Bad news about AUTOFEST 2007

[Cossey]

I'm not saying the car show is an investment, but his business is. Every investor knows you have to spend money in order to make it in the long run. As I said before, yes, you would lose money for this car show, but I think overall the exposure would be something that is worth it. I was looking forward to this show very much so, and I wouldn't have entered my car or anything, but just the atmosphere of having the events with a bunch of friends is fun. It sucks, and hopefully there will be an AF08.

P.S. IMO, a lot of people won't be hyped at all for AF08 because of the cancellation of AF07.

[rjteeter]

There is a reason why there arent to many good shows on the east coast. Some of the posts in this thread show the huge lack of support which truly makes the local scene what it is.

I own/operate a local auto enthusiast site. I have concidered greatly shutting it down many times in the past 6 months. Lack of TIME, MONEY, and SUPPORT are the main contributers.

The threads bashing Mike and his decision are getting depressing. Please stop. I will start issueing temporary bans if the bashing continues.

[mafdark]

Originally Posted by Cossey

I'm not saying the car show is an investment, but his business is. Every investor knows you have to spend money in order to make it in the long run. As I said before, yes, you would lose money for this car show, but I think overall the exposure would be something that is worth it. I was looking forward to this show very much so, and I wouldn't have entered my car or anything, but just the atmosphere of having the events with a bunch of friends is fun. It sucks, and hopefully there will be an AF08.

P.S. IMO, a lot of people won't be hyped at all for AF08 because of the cancellation of AF07.

improve business for what though? I think the show is tough for "technotic media" because they sell a service. Im not even sure what the hell that service is. Maybe its just managing the 10 different ideas/companies that mike has.

Not bashing or whatever. you have the right idea cossey, i just think that TM wont benifit from a car show no matter how good it is.

[rjteeter]

Originally Posted by mafdark

Not bashing or whatever.

Thank you, I really didnt want to have to ban anyone on a Friday night

[JVG Motorsports]

Originally Posted by rjteeter

Thank you, I really didnt want to have to ban anyone on a Friday night

You should ban Mike's Dad to keep him from making an ass out of Mike again. Some of that was completely out of line even for some of the complainers. It had nothing to do with me but I felt offended reading it.

I vote to delete this thread as a real moderation move.

[rjteeter]

Dont tell Mike but I would ban his dad






































J/K Gosh.
I think Mike is the only one aloud to ban his dad.

Well im out for the weekend.keep it real eh?

[Shawn96VR-4]

Originally Posted by JVG Motorsports

You should ban Mike's Dad to keep him from making an ass out of Mike again. Some of that was completely out of line even for some of the complainers. It had nothing to do with me but I felt offended reading it.

Exactly. Glad someone else said it.

[JiM P 2001]

The problem here is that rspeed and autofest go hand in hand... Personally, I think that this blows... I was looking forward to the show. I'm sure everyone else feels the same. That is all.

[MeanDesigns]

Wow, just wow.

I havent said anything in this thread yet because I wanted to make sure I read everything, and got the facts right before saying anything at all.

First of all, if you cant imagine being on mikes sides of this story and thinking about how hard it is to make a good show, which could be a full time job on its own, doing advertising, planing, budgeting, organizing, etcetera, and you cannot see why he decided to cancel, then you have no right to talk. It takes a LOT to run a business, or even stay in business, forget being successful.

On another hand, mike you also gotta realise that its partially your fault as well, because you didnt dedicate enough time and effort onto the show, because of being stretched by many of your other projects.

Cossey is right, throwing in a towel on this will have pretty dire conciqences, lack of exposure, dozens of disapointed loyalists, negative exposure, lack of participation in AF08 if it even were to happen, and loss of already invested money. Mike as a business man decided to cut his losses in his project at this point in time. Some of you may have made the same decision on his part, some of you may have went ahead with the show, taken a risk, lost some money, but kept credibility, got the exposure (advertisement) and kept people happy but POSSIBLY at a bigger loss.

Im not sure if mike was still going to make people pay for spectating, but that would have been a huge contribution as it is every year im sure.

THis really was one of the most looked forward to show of the season, and odds are it could have been a success, but it was just not a risk that mike was willing to take, and you cannot blame him on that. We all draw our lines somewhere, and have risks we simply wont take, like not bungee jumping, street racing, gambling, or picking up hoockers.

