CFO registration

[Jackson]

Paul, in the email you sent, I just remembered that one of the questions you asked I did not answer. It was about the actual payment process for registration and/or banquet fees. Mike set that up before, and he used Paypal. You'll have to ask him to get more details than that.

I'm waiting for an answer about the possibility of us using www.fjrforum.com to host web pages for CFO 2008.

Bill

 

[Jackson]

I had no luck in getting the fjrforum.com to to host the pages for CFO. I could host them on my web site at no cost Sagacity Wildfire Services but it might seem kinda odd with an address something like www.sagacitywildfire.com/CFO/Registration

One option is to purchase a domain name, then purchase web site hosting services. Domain name registration costs about $10 a year. Web site hosting would cost about $60-120 a year. What do you think?

 

[devanator]

To get it off the ground and going, I would be willing to give some up front. Then maybe we could see if it could be self sustaining with the registration fees or just people willing to come up with the cost at each CFO. If each administrator of CFO gave just a little bit it would be fairly reasonable. Let us see what the other people think.

devantor

 

[twistedcricket]

I have a server on the internet, I just haven't had a need for it. I can host web sites, emails, whatever. Or we could go with a web hosting company for it all. I've used P4Host in the past. It's reallllly cheap for hosting. The domain name could be registered by whomever, but we'll need to keep a couple of things in mind. When we register the domain name, someone will need to be listed as the Technical, Administrative and (Something) Contact. Only two of the contacts will be able to do anything related to the domain. I don't mind doing this at all, but I think everyone needs to know this upfront.

A friend of mine, with his own web company has offered to help build a site for us. I was at first thinking we'd just use a really simple and basic sign-up form. The results of which could be emailed either as they happen or at a certain time of day (midnight). The catch is if someone makes a mistake. Not a huge deal as whoever receives the info could just delete the wrong entry. We could put "PLEASE CAREFULLY REVIEW ALL INFORMATION BEFORE HITTING SUBMIT" at the top and bottom as reminders.

Since I"m not sure of the level of expertise of the group (with computers) I'll just ask -

Jackson - are you familiar with CSV files?

Devonator - Do you want to accept the payments via PayPal again? I think that's a great idea since it would let people use a VISA/MC to send money.

Sorry I didn't get to this sooner, I've been swamped at work since returning...

 

[twistedcricket]

To get it off the ground and going, I would be willing to give some up front. Then maybe we could see if it could be self sustaining with the registration fees or just people willing to come up with the cost at each CFO. If each administrator of CFO gave just a little bit it would be fairly reasonable. Let us see what the other people think.
devantor

Personally I think we should get it covered with registration fees. It would be nice to get together with the WFO people and see what they do. Instead of re-inventing the process they've followed, maybe just ask them what they've done. While I'm all for learning from my mistakes, it's sometimes easier to learn from others

If we come up with a list of fees that the group will have to pay, we can tack on $1 or so to cover the cost of the webhosting/domain registration. Any extra could be set aside to cover misc costs related to the events (name tags, paper/ink, lanyards, munchies etc).

 

[devanator]

Since I"m not sure of the level of expertise of the group (with computers) I'll just ask -Jackson - are you familiar with CSV files?

Devonator - Do you want to accept the payments via PayPal again? I think that's a great idea since it would let people use a VISA/MC to send money.

Sorry I didn't get to this sooner, I've been swamped at work since returning...

Good point on putting it in the registration fee. I shouldn't add that much to it, and people would be willing to cover it I would think.

The timing isn't that big a deal. We have some time to work this out. I think talking to Ignacio or Warchild would be good to see what program they use. As far as abilities I have none. I can learn this stuff but it is a hard learning curve for me. I guess I would be more willing to do the leg work in other areas of the Rally.

Kilroy has said that he would be willing to accept payments for the banquet this year. And if we do something like a registration fee. He really could accept the whole fee. Yes paypal is very easy for everybody now. WFO really encouraged it although they accepted snail mail also.

Thanks for the research in this area. I'm just throwing out my 2 cents worth.

 

[Kilroy]

Yep, I'll handle the money intake, and paypal works fine for that. And not that you asked me, but csv is practically my middle name. Comes right after excel... ;-)

 

[07FJRSD]

I'm out of it when it comes to computers. I think we could get enough out of membership dues. We may want to get someone to sponser our web site. If cash is needed right away my trucking company is willing to support it for now.

Dale

 

[Jackson]

Since I"m not sure of the level of expertise of the group (with computers) I'll just ask -Jackson - are you familiar with CSV files?

