It was funny as we sat watching the server when we opened as we knew there would be an initial rush, we could see things creeping along as were having dozens of registrants per minute and it made the forums and our website drag. I'm happy to report not a single technical glitch (and there was a lot of custom code created for the various options and stepped registration approach). One of the common questions is, how many have registered so far. While we want to keep some mystery because we have our 1-500 drawing for the hotel stay, I will say.... I'm happy to thank the HUNDREDS of people who have already registered - in LESS than a 10 hour period. WOW! We opened the middle of the day on a SUNDAY, and just in 10 hours it was nuts, we sold over 30% in a DAY (and actually in a matter of half a day).
And we have a nice hotel drawing which is a huge chunk of change for the lucky winner with a 1-in-500 chance of winning (and even better odds if you have guests). So for those looking to take advantage of that, you still have a little more time. And please help us get the word out as emails often go to junk mail (and ATT and SBC emails are currently being blocked).
The day to day can be tough, but it's so reinvigorating to see a significant accomplishment for the many behind the scenes who help to make all this happen (and I'm in no way the one bearing the majority of the brunt of this). My kudos to the group who have worked on this over TWO YEARS (literally planning this while we were planning NVE 1). They really helped plan this out in great detail and make commitments so that we can be well ahead of the curve. Because of that, we've been able to announce the location of NVE2 AT NVE1 (and we'll continue that tradition...!). And for NVE2 we had such a great head start which allows people to have plenty of time to plan their trips, clubs to plan their caravans, and to have plenty of time to register (and we do believe 1000 spots SHOULD hold us).
My hat is off to that, it's hard not to procrastinate and so much happens in the background. I HAVE to a express a genuine special thanks to those helping (website, merchandise, marketing, forums, contract negotiation, site visits, communication, sponsors, food planning, tours, track, car transport, parking, security, registration, gifts, car drawing, decorations, etc, etc...). I hope I don't offend all those helping, but I do want to acknowledge 2 people truly carrying the burden of a lot of this event - and they started 2 years ago with planning. My hat is off to Ed Bowser and Maurice Liang. You guys have truly contributed. I'm not sure anyone knows, we do this all internally - just these two guys have spent HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of hours planning this, and the last 6 months it's been consuming. I'm saying this as I'm myself thankful for such a good outcome - they truly deserve that credit.
Thank you guys and also to the other key helpers (I hope I don't miss someone) - Sandi, Brian, Brad, Janni, Randall, Jill, Don, Kurt, Bridgett, myself, and the 8 VOA core team of directors. Work and testing came down to the very night before to make this perfect. Let's thank them for their work, and for their success. No will know if I don't say it and these guys have worked in the background with few people really knowing (and they kept it a secret - which is an additional shock).
Great work!!!!!
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