AngelsWin.com Spring Fanfest Reflections #AWFanfest13

[Chuck]

I will provide some stories and much more reflections, along with some pictures by Monday night guys and gals, but for those of you who went, please share our experiences in this thread. Your highlights of our fanfest event, your pictures, your stories.

I hired Jeremy Long to take pictures of not just the Angels in the camera well the past few days, but also our Fanfest event and Tim Mead Dugout Talk this morning. He took nearly a 1000 pictures and I will go through them when I get them and post my favorites in the photo gallery here and on the Blog.

First off the Friday night dinner at the Tilted Kilt of about 40 of us was a great time and ice breaker. Pics coming soon!

Tim Mead, Jerry Dipoto and Tim Salmon all said it was great, as did Jeff Fletcher, Alden Gonzalez, Victor Rojas, Joe McDonnell ... Joe McDonnell came up to me and said he'd love to do it again.

From everyone on the board of directors, I can say with certainty that this was an event to be remembered and was the best one to date. This coming after our event last year which featured Arte Moreno who spoke for 45 minutes, along with several other players and prospects. We said after that night, there was no way to top it. We did.

Speaking of Arte, he could not make it because his sister passed away and the memorial service was on March 16th, the day of our event. We purchased 5-6 condolences cards and had the 200 in attendance sign it for Arte, which we hand delivered to him today at the ballpark.

The Tim Salmon session was FANTASTIC. Just wait to you see the video and hear our questions which I thought were very good and his insightful answers. The questions from the crowd were equally as good. That session with Tim went about 45 minutes, maybe 50. I interviewed Salmon.

We then had a roundtable session with the media on the stage, with Saltzer at the podium. David Saltzer asked about 6 really good questions -- passing around the microphone -- to Joe McDonnell, Jeff Fletcher, Alden Gonzalez and Victor Rojas. The answers were insightful, filled with many stories you'd never hear anywhere and there was a lot of humor in them as well. Victor was awesome! Joe McDonnell, Fletcher and A. Gonzalez said they thought our questions were very good ones. This session went about 35-45 minutes. Was very good! Unfortunately Mike DiGiovanna couldn't make it as he's recovering from surgery and had to stay back in LA.

Jerry Dipoto. What can I say. Jerry and Tim sat at our table for about 10-15 minutes as dinner was served, then Jerry went to the stage after our MC for the night (Bruce Nye) called him and our interviewer Geoff Stoddart up. While Dipoto was at the podium, Stoddart was to his left (same format as with Salmon) and asked 7-8 really good questions -- then like our session with Tim Salmon, went out to the crowd with the mic so that the fans could ask Jerry questions as well. The questions were very good, and as always, Dipoto's answers were insightful, rich. Just an outstanding segment. Jerry could have talked all night. When that segment was done, Jerry went back to our table, had some cake as Brian Ilten entered the stage and ran the raffle segment of the night, which concluded our event. What a good time as more than $800 in stuff was given away. Big thanks to Kyle Morrissey for donated a sign custom painting he did of Mark Trumbo. Big thanks to the OC Sports Grill who donated $400 in prizes and the Angels who gave us four boxes of Peter Bourjos bobbleheads to give away.

Travis Witherspoon, Randal Grichuk, Kole Calhoun (and his wife), Matt Oye and Mike Piazza (and his family) attended as well. They all enjoyed themselves very much. They loved interacting with the fans, signing and taking pictures with them. I love Witherspoon after getting to know him more. He is a mature kid with a big heart who happens to be extremely talented and athletic. I will share more about him later.

Tim Mead's Dugout Talk was nothing short of Outstanding. Again, insightful and the Q&A session with the fans was fantastic! We will have the video of it in the next week or two.

It was great to see the Hamiltown sign up when Josh came to the plate and see Claude get it signed by Josh Hamilton himself. Oh and our AngelsWin Sign went up during the game as well. We have pictures of that to provide later.

David Saltzer was interviewed by AM 830's Jason Brennan for about 10 minutes on the air, as they talked about our Fanfest event on Saturday and AngelsWin.com. It was great -- we should be getting the audio of that.

