2012 NABBI Convention Vendors

Tim, thanks for the heads up... is there a specialty food item that you guys are famous for ? Like Philly cheesesteaks, coney island dogs, etc ?

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River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601

http://stlplaces.com/stl_foods/
and after reading all that ST Louis in Known for . . . it will explain why

TUMS® antacid (OK not technically a food) invented 1928 by pharmacist Jim Howe.

I dunno, Tim . . . your Gyro Pizza sounds darn delish too

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

Tim,
What eateries, based on your own personal experience, can you reccommend ? Seems like the last time some of us came there you suggested a really good pizza place ?

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River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601

There are sooo many good places. The Hill is basically a small Italian neighborhood full of Italian restaurants. They have many good places. It just depends on what type of food you want. We pretty much have it all here. One of my favorites is about 10 minutes away its called Maggiano's... EXCELLENT!!! It looks like a fancy gangster hang out..lol There is definitely plenty to do and see as well especially if you go to Forest Park. That's a whole days worth of site seeing there.

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After all is said and done, more is said than done.



-X-
St. Louis, MO
FRN#2
Member of The C.B.C

You can even get helicopter rides over St. Louis starting at the Riverfront for $35 a person!!!

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After all is said and done, more is said than done.



-X-
St. Louis, MO
FRN#2
Member of The C.B.C

I volunteered for that "committee" in Vegas but was unable attend the 'Crab Smash'. I'd still like to be as involved as possible in this.

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Tom Duprey
Founding member, NABBI (Nat'l Assoc. of Bail Bond Inv.)
Ca. Bail Agent Lic#1845795
Owner/Operator, Thomas Duprey Bail Bonds
Owner/Operator, Orange County Bounty
(714) 727-4689

One way to keep costs down is to hold the lunch and dinners at the hotel. They will then give us meeting room space for free. If we go outside for dinner, then we have to deal with either walking, making reservations and or driving.

So it is best to pick a location where we can hold the meeting and the lunch and dinner at the same spot.

I did check with the Hampton. Their rooms will be the same price range as the others downtown. I did not get a price yet on the food and beverage.

Regarding site seeing, entertainment. We will be there for 2 and 1/2 days. And most likely the Monday, Tuesday will be full days dealing with the organziing, elections, membership dues ,etc.

So, any fun time will have to be at night or one can stay over a day or 2.

Also, If most people want to recreate downtown, then it will involve renting a car or taking a taxi, if we choose the Hampton Inn. I am waiting on finally RFP from them.

Who and how many will attend wiil depend on us getting the word out to all invested parties on all forums, by word of mouth, through our sureties and bail associations.

So that is why we need to settle on a location by tghe end of next week so we can get the ball rolling.

As far as help goes, we will need several commttees of 2 or 3 people to work on:

Nominations / election of officers
Membership dues and benefits
Reviewing the mission statement, code of ethics and bylaws
Finding vendors / sponsors
Promoting the event
?????

We picked March because many diod not want to wait until June or July to get NABBI formed. So we can only hope for decent weather.

I would like to help with this. I have some groups on Linked in that I could post something. I could also help finding vendors. I think we need to make up a one page flyer in pdf format that we can attached to emails or fax that will cover the event. A website link is good as well, but people will print the one page flyer and put it on thier desk. Also in order to get the best rate for the hotel I would hold off until we know approximately how may people are going to come. On the flyer you should list an early registration discount of like 10%, people like discounts. With a location like St. Louis there is not much of lets say a tourist season so I do not think hotels being booked up will be an issue. These are just a few thought bouncing around in my head. Please let me know what I can do. Thank you.

Best Regards,

Eric Bavlnka
631 680 7505

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Best Regards,
Eric

Looking for a mentor to give me a foot in the door to this business. Prior Military-US Army- expert marksmam. BHTA training acadamy. ATFE licensed Pyrotechnician; and one hell of a guy. Give me a chance and I'll give you 150% of myself. Will travel in tri state area for this opportunity.

PM for Contact info

Everyone,

It is a litte more complicated in planning an conference / convention than one may think.

Most locations that have facilities that can handle an event, DO book well in advance. I have been coordinating the California Bail Agents Assocaition annual convention for 4 years now. We have up to 200 attendees.

It take monts of searching and planning.

We can't really market a event until we have a location date and cost. No matter what date we select, there will be those that can't make it for one reason or another.

The hotels will give us meeting room costs, food costs, etc based on the estimated number of room nights booked. However, the three listed earlier are NOT requiring a room block guarantee. Several other St Louis hotels were already booked for the March dates .

The Drury Inn will require a minimum number of guest each night in order to get the meeting space and to provide the onsite food.

Regarding the marketing, running ads in papers online or in print, it is very expensive. In the 10s of thousands of dollars for just one ad.

We have ZERO dollars in the NABBI right now. I fronted the June Vegas up front expenses. That was over $4,000. I did get reimbursed but I can't do that again.

We can't offer a discount until we know what the actually costs will be for the event. We must pay for the meals as a group, the audio visual equipment, liability insurance, etc.

Most equipment suppliers such as Cabelas, Taser Int, NIC, Brownwells, etc will not come to an event unless there are hundreds of potential clients.

Each year I send info to these and other companies, over a hundred in total, regarding the CBAA convention. We average 10 to 12 vendors each year. They will not commit hundreds if not thousands of dollars to attend a conference unless that KNOW they can get a return on their money.

You must remember the NABBI, is not an official organization yet. We have not money, no officers and no membership. That is what the March meeting is set to do, to officially organize the organzation.

Regarding the tourist season, most conferences are planned in the off season, not be during the tourist season. You will be suprised to know how many conferences are held during winter months when the hotel rates are low.

So there is a tourist vacation season and a business convention season. The convention season in most locations is not during the summer and holiday periods.

Anyway, once I get the RPF from the Drury, we will then need to make a final location decision and get this thing moving.

Please everyone, do not take my previous posts as "dissing" anyones suggestions or offers of help.

I just was trying to explain the process involved in putting together a meeting of this magnitude. It is complicated and takes lots of planning for it to be successful.

Now, I am not doing this all be myself. I use a convention planning company in AZ to scout the locations based on our meeting criteria. Then it is up to us ( me ) to negotiate the final costs with the hotel to get the best deal for us.

So, really I am just trying to get a location, date and best rate for the attendees. After that, the group will have to elect the officers and set the membership requirements, etc.

Everyone input and suggestions are welcome and needed!