When I decided to volunteer as City Captain seven weeks out, desperate to attend an NDEW event in Central Florida even if it meant doing a lot of work to make it happen, I had no idea what kind of amazing journey this would be. The connections I have made to people in the electric car community, as well as the sustainability community, that I would probably not have met otherwise, are connections I am so grateful to have. This one event will lead to many other events in which I'll participate as an EVangelist, including Earth Day. I'm so very psyched for what the future holds, but of course I have to survive the event itself on September 12 first!
Recall that my original plan was to "keep it small". After all, seven weeks is not a very long time to plan, and with zero budget and little chance of finding sponsorships with such a short lead time, just getting a bunch of EV drivers together for a few hours was going to be a huge accomplishment.
Well, the times have changed. We are now the second largest EVent in Florida, right behind Ft. Lauderdale, although if you consider that they are having TWO EVents, one on the 12th and one on the 19th, they are clearly the EV front-runners in the state.
The above list was sent out this morning by our state captain, Chris. It's already a little out of date, and we've picked up a few extra drivers and attendees over the course of the day.
To be honest, I wasn't sure we'd even get 50 people when this all began. There are many EVents around the country that have 50 registrants or fewer. With a full week to go before the big day, we will almost certainly pick up a few more folks between now and then.
We have had some press, with a short article appearing in the Bungalower and we've appeared in the Central Florida Top 5 calendar, and both Thron Crow (one of our most excellent volunteers) and I have done interviews with the Orlando Sentinel, so I expect an article to appear very soon.
Food donations have been a little disappointing, with only Dunkin' Donuts (one of our on-campus vendors) and Valencia's food services stepping up to donate snacks and bottles of water. However, the attendees do not seem to be deterred by this and we have not promised them anything that we cannot deliver.
One of the most exciting developments is our educational sessions. This has all come together at the last minute to produce a marvelous series of speakers in our air-conditioned lecture hall. This is also a great backup plan in case of inclement weather. Here's what we will have going on.
Schedule of Educational
Sessions
All Sessions Take
Place in Building 7, Room 114
1:15 “Introduction to Electric Cars” – Lisa
Macon
If you have never driven
an electric car and don’t really know why you’d want to, this is the
presentation for you! The highlights of electric car ownership will be
presented, from the different types of propulsion systems to the basics of
charging your electric vehicle.
2:00 “Alternative Fuels and Energies: Subject
Matter Expert” - Thron Crowe
This presentation will focus on
how EVs effect our environment and the EV’s role in the future of energy for
the home, business, disaster relief, etc.
2:45 “Why EV’s? I’m Glad You Asked!” - David
Dunn
Orlando’s Division
Manager will talk about the city’s electric fleet, philosophy changes,
disruptive technologies, sustainability, connectivity, and the role of electric
vehicles in Orlando’s future.
3:30 “Seminole State College – Sustainable
Energy/EV Project” – Jason Gaschel
Seminole State College Dean of
Engineering programs will discuss SSC’s related programs and the EV project.
4:15 “Driving on Sunshine” – Daniel Wehking
Electric Vehicle owner Daniel Wehking
recently started powering his cars with a 10,000w photovoltaic solar system on
the roof of his home. Come hear him speak about the process of adding
solar power to your home including a cost benefit analysis, ways to pay for it,
and an update on solar related state constitutional amendments.
There is something for everyone, and I think the biggest problem our participants will have is deciding whether to spend their time talking to the drivers about their vehicles, or watching the sessions. I expect most folks will choose to do a combination of the two.
We also have 15 different groups and vendors tabling at the event.
For the volunteers, I managed to procure these excellent shirts.
We also have 15 different groups and vendors tabling at the event.
For the volunteers, I managed to procure these excellent shirts.
(Yes, the model is me.) In hindsight, I wish I'd ordered 100 or so of these out of my pocket, because after posting a few photos in my various Facebook haunts, they appear to be in high demand. Live and learn, I suppose.
I have received this excellent city captain's kit and t-shirt. There's stuff in here you cannot even see, like signs and a large banner.
The Nissan Leaf sunglasses are kind of cool, but I find myself longing for Volt glasses. I'll think about how to make that happen when the dust settles from this endeavor.
We do have two car dealers attending - Reed Nissan, which is very appropriate as Nissan is the exclusive auto sponsor of NDEW - and Autonation Chevrolet West Colonial. I wish we had more but hopefully next year we can get out in front of the 8 ball a little bit better and have a more complete slate of salespeople available to show off their vehicles and answer questions.
I'll reflect on this whole experience after the fact - of that you can be sure. I am exhausted and overwhelmed but I think it's going to be awesome. The volunteers have been extremely helpful and everyone has been so incredibly supportive. I do hope that next year I will have a "partner in crime" or two who can shoulder a lot of the decisions. I'm not allergic to hard work as you know, but this is rough time of year for me to be running such a large show, what with the semester just starting out.
However, all in all, I'm thrilled that I took this on and I cannot wait to share some spectacular photos and stories of our day with you all on September 13!
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