It is that PiP (Party in P "_ _ _ _" ) planning time of year again………….

I had a great time at the last one, primarily due to the crowd, with the balance of the thrill coming from being in Cannes for a few days. We need to do it again!

Two questions that need answering for that to happen are "when" and "where".

The where that I would like to propose is Perth, Australia.

The when is a tougher question. We have some rather significant events planned for June, August, September and November on three different continents and I think that it will be rather tough to do all of them as well as a PiP in Perth. Moreover, I feel planning an FT event should be done only after considering what other commitments others might have in terms of FlyerTalk Do's etc. The organizers of the events already gathering steam would reasonably expect to not have other events planned right around or too close to their own events. Turnouts are always better when events are spaced out a bit anyway.

So here is what I have been tossing around as an alternative to squeezing in another major event this year:

Plan a PiP IV for 2003 and start working towards a FlyerTalk Do Challenge 2003. Maybe even give it a snazzy title like FlyerTalk Do Challenge 2003.

What I envision is a card which shall get stamped at each Do you attend and in order to qualify for the grand prize (whatever that ends up being) you must attend a Do on at least 4 different continents in 2003. The definition of a qualifying Do will have to be worked out as we go.

I am guessing that there will likely be events to get your card stamped at including:

A Dusseldorf Do
A few Do's on the East Coast
A SEA Do or two
A San Francisco breakfast Do or two with Rudi
A SIN run rendezvous Do
A PiP IV Do
A Single's Do
A SAN Do
A Freddies Do

Etc.

…and maybe……..

A Tokyo Do (so we can get that four continents idea working)
A BBQ Tour Do (if I can twist a certain Texas resident's arm into leading the way)

How about this idea? It would mean postponing the PiP until next year, but we could perhaps get a better turnout and not put so much strain on our collective wallets.

I am having a great time recently planning my schedule to allow me to attend as many of these this year as possible, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this idea for PiP postponement.

Mike

[This message has been edited by mjm (edited 02-22-2002).]