ARMA International Gathering 2007 reminder

[Stacy Clifford]

The ARMA International Gathering 2007 will be held in Houston, Texas the weekend of August 17-19. This unprecedented three-day event, our 2nd such gathering in 4 years, will give ARMA members worldwide the opportunity to interact and train with their fellow ARMA members and instructors.

During this event, participants will have the opportunity to:

- Train with John Clements, ARMA’s Director and internationally recognized authority on Medieval and Renaissance combat*
- Study with Bart Walczak, the Study Group leader for ARMA Poland and a published author
- Practice half-sword training with senior members Shane Smith and SFS Matt Anderson, Study Group leader of ARMA Virginia Beach
- Train in Medieval Grappling with SFS Gene Tausk, Study Group leader Houston Southside and Jason Vail, who is a published author
- Train in English quarterstaff with SFS Stacy Clifford
- Train in Sword and Buckler fighting with Senior Free Scholar and ARMA Provo study group leader Stew Feil
- Participate in Senior Free Scholar tests, including the first Senior Free Scholar test for Sword and Buckler fighting
- The chance to meet and interact with vendors and well-known sword makers
- Join in Study Group challenge bouts, cross training, skill evaluation, and GFS certification
- Door prize giveaways and raffles; social dining, and more

The fee for this Event is only $100. This provides you access to all three days of the Event, unlimited access to workshops and two Senior Free-Scholar Prize-Playings, all your meals on Friday and Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday, an Event T-shirt and registration for the door prizes.

This will be the ARMA’s event of the decade and you will not want to miss it. Further information can be found at the ARMA International website, found on the ARMA home page. Participation is limited to the first 120 people who register, so get your payment in early to reserve your space.

* John will be leading several presentations and classes of special instruction, including a Longsword 1.0 (National Training Program), and special historical presentations.

For full details on registration, hotels, class schedules and instructors, please visit:

http://www.armanorthhouston.org/interna ... t-2007.htm

[kyle cook]

For all members who are attending the event, there will be Staffs for sell at the event. The cost will be $30.00, if you are flying i can help you make arrangments to ship the staff back to your home. If you would like to have a staff waiting for you at the event, please e-mail me at cookfamily@houston.rr.com. See Ya'll in August.


Kyle Cook
ARMA Houston

[kyle cook]

ARMA Members, the ARMA International Event 2007 will soon be at hand. We have Instrutors to teach you, good food for you to eat, and the company of your fellow members to train. We will also have Venders with wasters, armour, and swords for you to look at and buy. But i see we are missing one thing! Yes i remember now, DOOR PRIZES. Here is the link to door prizes we will have at the event. http://www.armanorthhouston.org/event20 ... prizes.htm . We will be having the drawings for the door prizes at Lunch Sunday. We still have spaces open for the event so send in your regestration today for the event. See Ya'll in August.


Kyle Cook
ARMA North and South Siders

P.S. More Anouncments to come

[kyle cook]

Some more info on the venders that will be at the ARMA International Gathering. If you know what you want from a vender at the event, feel free to e-mail them. You can preorder the item you want and pick it up at the event. This will also help the venders in stocking up their booths up for the event. See Ya'll in August.

Kyle Cook
ARMA Houston

[James Sterrett]

I've been meaning to ask....

Corinne and I are examining the option of coming to this. The main complication is a wee laddie named Ian, who will be just under 1 year old at the time.

If I'm reading the schedule correctly, many of the classes repeat - they run once in the morning, and then again in the afternoon. If that's correct, Corinne and I could trade off taking care of Ian and still get into the classes.

Is my reading of the schedule correct? Are there other circumstances that would make the plan more, or less, workable?

(Which might suit our level of fitness anyway - Ian's taken a significant toll on our time. )

[kyle cook]

Yes, you are correct. We have set up the classes so everyone can take all the classes offered at the event.


Kyle Cook
ARMA Houston

[Ken Dietiker]

But doesn't that depend, Kyle?

I understand that during the day you have say, classes A and B, once in the morning then repeated in the afternoon. But I want to attend both classes, I take A in the morning and B in the afternoon. Since the two classes run at the same times, I won't have time to trade off with someone else if they also want to attend both classes. Seems to me that I can only attend one class in the morning, then do whatever in the afternoon while the other person I'm switching off with takes only one of the classes in the afternoon. Either way, if there is something else to do that you and another are sharing responsibility with (as in James Sterrett's example), you still get to attend only half of the possible classes.

Have you guys considered the need for a day care?

[Gene Tausk]

But doesn't that depend, Kyle?

