other has 1,500.  I tend to believe than many belong to both.  So perhaps through the grapevine everybody will get the word despite any difficulties.  Please forward, copy/paste etc the Meet Information I posted to help get the word out. 

Regarding the new management: Myself, James Schultz, Mike Schultz and Adam Schafer.

Regarding Vendor Placement: We will have access to the floor plan and intend to keep most where they have been before.

Our goal here is not to change the Meet, but to preserve it through Covid-19 and then expand it after.  We have no desires to make changes for the sake of making changes.  We should be able to be everything to everybody without pushing anybody around.  With that, the Committee remains approachable and will remain open to comments/suggestions for the present as well as for the future.

Brad, Will mark that date on my calendar and check here and website.

Thank you and your partners for keeping this great event going. I will spread the word to my other non-Facebook train buddies.

Regards, Tom

@Brad Kowal posted:

... will try to post information within this forum.  I have found this forum difficult to use.  Half my posts have been rejected for violating some rule.  Given the placement of this topic, I doubt many will actually see it.  ...

I'm not affiliated with the forum in any way and have no authority or inside information, but if you've had posts deleted I suggest emailing Alan and politely ask for an explanation and some help.  There might be something simple that can be done to get better results.

Hope that the show can go on as scheduled in March.

Explanations have been provided.  Seems to be no flexibility within the rules, which I can appreciate in a way, but sometimes there are special circumstances.  Such as when I was trying to figure out why Sunset/3rd Rail didn't receive enough SD40-2 reservations.  I could only choose between the 2-Rail forum and the 3-Rail forum.  The result is that my message did not reach the majority of those who could answer the question.  

Regardless, we need all the help we can get to reach everybody, especially given the fact that it's been reported that 2020 was the last meet.  It will come down to Meet Registrations and Hotel Reservations, so please don't hold back.  Make both now.  We've got a good start, but it needs to continue through July 25th:-)

Brad

March Meet - Chicago Update. We currently have 25% of the hotel reservations we need to ensure the Meet moves forward for 2021. Thank You to those who have reserved rooms and registered for the meet! A number of people are holding back for one reason or another, including most of those who encouraged us to make this final attempt to keep the March Meet alive. We were able to secure the SAME hotel and the SAME space. We just need the support or the "O" Scale Community NOW in order keep moving forward.

All, I signed up and received nice thank your already from Brad. I live right near by so don't need the hotel. I encourage all that are fans of this great meet to sign up now so they can get their numbers.

Any who have not attended in the past, this a great show for O scale. I am 3 railer and have attended the show for many years. Always something to learn, great people to meet at the show, many OGR forum members. Also, never came away empty handed, many neat items to purchase for 3 railers too.

Just a great meet.

Hope to see you all there!  

Tom

Thank you very much for carrying on the great March Meet ...I'll be hosting an open house for those who like vintage O scale ...come one come all to the March Meet ..,the York of the O scale world 

Cheers Carey 

March “O” Scale Meet Update:  As of today, we have 52% of the 1^st block of rooms reserved and paid for.  We have been in contact with a few people recently who intend to reserve by the end of the week, so that will bump that number up a bit.  So, what we need is 54 people to reserve rooms for 2 nights, or the equivalent.  We also need an equivalent number of additional meet and/or table registrations.

If the community supports us enough, our dates will be locked in.  If we fall short by Friday evening, we will have the weekend to determine how to approach the hotel on Monday.  We have had a lot of discussions where the consensus is that this meet is important and must continue now and into the future.   We don’t want to disappoint anybody, so it would be our intent to renegotiate the terms of the contract with the hotel.  Our situation is not unique, so I would think we would have a chance at a time extension or overall contract modification.  It would be best however if we could lock in our dates so at some point we can obtain a contract for 2022.

If the continuation of the March Meet is important to you, we need your help and we need it now.  We realize the pre-paying of the 1^st block of rooms is non-standard and not fair in a way, however this is what is needed at this time.  If you not sure you can attend the meet, at least consider the meet registration.  For less than the cost of a magazine subscription, you can help keep the meet alive.

We also need to support the Indy Meet in much the same way.  Even if we cannot attend this year, If we want these meets to be around for us, when we can attend, we need to support them now.

If you are not in a position to register for the meet or for rooms at this time, please send us an email titled SURVEY and let us know if you will register at a later date, at the show or even not at all.  Messages titled SURVEY will be used to help us determine a course of action only.  You will not receive a response.  We do not want to harass anybody; we just want an accurate picture as to where we may be going. 

Thanks much!

ChicagoMeet@yahoo.com

www.MarchMeet.net

https://marchmeet.net/WP/PDF/2020ERegistration.pdf      EVENT FLYER

I just registered on line very easy let's all make this happen 

Just registered on-line as well - thanks for the reminder.

Another reason to look forward to 2021!  

lets go lets register lets get the greatest show next to York to happen in March   check out o scale kings website !!!!!

Brad, I posted the flyer on my coloradooscale Instagram with 10k followers, it picked up about 3500 views a month ago. I will run it on my coloradorailphotographer closer to spring 21 for you I get 25k hits on my rail photography there. That might help.

I cannot register without consent from the layout co owner; he’s in Nebraska and half the layout is here in Colorado so.. it’s doubtful we can attend. Logistics alone is trouble enough, but also costs. I applaud the awesome efforts you are making keep up the great work! 

On the flip side, I could bring some projects and get a table and sell prints of my railroad art and photography.. hey anything is possible but hauling a 50x10 layout in from across the Midwest not possible (yet) if we get some help maybe. (Hint) for those of you locally reading this. 

