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MSTA Star Rally in Kerrville Texas

C

connie_rider

Member
Member
A couple of us are going to the MSTA Rally In Kerrville TeXaS tomorrow. (10/20/24)
** I'm not changing clubs.
We just hope to see how the other club does a National event and meet some new folks.
I'll be the COG guy on the Red 2014 Connie.

Wondering if anyone else will be there?

Ride safe, Ted

www.ridemsta.com

Home

STAR is the annual national rally for the MSTA
www.ridemsta.com www.ridemsta.com
 
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connie_rider said:
A couple of us are going to the MSTA Rally In Kerrville TeXaS tomorrow. (10/20/24)
** I'm not changing clubs.
We just hope to see how the other club does a National event and meet some new folks.
I'll be the COG guy on the Red 2014 Connie.

Wondering if anyone else will be there?

Ride safe, Ted

www.ridemsta.com

Home

STAR is the annual national rally for the MSTA
www.ridemsta.com www.ridemsta.com
Click to expand...
Doug and I got here yesterday, not a red C14 in the lot....yet.
 
connie_rider said:
A couple of us are going to the MSTA Rally In Kerrville TeXaS tomorrow. (10/20/24)
** I'm not changing clubs.
We just hope to see how the other club does a National event and meet some new folks.
I'll be the COG guy on the Red 2014 Connie.

Wondering if anyone else will be there?

Ride safe, Ted

www.ridemsta.com

Home

STAR is the annual national rally for the MSTA
www.ridemsta.com www.ridemsta.com
Click to expand...
 
Home from the MSTA Rally. 5 COGgers were there.
A good time was had by all.
We discovered that MSTA do their Rally's much like COG does theirs.
Nice people.

Ride safe, Ted
 
ron203 said:
Maybe a little more info?😉
Thanks
Click to expand...
This MSTA ride was an equivalent of our National.
Stayed at the YO Hotel in Kerrville. (same hotel that the COG/2018/Texas National was based)

Overall, the people were friendly/same age group as COG/lots more Honda's-BMW's-etc, etc, etc...
Registration was set up similar to COG's but manned by fewer people and pretty EZ to check in.
Rally fees' were less than COG's Nationals. (not sure how they did that)
Had T shirts for those that ordered and only a few to buy for those that didn't.
Had far fewer daily meetings etc. during the day.
Bekuz; People were there to ride ""and did"".
Had movies and a few meetings in the evenings.
Had a member/Executive branch meeting.
Routes and GPS assistance were available.
Most rode to the event, some trailered.
On one day they had a designated place to meet for lunch.
(Cost was an extra $20 for the meal)
At the banquet, they had similar food, and a guest speaker.
They gave awards for longest rider, longest Lady rider, and oldest/youngest riders.
They had purchased and auctioned off a motorcycle and a No-Mar motorcycle work bench.
Some tire kicking/bench racing in the Lobby and parking lots in the evenings.
Their also concerned about motorcycling getting to be smaller, but (unlike COG) MSTA is growing in size.

No group rides and Newbies (ie; ""us") weren't approached/asked to ride with the various groups that went out in the morning's.
ie; (Old friends found other old friends and forgot about the new guys)
Socializing and meeting people helped solve this.. (Glad handing by the newbies)

It was NOT a lot different than a COIG National, but I was pretty impressed by their organization.

Any other questions?

Ride safe, Ted
 
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connie_rider said:
This MSTA ride was an equivalent of our National.
Stayed at the YO Hotel in Kerrville. (same hotel that the COG/2018/Texas National was based)

Overall, the people were friendly/same age group as COG/lots more Honda's-BMW's-etc, etc, etc...
Registration was set up similar to COG's but manned by fewer people and pretty EZ to check in.
Rally fees' were less than COG's Nationals. (not sure how they did that)
Had T shirts for those that ordered and only a few to buy for those that didn't.
Had far fewer daily meetings etc. during the day.
Bekuz; People were there to ride ""and did"".
Had movies and a few meetings in the evenings.
Had a member/Executive branch meeting.
Routes and GPS assistance were available.
Most rode to the event, some trailered.
On one day they had a designated place to meet for lunch.
(Cost was an extra $20 for the meal)
At the banquet, they had similar food, and a guest speaker.
They gave awards for longest rider , longest Lady rider, and oldest/youngest riders.
They had purchased and auctioned off a motorcycle and a No-Mar motorcycle work bench.
Some tire kicking/bench racing in the Lobby and parking lots in the evenings.
Their also concerned about motorcycling getting to be smaller, but (unlike COG) MSTA is growing in size.