There are two sides to this story, period. Mike you should just for a second think about this from everybody elses perspective, and everybody else should try to be mike for a second.

I'm just sorry to hear that it wont happen.

[MeanDesigns]

Oh and on a side note, there is only one way of saving this show this year, and that is for this little auto community to work together, and actually see if it can happen.

As long as mike isnt full set on canceling it, everybody who was going to pre-register, DO IT, everybody whos sure going to attend, make a thread of attendees and list everybody who wants to attend and or will attend, took the day off and is definatly making a trip to see it.

Mike - if you actually dedicate a little bit more time, talk to more sponsors, radio stations, food vendors, car shops and other sponsors, CALL THEM, meet in person etcetera, it could happen.

From the looks of it plenty of people from this forum alone were going to attend and or register, then word of mouth, more advertisement, and dedication can make it happen.

Right now its upto mike weither he wants to give it a shot or throw in a towel, can't blame the guy either way.

[DA KING]

Originally Posted by RAMbo

This is Mike's dad and I've heard just about enough complaining from you guys. Autofest was cancelled because of lack of support from all of you, plain and simple. Blame yourselves. Here it is one month before the show and not one of you cheap bastards has pre- registered. Only one vendor, Synaps has stepped up to sponsor. Of the over 500 people on the forum, only 40 are premium members. Of the 30 for the membership almost 25 goes for the tshirt , stickers and printing and postage. Mike has already put a deposit on the location, he already bought the tickets for the Super Street guys, and spent countless hours preparing. We could hold the show and lose several thousand dollars.
If all of you guys had stepped up, bought premium memberships and pre-registered for the show, we would have some working capital and have an idea of how many attendees. All you guys do is argue like babies. Support the forum and it's members or get the fxxx off. I've often told Mike to close rspeed. you guys aren't worth the headache.

Wow Mike I think u should do some real damage control with that one...

Anyone who plans to finance a show on pre reg is doomed from the get go... its been stated in this thread that on the memberships alone your only netting around $5. How do u plan to throw a show off of that???? As for support.. Every person on this thread that’s complaining was in complete support of the show and are aggravated that it’s canceled. You shouldn’t promote a show that u cant back up simple as that..

As for future references for R Speed and Technotic Media I will remember Mr. Centola's statement, as he is a representative of the company.

[mikecentola]

Wow, what can I say here...??

I'm sorry for what my father has posted, but we are not the same person, and we do not share the same views on MANY things. To judge my company based on a single post is ridiculous, as I've seen many posts made by "representatives" of vendors on this forum say some inappropriate things as well.

I was not planning on pre-regs for the show, but it probably could have swayed my decision to continue to hold the show. I had even made posts a few weeks about about needing help to find sponsors, which even included a finders fee.

I can't win with you guys. I try to bust my ass for a community that I'm not even a part of anymore. For those who don't know, I've been living in rochester for almost 3 years now! Last years show was extremely hard to plan, and I had three extra people helping me do so. Now I had just myself and Erica trying to plan this show, and it is just too much.

I would love to think that putting on autofest has helped grow my business, but in reality it contributed only to making the company well known to people who are your best friend when they can get into a show for free, and then dump you when something like this happens.

There are still two separate issues here: the show and premium membership.

The show is canceled. I do not thing I could plan the show in its entirety within a month. For those that think I might be lazy or didn't do any work...you have no right to say so because you don't know the time I put in calling and emailing potentials sponsors, judges, celebs, etc. Maybe this year wasn't the right year to jump into such big things. Before I even decided to cancel the show, I had spoke with Jon about the possibility of combining efforts and holding one show next year.

Premium membership is something that while you may not thing its worth "paying" for a forum, it was really just different verbage that most are used to seeing. Would it have been better if I accepted $30 donations, and all people who donated received a free t-shirt and added forum benefits? Maybe...because thats how a lot of forums do it. I wasn't even looking to make money...at this point I was looking to cover the $3000 I've got invested in t-shirts, hats, and software.

To those who wouldn't pay for a premium membership....would you buy a T-shirt, stickers, hat, mug, etc?


Man, this thread is rough and emotionally draining. If it wasn't 2:30AM, I'd go riding heh.