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New update from Andrew ‘Agro’ Ross about AMVIV7, happening March 25th – 28th, 2010. In case you missed it, we actually talked to Agro during Woof 308 so you can go back and listen if you haven’t already.

Hi everyone. It’s been a while I know, but I finally have some AMVIV news for you.

We have signed a hotel contract! We’re moving away from Palace Station this year, to another property in the Station Casinos family. We’re going to Aliante Station which is a brand new, absolutely beautiful hotel casino. The hotel part is a bit smaller than Palace, and we will have the entire hotel blocked out for our attendees. Yes, if you see someone in the hotel elevator, they will be another AMVIV attendee.

The parking garage is nicer than Palace’s in several ways.

1st, it’s quite a bit bigger so we can have the Boot N Bonnet show all on the top floor and actually have space to park well over 100 attendee MINIs up there at the same time.

2nd, it has power more easily available than at Palace, so more vendors will be able to have power at their booths.

3rd, it has proper drainage so the detailer can be on the top floor without worrying about getting other cars wet.

4th (and best in my opinion) the ramp up to the 6th floor is a straight shot, so no more driving in circles through the garage to get up top! This also means that vendors with large trailers will be able to get them up the ramp and have them actually at the BNB instead of 6 floors below.

5th, 2 sets of elevators.

6th, a sound system we will be able to tap into for announcements.

The rooms at Aliante are gorgeous with all the amenities you’d expect from a new resort property in Las Vegas. And to sweeten the deal, the rate is lower than you paid last year at Palace. Rooms are $99 per night plus taxes. You can book a room by phone at 1-877-477-SOAR (7627) and use group code S03MINI or book online with this link. The hotel only has 200 rooms, so you if you want to make sure you’re staying at the “home hotel”, you might want to go ahead and book early.

AMVIV 7 dates are March 25th-28th, 2010 and the group rates are good from March 20th to March 31st so you can make a real vacation of it if you want to.

We haven’t decided yet if we are going to have a banquet dinner this year. The results of the survey many of you completed were inconclusive as to whether we should do it or not, however the prices we have from Aliante for food look like if we DO have a banquet this year, tickets will probably run around $36 or $37 a head, which is 1-2 dollars less than last year in a much nicer room.

If you have strong feelings that we SHOULD have a banquet this year, please email me and let me know. The low attendance last year meant that the SCMC wound up paying for the banquet room and actually lost money on the entire event, so we are only going to have the banquet if we are reasonably sure of at least 500 tickets sold. If the banquet doesn’t happen, the prizes will be given away at the Boot N Bonnet Show or possibly at some other sub-event.

The other thing I need include here is this:

Do you want to get a free room at AMVIV7? How about a free shirt in the special “event staff” color?

Well here’s your chance! Once again we are asking the MINI community to help us out with the designs for the AMVIV shirt, hat and book cover. The person who submits the winning design will receive 2 nights free at Aliante Station during AMVIV7 (March 2010), a shirt with your design printed on it in the staff shirt color and worldwide recognition as the designer of the 2010 AMVIV shirt, hat and book cover. Your shirt back design can include your signature or (small) company logo if you would like to promote yourself or your business.

This year’s theme will be “Lucky number 7” and we’ve been throwing around ideas like dice with MINIs for the spots, slot machines, cards and such. The designs will have to work on the regular color shirts (red this year) and on the staff shirts (yellow) but otherwise, it’s up to you.

If you are interested in this, please email me at AMVIVcontest@gmail.com for specs and requirements and such. If you want to see what past designs look like, head over to see the past winners!

That’s all I have for now. Keep an eye on your inbox for more updates. And make sure you let your favorite MINI vendors know that you want to see them at AMVIV. The more they know that people want to see them here, the more likely they are to attend.

See you in March,

Andrew Ross aka Agro