No group rides and Newbies (ie; ""us") weren't approached/asked to ride with the various groups that went out in the morning's.
ie; (Old friends found other old friends and forgot about the new guys)
Socializing and meeting people helped solve this.. (Glad handing by the newbies)

It was NOT a lot different than a COIG National, but I was pretty impressed by their organization.

Any other questions?

Ride safe, Ted
Click to expand...
Pretty good coverage Ted.
They did have ride sign up sheets for newbies or anybody really. I didn't sign up for any, so I don't know what the response would have been if I had signed up. So they had planned to not leave newbies hanging, but they did expect you to reach out first via the sign up sheets. They also had a free breakfast at the local dealer one morning and what I thought was a beautiful rally shirt with a colorful design front and back. There was an ice cream social but it was at a local MSTA member's place and there was a riding route associated with the event. I was a sort of drop in thing so not everybody had to be there at the same time. I have been there in the past for the yearly MSTA Hill Country regional event so I didn't go there this year.

Not all the photos are up yet, but here is what they have so far: https://msta.smugmug.com/STARPhotos/STAR-2024
 
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connie_rider said:
..Registration was set up similar to COG's but manned by fewer people and pretty EZ to check in.
Rally fees' were less than COG's Nationals. (not sure how they did that)
Had T shirts for those that ordered and only a few to buy for those that didn't.

No group rides and Newbies (ie; ""us") weren't approached/asked to ride with the various groups that went out in the morning's.
ie; (Old friends found other old friends and forgot about the new guys)
Socializing and meeting people helped solve this.. (Glad handing by the newbies)
Ride safe, Ted
Click to expand...

After making a western detour to Alpine TX for Big Bend, I made the long ride home yesterday. I'll throw in my 2 cents.

Registration was very easy; they had people there taking money & printing name tags. Fee was the same for early or late registration.
Registration fee was 2/3's less than COG's.
Being able to buy a shirt on site was nice.
I had an opportunity to ride with others, I didn't, but I should have. My fault!
Even off site I was approached & a conversation started.
Once while at the Bent Rim waiting on food a lady struck up a conversation asking my thoughts on the group/event.
While at McDonalds having breakfast before I left another lady started up a 5-minute conversation with me about the event.
I got contact information from a couple of members.
No-Mar had a MV Agusta demo there for test rides. Another, I should have but didn't!

Overall, I found them very friendly & well organized.

Yes, I plan to join.
 
To help understand costs.
Was a dedicated room or hall available for all the days of the rally ? How many days was registration open ? Was this in a dedicated room, hotel room or common area ? Did they have a dedicated catered meet and greet social ? Did they have a dedicated space for another get together similar to our ice cream social ? From reading they did not have tech sessions so I would assume no space available for that also.
Thank you gentlemen for the feed back.
 
LSGiant said:
To help understand costs.
Was a dedicated room or hall available for all the days of the rally ? How many days was registration open ? Was this in a dedicated room, hotel room or common area ? Did they have a dedicated catered meet and greet social ? Did they have a dedicated space for another get together similar to our ice cream social ? From reading they did not have tech sessions so I would assume no space available for that also.
Thank you gentlemen for the feed back.
Click to expand...

On site registration was Sat. - Mon. 3 days in dedicated room. Tues.-Wed. was by app. only.
GPS route downloads & help were in the lobby.
Meeting & awards handout was a dedicated room, same one was used for banquet. Which was Tues. & Wed. nights.
A dedicated room was used for selling used gear.
Another smaller room was used for picking up door prizes.
Ice cream social was off site.
No tech sessions that I know of. With such a large variety of bikes & no dedicated brand, it doesn't really seem feasible. They varied from scooters to Goldwing's & everything else in between.

