As you all are aware of we just had our final season contest and for those of you that were there, you got a taste of what the 2009 NAT’s were like. We had the same cloud cover, same bone chilling temps and almost the same wind. To boil it down, the Regional Contest was cold, damp, windy and overcast most of the time for the first two days. Day 3 was just cold and windy but nice sunny skies with the occasional cloud passing by.

I took over the Regional Directors position not long before the season got underway (my first post to IMAC’s BOD was on April 8, 2009 and had the ARD’s assigned and ready by April 13, 2009 and the first contest was May 2nd). One of the first things I did was to find ARD’s (Assistant Regional Directors) and assign them certain area’s. Once I had the ARD’s in place, on their own, they came up with a set of goals. One thing to remember as you read this article is all of this, including my position, is strictly volunteer. We all do it for the love of it, nothing else.

These are the goals they came up with:

1) Raise awareness about IMAC among non-members in the NE Region
2) Increase our membership in the Region
3) Increase contest participation in the Region
4) Increase number of contests in the Region
5) Raise value of contests to host clubs
6) Improve the overall contest experience for attendees (I took this one to mean that we were going to turn the region into one big family)

We then hashed out just how we were going to achieve these goals as well as “tweaked” them just a bit. The next thing I asked the ARD’s was to come up with goals they plan to achieve in their respective area’s of the region, which they did. I asked that they update me monthly if not more on the status of their goals, which they promptly did. I soon realized that I no longer needed to keep tabs on their progress so I just quit asking for the status reports which I found out later was one of the best things I could have done to help them.

Just to give you an idea of specific ARD goals that we ended up using region wide. One goal was to do a contest report and submit it to the IMAC webmaster to be published within one week on the IMAC website. In all but a couple of cases, we achieved that goal. Another important one was to make sure all contests used the new scoring program and to request that all scores be sent to me for approval and submission within one week which took a bit of time to get it working as we wanted, but it finally all came together.

I am happy to report that we met and in some cases went beyond the stated goals and all ARD’s certainly met the goals they set for themselves as well as going way beyond their own goals.

I have time and again been thanked for the way, and I quote, “You have really turned the region around”. What I have tried to show you up to this point is that all I did was get a good team together, and “turned them loose”, so as much as I would like to take credit for all of the improvements, I simply cannot, these guys and gals made my job so much easier and at times I actually felt a bit guilty because here they were doing all the work and I was sitting back watching it all work out.

So at this time I would like to thank each and every one of them for all the hard work. It never went unnoticed and I tried hard to make sure each one of you were aware that I appreciated your efforts.

Thanks also need to go to Don Hamilton (IMAC President), the IMAC Board of Directors and Roy Barrow. They supported me and all I had to do was ask and they delivered and after a while, I did not have to ask, I just did whatever I felt we needed to do and they just said “tell us what you need from us” and they still delivered every time.

So, in no particular order:

All of the Contest Directors, various hosting club members that helped out at each contest, the pilots, their friends, wives, girlfriends and families and everyone else you can think of including the clubs that allowed us to invade their space for a few days. Without all of you coming out and supporting the events we could not have done this. For all the wives and girlfriends, I thank you for allowing your husbands/boyfriends to come “hang with the boys” for two or three days and in some cases it was great to see you come along and join in the fun and companionship we all share and I also noticed at the Finals that some of you have become pretty good friends though you did not bring me back any coffee on Sunday, just kidding. All of you made the North East region into what it is today. We asked for your input, we got it and went from there. You responded by showing up to all of the contests and doing what you do best, you enjoyed yourselves, which in the end is what this is all about, though beating your closest competitor is never a bad thing. I found it amazing that on several occasions and without any planning, we would all show up at a local restaurant and have a good time. I can be emotional at times and the first time I witnessed this I was floored. I probably spoke about it way too much in the few days afterwards but I felt at that point, the family was complete. Granted, planning a dinner out and having a good turnout like we did a couple times this season is never a bad thing, but to just show up makes it even more special as far as I am concerned.

Stan Berger. I consider myself very lucky that Stan does not charge the region for his work. His photographic skills are some of the best I’ve ever seen in any and all lighting conditions and they just keep getting better and better. If you have never checked out his website, please do, you will immediately understand what I am talking about. Be sure to look at everything, not just the model aviation section.

http://www.stansphotos.com

I’m told he has something special in mind for the regional contest photos. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with. No pressure, Stan, really….<wink>

Dave Michael. Dave volunteered, on his own mind you, to handle the regions marketing effort. Dave created, posted, and sent emails to clubs, hobby shops, etc… within 100 miles of each and every contest about 2 weeks prior to each contest. Dave also created banners for posting on Flying Giants announcing upcoming contests. BTW, thanks Flying Giants for all you do for IMAC. Dave also created a calendar for use as a desktop background and he did this for more than our region. He offered it to other regions as well.

Brian Foveaux. I feel that Brian certainly spearheaded lots of the things you may have read on the IMAC website in the NE forums. He single handed created a template for the contest reports that you can read on the IMAC website in the North East section. His writing skills are certainly some of the best we have in the region. His reports are a joy to read. He also helped Dave with his marketing; me with so many other tasks and I could go on and on.

Isabel Deslauriers. Isabel helped me so much working with the Contest Directors, pilots and anything else you could possibly imagine regarding our Canadian friends. Most of them do not speak English or at most just a little English so she would translate questions and other things for me, verify contest needs and desires and a host of other things, way too many to mention in this article. Though Isabel is no longer an ARD as the workload interfered with her personal life, she still helps me and I value her opinion. She runs the website PenelopeRC (http://www.peneloperc.com). Take the time to look it over; there is a lot of good stuff there.

John Banks. What can I say about this fine person? You may be aware of John and possibly talked to him online. He spends lots of times over at Flying Giants; He goes by “The Tank” over there. This man has been so helpful, beyond his own goals, in helping new Contest Directors with overall advice and is just a fun person to be around and talk to. I wish I could list everything he has done for the region, but I would run out of the allotted amount of pages I’ve allowed myself for this report and we all know how I can go on and on and on....

Tony Bonanno. Tony has also done so much it would be really hard for me to list everything. Tony now holds the regions record for attendance at a first time event. Tony ran his very first contest this year and quickly discovered that it is a lot of work. I will say he did it very well and I certainly look forward to attending this one again. Among Tony’s goals were to improve on judging and he has certainly accomplished that goal. He works with Bill Lairsey on getting judges up to speed; answering rules questions and the like. They came up with a set of judging guidelines that were loosely based on some that Ty Lyman and Kent Porter did in the South East region. Between him and Bill and someone else yet to be named, you will see more judging seminars, little refreshers; things like that in 2010.

BTW...you better sell me your old 260. I want to be able to kick your butt with it next year <wink>

Bill Lairsey. Bill spearheads our judges training. He now works closely with Tony and a soon to be announced third person. In 2010, expect to see more judging schools and the odd judging refresher at a contest near you.

Finally, Albert Santiago. I'd like to extend my thanks to you for the work you started. I pretty much took up where you left off. Along with myself, I know a lot of others appreciated the time that you were able to give in the beginning and we all certainly hope to see you more in 2010 as well as your father.

In closing. The only thing left to say is I greatly appreciate everyone for trusting that I could turn this around and supporting me in doing so. I appreciate it more than I could possibly put into words.

Bill James

North East Regional Director