2015 Land Rover Edmonton Wheels Event

[alany]

Hi Folks,

Land Rover Edmonton is putting on a Wheels event this year and looking for support from the club again. Here are the details of the event:

Date: Sept 20, 2015 (this is tentative but likely - the other date that is an option is Sept 13 but for now assume Sept 20).
Location: Total Off-Road Experience (http://www.totaloffroadexperience.com/Home_Page.html)

Agenda:

LR Edmonton wants to organize the event into 3 groups of 10 trucks.

- There will be a trials area as usual.
- There will also be two trail runs with anticipated running time of 1 hour each weather depending.

Support Expectations:

Shawn Ward is the one who is organizing this event and from discussions with him, he's hoping to the club is able to provide support of approximately 20 trucks broken down as per:

- 3 club trucks per trail run (one leader, one in the middle, and one at the end of the group) so at minimum 6 club trucks per trail (of course more would be better hence the 20 support trucks).
- Club member support in running the trials event so recovery vehicles aren't really required as much as just folks helping keep score, guiding customers through the gates, etc.
- The dealer is hoping/expecting a turn out of approximately 30 customers (hence the 3 groups of 10).
- The dealer is also expecting to provide 15 staff members to run this event as well so not everything will need to be organized by the club.
- Shawn indicated he will be setting up the trials course so it's not expected that the club will need to do anything before hand. He just wants us to be there on the day of the event to provide trail and trial support and to enjoy ourselves as well.

As some of you know, the dealer ran a Wheels event 2 years ago and the club wasn't really acknowledged for our support and it left a bad impression with some of us. The dealer did end up donating $500 to the club afterwards however I'm not sure if that was because they caught wind of our displeasure or something Shawn felt was the right thing to do.

I did discuss this matter with Shawn and he wants make things right with the club if there are still any ill feelings towards the dealer so he's asking for any suggestions and/or feedback on areas they could improve on, what we feel may be proper "compensation" for our efforts, etc and he will see what can be done (within reason of course).

So at this point, I'd like to get a sense from the members whether there is enough interest to provide the support the dealer is looking for and any suggestions of how the dealer can better acknowledge our support or just working with us in general.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone and any constructive suggestions to make this event work, or not.

Cheers,

Alan

[Mark]

I emailed this to Alan and Bill already but I thought I'd share it with the club too.

How about a discount on parts and service? I know at both BMW dealers in town, we offer 15% in both departments.

Glenn, the parts mgr might be a fight but, since they run an average mark up of 87% over MSRP, we could ask for straight MSRP. It wouldn't be used often, but for guys in a jam that need something quick, it might be worth it. Ask Shawn to ask Tim Santanove, the GM, to ask Glenn. That's usually how things get done around there.

Land Rover has a program called Land Rover Way that funds events like the wheels events. These events are mandatory. Maybe we see if they'd host a weekend excursion, with customers as well, to a place like the Cadomin area or the Baseline Fire Lookout area. They could do so much, and if they acknowledge the club and we were to provide some support in return for an event like that, I think it would be quite beneficial to both the retailer and the club. Even though the customer base has moved more upmarket and less adventurous, there is still a massive group of them that would love to do stuff like this but just have no idea where to even start and most of them aren't even aware a local club exists.

Mark

** EDIT ** I'm in. I'll be there too.

[binch]

I'm in.  Don't know what vehicle yet but I'll be there.    I'm not concerned with part prices as we have a better supplier.

It would be nice to see have someone say "thank you"......   But the donation to the club is a good start too.

[B-Red]

I am interested in participating in this event. As for vehicle, either Tigger or Gritty. Depends on the weather.
Last event was fun. Gives you a good prospective as to what the new SUVs can and can't do. Will be nice to see the new Discoveries in action.

[Trevor]

I will be around for this event and can help out. I'll bring the CT.

Regarding the last event, I think the main issue was simply not acknowledging our assitance. Sean had to jump in and the end and thank us after Brian was done talking. So clearly the clubs help was not something Land Rover Edmonton saw as significant, or noteworthy.

How do they correct that? Well, it can't be undone, but I think a good start would be to make sure to acknowledge the ALRE's efforts are noted in their event as we do tend to play key rolls. This doesn't need to be limited to their "thank you's" at the end. It can be contained in their information letter going to their clients (i.e. that we will be there supporting the event and helping out), as an example.

Also some of their promo items for all the ALRE helpers would be a nice gesture as well.

The donation I don't think is required. It's not about the money, and its not like the club burns through a lot of cash. So that's not something I'd be too concerned about.

Mark's idea of a club discount at LR Edmonton is a good one too. Granted, we have access to more cost effective options. But the biggest hurdle I see with it is we don't issue membership cards or a public ledger for LR Edmonton to reference. So that idea would need more work on our end to make happen, and I'm not sure how much mileage we would get out of it.

[lovejugs]

 :(sorry not for me its the radium car show that weekend (sept 19th)and i will be there with the a few others for the weekend. once i pound out a few of the dents from the AMT trip ;)

[Trevor]

oh crap, I forgot that was the Radium weekend.

Scrub my name from the list for this event as well as I will be down in the Radium/Fairmont area with the g/f

[binch]

I'm in that same boat......CRAP!    But Radium was first on the list so I'm out too......

[Matt H]

Does it have to be on a Sunday? Makes it difficult for those of us that don't live in the Edmonton area. 13th (or better yet the 12th) would work better for me but I could make it, either with the Mighty Range Rover, the Disco or  even my SIII......but most likely the Rangie.

[Matt H]

As for reparations, how about a exclusive club demo day with the new Defender when it finally shows up? A sort of preview just for the club members to give it a real test drive off road and on. It doesn't need to be a crazy destructive test, just a chance to get behind the wheel in the kind of environment we like to drive our existing LR's so we can get a feel for the new unit back to back with old Defender .....and very old Series LR's.

That kind of preferential treatment would be much more welcome than a free branded mug or ball cap.

Besides, if I were a LR dealer I'd be pitching that idea as a sales stratergy anyway.

[binch]

Yeah, I know what you mean Matt.  I think they chose sunday so they could get their staff out for the day too, as they are open Saturday mornings.

[rutmaster]

I will not be able to help with this event as I will be on the other side of the Big pond

[drewphil]

I am interested to help out. Taking a 2011 Range Rover Sport.

[alany]

Hi Folks,

So here are the list of folks who have confirmed so far that they are available to volunteer at the LR Edm Wheels event:

Nick Ward (and spouse): LR2
Brendan Leir: D1?
Mark Mullin: D2
Kerwin Mandrusiak: not sure on vehicle
Emad El-Zein: 110 or Lightweight
Matt Huffadine: RRC/D1/SIII (hasn't made up his mind yet)
Alan Yim: hoping my 110 otherwise it will be my D3
Andrew Wong: RRS (loking forward to seeing your RRS Andrew)

It is still confirmed for Sept 20 at TORE.

We can use more volunteers (if we can get 15 trucks out, that would be nice. 20 is ideal.) so if you're interested, please let me know asap. It won't be a very taxing day (unless it rains but even then, the trails won't be very difficult for the trucks judging on the event two years ago).

Come on folks, it should be a good event and from past events, the customers really do get an eye opener and a good history lesson on where their trucks come from and they seem to appreciate it.


Cheers,

Alan

[Matt H]

Sorry Alan, I'm going to have to bow out of this one.

Matt.