As you read this, about thirty Club members will have recently returned from a Conclave Planning Meeting in Big Bear. Would you believe it takes thirty-three different committees to run a Conclave! Thankfully, we have a great spirit in our Club and enough volunteers to cover most bases. But we could still use more, particularly folks who just want to help out during the event.
When we first started discussing Conclave 2021 with the Austin Healey Club of America (pre-COVID), we wrestled with what kind of attendance we might expect at a West Coast Conclave. Most are held in the East or Midwest, as that is where the bulk of the AHCA membership lives. Would these folks be willing to drive all the way to California for an event? Would they be willing to pay California prices? Could we be successful putting on a meet that was appealing but not held in one of the CA marquee locations like Yosemite, Santa Barbara, Napa Valley, etc.?
After much head scratching, we settled on some numbers. 148 registrants, 300 total guests. The 148 comes from the room count at the hotel. 300 is the capacity of the largest ballroom at the hotel. We were cautiously optimistic about those numbers, as they were considerably smaller than the most recent Conclave in Deadwood, SD. Well, here we sit, a full seven months out from the event. Registration has been open for about a month. As of this writing, we have 100 registrants totaling 200 guests!
We’re two-thirds of the way to our goal and our big advertising push hasn’t even started yet. We have registrants from twelve states plus Canada. We have some folks in Australia and New Zealand thinking about coming. While all this is amazing, gratifying and a bit scary, there is a message here. Conclave 2021 is going to sell out. You don’t want to miss out. We are offering a COVID 19 money back guarantee if the event does not happen and the hotel is not asking for any deposit. If you have not registered, please do so now, it’s going to be a great event.
To Register for Conclave 2021, go to: www.austin-healey.org. Scroll down to the Conclave box and click register. You will have the option of registering online or downloading a mail in form.