nomar

The two are very similar when spoken with a mouthful of tequila and bean taco

[ LOL I did have my Nikes on!! How did you know She was chanel surfing and caught the last 15 minutes of the "Jamican Lord".

[Perhaps you caught it from her.... Or the sheep ??

Buster will attack me and cling to my arm if I ignore the little sucker... sometimes he just sleeps and ignores me....sounds like my girlfriend ;-)

Hey Lou D, It will be all good to fly with you again, count another 3 + me to the learning party ! SGray- Rest assured that no matter what your experience level is,your learning curve will exponentially increase and you will do it safely. The party alone is worth it not to mention Lou D's one on one coaching is second to none Blue skies and see you there,,,

OK, let’s dispense with the smoke and mirrors; I am beginning to feel like I am at a bad David Copperfield show. There is no question that the WFFC has consistently gotten worse from year to year. When I say worse, I mean less skydiver involvement and attendance. The fact of the matter is that the WFFC relies on a symbiotic relationship with the skydivers and the service providers/vendors who make this event what it is. Before someone chimes in again about the overall people in skydiving going down as a reason, read on further to the underlying problems behind what is/has happened to the WFFC and why this year could potentially be the last year the WFFC is held. Almost everything that has contributed to the decline in attendance is related to how the WFFC is managed or I should say lack of. Let me preface this by saying no one doubts that the past and current WFFC staff work hard every year and put in countless hours. But like Sangiro said, the ladder might be placed on the wrong wall. In my opinion, it’s not the wrong wall; it's a completely different building. The fact of the matter is that the WFFC is a business but unfortunately, it is not being run or managed like a business. It should come as no surprise to the WFFC staff that none of the major vendors will be in attendance this year. The vendors have been telling the staff for some time that vendor fees are too high, to include telling the staff last year that they would not return to the WFFC (06) unless vendor fees were lowered. My conclusion and this is the only part where I am guessing, is that they (WFFC Staff) figured the vendors were bitching as skydivers are known to do and would return in 06 anyways. Guess what? No vendors this year. Now before we discuss another reason why the WFFC is in this current state, let’s look deeper at the root of the vendor problem as the average skydiver has no real idea and never sees many of these issues. This would explain why this thread has wandered off on a tangent. Since I am confident the WFFC staff will not implement any of the suggestions mentioned here but will offer up more excuses, the average skydiver should at least know the REAL reason why the WFFC is failing and why it is going the way of the do-do bird. Remember, this is due to a lack of proper management of the WFFC staff and not listening to the people who make the event what it is. Brace yourselves; you are about to see the man behind the curtain. VENDOR ISSUES It is no secret that vendors pay a ridiculously high fee just to occupy the tents every year. What also has to be taken into consideration is that vendors also have to deal with employee travel and the associated expenses in attending this event. There is quite easily ten thousand dollars or more spent by vendors to cover all these costs. Simple economics plays a major role in a vendor’s decision whether to attend or not. (Here’s a tip for everyone: Major manufacturers plan their boogie schedules out up to one year in advance so they can budget for them accordingly. File that one away in your head for when your DZ wants a rep to come to a boogie and you call them 2 weeks prior) Combined with the fact that vendors deal with the WFFC staff on a regular basis, one would think that answering vendor questions or even answering the phone or e-mail could at least be accomplished in a timely manner. It is not uncommon to potentially talk to three different people on the phone and get three completely different answers to the same question, often times one contradicting the other. It is clearly apparent that there is a total lack of communication within the WFFC staff and a lack of a focused leader managing the staff. What vendors have been encountering more and more each year is an increase in prices/cost and decline in services and support from the WFFC as a whole. AIRCRAFT ISSUES I was going to address this but I think a good chunk of the problem was addressed quite well in post #5 already so I will not repeat it but will include it here among the other issues that it does not cover. Economics 101 Let me expound on some of the other issues that the above statement did not cover. Lodging It used to be that the WFFC staff would actually help aircrews in setting up mundane things like hotel reservations for all the people who would be coming with the DZs that provide aircraft for the event as well as pay for the accommodations. However, the past 4 years they have simply dropped the ball and don’t do it anymore. Now let’s stop and think about this for a moment. It’s a skydiving convention, you need aircraft to do that, aircrews need a place to stay CLOSE to the DZ as they usually get to the DZ while most people are still partying from the previous day. This is an annual event, HMMM. When the aircrews