I come up with 4 separate rooms in all.
 
LSGiant said:
To help understand costs.
Was a dedicated room or hall available for all the days of the rally ? How many days was registration open ? Was this in a dedicated room, hotel room or common area ? Did they have a dedicated catered meet and greet social ? Did they have a dedicated space for another get together similar to our ice cream social ? From reading they did not have tech sessions so I would assume no space available for that also.
Thank you gentlemen for the feed back.
Click to expand...

Our reports are intended as a report on our trip and some learnings.
** Hoping there may be some information here that we can use.
Much of what I'm posting is my guesstimate on how they operate. Do not know exact details.

Much of what MSTA does is similar to COG, and the people we met were just like COGgers.
(friendly people that like to ride)

Yes, they had a dedicated room for sign up etc.
** Sign up/check in stopped after the 3rd day I think). but the room was still held by the club and late arrival's were handled in that room.
Another room was where the door prizes were handed out and it was open most of the time.
A 3rd room was used for movies and the member/Executive branch meeting.
I think there was an early meet and greet meeting, but I didn't arrive until Sunday and missed it.
Bottom line: I don't think that they had a greatly lower cost of Hotel facilities.

Registration Costs; There was an early registration fee that was less $$ than the late registration fee.
Unregistered people (like me) paid the same amount as the late registration fees.
I think it was the possible to only pay for the Banquet.

My guess at Growth;
At 1 meeting they recognized people that had brought in new members. Knew which had brought in the most.
** So there seems to be an organized effort to seek out new folks.
As ONOBob sed; Other owner groups (Golding etc) are dissolving and those people needed somewhere to go.
MSTA is not identified by one bike, so there is a larger group of riders to draw members from. (from multiple manufacturers)
The Motorcycle and No-Mar bench Raffle is a draw. (ie; Members only)
Tickets were sold throughout the year and was members only.
** The winner of the bike was not at the banquet, and they called him to give him the good news.
Have no idea how they would get the bike to him. (??)
I think that No-Mar may have gifted the bench, so all tickets sold for the bench was profit for the club. (??)

NOTE: They announced that they had bought the bike at a good price and had hoped to exceed those costs in ticket sales.
** They exceeded those costs in Ticket Sales.

Another learning. They also have a Forum and Facebook presence.
I talked with the guy that runs the Forum, and he said that (like us) most seem to prefer using Facebook.
NOTE: Non-members can be on the Forum indefinitely but do not have access to all the things that members do.

Here is a link to their Forum.
Looks to be the same format that we're using.
** Some of the Fields they list may be useful for us to add.

MSTA Forums - Index

MSTA Forums - Index
www.ridemsta.com www.ridemsta.com

Another Learning; They have Area Directors and State Directors.

Final thought; There seemed to be a lot of people that were willing to volunteer and help.
** This is something that we must have in order for COG to grow.

Ride safe, Ted
 
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I follow them on FB and they have good participation. I think the state captains and an organized recruiting effort is a good idea. Also, the recognition of recruiting efforts is excellent. Things to learn here for us. No way of knowing from what I se, but they seem to have a good female presence in the FB group and pictures posted.
 
You mention ice cream social was off site. Was the ice cream included in the registration cost ? Also no mention of a social with some type of food besides the banquet. Thanks for all the information. I wonder if the rally is self supporting or subsidized by the club. The bike raffle or some other way. COG has made it a policy that national rallies should be self supporting and I believe most almost all end up in the black.
Thanks again
 
Ted, did they give any numbers about the statement that they're growing?
Under a different name, but they've been around a long time (1982). At one time, theot website states there were 2,000+ members, now ~900 I believe. Possibly they were below that and have increased in the recent past.
 
