KTC and The National Spit Tobacco Summit?

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages…

As you may have seen, KillTheCan.org is planning on attending the 2011 National Spit Tobacco Summit.  This event, held May 10-12 in Austin, Texas will be the first event that KillTheCan.org has attended as an organization so we really want to make sure of a couple of things:

First… we want to make sure that we’re in the right location/venue. According to the Summit’s website, “The Summit is the primary forum professionals in the smokeless tobacco field have to come together to learn of best practices, share success stories, hear about prevention and cessation approaches that work, and become aware of the latest research in the field.  It also provides these professionals a specific opportunity to network with their colleagues nationally and internationally.”  While we’ve never said we’re “professionals” I think it’s safe to say that this community is making a difference and we’ve got quite a bit to say about “best practices”.

That said, if there is a BETTER venue for us to have our “coming out” party then we’d like to hear suggestions (please no “coming out” jokes… we all know we’re Xtreme here)

Secondly… we want to make sure that wherever we go, we’re well represented. We’ve been ABSOLUTELY overwhelmed by the support that we’ve received to this point. As you know we’ve never (and will never) ask for financial contributions to run this site.  To date, we’ve collected just over $1,700.  In order to be a bronze sponsor to the show (which we’d like) we’d need to pony up $2,500 and we’re guessing an additional $500 – $1,000 will be necessary for marketing materials, banners, wristbands, etc.  As there have already been quite a few people who’ve made financial contributions and have pledged to be in attendance, we wanted to make sure that everyone knows what they’re signing up for.

• May 10-12 is during the week.
  Tuesday through Thursday to be exact.  Just want to make sure that everyone’s aware that it’s not on a weekend as many of our meets are.
• This show is not free to the general public.
  Full registration is $375 and single day registration is $150.  We’d like to be a bronze sponsor for the show, but unfortunately that only allows for 2 passes – the rest of the attendees would have to pay their own way.

We’d LOVE to make this an absolutely huge meet, but wanted to make sure that everyone knows what we’re really talking about here.

So a question to the group – are we in?  If we’re going to do this, the admin/mod team is prepared to do whatever necessary to make it a great show.  If for whatever reason we do not attend this show, we will be more than happy to return donations that have already been made… just say the word.

Feedback is more than welcome…