The Final Night Presentation

[Artson]

The final night

The final night of RAW was action packed with brilliant racing and a fun night of presentations.  Unfortunately there were some issues with some matters in the HBT which I am keen to improve on in the future.

The Food
I had pre-booked in advance for 50 people ($500) with a possibility of increasing the food should numbers dictate. My reasoning for this was to lessen the stress on HBT staff and to speed up service.
This did not work as only enough food for 25 people was served.
How to resolve
In future functions, I will go with the standard order/pay/serve, system. Although this is more time consuming and requires more staff, it is the only way I can see RAW patrons and myself receiving what they paid for.

The Drinks
I had put $200 on the bar followed by an additional $100. My reasoning for this was so as the HBT staff could set up a table of drinks for our arrival, thus relieving the stress on staff and speed up service. This did not work out as I struggled to get drinks out to the RAW patrons
How to resolve
In future I will line up at the bar and order my $300 worth of drinks and not move until they are all delivered then pay for on mass like any other patron. Although this will disadvantage other patrons from service, it is the only way I can see receiving the adequate service required.

The Music DVD
Unfortunately a video player was set up instead of a DVD player; this caused a delay in the presentation.  I will take most of the blame for this as I didn’t arrive at the venue till 5:30pm and was to rushed to check the equipment
How to resolve
In future I will need to take the day off work to ensure I can be on sight early enough to check that all is set up correctly.

Once again I apologise to those who were inconvenienced and assure you that I only had your interests in mind when organising. I am disappointed it didn’t pan out the way I had planned. 

If you have any suggestions on how to make the final night presentation more enjoyable, please don’t hesitate to contact me personally or make a post on this thread.

[troublemaker]

       With the numbers increasing every year & more than likely going to get better maybe a change in venue is required. & I don't think the party/presentation night needs to be on the final night of racing.
       Thus giving you a buffer to organise with out feelin rushed.
       You could turn the last night into a games night,a money raiser to pay for venue or to give to charity [me]. Gee, you could even pull out the roller derby for the one last hit out. & I'm pretty sure that if you & your coleguesare behind most of the organising as ussuall it would be worth paying the one last entry fee for the season.
         As for dinner/food my daughter tells me that you can't go wrong with the 3 p's. Pizza, pasta, pancakes.

[roxii]

Dont beat yourself up, most of those things were well out of your control, and on a night when they shuld have expected big numbers in the tavern being a footy semi and in the heart of Bulldogs territory, the Tavern obviously was underprepared , understaffed and overwhelmed.

Although you may have been disappointed with the way things went, I dont think any of us would find any cause for complaint.

Great job mate.

[granny aged female]

Although I couldn't be there on the final (party) night, I agree with the previous respondents that you do a great job of organising events and I have found the Handle Bar Tavern to be lacking, unhelpful etc on more than one (not highly busy) occasion. 
Once last year at the end of a long championship (multiple days) and carting all my equipment via several trips to the distant (non tavern customers) end of the carpark , the catering staff patiently served a large extended family, who were not exactly the most accommodating and patient people) and when I turned up at the cash register after waiting behind them was told that lunch was finished.  (I hadn't slept in and read the Sunday papers all morning I had been competing at the Drome>  I was not impressed and I now generally drive down to the Bass Hill Plaza if I want food- the service is much better.
And there is a good variety of outlets.

Once when the UCI World Masters Track Champs were on I had to request one of the TV's to show the current action instead of all the boring TAB footage that not many others were watching anyway.  - They did set it up when I asked though.

Hopefully the nerve damage that I was diagnosed with yesterday will not prove to be permanent so I can one day be fit and fast enough again to race with the not so old .

[Terminator]

I coudn't agree more. I also couldn't make it to the final night.
It seems that the HBT has lost track of it's original design, that being a place where we could crash after racing or training and not feel like we do when we walk into Mcdonalds in bike gear. Unfortunately, the patrons of the HBT are the same found in most pubs and think we are from another planet and the staff do nothing to make life easy for us. It's sad that we don't have our own "clubhouse", staffed by understanding people.
I have been asked not to bring a bidon inside because it had a logo on it that conflicted with the brand of drink sold inside. It contained what I needed to drink after racing, not watered down Pepsi or beer.

I am really dissillusioned with the way some of the staff seem to take pleasure in telling us that the food service just finished, this after the over zealous security guard makes you move your car for "real" patrons.

I've had enough of the place....Hungry Jacks down the highway is always a better (and cheaper) option.

Paul does a great job putting on great racing and is only trying to keep everyone together afterwards for a download, but the venue sucks.