I understand that during the day you have say, classes A and B, once in the morning then repeated in the afternoon. But I want to attend both classes, I take A in the morning and B in the afternoon. Since the two classes run at the same times, I won't have time to trade off with someone else if they also want to attend both classes. Seems to me that I can only attend one class in the morning, then do whatever in the afternoon while the other person I'm switching off with takes only one of the classes in the afternoon. Either way, if there is something else to do that you and another are sharing responsibility with (as in James Sterrett's example), you still get to attend only half of the possible classes.

Have you guys considered the need for a day care?

Ken, I am having trouble following you on this one. We will make every effort to allow participants to take the class that the participant wishes to take. Now, the participant may have to take class A in the morning and B in the afternoon, although the participant may wish to have it the other way around, but as stated, we (the Event staff) will make every effort to make certain that all participants can take the classes of their choice.

As for the "issue" of day care, I hope this is a joke.

[Ken Dietiker]

Hey Gene, yes I understand perfectly how the schedule works. I was just trying to figure out the question James Sterrett was asking. Maybe I got it wrong, but it seemed like that was where he was going. I was just trying to clarify his situation as I read it. This is how I read it (bear with me for a second):

There were two classes being given on the first day, "A" and "B", each twice a day. Both run at the same time, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. If a couple comes but they have a child to watch, then only one can attend a class while the other watches the child. Say the father watches the child while the mother goes to class "A" in the morning. In the afternoon they switch off and the mother watches the child while the father goes to class "A" also. Because one of them always had to be with the child, they both only got to attend the "A" class, but not the "B" class.

Now, I'm not saying you guys haven't done a great job in setting this event up. On the contrary, from the schedule I read it looks amazing. I look forward to being there. But it does seem to me that an attendee needs to be active the whole day to get the most out of it. How does that apply to James' question?

Now, day care may be a joke for some, but if this is a concern for some members who would like to attend (I personally don't require it), then it's not out of line to ask. If the answer is "no", the it's "no".

[Stacy Clifford]

While we understand the concern over watching your kids during the event, it is just not possible for us to fit the extra cost of childcare into the budget we have for the event without significantly raising the price of registration. We're holding the event in a public community center, it will be a whole building full of people with weapons, and pretty much all the space will be occupied by classes, equipment storage and vendors. Gene has checked into the legal requirements already on this (insurance, licensed daycare provider, etc.) and the cost is prohibitive. We are doing everything we can to make sure we have enough money in the budget to provide for the adults who are registered and to bring in quality instructors. We cannot afford to also provide for all the guests of the attendees, family or not, and still have the kind of event we are planning.

[Erich Wagner]

Hi Ken, you're correct and your understanding is accurate. James and his wife will not both be able to take all the classes they want.

I'm afraid we will not be offerring day care services as this entails legal issues that we really don't want to deal with. However, as a suggestion, those planning to attend that happen to have children could get together and come to an agreement about watching each other's kids. While all involved still wouldn't be able to attend absolutely everything, they would at least get more than if it was a mom and dad taking turns (assuming one person watches all of the kids and rotates for each session).

I would leave it to someone in this situation to take the initialtive and set this up.

Thanks,
Erich
ARMA Houston

[Stacy Clifford]

And what Erich said. Good suggestion.

[kyle cook]

If you are thinking about bringing family with you, please let us know. First, the cost per person for the meals on Friday, Saturday, and 2 meals Sunday is $46.00. This will need to be paid before the event. Also we will need to have a full number count so all have a place to set at the event. So, please let us know you will be bringing family with you and see Ya'll in August.

Kyle Cook
ARMA Houston

[James Sterrett]

Thanks for all the clarification! We hadn't expected that day care would be laid on, though the suggestion of getting together with any other parents is a good one.

We don't yet know that we are, or are not coming, but the fact that the classes repeat does put it in the realm of the possible (since we can each take the class of the day we find most interesting. )

[kyle cook]

Ok ARMA, we are getting close to the event and we have 20 spaces left for the event. Also if you have all ready sent in your money, it is time to start looking at where you will be staying. Here is the link to the event hotels
http://armanorthhouston.org/event2007/eventlodge.htm

Prices are on the page with phone numbers to call. Also on the page is the hotels Web sites if you want to check out what they have to offer. I have gone to both hotels and looked them over. Both are very nice and lots to offer during you stay.

So if you have not sent in you money yet, get it in the mail today. Also when you mail in your money, please send with it your T-shirt size too. See Ya'll in August.

Kyle Cook
ARMA North and South Siders