August 13, 2010 by Gregory Tucker.

All:

It’s official: Bob Zubrin announced at the Mars Society Convention that the 2011 convention will be held in Dallas!

This is both great news and a large responsibility! We have a lot to do and organize between now and then to put on a good convention. And the Dayton Chapter put on a really good show that set the bar high on expectations!

In particular ‘MarsCamp’ was a major success. This was a family oriented affair on Saturday with numerous interactive exhibits put on by local organizations such as AIAA, museums, etc. They weren’t all Mars or Space oriented, but they were technology and aerospace related. Many, many local families came to visit in a steady stream on Saturday. I picked up many ideas!

There will be much more to tell and discuss at the next meeting on August 29.

This is going to be a lot of work but a lot of fun!

Kurt

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July 26, 2010 by Gregory Tucker.

There were 12 persons in attendance at the meeting.

We were delighted April joined us with students from her Mars or Bust SMU class for gifted 7th and 8th graders.  April’s students talked with us about their experience in their summer class and their thoughts on space related topics.  We also discussed Kurt’s presentation during the summer class, which was a big hit.  Kurt talked about the political and cultural aspects of an early Mars colony.  The students brought a copy of a map of mars signed by the students in April’s class to thank the mars society for their support and for donation of Robert Zubrin’s book Case for Mars. We really enjoyed talking with April and her students.

We also talked about Moon day at the Frontiers of Flight museum which was held earlier this month.  Curtis brought in a news article on the event and reported Moon day was a great success. More than 500 people were in attendance. Several organizations had booths to include North Richland Hills astronaut training center, Dallas Area Rocket Club, and Armadillo aerospace.

We also talked about Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming event The Planets.

Mark came up with a really great design for t-shirts for the upcoming Aug 5th -8th convention in Dayton.  He brought an illustration of the design to show the group.  Fifty one T-shirts in various sizes were ordered from Zazzle and will be sold at the convention.

We talked at length about our proposal to host next year’s convention in Dallas.  The proposal is coming together really well.  Kurt brought a copy of a draft of the proposal for review.  We expect to finish up the proposal in the next couple of weeks.

We talked about a number of possible venues for the convention and their amenities including whether there is a free airport shuttle, free breakfast, attached restaurants and free internet.  We haven’t selected a venue yet and are still considering options.  We talked about possible convention day trips such as the TCU Metorite Gallery and the Frontiers of Flights museum and the possibility of a low morning session rate for attendance by home schoolers and families.  Last we discussed creating a flyer for the convention and various locations where they could potentially be posted such as area Universities and museums.

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July 19, 2010 by Gregory Tucker.

There were 10 persons in attendance. The meeting opened with a discussion of the successful launch of SpaceX Falcon.

The upcoming Mars Society convention was also discussed.  The convention will be held in Dayton, Ohio August 5th thru the 8th.  Several members are considering attending the convention.

The group voted to purchase t-shirts to sell at the convention.  Mark mentioned he would forward t-shirt design ideas.

We also discussed SMU’s talented and gifted program for youths.  April will be teaching a course on Mars colonization.  The group voted to purchase a case of Robert Zubrin’s book The Case for Mars for April to hand out to students.

As a last topic, we discussed the 2011 convention and proposal to host the convention in Dallas.  Curtis brought materials on the West End hotel and Tom brought materials on the Hilton and Embassy Suites.  The group reviewed and discussed the materials.  Tom and Kurt conveyed plans to tour the hotels.  Tom prepared a draft proposal which the chapter plans to refine after tour of the hotels.

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June 8, 2010 by Gregory Tucker.

There were 6 members attending.

Curtis reviewed what he learned from the Weston DFW Hotel - the Weston DFW appears to be within the guildlines, but some details may need ironing out.

Dan mentioned the need to keep big doners happy in whatever venue is selected.

Treasury unchanged - still waiting to hear from April about The Case for Mars books we voted to buy last month.

On a related note, Curtis asked about MS Convention t-shirts for this year - (Mark) responded that I’d have to do some homework and would try to figure out something (could use a little guidance on this).

Dan brought his current Readers Digest that had an article about the MER rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

Jan (teacher visiting past DMS meetings for help with a space themed event she had been planning) came by before the meeting and talked with Dan to let us know how well her event was received.

Curtis mentioned that the librarian from Perry Middle School had emailed him that they will have some type of grant for Space Week next year - there is also a video of Carol’s presentation on Perry’s  web site (couldn’t find it, still need URL for this).

Mark (substituting for Kris - hope I didn’t leave anything important out)

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May 16, 2010 by Gregory Tucker.

There were seven members in attendance.

The Dallas Mars Society is preparing a proposal to host the 2011 Mars Society convention in Dallas.  The meeting opened with a report on progress.  Mars society members are reviewing potential venues in the area and have found several places which look like good options.

These options include the Embassy suites and Hilton near Grapevine Mills mall, and the Westin hotels in Irving and the Galleria area.  Tom toured and received bids from Embassy Suites and from Hilton.  Curtis toured and brought in information on the Westin hotel in Irving.

We discussed things we are looking for in a venue.  These things include:

• Physical resources for about 250 attendees
• 150 -200 room nights, or about 40-50 rooms for 4 day convention
• Meeting areas considering convention running four days, Thursday through Sunday:
• Registration area Wednesday night
• Large room each morning for seating about 300 persons
• 4 breakout rooms each afternoon seating about 30 to 50 persons classroom style
• Tickets and vendor areas each day
• Mixer area each day for coffee and snacks.
• Tickets, vendor/mixer area the same area if possible, and close to the main area and securable at night
• Reception area on Thursday
• Formal banquet area Saturday night seating about 200 persons
• Two rooms Thurs through Sun evening for evening activities
• Executive meeting room for the steering committee for one afternoon, with room for about 40 people
• Convenient location, easily accessible
• Convenient access from the airport, a plus if there is free shuttle to/from the airport
• Nice and reasonable in price

Don mentioned he would tour the Westin hotel in the Galleria area before the next meeting.  We planned to discuss the venues further next meeting and planned to complete the proposal in June or July of this summer.

This year’s convention will be held in Dayton, Ohio August 5th thru 8th.  We discussed setting aside funding from the treasury for t-shirts for this year’s convention.  Several members are considering attending this year’s convention.

We also voted to purchase more Robert Zubrin’s Case for Mars books.  We voted to donate some of these books to April to hand out at her SMU summer class.

The Dallas Mars society, the NSS local chapter, and Bent Tree Bible fellowship recently supported Perry Middle school’s space week through construction of a space station, mars landscape, other exhibits, and class presentations.  Perry reported that they received a funding award to expand their space exhibit for next year.  Perry is planning to add a second module to the space station with this funding.  We are looking forward to participating in the exhibit’s construction and Perry’s space week next year.

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