Guys, simply put. I have not had much to post on here over the weekend because we've been busy, plus as Bruce, David, Geoff, Brian and Eric will tell you, this event was so professional - entertaining - insightful and fun, that we're still digesting it all. There's a buzz about the air and smiles on all of our faces because of how well this turned out for the fans in attendance. To see people get emotional, meet their favorite players, Mr. Angel, hear stories and answers you'd never hear elsewhere, well, it just left a smile on my face all night and throughout today. Tim Mead and Jerry Dipoto were heard leaving the event that they had a lot of fun and how impressed they were with our event dinner. They stayed 45 min after it was over talking to people, taking pictures with the fans, sharing more stories and giving more answers to questions.

I have to hit the sack because of an early flight back home. I'm exhausted, but the good kind of exhausted.

Thank you to all who helped us make this happen. I also want to thank Nick Mancini, Brian Ilten's kids (Christian and Jonathan) and Eric Notti's wife for helping us all out. Everyone that had a role in making this event an awesome one, did an amazing job and went above and beyond their call of duty.

Much More later.... The video interviews, the pictures and more stories to share. Again, please add yours in this thread or leave a comment in general about our Fanfest Weekend.

[OregonLAA]

Can't wait to see everything. I tried as hard as I could to attend especially after I heard Salmon would be there, but I couldn't make it. I'm very happy with some if the success this site has seen. I know I'll make it to one if these one year. I'll just assume you're going to top it every year so the longer I wait, the better it will be. Congrats on the event, guys

[Chuck]

Here's some pictures taken from my mobile phone, though there's still a ton more to post, including some high quality pictures that Jeremy Long took on Saturday and Sunday.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bruce Nye]

I didn't believe it was possible to exceed last year's dinner party, but this year greatly exceeded our expectations.  When you throw a party and the guests don't want to leave you have a damn good indication that it was successful.  Our keynote speaker, Jerry Dipoto hung around for photographs and autographs and spoke to anymore wishing a few moments.  Tim Mead told us Jerry could have gone on for two hours.  He eats and breathes baseball and obviouly loves what he is doing.  He's a passionate, articulate and entertaining man. 

 

Tim and Jerry both commented that when they walked into the ballroom how shocked they were.  Tim remembers when the evnt had 20 people at Hail Mary's.  Jerry was taken aback at the elegance and professional appearance.  The tables were decorated in red with dazzling red and white centerpieces.  Jerry told me he had no idea of the size of this event and the spirit of thise attending.  I surprised him also when Cassy came forward to collect her raffle win.  I said to Jerry, "She lives in Minnesota and travels to all of our events."  "What?' Jerry said.  I told him we have members from all over the US and a few other countries.  Needless to say, he was impressed.

 

I wasn't sure how the media/press guys would welcome the roundtable discussion.  It was a smashing success.  Victor was a ball of enthusiasm as were all the guys.  Afterward Alden Gonzalez and Victor were buying drinks and having a terrific time.

 

Tim Salmon was simple awesome.  He is now a polished speaker.  He's funny and informative.  What an opening act!

 

All told this event was terrific.  We crushed it!

 

After the event, some of us were over-served and felt the effects the next morning, which came waaaayyy too early.  I did a rough count of the folks at Tim's Dugout Talk and there were clearly more than 100 people in attendance.  As usual Tim killed it - great questions by everyone.

 

Now to start planning for next year.  ~sigh

[fureousangel]

For whatever reason, I have not been able to make it yet.  However, this year I followed Angels Family via twitter and it looked absolutely awesome.  I WILL be at the Big A for the mid year as well as next year's. 

 

It looked great and I enjoyed being able to participate from everyone's post. 

 

You all rock.

[Blarg]

Dangit, did I miss this again? I gotta stay away from Irish Car Bombs.

[Crampknees]

I like the pic of you three with the beers.  Full, half and empty.  Bruce handles a draft beer the way I do.  Can't wait for it to get warm.

