Event Coverage Car show preregistration ideas help

Yep, completely understood. I take phone calls from several folks every year for our event and enter all their information for them. I have absolutely no issue with taking care of the folks that could care less about using a cell phone or a computer and typically like hanging out with them more than most in life.

 

Contact Curbspeed for advice he can offer. The current procedure you mentioned will
really offend people and they will never return.

 

I took my 54 Plymouth to a little local "Cars & Coffee" event. Hadn't heard of it before. They didn't have any "qualifiers" -- except, I guess, you had to still be making payments on your vehicle. Camaros, Mustangs, Dodges, etc. No one looked up as I drove thru looking for a parking space. One youngster, about 60, came over for a look. I got bored and took off after about 10 minutes.

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/d/united-states--california/car-show/

 

Learned something new today. Seems there are 421 car shows using this at least in that search?

 

And that search is just California!

 

Just going off my experience around our area.

 

Did you go over to look at anyone’s car?

 

I would be pretty pissed off if someone accepted my money and then said I didn't make the cut. I have had to submit pictures of my car with the registration form and once they approved, I pay the fee. That is the way to go.

That is the way @curbspeed did it last year at Hotrodarama.

 

It sounds like you want to create something like the Custom Car Revival in Indianapolis or the event at the Armory that Ryan did in MD (can't think of the name). Ask them. With only 100 cars you'll want to make them really special, maybe invite only. If you just want a focused show like the Hunnert Car Pileup, you need to be crystal clear about your entry criteria. Trust me, it's far easier to be clear up front, and screen out cars at the gate than it is to deal with pre-registration, especially in a state where inclement weather is possible.

 

.....Jalopyrama.

 

Did you go over to look at anyone's car?

Naa -- it was near an auto mall. They had a better selection of models and colors. Maybe there's one near you if you're interested.

 

Cool. Just did.
And the machine shop.

 

Your partner not really a people person?
Nobody getting cut after money is going to be happy especially if they have buddies in the cut and you’ll piss them off too.
Kinda like laying out hot coals to build your car show on,

 

Sounds like the partner isn't really a car person either.
Edit: Looked at the Eventbrite thread and I think I see the problem. Eventbrite appears to be a ticket sales agency like Ticketron. They'll sell tickets to whatever show or concert and collect a fee for the sale. Looks to me like if you buy tickets for events through Eventbrite, the fee isn't refundable. In almost every ad I saw, in order to get a refund for a car entry, you have to contact the event organizers. The better ads had definite information about getting into their shows.

You're better off getting with someone on here who has organized events like yours and taking notes. I sure as hell wouldn't give you money in the hopes that my ride would meet your specs and wait around while you decide if it's good enough.

 

Oh ya, it sucks where things have gotten here. I boycott more than participate.

 

Eventbrite is used a lot in Australia. Entering to drag race, concerts, market days and worst of all, swap meets. There's no more turning up at the gate with a trailer full of crap to sell, pay your $20 site fee and set up. Now you have to go through Eventbrite, pay the entry fee plus ticket fee, then pay an insurance company for a one day stall holders personal injury policy ($40-$50 depending on site size) and hope to drive out with an empty trailer.

 

Since its your first event, I would not be picky about a lot of rules that turn people away. Invite everyone as they usually tend to park in groups that reflect the tastes of their chosen style. Book a decent band or DJ to provide background music and have lots of give away items. Its just like my backyard.......the wife wanted to put some birdseed out and the next thing we knew there were about 25 diffent birds in the yard.....all types and we had to buy a bird guide. Then we started putting deer corn out and now they don't even wait for it to get dark before they come get the corn......too much competition. Now we have as many as 5 deer at a time showing up. Additionally a lot of other critters began coming and apparently our back yard is a gold mine of whatever they eat. As many as 5 racoons at a time,3 groundhogs, some possums and rabbits, and even a couple of skunks. None of them hurt anything and all are welcome. They tend to self migrate or mingle depending on who is eating at any particular time and none of them have killed each other. I think your car show would do better by enticing than excluding.............

Oh I forgot to mention all the squirrels too. Every morning the squirrels mingle with the birds and they all seem happy just to be there. Hope I haven't omitted anyone.

I did however have to escort one young groundhog out..........he moved in under my back porch. He is now residing in a local state park.

 

Are you coming to Lloyd's in October? I believe you're going to fit in just fine

 

People will be just as pissed off, if not more, being turned away at the event because there isn't room. The OP said he can fit 100 vehicles.

 

Yep we have done that in the past as well. The old timers are just not going to play with the computer. But I don't either my Awesome Wife takes care of that.

 

Just curious? How much entry fee do you plan to charge?
Make it affordable.

 

One event I go to every year has a strict year cut off date, but also allow any year Camaro, Corvette, Mustang, or Challenger. Their website and flyers state this fact. You can pre register online or by mail or register at the gate, but if you can’t make it for whatever reason you lose your registration fee. Their entry form has a place to fill in the year and type of car. They also state that if you have something outside their rules, to submit pics and they decide to let you in or not. They usually have close to 1000 cars, with 3/4 of that pre registered.
If you publish your entry requirements up front, nobody has any reason to get mad they didn’t get in.

 

.......That's the key.

 

So im here drinking my coffee skimming this thread and thinking,,,,, this is known and proven to be dangerous activity at times.

This bright thing is pretty wide used and collecting lists of possessions, activities, personal data for a bunch of things ,,,,, events that used to be pay at the gate and sometimes on a whim. Wonder what they do with all that information they are compiling and more importantly why they want it?
I hate a collection of useless crape like “information”, junk mail, disorganized hardware. But if it good stuff, can save me time, makes time or money, and helps me get stuff done I try to get more of it for my collection. Wonder if it’s the same ?

 

Here's a thought, register the cars and let them in free. Charge the spectators a fee to view, the people with the cars have already invested thousands and they are the reason the spectators are there to begin with.

 

I've seen it done several ways. If you want online, a google form works well to get the information if you really want to curate the cars so that you can then ask them to pay somehow.

There are two local shows that I usually pre-register for. Both are free for the car registrant, but cars cannot register the day of. One is at a large museum with a large grass area. They let everyone in, and you get free access to everything as a car owner but you need to pre-register online. The public has to pay to see the cars and museum.

The second is a small show at a local pub downtown in the nearby big city. They pay to have the street shut down, so they have limited space. They let in 100 cars too. The pub owner's dad takes care of the car show registration, and he does so very manually. He goes to cruise nights and car shows and talks to people with cars he wants to be there, and they write down basic information for themselves and contact info in a ticket book and get a ticket with your registration number. No ticket, no entry. This year they have given us a half-hour time window to arrive, so that there are only 25 cars arriving in each half-hour time window to avoid congestion and overheating that has been a problem in years past. You don't have to pay to attend, and they have cash draws for he car owners and free burgers, etc.

That's not true at all. Eventbrite is used for ticketing for any kind of event.

Does that include hot rods bought with a loan?

Every car show has space limitations, just some of them don't get enough cars to fill their space. Whether it's in a parking lot, park, down a shut-down street, etc., Every venue has a limit on space. The local downtown pub show I go to shuts down the street they're on for 2 blocks. There is lots of parking for spectators in the areas around the show, but to be in the show you need to be preregistered.

Some shows around me do this. Those are mostly the shows I go to now. It all depends what the organizers intent is. If they want to make money or if they just want to make a nice car gathering.

 

Nothing wrong with that. Is your dad @Moriarity ?

 

Ouch! Good one.