All of the ideas above are good. It's hard to believe we're this far along in the discussions and it has not even been a week since we all got home.

Yes, I'm familiar with .csv files. Many programs that collect data store or export it in a .csv file format, which can be easily converted to the more common .xls file

 

[Kilroy]

I agree with covering some expenses with the registration fees, and if we include a number of extras with the fee most people won't even think twice about it. The only caveat is to make sure we're explicit to attendees about what's included and what isn't.

peter

 

[twistedcricket]

I'm out of it when it comes to computers. I think we could get enough out of membership dues. We may want to get someone to sponser our web site. If cash is needed right away my trucking company is willing to support it for now.
Dale

I can host it on my server. It's free Then all I would have to do is register a domain (which is the name you type in after https://www._________) - that's usually $8/year.

If my web-design friend is willing to throw a site together for us, I thought we'd display "Designed by OCUPOP" at the bottom of each page (www.ocupop.com) and list them as a sponsor. Everyone ok with this? I haven't offered this up as an idea to them yet.

I would agree too that we should list, as explicitly as possible, the added fees. Then again, if registration is, say $65/person, $110/couple would anyone really complain that much? Just throwing those numbers out there... I don't know what WFO registration cost... if the $65 covers the banquet meal, covers the snacks, costs of materials for registration, etc. If it's over $80 I might ask where the money goes

 

[Jackson]

I don't have any problem with the "designed by....." on the web pages.

FYI-

The registration fee for WFO was $140. It included 2 dinner meals and a L/S shirt.

 

[twistedcricket]

I don't have any problem with the "designed by....." on the web pages.
FYI-

The registration fee for WFO was $140. It included 2 dinner meals and a L/S shirt.

Is everyone ok with the "designed by..." on the website? I don't know yet if that will mean he'll do the site for free or not. If he charges us it will be a on-time charge. I can maintain/update sites, but building from scratch would take me forever. He would probably be able to whip this out in 10minutes.

$20x2 + $25 = 65 - wonder what the rest was for?

 

[07FJRSD]

I'm ok with the "designed by..."

As long as we offer a good value for the registration, we will be ok.

If we want to have it as a large fund raiser then we may have to designate that part of it. I haven't heard that here at all, we just want to cover our expences for the most part.

Dale

 

[Jackson]

I have assisted in planning large conferences for hundreds of people, and I know that large hotels frequently charge $25-50 per person for a banquet meal. Surcharges, gratuities, and taxes can add a lot more. Some hotels will charge you for meeting rooms that your group needs, some won't.

Keep in mind that a few others besides our CFO group are also reading these posts.

 

[devanator]

I'm fine with the designed by also. Money collected should be just enough to cover expenses. If there is money left over, it could go to CFO, NAFO, or for the up keep of Web Sight.

What would the address be of the sight. Or the name of the web sight. Would it be CFO oriented only. Or would you have to type in some other site like Jackson expressed if he hosted it on his companies site. SFO is hosted by the FJR tech site. If we had it as a link it maybe wouldn't make a lot of difference anyway. They would only be using it as registration page along with checking for activities.

Just a few questions I had.

 

[twistedcricket]

RE: Others reading this - fine I'm just asking because I don't know the answer. I wasn't implying they were hounding the funds.

Good point about the larger hotels. I haven't set up anything really big. I worked for FEMA during Hurricane season in Alabama and Texas (Ivan and Rita respectivaly). I did logistics for my team of 40 - finding rooms, a meeting space, securing POTS lines for faxes, Internet access. Heck, I completed a hotel's wireless set up just so we could use it I don't recall what we were charged for the meeting room, but it wasn't as much as a regular room and it wasn't much bigger.

The website name can be anything... We could try for CFORally.com/net/org or whatever ideas anyone has. I only offered to host it because I have a server out there just begging for attention. I'll mess around a little after I'm done with work and see what names are out there.

CFOrally.com is available.

If anyone has ideas for website names let me know...

 

[twistedcricket]

one quick thought - cfo.com is registered and they may take an interest if our site name is close to theirs...so

cfobikerally.com - should help to differentiate our group from a bunch of Chief Financial Officers

 

[07FJRSD]

one quick thought - cfo.com is registered and they may take an interest if our site name is close to theirs...so
cfobikerally.com - should help to differentiate our group from a bunch of Chief Financial Officers

I think Jackson was refering to my fund raiser comment above. I'll try to choose my wording more carefull from now on.

I like simple addresses if possible. These are a couple I thought about.

cforide.com

ridecfo.com

cfobiker.com

bikecfo.com

rallycfo.com

or twistedcricket's idea cforally.com

Dale