[beckybrownbear1]

This was seriously one of the most awesome nights I've experienced in my life!!! Perfect treat for a spring training vacation. Tim Salmon? I died. His talk was amazing and he was so kind to answer all the fans questions. Jerry Dipoto? What a stand up guy. I died again. Not only was his talk and Q & A session so amazing, but so was Jeff Fletcher, Alden Gonzalez, Victor Rojas, and Joe McDonnell's Q & A session. Meeting Kole Calhoun, Travis Witherspoon, Mike Piazza, and Randall Grichuk?! I kept dying throughout the night. And then again in the morning with Tim Mead's dugout talk. What an amazing man to offer such reflection, insight, and advice to us fans. Here are some of my pictures of just a FEW of the thousands of highlights from this event, and my favorite of course was meeting the tons of AWESOME AngelsWin folks in real life : )

 

[katie]

This is always the weekend I look forward to all year, and after missing it last year I swore I'd never go with my Padres friends again! It was an amazing weekend as always. And in case anyone is wondering, Hail Marys is now called Mary's place and they're not open Saturdays, even when there's a UFC fight.

[katie]

 

[Slegnaac]

First, a Huge Thank You to all the BOD members for putting together THE Event of the Century!

(I don't think it is too soon to call this one!)

Starting Off with the Un-Official Friday Night Dinner, MIKE TROUT!

Very cool to meet people and have some fun.

 

Saturday starting with King Fish was just excellent.  Tim was so good, I am looking forward to seeing the video that was shot.

His comment about not including any pitchers in his list I thought was pretty funny.

 

The Media round table was just as good in its own way.  I really enjoy Victor's answer to the question about the Unofficial Rule of no cheering in the pressbox.  I could feel the emotions when he recounted the Night Weaver threw the No-No. 

 

JeDi, what can you say.  The Angels are very, very fortunate to have someone with such desire, passion and ability leading the way.  I think we all could have listened for a couple more hours.

 

And Finally the Sunday Sermon with Tim Mead.  PERSEVERANCE! 

Dedication and not giving up on your dream, turned into 34 years at a job he loves.

 

I have no idea how they are going to top this one next year.

If you didn't make it this year, I don't think you want to take the chance and miss the next one!

[AzHaloFan]

^{This was my second ST FanFest and frankly, March is my "Christmas Season" if you will. Seeing all the Halos and all the red litterally makes me a 6 year old on Christmas morning. My biggest take aways from the weekend are....}

 

^{How cool was it that Brian, Geoff, and Chuck ALL said to me "Dude, you missed half of Salmon". They all know he is my guy and I did virtual cartwheels when I found out he WAS going to be there THIS year. I'll thank the In Law for my late arrival on that one. I'll get my photo op with TS some day.}

 

^{Getting a chance to call Dipoto "JeDi" face to face, was a moment I will never forget! I have to admit, I was hoping for a better story in response to my question but no biggie.}

 

^{I got a chance to meet a few people I have tweeted with/followed/seen here such as Jeremy (Jbomb), John (Champions 2002?), Tracey Flynn, Chuck, Geoff, Brian, Nye. I realized I ALMOST met a few others, after the fact, like Becky Brown bear and her boyfriend amongst many others.}

 

^{Perhaps the biggest take away was something that Tim Mead said...he  really emphasized all of us really trying to "connect" with one another. I "know" only a handful of people here on the site AND live in AZ. Many of us are away from our second home, aka Angels Satadium, aka, Anaheim Stadium and don't have any other way of connecting, than here on AW. I would really enjoy, making 2013 a year where, especially with the new "bigger boat"/website,  we can all do a little bit more "connecting". Having us all know each other a little better would make next years event that much more spectacular.}

 

^{Having replica World Series rings on our fingers would be pretty sweet too.}

[Chuck]

I didn't believe it was possible to exceed last year's dinner party, but this year greatly exceeded our expectations.  When you throw a party and the guests don't want to leave you have a damn good indication that it was successful.  Our keynote speaker, Jerry Dipoto hung around for photographs and autographs and spoke to anymore wishing a few moments.  Tim Mead told us Jerry could have gone on for two hours.  He eats and breathes baseball and obviouly loves what he is doing.  He's a passionate, articulate and entertaining man. 

 

Tim and Jerry both commented that when they walked into the ballroom how shocked they were.  Tim remembers when the evnt had 20 people at Hail Mary's.  Jerry was taken aback at the elegance and professional appearance.  The tables were decorated in red with dazzling red and white centerpieces.  Jerry told me he had no idea of the size of this event and the spirit of thise attending.  I surprised him also when Cassy came forward to collect her raffle win.  I said to Jerry, "She lives in Minnesota and travels to all of our events."  "What?' Jerry said.  I told him we have members from all over the US and a few other countries.  Needless to say, he was impressed.