show up and find out they have no room reservations because the WFFC staff dropped the ball, they all of a sudden have to find a place to stay at the last moment. Hence, they have to stay farther away from the DZ because skydivers have already booked all the rooms well in advance. Now call me crazy, but a smart person would realize that since this is an annual event they should go ahead and book blocks of rooms for aircrews A YEAR IN ADVANCE or at a minimum 6 months from the event. Once again, another example of less service provided from the WFFC to the people who make it happen. TICKET PRICE If you followed the 101 class above, you realize that the aircraft providers start off working in the hole and hope that they at least break even if not make a little profit from being at the event. So to break this down even further and let the average skydiver in on the big picture, let’s talk ticket price. The aircrew recoups some of the money on ticket sales. However, not all of the ticket price goes to the aircrew, WFFC gets a portion of each ticket sold. It is not feasible for the aircrews to take any less than they already do as it is. I would not be surprised in the least, if ticket prices actually turned out to be somewhere around $24 instead of the stated price of $21 just to cover the increase in fuel. SCHEDULING Now I hate to be redundant here but a person of reasonable intellect would figure out that this is an annual event and set up scheduling of aircraft well in advance (that means a year out) of the event. Let me side track myself here for a second and say that would be possible IF the WFFC staff worked year long and not start 6 months prior to the event. WFFC Staff/Don, here is a suggestion, keep a dedicated skeleton staff year round so there is consistency and coherency in planning this event and put someone with planning experience and foresight in charge of everything. Here is another glimmer of truth for the average skydiver. As of right now the 2 biggest aircraft providers are not even confirmed for this event. WHAT, HOW IS THAT YOU ASK? Good question, it goes back to my earlier statement about the lack of timely returning of correspondence and coordination from the WFFC staff/Don. Let’s talk about something that has already been brought up here, specialty aircraft. Again, a reasonable person would realize that the term “specialty aircraft” means that it is not common and requires more coordination and planning to secure it for an event. They say the DC-9 is going to be there and that they are doing paperwork and air testing NOW? Hello, does anyone else see a problem here? It’s not like this was an unknown aircraft, the DC-9 was at last years WFFC even though it wasn’t jumped. The AN-2, good pull it out of your butt try but insurance issues stopped that one AFTER it was announced that it would be there. With the problems the original jet had with insurance and now the AN-2, can anyone really say it with a straight face that they expect the DC-9 to get insurance AND get approval to drop jumpers this late in the game? Let’s just say that it does, what can you expect to pay for a ticket on this plane? Gee, you think it might be good business to at least have an idea about how much it’s going to cost per person before you advertise that it’s going to be there? There is an evident habit of the WFFC to prematurely announce things before thinking them through or finalizing the deal. Call it a case of convention Tourette’s syndrome where aircraft and promises are randomly made and thrown out without any thought and definitely no remorse for misleading people with misinformation. The reality is that not everyone jumps or even cares about specialty aircraft because the prices are usually too high and/or the altitude too low to justify the cost for some people. But I don’t really buy the statement:”People can jump the same aircraft at their DZ, you need specialty aircraft” as an excuse. Even if all you had at the WFFC was a lot of otters or tailgate aircraft people would still go because it’s really about the people you meet and jump with at convention and seeing pretty much everyone and everything in the skydiving industry in one place. When that is no longer the case, people will not want to come (this goes back to the symbiotic statement). I really believe that if the WFFC took better care of the issues mentioned here, didn’t charge or charged less to the vendors and other service providers, they would want to come to this event and skydiver attendance numbers would increase. SKYDIVER ISSUES We hear more about these issues as this is really all the average skydiver sees when they go to WFFC. I will touch on this very lightly as there are scores of posts about skydiver gripes with WFFC going years back right here on dropzone.com. However, the WFFC staff again appeared to think it was just skydivers bitching as skydivers do and those jumpers would come back regardless of the lack of services. Guess what? The numbers are down each year considerably. Since WFFC isn’t listening to the jumper’s words, jumpers are speaking with their dollars by going somewhere else. Last years WFFC was a ghost town; I find the reported attendance numbers to be unrealistic and over inflated. But in all fairness, let’s cover some of the larger issues skydivers have mentioned to the WFFC staff but apparently fell on deaf ears. REGISTRATION: Where to start, where to start, AHH, pre-registration. What a total waste of time and energy. The whole thought process behind pre-registration is to avoid