Done! Local resident so no hotel room needed, but registration is confirmed. Hopefully this show goes on!

Charlie

How close are we to making it happen

@Erik C Lindgren posted:

Brad, I posted the flyer on my coloradooscale Instagram with 10k followers, it picked up about 3500 views a month ago. I will run it on my coloradorailphotographer closer to spring 21 for you I get 25k hits on my rail photography there. That might help.

I cannot register without consent from the layout co owner; he’s in Nebraska and half the layout is here in Colorado so.. it’s doubtful we can attend. Logistics alone is trouble enough, but also costs. I applaud the awesome efforts you are making keep up the great work! 

On the flip side, I could bring some projects and get a table and sell prints of my railroad art and photography.. hey anything is possible but hauling a 50x10 layout in from across the Midwest not possible (yet) if we get some help maybe. (Hint) for those of you locally reading this. 

Erik,  We'd be looking at 2023 at the earliest before we'd have layout space.  When we get there, I'm sure we could find some help on our end.  The model contest room does have room for display only, so please bring something along.  It would be nice to have some extra stuff to see to justify the long haul to the Magnolia rooms.  At some point we might have space for RPM type of displays as well.  But we need to exit survival mode first.

Brad

@marty track posted:

How close are we to making it happen

Numerous people are reporting hotel reservations as well as registrations in the mail.  At this point of time, I would say that we're more likely to continue to make a run for it, than to cancel (at this time), but that's not a promise I can make.  We will have to look at the numbers.  If we're not where we need to be, we'll have to made a decision as to what to do next.  This is a hobby, for all of us.  We don't want to beat the registraions and reservations out of anybody, but if we get enough of each it makes it really east to continue.  Everybody needs to keep in mind that the 2021 meet is not as important as keeping this thing going for 2022 and beyond.  We're in the best spot possible right now, with the hotel we all prefer, so I'd like us to be able take advantage of what we can to secure our future.

Yes, as you probably can guess, we still need more of everything.  Meet/table registraions, hotel reservations and even input from the community..  If the mailbox has mail in it on a daily basis, we can stretch our deadline a bit.  We have a few deadlines built into the contract, but each gets more and more expensisve.   We don't want to disappoint anybody, so we will do whatever we can to make this work.

Brad

lets go   lets keep this show alive   REGISTER !!!!!!

Any updates?

Right now it's up to the State of Illinois.  The hotel plans their staff 60 days in advance, so "they" might have a final decision by January 24th.  Stay tuned and regardless of what you hear, check the website before making or canceling plans.  www.MarchMeet.net

Brad

Thanks for the update Brad. I did not realize the hotel needed a 60 day window. While it does not affect me, I suspect, based on the news, that a 60 day window might be a bit optimistic to reopen this type of event.

Regardless, thanks for making the effort to get this show back on track, no pun intended.

Do appreciate the updates.

Charlie

Just read on another forum, the 2021 March O Scale Meet has been canceled. Hopefully things will work out for 2022.

I am not surprised that the March meet has been cancelled.  The 2021 NMRA National Convention and Train Show scheduled for July 4 - 11 in Santa Clara, CA was cancelled a few days ago.  Hopefully. we will be able to start having train shows again after most of us are vaccinated.  I think that this will be late summer or fall.  NH Joe

The March Meet has NOT been canceled yet. We are working with the hotel to make some changes for this year only that will allow us to comply with the state of Illinois restrictions.

This is developing fast so please give us a few days to sort this out.

Brad Kowal

March Meet Chicago Survey:

The hotel is willing to accommodate us under the following conditions:

1) Everybody wears a face mask at all times

2) The event would be split up into multiple rooms with ten tables per room.  The ballroom would be sectioned off along with the Junior Ballroom in the back of the hotel as well as the other meeting rooms.

3) Currently, each room is restricted to a maximum of 25 people. It is anticipated that by the time we hold the meet, we would be able to allow up to 40 people in any particular space, which would include the foyers.

4) In order to prevent the county from shutting the Hotel down, any person(s) violating these rules would be required to leave the property.

As additional information:

Nobody loses anything if the event is canceled.  Room deposits can be rolled over to next year or refunded.  We will discuss those details if we get to that point. We do have the space reserved for the normal configuration for April 1-3, 2022.  Almost everybody anticipates a complete return to normal by then.

So, now is the time to comment.

I have not been vaccinated for Covid-19 yet and it doesn't look like I will be in time for the March Meet. Vaccine is not available in PA even though I'm in group 1a. Without being vaccinated, I'm not comfortable traveling to Chicago for this show.

Brad, I was an early bird in signing up. As much as I really want to go to this show, considering the situation, additional logistics and their offer of full refunds, it might be wise to just cancel this year.   Just my thoughts.

Tom

As of right now, it does not look promising for vaccinations for us "common folks", as all are going to first responders and the like, which is fully understandable.    I think things may get loosened up by March, however I feel that a lot of vendors, and attendees might feel uneasy about attending this event.   If held, I will come, but as of now, just waiting to see what comes of all this in the next 30 days, or so.    I personally think it might be a weakly attended show, given the situation, and the restrictions with the rooms.   Not trying to be a doom and gloom, just saying.   

Hopefully, things will work out, and restrictions are eased, but knowing the wonderful State of Illinois, and our much beloved (note the sarcasm) elected officials.....just saying!

John....Yeah, typical J.B. Pritzker tactics!   Our one term Governor!