 

I wasn't sure how the media/press guys would welcome the roundtable discussion.  It was a smashing success.  Victor was a ball of enthusiasm as were all the guys.  Afterward Alden Gonzalez and Victor were buying drinks and having a terrific time.

 

Tim Salmon was simple awesome.  He is now a polished speaker.  He's funny and informative.  What an opening act!

 

All told this event was terrific.  We crushed it!

 

After the event, some of us were over-served and felt the effects the next morning, which came waaaayyy too early.  I did a rough count of the folks at Tim's Dugout Talk and there were clearly more than 100 people in attendance.  As usual Tim killed it - great questions by everyone.

 

Now to start planning for next year.  ~sigh

 

 

Nice recap, Bruce! 

[Slegnaac]

_{Additional Cool Moments....}

_{Getting to have dinner with JD and his wife, and hear stories about owning a Minor League Team}

_{Meeting and talking with future pitchers Matt Oye and Mike Piazza}  

[Chuck]

First, a Huge Thank You to all the BOD members for putting together THE Event of the Century!

(I don't think it is too soon to call this one!)

Starting Off with the Un-Official Friday Night Dinner, MIKE TROUT!

Very cool to meet people and have some fun.

 

Saturday starting with King Fish was just excellent.  Tim was so good, I am looking forward to seeing the video that was shot.

His comment about not including any pitchers in his list I thought was pretty funny.

 

The Media round table was just as good in its own way.  I really enjoy Victor's answer to the question about the Unofficial Rule of no cheering in the pressbox.  I could feel the emotions when he recounted the Night Weaver threw the No-No. 

 

JeDi, what can you say.  The Angels are very, very fortunate to have someone with such desire, passion and ability leading the way.  I think we all could have listened for a couple more hours.

 

And Finally the Sunday Sermon with Tim Mead.  PERSEVERANCE! 

Dedication and not giving up on your dream, turned into 34 years at a job he loves.

 

I have no idea how they are going to top this one next year.

If you didn't make it this year, I don't think you want to take the chance and miss the next one!

 

Nice recap, Sleg. It was good seeing you again. It had been I believe 5 or 6 years since the last time we saw each other. We've expanded a bit huh?

[Chuck]

This was seriously one of the most awesome nights I've experienced in my life!!! Perfect treat for a spring training vacation. Tim Salmon? I died. His talk was amazing and he was so kind to answer all the fans questions. Jerry Dipoto? What a stand up guy. I died again. Not only was his talk and Q & A session so amazing, but so was Jeff Fletcher, Alden Gonzalez, Victor Rojas, and Joe McDonnell's Q & A session. Meeting Kole Calhoun, Travis Witherspoon, Mike Piazza, and Randall Grichuk?! I kept dying throughout the night. And then again in the morning with Tim Mead's dugout talk. What an amazing man to offer such reflection, insight, and advice to us fans. Here are some of my pictures of just a FEW of the thousands of highlights from this event, and my favorite of course was meeting the tons of AWESOME AngelsWin folks in real life : )

 

 

So happy you and Glen enjoyed this Becky! The feedback I've received is quite similar to yours. It really makes us feel good to hear these comments as we put in a lot of time, money, blood, sweat and tears into this event. The result was an outstanding weekend for you the fans, by the fans. 

 

Great pictures. I've featured a few of them so they will become part of the mosaic slideshow on the gallery page. 

[Chuck]

 

Nice pics, Katie. Good to see you again and meet your boyfriend Nick. Seems like a great guy in talking to him briefly.

[Chuck]

For whatever reason, I have not been able to make it yet.  However, this year I followed Angels Family via twitter and it looked absolutely awesome.  I WILL be at the Big A for the mid year as well as next year's. 

 

It looked great and I enjoyed being able to participate from everyone's post. 

 

You all rock.

 

Fureousangel, I know why you couldn't make it. Congratulations on your impending marriage bud. You'll make one of these. 

 

We're looking to ramp up our efforts for an AngelsWin.com Opening Day event (home opener) and our Summer Fanfest in the next week. 

