2018 NRG CONFERENCE - REGISTRATION OPEN

[kurtvd19]

2018 NRG CONFERENCE UPDATE

October 25 – 27, 2018

 

 

 

 

Registration Forms -  https://www.thenrg.org/nrg-2018-conference.php

 

The 2018 Conference dates are October 25 – 27, 2018 and the Conference Hotel is the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.  The hotel is just off the “strip” and has free airport shuttle service on a set schedule and free shuttle service to and from the “strip”.    
   
HOTEL INFORMATION
Room rates (with $15.86 LV Resort fee) are $65.85  (+ tax) for Tuesday through Thursday nights and $125.85 (+ tax) for Friday and Saturday nights. All rooms are equipped with high speed internet access with a daily newspaper and admission to the exercise facility. Last date to get the special conference room rates is September 25, 2018.

 

Reservation Link =   https://palacestation.sclv.com/

 

You must use this offer code for the discounted room rate when making hotel reservations - PCINRG1

If making reservation by phone you must tell them you are attending the NRG Conference

 

The hotel has five restaurants and a Starbucks.  The Feast Buffet is one of the best buffets in LV with breakfast, lunch and dinner – open from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM with $9.99 breakfast, $11.99 lunch and $16.99 dinner prices ($3 to $7 less for Boarding Pass members).

 

The Grand Café is open 24 round the clock and has very reasonable prices with breakfast available at any time or how about a cheeseburger for breakfast?  Breakfast prices from $6.99 to $13.99, lunch from $6.99 to $10.99 and dinner from $8.99 to $17.99.

 

For the seafood lovers the Oyster Bar is open 24/7 with any seafood you can think of on the menu.

 

Fine dining is available at the Charcoal Room, open from 5:00 PM until 10:00 PM Sun –Thur. and 11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday.

 

Little Tony's offers a variety of Italian and American pizza styles, including classic Italian, classic American, Sicilian, New York, traditional Chicago, cracker-thin, and gluten-free. Additionally, a selection of pastas, calzones, stromboli, antipasti, and salads
are offered, all with a focus on authentic Italian ingredients and organically-grown produce.  Open from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM – M-Th, 4:00 PM to 11:00PM F, 11:00 AM to11:00 PM Sat.
 
CONFERENCE EVENTS

The Thursday Tour is a trip to the Hoover Dam and a lunch cruise on Lake Mead on a sternwheel boat.  The guided tour of the Hoover Dam includes the entire inner workings of the Dam, not just the exterior.  The cruise, with lunch and beverage provided, provides a water side close up view of the Dam.  There is also a cash bar on the boat for those wishing to have an adult beverage.

 

DESERT PRINCESS - Lunch Cruise

 

Informal gatherings on Thursday and Friday evenings with a cash bar will be an opportunity to gather and see old friends, make new friends and can serve as a meeting place for those going to dinner together.

 

The speaker line-up for our 2018 conference is almost finalized with an interesting group committed. As of press time almost all speakers are on board. Some names you will certainly recognize as being outstanding and respected members of the Guild or very well known in their areas of expertise.  
*    Ken Foran will talk about Soldering Brass.
*    Tony Devroude will talk about carving figureheads.
*    Dr. Al Ross of BlueJacket will speak about kit development.
*    Kurt Van Dahm will speak about model size table saw use and safety.
*    Steve Wheeler will talk about some unique Colorado River boats and their
construction.
*    Doug Tolbert will talk about researching the 74 gun class Buckingham.  
*    Chris Dostal, Asst Prof at Texas A&M Nautical Archaeology Program, will speak
about nautical archaeological excavations and the use of 3D rendering of the
artifacts.
*    Justin Parkoff, Texas A&M graduate will speak about conservation work on the
Union Civil War Gunboat Westfield (aka Texas City wreck).
   
DAILY SCHEDULES (Tentative) – We will have a 90 minute lunch period on Friday and Saturday during which we encourage attendees to visit the vendors and check out the model display.  

 

FRIDAY – TECHNICAL SESSIONS
*    Ken Foran – Soldering Brass
*    Steve Wheeler – Lapstrake Hull Construction
*    Kurt Van Dahm – Table Saw Use and Safety
Afternoon will feature several round tables – topics and speakers to be confirmed.

The Annual Membership Meeting will follow the round tables.

Gus Agustin's 2017 Round Table - Making Flags

David Antscherl's 2017 Round Table - Frieze Painting

 

SATURDAY – GENERAL SESSIONS
*    Tony Devroude – Carving Figureheads
*    Al Ross – Kit Development
*    Chris Dostal – Nautical Archaeological Excavations – 3D Imaging
*    Justin Parkoff - Union Civil War Gunboat Westfield – Texas City wreck
*    Doug Tolbert – Researching 74 Gun Class Buckingham

 

The after dinner speaker will be NRG member and artist Peter Rindlisbacher whose talk will cover his use of ship models to help create his paintings.

 

MEALS
Lunch on both Friday and Saturday will be sandwich and salad buffets where you can select your own sandwich and salads.  This has been a very popular type of lunch for our members at past conferences.

Banquet meal choices are:
*    Sautéed Chicken Breast – Herb Roasted Marinade
*    Orange Roughy with Fresh Tropical Salsa
*    Traditional 6 oz. Filet of Beef

All dinners include rolls and butter, salad, vegetable, potato, coffee, hot and iced teas and desert.
 
