Benvenuti amici!
The 34th annual FIAT FreakOut 2017 National Convention is officially live - after nearly two years of plotting, pitching, submission, approval, brainstorming, meeting, planning, decision-making and initial funding!
Nearly two years? you ask. Yes. You correctly read that. The idea to allow a, now, three years young local chapter to host the infamous national happening will be just a month shy of two years old when the event kicks off July 19th of this year. Quite frankly, the fact we're a mere four months away from Get'cher Freak On Time in Cream City is just beginning to truly sink in.
So, how did this still fledgling Midwestern FIAT/ABARTH club manage to snag the "grand prize" that is FreakOut? You can read about it in detail here... The 10 word answer is Bobb, Bryan, Doug, Duane, Joe, Mike, Pat, Sean, Thad, Willie. That short & sweet list of people encouraged & supported the ideas and efforts of this "FIAT Freak" with ideas and efforts of their own. Truman said, "It's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit," and truer words have scarcely been spoken and/or written. That stated, I would be remiss if I failed to call those individuals out. Each individual shared an idea or offered their service in some way that plays big into this coming together in a relatively short amount of time.
Now, you know the "secret" of how this FreakOut came together. You can host your own FreakOut, right? Well... not so fast. We've only covered plot, pitch, submit, approve, meet and plan. That leads us to making decisions. I formed our local planning committee based upon personal voiced interest in making this happen and individual availability. "Make" and "available" are the operative terms necessary to get from page to practice. You'll have the chance to meet the local people responsible for offering one of the coolest FreakOuts ever as you participate in the activities in our itinerary. But it takes more than the help of a handful of individuals to see something like this to fruition...
... It also takes funding. The national club takes on a considerable percentage of the financial burden of hosting the event itself. Accommodations, the Welcome Dinner and the Awards Banquet, you can imagine, are major expenditures. Only a portion of attendees will likely choose to stay at the hotel chosen as our host accommodations or take part in our fantastic Awards Banquet. The national club takes on the risk of covering what attendance does not. Looking for ways to help mitigate said risk is essential to supporting our national Board of Directors. We chose cool but inexpensive activities and forged early partnerships with Palmen Alfa Romeo-FIAT (Road America), Reina International Auto (Road America) and Schlossmann FIAT (Concorso and MKE FIAT GeoDash). We also recruited the assistance of VISIT Brookfield and VISIT Milwaukee. Those agents played key roles keeping itinerary events affordable.
Finally, and quite possibly most importantly, we enjoy a tremendous amount of shared passion with the international, national, regional, local and online communities. We look forward to "getting our freak on" with you this summer. HAPPY INT'L WOMEN'S DAY...
Vivere.Amare.Guidare.
(Respect to the artists responsible for the images)
Ciao!
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