IPMS 2023 - San Marcos - After Action Report

[bob the builder]

Well, the SubCommittee President, Bob Martin (that'd be me) and VP (that'd be the ever-so-handsome "Sub" Ed Tordahl) along with help from the incomparable Steven O'Connell, exhibited at the IMPS 2023 national conference in San Marcos, Texas this last week.

The SubCommittee had a booth there for the first time that I know of, and we did our best to promote the organization and enlist new members. Attendance was superb, though apparently not to past event levels (still pretty awesome, by my reckoning). We had RC submarines on display, hard copies of the SCR, quick-link cards for takeaways and more. It was long days (8 hours solid) for four days straight.

The organization did sponsor awards in the submarine categories as well, though we were forced to head home prior to the announcements yesterday. While the SC did front expenses for the booth and award sponsorship, attendance costs were all fielded by your three volunteers, and while they were considerable, I like to think they were worthwhile.

[salmon]

Thank you all for doing this. Historically we have been associated with IPMS, but over time have not participated or kept the relationship. Thank you for realigning us with a source of new contacts for our hobby and an opportunity for inspiring others to check us out.

[sam reichart]

Thanks gentlemen, for representing us and for spending you own cash to attend all 4 days. I’m amazed at how much Bob was able to stow on his plane for the table display.
We have an IPMS event every February here in Richmond at the Richmond Raceway. I’ve attended for many years. I get my yearly chat with Gene Berger there, and on occasion I’ve seen a few SubCommittee members (from Va Beach area, typically). Submarines get some decent representation on the display tables; I’m actually working on the design for a 1/35 scale Type VIIc dockside diorama because someone showed up this year with a nicely done one (but inaccurate due to the flaws in the Border Models representation of the Type VII). Gene actually took best in show a few years ago with his big 1/32 Gato, which he has converted into a museum scale model. This is Richmond and NASCAR runs here twice.a year, so cars are a big deal in the display and model sales. It’s only a 1 day event; judging the models starts late morning and the awards are given out later in the afternoon. I’m not sure it’s a great venue for a SubCommittee table, but I’m open for ideas on it.