Sirs at the Games 2015 History Report
Chairman: Steve Schramm
Asst. Chairmen: Jack Schweitzer, Tom Kerns, Dennis Reschke, Alan Ensign
Overview
SIRS at the Games successfully completed our first full year in 2015. We expanded our planning team by adding Dennis Reschke as an Asst. Chairman and Alan Ensign as our Activity Treasurer. With the knowledge from our early experiences, we began to codify our activity roles and processes for future reference.
Activities
We organized six events in 2015. All events were local professional and college games. These games were attended by Branch 8 members, their families, and other guests.
- Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets in January (34 attendees).
- California Golden Bears basketball vs. Oregon in February (18 attendees).
- SF Giants vs. Pittsburgh Pirates in June (42 attendees).
- Oakland A’s vs. Los Angeles Dodgers in August (27 attendees).
- Oakland Raiders vs. Baltimore Ravens in September (28 attendees).
- California Golden Bears football vs. University of Southern California in October (24 attendees).
In addition, we attempted to organize two other events. Unfortunately, the demand was low and we did not have sufficiently large groups to complete these events:
- US Men’s Senior Open Golf Championship last June in Sacramento. If demand had been significant, we would have arranged bus transportation.
- California Golden Bears basketball vs. St. Mary’s on December 12. Arranged on short notice during the holiday season. With low demand, we advised interested members how to purchase tickets on their own.
Upcoming activities – a SIR Branch 8 group will attend the Golden State Warriors game vs. San Antonio Spurs on January 26 (22 attendees).
Current Issues
Finances – We have an ongoing issue with high demand sporting events. These events require a deposit to reserve tickets for group attendance. Consequently, we must develop our funding and reimbursement process for group deposits and final purchase of tickets. In response to this problem, we created an Activity Treasurer position, established a separate Chase bank account, and charged a few extra dollars per ticket to fund this account. As a result, we have accumulated about $220 in this account for future deposits and fees.
NOTE: At this rate, it will take us years to accumulate sufficient funds for actual ticket purchases to high demand events. As an alternative, we must announce events and obtain signups and payments within 1-2 weeks for high demand events. The short available time period may limit the numbers of members and guests who are aware of the event and can make quick decisions to attend.
Member Survey – We conducted a tabletop survey at the July 2015 meeting. This member feedback encouraged us to consider horse racing and auto racing activities. We plan to partner with the Car Enthusiasts to organize an event at the Sonoma Raceway in 2016.
For current and future members of our activity planning group, we developed a SIRs at the Games activity description. This document describes the roles of our group, and outlines the processes that we follow (i.e. publicity, signups, payments, and ticket purchases). We will follow these written guidelines as we select and organize events in 2016.
Innovation – As indicated above, we will continue to explore other events that may appeal to Branch 8 members. For example, small groups of Branch 8 members and guests may be interested in San Jose Sharks hockey, bicycle racing, and soccer. These opportunities will be explored for small groups through carpools and less formal arrangements