If you have special dietary restrictions please let us know when you register so your needs can be accommodated.  Special dietary needs can’t be accommodated if we are not notified at least a week before the event – due to the hotel’s requirements.

VENDORS
At press time there are two vendors confirmed.  BlueJacket Shipcrafters and Train Troll will be attending and displaying their materials.  The NRG will also have a sales table.

MODEL DISPLAY
Please bring a model; we will have a lot of space for model display.  The model registration form is also on the web site.

2017 Model Display
Downloadable registration forms are now on the website.  The hotel registration information and link is also posted on the website.

 

 

 

[Chuck Seiler]

Kurt,

 

    Can you go on the Thursday lunch cruise without going on the dam tour? Been there...done that.

[kurtvd19]

Chuck:

The bus picks us up at the hotel and takes us to the dam and after the tour is done we go to the boat.  It's all part of the same package.  I would imagine that if you don't want to actually tour the dam you could keep the bus driver company or just stay near the pick up spot and rejoin the group as they go to the boat.  After the cruise and lunch the bus heads back to LV.  The cost is essentially for the bus to and from along with the cruise and lunch.  There might be others who are not going inside as I don't know just how accessible the dam tour is and some of out older members sure aren't going to keep up.

The only thing other than what I have said her would be for you to check with Mike Lonnecker at one of the meetings as he's handling this for us.

Take care,

Kurt

[Chuck Seiler]

Many thanks.

[Altduck]

Kurt,

 

I had the same concern as Chuck.  I'm slow and limited duration on my feet, don't do stairs well, etc.

 

And I also have been thru Hoover dam as a youngster, and again when my daughters were kids.

 

Could mobility and access issues be covered on the NRG Conference page?

 

And if I make it there, Chuck, I'll probably keep you company at the bus stop.....

 

[kurtvd19]

Thanks for the input Richard.  Mike mentioned something about accessibility - I will contact him and get an answer and get it posted on the web site as well as letting you and Chuck know.

Kurt

[Jim Rogers]

Kurt is the model viewing open to the public?

 

[kurtvd19]

Yes, the vendor and model room is open to the public.

[Jim Rogers]

Kurt I see choices for the Banquet but not when it will be held.

[kurtvd19]

Jim:

The banquet is the concluding event of the conference on Saturday evening. 

 

I will get something added to say that it's on Saturday evening.  One of those things that I guess we just assumed everybody knew.  Thanks for pointing this out for us so we can correct it.

 

Kurt

[Peter Y.]

Do you plan on live streaming or recording some of the sessions/panels?Would be great if they were available in a webinar-like form for those that can't make the event itself.

[kurtvd19]

Peter:

It was determined long ago based on the experience with some of our Directors involvement in a big west coast event over several years when they did this and attendance dropped off substantially with people spending a few $$ to view in their home rather than attending.  This hurt the attendance enough that the event was losing money.

It is very expensive to do a good job of recording live events and they were not able to recoup their recording costs with the sales of the recordings.  Probably because those who stayed home intending to buy the recordings never got around to it.

With that experience, with the same audience (ship modelers) as we have had over the years it was decided not to do this for the reasons above.

However, the board is looking at something like this down the road now with MSW being part of the NRG.  The NRG membership pays for what the NRG is able to do and we need to increase the number of NRG members significantly in order to have the capital to do things like this.  If 10% of the current MSW members were to join the NRG we would be much better able to do this type of activity.  We have some things in the works to make membership more attractive so hopefully the numbers will go up and we can consider your suggestion again in the future.

Kurt

[Peter Y.]

Thanks for the prompt answer Kurt. Glad to hear you're thinking about it.

 

 

[Chuck Seiler]

I just made hotel reservations for the conference.   They only had the special rates available for 25, 26 and 27 October.  I want to spend a little more times there (24-28) and had to make three separate reservations.   I was told I will be in the same room the whole time and the rates for Wednesday and Sunday were pretty reasonable, so no big deal. Just be prepared to be on the phone awhile.

[Chuck Seiler]

    Apparently the hotel has opened up other dates for the NRG rate.  I received that from Mary at NRGHQ.  Will provide more details when I get home and contact hotel.

 

    Who else is going?

[Altduck]

On 8/29/2018 at 11:50 AM, Chuck Seiler said:

    Apparently the hotel has opened up other dates for the NRG rate.  I received that from Mary at NRGHQ.  Will provide more details when I get home and contact hotel.

 

    Who else is going?

 

The Admiral and I plan to drive there from Northern CA, arriving Wednesday and leaving Sunday.

 

We'll be on the Dam & Sternwheeler trip, but we'll stick with the limited mobility contingent at the dam.  We plan to check out the visitor center, any tour options that have no stairs or long walks, coffee shop, etc while the more energetic do their thing.

 

Looking forward to meeting some of the familiar names here face to face, and to an interesting and educational conference.

[genericDave]

Just booked my trip for the conference!  Excited about the line up and the chance to meet everyone in person!  

[catopower]

Looks like I will be at the conference after all, representing Ages of Sail in the vendor room. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

 

Clare

[Jim Rogers]

Leaving at o dark thirty tomorrow for the drive down.

[Jim Rogers]

Arrived today at 4pm. Very nice hotel with great Resturants. Got all checked in to Conference. Going to be fun with lots of great info. Sherline vendor is here😁