O Scale National Convention

[RDSRR]

We have posted our video recap of the O Scale National Convention.

More punctures in the upcoming O Scale Resource Magazine due out end of the month.

https://youtu.be/cbJ8rgGK9xo

[up148]

Thanks for posting Dan. Looks like the show was fairly small for a national event. I hate to see that, but since I don't attend I'm part of the problem.

[E7]

Any mention of where next years National is going to be held?

[J. S. Bach]

Any mention of where next years National is going to be held?

There is an interesting thread about the possible future of nationals on OGR:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/fut ... onal-meets

[up148]

Good article and thanks for posting. I guess I need to get over to OGR once in a while. I think Brad Kowal said it very well, after that it was reaffirmation of his comments and why.

[E7]

Any mention of where next years National is going to be held?

There is an interesting thread about the possible future of nationals on OGR:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/fut ... onal-meets

Thanks!

[bob turner]

I have to agree - Brad's latest comment is perfect.

I wouldn't get off the couch for an NMRA convention. They, in turn, do not care about my hobby. Nothing wrong with that.

[E7]

I have to agree - Brad's latest comment is perfect.

I wouldn't get off the couch for an NMRA convention. They, in turn, do not care about my hobby. Nothing wrong with that.

That's NOT what I'm reading on OGR. Brad is advocating teaming up with the NMRA, in particular to take benefit of their INSURANCE. Evidently insurance for these events is a big deal.

[bob turner]

I, of course, can have my own opinion independently of OGR. Here is one of Brad's comments:

The NMRA is mostly non- O Scale, whereas the O Scale Meets are nothing but. It's natural that people will gravitate to what interests them. Not all of us are in the hobby to promote it to other people, so when we discuss how we can "promote" O Scale, we will never get 100% participation. And there is nothing wrong with that.

I think the disdain for the NMRA come from individual experiences on a local basis. Those with the more positive outlook have had good experiences. My experiences have been neutral. n my area, while I have found certain NMRA activities a lot of fun, I found that nobody at all was interested in what I was doing in my basement because it was O Scale and they were into HO. HO was and is their interest and they have little interest in anything else. At the same time, I have little interest in scales other than O myself, so I can understand that these are not bad people, they just don't have the same interest I have. Now, experiences are going to vary from person to person, from year to year, etc..

[E7]

Doesn't matter what the SCALE is, but it follows that folks interested in a particular scale will want to see it and NOT a bunch of other scales. If I go to a show, I want to see O scale, not everything else under the sun. Apart from scale, geography is the other important thing. I'm pretty much limited to the Eastern end of the US. I'd love to go to the March meet, but that's an 11 hour drive with the possibility of BAD weather. It's bad enough in the Summer, as I have made trips out that way a couple of times.

[DaveJfr0]

I think the OGR post and OScaleModeler groups.io group had the most conversation on this topic. Facebook had a little bit here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2railos ... 565451546/

I was busy this year during this timeframe, but I probably wouldn't have gone anyway. Hard to justify the trip/time off/expense at this stage in life. I'm sure I I'm not alone for the sub-40 O-scale hobbyists. There were several posts either on OGR or groups.io that made probably the most logical sense to me on why the current format for these conventions probably won't work anymore. IIRC, their reasons were the aging out of hobbyists that would typically attend such conventions, the fact that not only can hobbyists buy anything they need online, but a lot of the knowledge/clinics they'd want to see are also freely available online. Social interaction to some extent also available online.

I do think its hard to replace the in-person human interactions at a convention, but the pandemic and societal trends look to have made that less important these days. I rarely go into the office anymore and when I do, its a coin flip if there's going to be at least another 20 people there. (There were easily 100 people in the office daily, pre-pandemic.) Even on the busiest post-pandemic days, the office 'energy' just doesn't compare to anything pre-pandemic. I'm guessing this is systemic for white collar jobs. Most of my friends who don't now work partially remote, work fully remote.

[Chris Webster]

Facebook had a little bit here:

That's a private group.

Hard to justify the trip/time off/expense at this stage in life. I'm sure I I'm not alone for the sub-40 O-scale hobbyists.

I agree and I am not under 40.

I was very surprised that the OSNC organizers decided to hold their convention in Denver less than three months before the National Narrow Gauge Convention is held in the same city:
43rd National Narrow Gauge Convention
If I were local to Denver, I would be saving my pennies and time off for the NNGC, not the OSNC.

[DaveJfr0]

Facebook had a little bit here:

That's a private group.

Hard to justify the trip/time off/expense at this stage in life. I'm sure I I'm not alone for the sub-40 O-scale hobbyists.

I agree and I am not under 40.

I was very surprised that the OSNC organizers decided to hold their convention in Denver less than three months before the National Narrow Gauge Convention is held in the same city:
43rd National Narrow Gauge Convention
If I were local to Denver, I would be saving my pennies and time off for the NNGC, not the OSNC.

Its only private to make it easier to keep out bots and scammers, etc. You'll need a throwaway account and have to answer generic O-scale questions to prove you're not a robot, but that's where the bulk of the online acton for O-scale is these days.

[Chris Rock]

I was on the committee that worked on the 2004 Convention in DC. We had 20+ very dedicated people and it was a lot of WORK. I can't even imagine the challenges today. It seems like conventions being viewed as unsuccessful has happened more times than I can count. If there was not a Chicago show, I think the National would be more popular. On the other hand I am very happy that there is a consistently stable and reliable Chicago show. If you don't have unlimited travel funds and you have to pick one show to travel to each year, Chicago will likely be it.