Press Release

IPMS-USA 2008 National Convention

August 6th – 9th

By Charles Landrum – Chairman (con.chairman@ipmstidewater.org)

Brett Green will be at Nationals! Okay, if you need more information than that to attend, here is an update with less than 6 months to go.

The IPMS-USA 2008 National Convention will be at the brand new Virginia Beach Convention Center, which sits on the site of the 1996 and 2002 conventions. This is a much nicer facility than the former Pavilion. Dragon USA, continuing its partnership with IPMS-USA, will hold its Expo – DX08 – onsite in an adjacent hall. Registration at the IPMS-USA convention will get you free admission into DX08. If you don’t register there will be a single general admission price of $10 for both events. Of the 300,000 sq ft of exhibit hall space available, these two events will occupy at present 225,000 sq ft with an option to expand into the entire hall. There will be plenty of free parking, onsite dining, an ATM, pack and ship services and an observation tower with a view of the ocean and NAS Oceana. We will have a convention program to steer you around the numerous activities and vendors.

Currently we have 96 vendors working from 330 tables, not including the DX08 vendors. There are still a limited number of tables available. Some of the larger manufacturers and distributors confirmed between Nationals and DX08 include:

Accurate Miniatures, Classic Airframes, Commander’s Series, Cyber Hobby, Dragon Models, Dragon USA Online (Tasca, Lion Roar, and Griffon Model displays), Eduard, Fujimi, Hasegawa, ICM, Italeri, JAG, L’Arsenal, MiniArt, MPM, MRC, Revell-Monogram, Stevens International, Testors, Two Bobs, VMD Studios, and Zvezda

This is by no means an all-inclusive list, many other fine companies will be present and the list keeps growing.

Of course, while vendors are an important part of the convention, they are only part of the activity.
Central to the convention will be the model contest, which always brings out a wide range of finely built models, and as always, competition is likely to be stiff. We are also continuing the tradition of club and individual model displays – reservations are coming in for this.

Outside the exhibit hall we are filling the large lobby area with static and interactive displays including monster trucks, custom vehicles, restored military vehicles, aircraft, RC vehicles, and military re-enactors. Plus, we will have a multi-track seminar program to educate and inform. Tours are planned, including the Naval Bases, but due to the volatility of gas prices we are just now able to start firming up details.

In addition to the awards banquet, we are offering a special Carolina style BBQ at Jerry Yagen’s Fighter Factory. This will be a chance to see his restored aircraft and military vehicle collection up close. Conditions permitting, there will likely be an airshow during dinner – he typically flies one or more of his Corsair, Mustang, P-40E and Spitfire Mk IX. There is a discounted combined Banquet/BBQ ticket available.

There are many convention rooms still available in all three hotels. Richard Morgan, our hotel coordinator, made the rounds of the convention hotels on February 15th. One thing in common from all of the hotels - they are surprised at how fast rooms are moving. We predicted this last summer, but they apparently did not believe us. Here is the tally on room availability as of February 15th:

DoubleTree - 40 rooms of 200 left on the busiest nights, more on the margins. Most of these are smoking, but if you book the hotel will convert them to non-smoking later. We just added another 25 rooms to the block and can keep adding as rooms reserve.  

Howard Johnsons on the Oceanfront - only 6 of 40 rooms booked. All of these rooms face the Ocean.  

Oceanfront Inn - 18 of 25 rooms reserved. All of these rooms face the ocean. If there is interest we can add a modest number of additional rooms once these sell out.

Remember, Virginia Beach is a popular summer resort and rooms will disappear early.
Lastly, there are plenty of opportunities for award sponsorship – we have kept the prices lower than the average. There are also opportunities for corporate advertising and/or sponsorship – what better way to reach a large modeling community.

If you have always wanted to travel to the US to attend a US National Convtion - there is no better time thanks to the weak dollar!

More details can be found at www.ipmsusa2008.org

See you at the Beach!