Making Sausage
Like most things, people enjoy the end product, but don’t want to know how it’s made. Sausage is just one. The entire Taco Time menu is another. Still, people want to know more about our organization and so we’ll dive in a little deeper to explain how this whole thing works and give credit to those who make it work.
There are two sides to E@RTC. There is the public facing side, that’s largely managed by Jason Bourriague, and then there is the business side managed by me. Every week, we check in with each other and I start writing the blog in anticipation of weather while Jason B plans for the event that week. He puts up the roster then assigns people to rows and stations, while I answer 85% of the email, deal with business matters, and do all the writing and management of our blog and website. Jason B manages the volunteer page on Facebook where they decide who’s doing what that coming Saturday.
The blog begins the weekend before the event with some notes abut what to cover, given to me after that Saturday’s event. I start writing it over time and it’s usually done on a Tuesday and posted for release on a Thursday at 3:00 PM. The reason we don’t just release it is in case there is a weather change. The most up to date weather forecast comes out at about 2:30 PM from NOAA.
Once in a while, I’ll pre-write that we’re off or on, then on Thursday have to scramble to rewrite the blog for a 3:00 PM release followed by the post on Facebook. I sweat those days. I make the weather call based on all the local forecasts we can find, including checking with Weather Underground, NOAA, weather.com, KOMO, KING, KCPQ, KIRO before we make our weather call. Sometimes we discuss it as a group, but it’s mostly straightforward. Sometimes they get it wrong. We don’t use a weather rock, or anyone’s bunions as widely believed. And, as far as I know, none of us have our heads up our own ass.
Jason B gets assistance from some of the other volunteers who help with matters such as radios, shirts, etc., and any incidentals while I interface with Sean who works the front gate. Just keeping the radios charged is a big deal.
Sean McDonough has most of the say of what does and doesn’t get in, and helps us update our criteria. We have lots of debates about what should and shouldn’t make the cut. The point is, we consider a lot of things.
The majority of email is straightforward and easy to answer on my own, but on gray areas about criteria, I always forward that to Sean for an opinion. Sean has double duty, not just managing what gets in, but also helps me clarify what should and shouldn’t make the cut on a car-by-car basis.
Spencer Leamer helps with criteria email when we have an overflow. We get a lot of email at times and we try our best to timely answer all of it. I manage the arguments. We answer everything, even the rants. I love it when they say they will report me.
Meanwhile, Jason B is working on what our volunteers need, including bringing in and managing new volunteers. He’s also our residential cheerleader. We once had someone in the role as “day of event manager,” but Jason B’s role is much bigger than just that. He and I interface on bigger picture items and Sean and I interface multiple times a week on criteria matters.
We had 36 volunteers this season in total, and so Jason B’s work is not easy. It would be a challenge running without him. I don’t want to minimize the contribution from the other volunteers who do a lot and I’ll write more about them in the coming days. This blog is to give you an overview without numbing you up like you’re about to have lip surgery.
On the business side, I handle all of the interface work with Fairbourne Properties, mall security outside of day of event, and RTC Management. I also get notes from the other volunteers about topics to cover in upcoming posts. I’ve been running the back end of E@RTC continuously since before we began in 2009 and started working up the concept of E@RTC. I rely heavily on what our volunteers tell me and what we should cover, but I also coordinate that with Jason B. I’ve never left this role in spite of what some previously assumed. I’ve been in the background all along.
I personally cover our financial incidentals and Fairbourne started covering some of our larger expenses. I make sure we don’t run out of money and shore up what we need from time to time. It’s not a huge amount and we keep things simple.
Amanda Rosbrook manages our Instagram page while I manage Facebook. She’s also a good eyes and ears about what’s happening.
People ask about Vic Tiscareno’s role as a co-founder with me. Vic has been our show ambassador from the beginning, and a familiar face at the event. He’s never been all that involved in operations since we began, however he plays an important role on Saturdays and is one of the best people to meet at E@RTC.
He’s also been one of the most active contributors to E@RTC stuff on his own Facebook page since we began. He’s also good at welcoming new people into the event and he’s been great eyes and ears for those of us working the back end. He’s also the closest thing we have to a historian.
Andre Cunningham, also an old timer manages the text messages and gets that out every week. Andre also plays a role as ambassador having been with us for so long. Andre is definitely OG! You often see Andre and Vic together with so many who are regulars. They know everyone!
John Rodrigues helps me with overflow mail, criteria, and has amazing car knowledge along with Sean. Our other volunteers also have considerable car knowledge and between them, there isn’t much that gets by us.
David and Lincoln Prevedel, a father/son team drive a long way as volunteers and they have become a big part of our backbone over the years and have become the more familiar faces along with the others.
Jason Tang does a lot of our photography and has from the day we started. It’s only been in recent years that he’s joined the Thugs. Much of the photography you see posted comes from Jason T. We also get some from Squarespace itself who’s own stock images also come from E@RTC! This is amazing!
We cover our history on the Q&A page, so you can read more there. I don’t sign my name because, well, what’s the fun in that?
Oh, I do write about automotive and business on Quora and I’m at about 2.2 million “views” a month but that’s hard to sustain because sometimes there are no great questions to answer. Sort of like an old girlfriend. Many from here come on Quora and join the conversation or just say hello. I’m also on Substack and of course there is my personal website, which isn’t so personal now that I think about it.
In my next blog post, I’m going to go through the stats and how we think about our numbers. As always, thanks for being a part of E@RTC!