[Chuck]

^{This was my second ST FanFest and frankly, March is my "Christmas Season" if you will. Seeing all the Halos and all the red litterally makes me a 6 year old on Christmas morning. My biggest take aways from the weekend are....}

 

^{How cool was it that Brian, Geoff, and Chuck ALL said to me "Dude, you missed half of Salmon". They all know he is my guy and I did virtual cartwheels when I found out he WAS going to be there THIS year. I'll thank the In Law for my late arrival on that one. I'll get my photo op with TS some day.}

 

^{Getting a chance to call Dipoto "JeDi" face to face, was a moment I will never forget! I have to admit, I was hoping for a better story in response to my question but no biggie.}

 

^{I got a chance to meet a few people I have tweeted with/followed/seen here such as Jeremy (Jbomb), John (Champions 2002?), Tracey Flynn, Chuck, Geoff, Brian, Nye. I realized I ALMOST met a few others, after the fact, like Becky Brown bear and her boyfriend amongst many others.}

 

^{Perhaps the biggest take away was something that Tim Mead said...he  really emphasized all of us really trying to "connect" with one another. I "know" only a handful of people here on the site AND live in AZ. Many of us are away from our second home, aka Angels Satadium, aka, Anaheim Stadium and don't have any other way of connecting, than here on AW. I would really enjoy, making 2013 a year where, especially with the new "bigger boat"/website,  we can all do a little bit more "connecting". Having us all know each other a little better would make next years event that much more spectacular.}

 

^{Having replica World Series rings on our fingers would be pretty sweet too.}

 

Good stuff AZ. Was glad to have finally met you. Wish we could have spent more time talking, but there will be another time.

 

We should be posting the Tim Salmon video interview tonight so you can check out the session with Salmon that you missed. 

[GuliblGuy]

Such a great time as always, thanks to the BOD for taking the time to organize the event.

 

My in-laws decided to tag along, and they aren't even Angel fans per se, but had such a great time they are already talking about next year!

 

Amazing to hear from my favorite angel Tim Salmon, and the roundtable was great, and JeDi was amazing...can't wait for next year!

[Chuck]

Such a great time as always, thanks to the BOD for taking the time to organize the event.

 

My in-laws decided to tag along, and they aren't even Angel fans per se, but had such a great time they are already talking about next year!

 

Amazing to hear from my favorite angel Tim Salmon, and the roundtable was great, and JeDi was amazing...can't wait for next year!

 

Thanks for posting, Justin! That says something when non-Angels fans enjoyed our venue. It was a pleasure to meet your family on Friday night. 

[comber16]

Great event, fellas. Congratulations on such success! All your hard work paid off and we all reaped the benefits.

 

Lots of great questions were answered honestly and candidly. The media round table was great. I loved their stories. Fish was perfect, as always. His answer to my steroid question was so enlightening and real. Rather than wonder how much better his career could have been if he took them, he wondered how much better he would have been if his opponents weren't using them.

 

DiPoto is just a magnetic, diplomatic and brilliant human being. His answers are always safe and politically correct, yet somehow eye-opening.

 

The young players were as gracious, patient and polite as Arte would expect. Each of them were a clear reflection of the outstanding organization that they represent.

 

Condolences to Arte. He was missed, but all was great without him.

 

It was just a great room and I was proud to be in it. Can't wait for #AWFanfest14! Go Halos!

[Give em Halo]

Chuck & Co... you guys oudid yourselves this time!  Very professionally done -- good venue, staff was on point, terrific guest speakers and so on.  I especially enjoyed just hanging out with so many old friends and other passionate fellow Angels fans.  This event just keeps on getting bigger and bigger, better and better.  But I have to say that it does feel as though we may have hit critical mass in terms of turnout.  Would much rather see AW focus now on refining future events while maintaining a workable scale.  This is not a criticism but an observation -- you know me, Chuck -- pull no punches guy, but in a (mostly) constructive kind of way.  

 

One thing I'd look at is the seemingly ubiquitous failure of hotel/banquet hall people to get the food service planned and executed right.  Even though Eric and staff did an admirable job planning this event, the hotel service do need some micro-managing in order to be sure you get what you want from them.  I see the same deficiencies at almost every event I attend.  Things like what to put on the table (and when), two baskets of chips/ bread instead of one per table -- little stuff like that.  Maybe expanded food options for vegetarians, food allergies and so on.  I know you can't always please everyone, but these are details worth considering.  I believe that whatever the cost differential, your AW faithful will be happier for the level of detail. 