Numbers were given, but I don't recall what they were.
** Maybe someone else has them. {??}

You are correct, the club is not larger than it has ever been.
They just stated that the numbers have been increasing over the past few years.
Perhaps an effort has been made to increase the Members, and the plan is working. {??}

Ride safe, Ted
 
LSGiant said:
You mention ice cream social was off site. Was the ice cream included in the registration cost ? Also no mention of a social with some type of food besides the banquet.
Click to expand...
I usually go to the MSTA Hill Country regional event which also has the same off site ice cream social. I believe the ice cream is either donated by the off site property owner/members or is paid for by the MSTA. There has never been a charge for the ice cream at the regional Rally nor this years Star event.

The Banquet was the only food event other than the ice cream social and the optional fee lunch event. There was also a woman's meeting that I didn't attend, I don't think food was served and I don't recall a fee for that.

I found out that their association with the BMWRA hasn't done much as far as helping membership or joint events. I anticipate that in spite of recent membership gains, the MSTA and COG will continue to decline in membership. Hopefully the two groups at some point in the future will hold joint events together and perhaps a friendly rivalry will develop that will be underscored with a strong mutual respect for each other. Neither group will probably agree to merge into one as both have a long history and are proud, but I think as the numbers dwindle in the future it would be a good thing for both groups to work together on rallys and other events (flex some joint economic muscle to get better hotel rates and accommodations ). I would love it if the top people in both groups would just agree to not have Nationals that conflict on dates. I dare to dream that they will someday try to have their respective National rallys one week apart in similar areas of the country so that those that wanted to attend both could have some ease to the transfer. In 2015 I attended the COG Concours in the Corners National in Cortez CO. and then took two days travel to attend the MSTA STAR in Springdale AR. It was a very enjoyable two weeks.:D(y);)
 
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ron203 said:
What percentage of the attendees would you say the women made up (of the total)?
Click to expand...
That would really be a useless guess on my part and probably very inaccurate if I tried. I could make a guess and then when the group photo gets posted (IT DID: https://msta.smugmug.com/STARPhotos/STAR-2024/i-zrVnVcX/A) someone would start counting women in the photo and compare it to the COG photos and call me out on it. It could be that the percentage of women in the groups are exactly the same, but my impression since 2015 is that the MSTA has a larger percentage of female participants. Perhaps they just come out of their rooms more?

I will say two things, 1) It seemed like there was a higher percentage of women attendees than at COG Nationals and 2) Many women had their own bikes.

Some of the MSTA female rowdies: https://msta.smugmug.com/STARPhotos/STAR-2024/i-GHHLCLx/A

If some of our information seems like we didn't take notes, it's because we didn't. We went there to have a good time and go riding so most of what we saw was registered in mental thoughts as we concentrated on enjoying our 5 days there.

Earlier someone posted inquired about seminars. To the best of my knowledge only one was on the schedule and it was "Bystander Assistance -Accident Scene management". It was held at the same time as a movie with popcorn (admittedly poor scheduling on MSTA's part) so I don't know if it was even attended well.
 
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I know the topic of merging has come up... I'm not sure where I would stand on that, but I think I like the possibility of a joint National, and possibility other events.
I believe that the MSTA Indiana lead reaches out to COG's AAD with invitations to Indiana RTEs.
 
Jorge said:
I know the topic of merging has come up... I'm not sure where I would stand on that,
Click to expand...
I understand, I'm sure you are not alone.
Like I said, both groups have a history and are justifiably proud of their organization. However a friendly association of the two groups down the road would benefit both. A merge wouldn't really be necessary. Simple sharing of venue locations and routes (which may already be happening unofficially) and contacts between officers of the respective groups would open the way down the road for some combined events when both groups get to the lower membership point where venues start not returning their/our calls.
I really thought that the window had closed on this when the MSTA associated with BMWRA, but the word I got from a high level MSTA member is that that association hasn't yielded much. Perhaps earlier when both COG and MSTA had higher levels of membership there may have seemed to be a rivalry where each group thought they were competing for members from the same pool of people. I think that when you look at the rate of inflation and the respective dues of each organization it wouldn't be that expensive to join both groups. Just my thoughts, may never happen but....
well, let's just say, I've met the MSTA and it isn't the enemy, and the group has the potential to be a great ally for COG and vice versa, IMO.
 
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