having to wait around to get in. Most of the time pre-registration paperwork cannot be found or the people working the tent don’t know where it is and you end up going through the whole process again. Why is this? For the simple reason that the registration tent is unorganized, the staff there are incredibly rude and incompetent, and the riggers hired to inspect gear didn’t come across as knowledgeable. One year while registering they questioned someone about the compatibility of a tandem main in a container, not realizing he worked for one of the manufacturers, it was comical. I have seen other sport events, of even greater attendance that ran smoothly due to better organization. Mind you they are mostly staffed with volunteers too so apparently it can be done. The people running the show get paid, but the rest of them get a t shirt and cup of coffee and a meal or two. It’s broken, you were told it was broken, you did nothing, it’s still broken, fix it. Now let’s talk registration fees. WAIT you say, we lowered the fee this year. Kind of like putting a band-aid on an amputation if you ask me. A knee jerk reaction to the realization that jumper numbers are looking even lower than last years and a weak attempt to draw them back. What about 1 day passes or fees for people who will only be there for a few days? And since we are discussing registration, what does it get you? A sticker, a plastic cup, a booklet and a wristband, WOW. But wait you say, we get free beer, nightly entertainment, etc, etc. RIGHT, let’s face it, free beer is not a big thing at boogies anymore, and it’s almost a mandatory item. So free beer, big deal, not everyone drinks beer. Jumpers have asked for non-alcoholic drinks in the past (soda) and every year it is never seen. Well you get entertainment. Yeah, the SAME hypnotist and the same material for the last several years, I really want to see that. The entertainment is pitiful and has gotten worse every year. How about something new for a change? (A hint, this requires planning, in advance) LOAD ORGANIZING Times have changed in the sport. There are disciplines like freeflying, wingsuiting etc, the days of the good ole' big ways are over for the most part. The WFFC has done NOTHING to accommodate these groups! The wingsuiters organize their own activities and aren’t even mentioned or given tent space like the other load organizers are. Each year you see more and more wingsuits yet this issue remains. I was told that the Skydive Arizona tent actually gave them a radio last year so they could get into the mix. The freeflyers - no organizing for those guys until Tuesday last year! Tuesday!!! The organizer was then told "not to take fewer than 8 in a group" which is just dangerous the way most people freefly and makes learning near impossible! It’s as if these disciplines were not even considered or were an after thought. MISCELANEOUS Other services like Port-a- potties, wireless access and a boogie DVD have also either suffered or are no longer done. The Seminars seem to be an after thought as well. It would be nice to know the who, what, when, where, why about the nightly seminars prior to that evening and hold them in a location that can accommodate people and presentations. You know things like chairs, lights, electrical outlets, lack of noise. Is that asking too much? Apparently it is. SUMMARY The WFFC has very big problems with the way it is being organized and managed and the person ultimately responsible for that is Don. Many of the issues are transparent to the average jumper and only a few were covered here in minor detail. Thinking that the problems and issues mentioned could be ignored is what has driven the WFFC into the ground and why people are no longer enthusiastic about attending. There clearly isn’t someone in charge of managing the staff, or capable of managing it correctly. There is also a lack of someone being delegated to make decisions in Don’s absence. The WFFC is a business providing a service to the customer and it is not treating its customers well nor is it being run like a business. A clear lack of a focused effort is apparent, as is a lack of proper planning. For an event of this size, with many moving parts, there needs to be a full time staff that works these issues at a minimum of one year ahead of time if things are to run smoothly. By not doing so, it has put the staff in a position where they are already working at a deficit and are scrambling to beat the clock. You have hard working people all moving in different directions, making statements that are either premature or cannot be met, some would call it lying. If the WFFC is to survive they are going to have to make some changes in the way they do things. It may require hiring more people and possibly firing others. It will require the WFFC to do away with or drastically lower the vendor fees and take less % wise on the jump tickets to make the aircrews want to return to WFFC. In other words, the prices need to go down and the service from the WFFC needs to improve. Otherwise, the WFFC will cease to be. The WFFC can no longer expect the skydiving community to just show up every year when their complaints go on unaddressed. People are taking their dollar elsewhere, where customer service is not only necessary but vital. The WFFC knows where the problems lie and what they need to do to fix the problems. Skydivers are sick of the lying and excuses. Excuses are worthless tools used by incompetent people. Don/WFFC staff: make the changes or expect to see your cash cow dry up.