 

Another item to consider: I would have encouraged people to send their interview questions in to you in advance of the event, instead of calling people up and taking your chances -- so as to help avoid momentum killers like troutgasms and technical issues like wireless mics vs wlans, etc.  Just thinking about smoothing out the flow of the evening.

 

One last item: Kicking up the raffle with "free advertising" swag from companies with something to gain from the exposure.  MLB licensed gear, sunglasses, restaurants/pub gift cards (TK?), donated game tickets, clothing and so on -- all present some opportunities for businesses large and small to get front and center with our crowd at a very low entry cost.  And our attendees win by giving them a greater chance to win something.  Just another reason to get excited about ST Fan Fest!

 

Again, I enjoy our annual pilgrimage to Tempe and am already looking forward to the next one.  Thank you Chuck and everyone who helped make this event the barn-burner that it was!  Your entire staff honor us all with their dedication and determination to ever exceed themselves.  I, in true Scioscian fashion, tip my cap to you! 

 

Give em Halo!

[Chuck]

Chuck & Co... you guys oudid yourselves this time!  Very professionally done -- good venue, staff was on point, terrific guest speakers and so on.  I especially enjoyed just hanging out with so many old friends and other passionate fellow Angels fans.  This event just keeps on getting bigger and bigger, better and better.  But I have to say that it does feel as though we may have hit critical mass in terms of turnout.  Would much rather see AW focus now on refining future events while maintaining a workable scale.  This is not a criticism but an observation -- you know me, Chuck -- pull no punches guy, but in a (mostly) constructive kind of way.  

 

One thing I'd look at is the seemingly ubiquitous failure of hotel/banquet hall people to get the food service planned and executed right.  Even though Eric and staff did an admirable job planning this event, the hotel service do need some micro-managing in order to be sure you get what you want from them.  I see the same deficiencies at almost every event I attend.  Things like what to put on the table (and when), two baskets of chips/ bread instead of one per table -- little stuff like that.  Maybe expanded food options for vegetarians, food allergies and so on.  I know you can't always please everyone, but these are details worth considering.  I believe that whatever the cost differential, your AW faithful will be happier for the level of detail. 

 

Another item to consider: I would have encouraged people to send their interview questions in to you in advance of the event, instead of calling people up and taking your chances -- so as to help avoid momentum killers like troutgasms and technical issues like wireless mics vs wlans, etc.  Just thinking about smoothing out the flow of the evening.

 

One last item: Kicking up the raffle with "free advertising" swag from companies with something to gain from the exposure.  MLB licensed gear, sunglasses, restaurants/pub gift cards (TK?), donated game tickets, clothing and so on -- all present some opportunities for businesses large and small to get front and center with our crowd at a very low entry cost.  And our attendees win by giving them a greater chance to win something.  Just another reason to get excited about ST Fan Fest!

 

Again, I enjoy our annual pilgrimage to Tempe and am already looking forward to the next one.  Thank you Chuck and everyone who helped make this event the barn-burner that it was!  Your entire staff honor us all with their dedication and determination to ever exceed themselves.  I, in true Scioscian fashion, tip my cap to you! 

 

Give em Halo!

 

Matt, funny... as much as we enjoyed ourselves, the speakers, the entire venue, we talked about how we can improve it even more for next year. Some of your suggestions were discussed. We're sending out a mass email to everyone who attended for all to fill out a survey on the event. 

 

Thank you for the feedback and kind compliments! 

[Spirit]

My mind is still blurry from over 32 hours of windshield time.  But, I made it back home safe and can't wait to start processing what happened this past weekend. Wow!  What a time!  So proud of our team!  So proud of our members!  So proud of our website!  It seriously came together exactly how we mapped it out.  Exactly!  Yet, less than 2 hours after it was over the team got together, talked about how it could have been better and started planning for next year!  All I can say is, you're all in for a blowout event next year!

 

Thank you all for making this weekend and the event so special.  I'm sorry I didn't get to spend more time hanging out with everyone.  That is absolutely something we'll correct next year!