Convention 2008 – Gettysburg, PA – Come Fly in to History with us. September 22 to27. Convention is five days crammed full of every kite event imaginable. It is hard to find the time to do everything. If you are a first-timer, please feel welcome and make yourself known. We all look forward to meeting you. Registration is open!
For those who have heard the corn rumors, here is the scoop. Boyds Bears plants a corn maze every year. At the request of the AKA last year, they moved the corn maze to another section of the property so that all the AKA flying fields could be close together. There is no loss of area, there will still be plenty of room for full-sized fields.
For those that are unable to make Convention this year, you will be missed. But Dean Turnblom in Idaho has a great idea. How about every AKA Member who can’t get to Convention this year fly a kite on Saturday morning of Convention? On September 27, go out and fly a kite and be with us at Convention in spirit. Thanks, Dean.
Convention 2010: It is not too early to be thinking about Convention 2010. Got any ideas? We are already talking about possible sites. Denver has been mentioned. Albuquerque NM, Seaside OR. Where would you like to go in 2010? Please contact your Regional Director with thoughts and ideas for Convention 2010.
Survey Says!Okay, I’m not Richard Dawson, or even Richard Karn. The AKA Member Surveys are back. 859 people responded to the Survey. That is just shy of the 25% that we were hoping for. Thank you to everyone who the time to fill it out. Apologies to those who tried and couldn’t get it to work for them.
Local Presence: A frequent comment on the Survey was that the AKA should have more of a presence at local festivals. We’re working on it. We’ve prototyped some canopy sides, fabric signs, and 6-foot banners. There’s a picture with this article. The signs have pockets for AKA applications and other Trifold AKA publications.
A kinder, gentler, more user-friendly AKA: In the last year we have made Board meetings more accessible to AKA Members than they have ever been before. Any member can pick up a phone or click a mouse and be on the Board meeting conference call. Details for joining the calls are in the Club House on the AKA Web Site. It’s easy to use and this new system costs the AKA about the same in a year as it used to for one conference call.
Talk to me: There have been at least three instances in the last month where people where sure that they had sent email to the; AKA President address and I didn’t get the e-mail. If you have e-mailed me and not gotten an answer, send it again. Maybe even send it to my regular regular email addy . I am also on Skype several hours almost every day. Communication between us has never been easier. Call me, Skype me, e-mail me or join us in the AKA Kite Talk Forum.
Next Kiting Deadline is October 15. Send the Kiting Editor your Convention pictures and reflections!
See you out there somewhere!
good heavens;
gary engvall
