The Last Pop-Up Is Tonight!

This is N.Y. Roll. He's gonna let me talk this time!

Iowa Gravel Expo Pop-Up Series #4 Tonight!

Tonight will mark the end of the 2020 Iowa Gravel Expo series we've been putting on since mid-January every other week. This is being held at Second State Brewing in Cedar Falls, Iowa at 6:30pm - 7:30pm-ish. The topic of this session will be "How To Start And Organize A Gravel Event". 

The series has been successful so far and we hope that we get a few folks tonight despite a competing event which scheduled on the same evening after we did. It's one of those things though- there's always something else going on. 

Anyway, I thought maybe it might be a good idea to do a bit of a mini-series on this blog about how I approached putting on the gravel events I have done in the past. So, that's something I'll probably tackle coming up in March. It'll be brief, nothing huge.

To my way of thinking, in general, there are really not many bullet points to putting on an event. Details can get you into the weeds, so as a person that puts on events, you always have to keep your eyes up and on the big picture. Generally this always should go back to your core ideals and goals. So, if you are all about a loose, fun, simple, and a more organic feel for an event, then chip timing and blow-up finish line arches are probably something you want to steer clear of. If, however; you are all about ultra-competitive, high-performance, traditional racing, then you have to have those amenities I mentioned. But everything you consider has to be consistent with your vision for the event. That's just one example of this sort of decision making I give you there.

And timing and finish line hoopla is not necessarily exclusive to a loose, organic feel, so don't go reading into my examples here. I'm just trying to illustrate a point. In the end, "you do you" when it comes to an event. The worst thing one can do is try to appeal to people they do not understand. (That is- unless you are willing to bring on people that do understand the groups you want to see attending, and have THEM run the event, which isn't always possible.) Do an event that appeals to you. What would you like to see? Do that.

Of course there is a LOT more to it, but I think people forget about how their visions of things probably will appeal to a lot of folks out there. You don't have to try to appeal to things you don't understand. It's your event. Of course there will be people that don't like it, that will criticize it, and even make fun of it. That's okay. They shouldn't be coming to your event and now you know who they are. That's all. That's all you should take away from that sort of thing. The ones that do come already pretty much agree with what you have going down. Worry about their experiences. 

Anyway, more to come on this, and if you are around, head over to Second State Brewing in Cedar Falls. I'd be happy to see you!