I really need a bowling icon...
Well, Trixstir and I are here in Saskatoon for the AGM of the Bowling Proprietors of Saskatchewan (BPAS). The meetings started at 2pm, and we had arrived at 1pm with the expectation of being able to settle into our room at the hotel and unwind for an hour. Nope... Rooms wouldn't be ready until 3pm. Great. So we leave our stuff in the trunk of the car and head down to the meeting room where things are starting to be set up. We meet with the current (and now re-elected) Executive, and chat with them a bit, getting some ideas as to how things might be done back home.
Part of the problem is that we don't have a Bowling Association per-se in Shaunavon. The previous owner of the lanes had been the president of the association, but that can sometimes create a conflict of interest, and it can also just become too overwhelming for one person to try to handle everything. We'd like to recruit someone in town who was a member of the previous association to head up a new one, and see where that goes. We need to set up and organize leagues, get the Youth Bowling going, etc. Summer has just started, but two months can shoot by awfully fast when you're working against deadlines.
What dissappoints me more at the moment is that only two suppliers showed up in person, with a couple of other ones sending pamphlets and flyers. Pamphlets and Flyers are great, but I would have preferred to talk to someone in person when dealing with something as major as resurfacing all the lanes and equipping them with new pins, etc. Ah well, might be a loss of business for them, and an increase in business for those who bothered to show up.
Like other AGMs I've been to (such as the mini-horse club AGM) there's a good amount of politics involved. Fortunately it's pretty friendly as everyone at this level seems to be working together. It's more of an "Us vs. Them" thing, with "Them" being the National Association vs. our Provincial Association. In any case, things are looking promising (so far) for the future, and we'll see how things go from here.
Right now we've adjourned for the evening. We were supposed to have supper here at the hotel, but it turns out there's a casino in town that offers a fantastic buffet at a fraction of the cost of supper at the hotel, so they've chartered a bus to take us all over there instead. Whatever... I'm not really interested in gambling, but I know casinos tend to have some pretty great buffets. ;) Should be a good opportunity to socialize a little, schmooze a little, and maybe I'll even spend a couple bucks on Lady Luck and see what happens. :)
Part of the problem is that we don't have a Bowling Association per-se in Shaunavon. The previous owner of the lanes had been the president of the association, but that can sometimes create a conflict of interest, and it can also just become too overwhelming for one person to try to handle everything. We'd like to recruit someone in town who was a member of the previous association to head up a new one, and see where that goes. We need to set up and organize leagues, get the Youth Bowling going, etc. Summer has just started, but two months can shoot by awfully fast when you're working against deadlines.
What dissappoints me more at the moment is that only two suppliers showed up in person, with a couple of other ones sending pamphlets and flyers. Pamphlets and Flyers are great, but I would have preferred to talk to someone in person when dealing with something as major as resurfacing all the lanes and equipping them with new pins, etc. Ah well, might be a loss of business for them, and an increase in business for those who bothered to show up.
Like other AGMs I've been to (such as the mini-horse club AGM) there's a good amount of politics involved. Fortunately it's pretty friendly as everyone at this level seems to be working together. It's more of an "Us vs. Them" thing, with "Them" being the National Association vs. our Provincial Association. In any case, things are looking promising (so far) for the future, and we'll see how things go from here.
Right now we've adjourned for the evening. We were supposed to have supper here at the hotel, but it turns out there's a casino in town that offers a fantastic buffet at a fraction of the cost of supper at the hotel, so they've chartered a bus to take us all over there instead. Whatever... I'm not really interested in gambling, but I know casinos tend to have some pretty great buffets. ;) Should be a good opportunity to socialize a little, schmooze a little, and maybe I'll even spend a couple bucks on Lady Luck and see what happens. :)