Infinite Pursuit Banquet 2027

The address on the graphics is RohrBanquet.com (www.rohrbanquet.com works too). It forwards to banyansmart.com/banquet, a page on the academy site.

As of November 13: that page still shows the January 17, 2026 banquet, last year's hotel code, and no sign-up form. Ben Hannah is planning this year's page (asked November 11). Send the "Register now" graphics and the registration email only once it shows the 2027 details.

Sign-ups post to the #automatic-updates Slack channel twice a day once the form is live. Guests who have trouble registering text Melissa.

• Saturday, January 16, 2027, Wind Creek Chicago Southland, 17300 S. Halsted St., East Hazel Crest, IL 60429, with a map link to the venue (last year's link opened the casino parking lot in Homewood).
• Doors 5:45pm, dinner and awards 6:30pm, both marked Central time. Confirm the serve time with Wind Creek first; see the Overview.
• For Rohrman managers and a plus one. Attire was cocktail formal last year.
• The hotel room block: reservations number, booking code and the date the code expires. Get these from Veronica Kourtis by November 25. The form has always made people tick a box saying they book and pay for their own room.
• The plus-one question, and the contact for registration problems (Melissa last year).
• Fix the typo carried from last year's page: "70 out of a possible 1 00 points".
• Call it the Banquet, as the save the date does, and have a second person proofread the page before it goes out. Last year's page went out with a mistake nobody caught.

• January 2026, Wind Creek: the counter showed 360 to 363 the day before. The venue order was for 350 seats and food for 375. Whether the counter included guests is not clear; ask Ben before using it for name tags or programs.
• January 2025, Blue Chip: 355 registered (215 employees and 140 guests), about 330 came.
• How fast people sign up: in 2025 the form went live about December 10 to 15; 52 on December 15, 128 the next day, about 360 by January 15. The year before, roughly a hundred people registered in the last two weeks.
• Contest winners have to be chased. On December 31, 2024, 33 of 37 had registered, and only after a special reach-out.
• Hotel codes used before: RA124G (January 2024) and RA118G (January 2025) at Blue Chip; ROH0126 at Wind Creek for January 2026, which expired December 23.

Headcount and medal counts are also under Notes and Feedback.

Save the date: Infinite Pursuit Banquet, January 16, 2027

Save the date! The Rohrman Infinite Pursuit Banquet is Saturday, January 16, 2027, at Wind Creek Chicago Southland. Join us for dinner, awards and a night celebrating everything we accomplished together in 2026. This event is for Rohrman managers and a plus one. Hotel and registration details are coming soon. For now, please mark your calendar.

Save the date! The Rohrman Infinite Pursuit Banquet is Saturday, January 16, 2027, at Wind Creek Chicago Southland. Dinner and awards for Rohrman managers and a plus one. Registration details coming soon.

Both files are copies of last year's, in the Jan 2027 folder in Dropbox. To add a note or another file, choose Edit this page and type or paste its Dropbox link here.

From Ryan Rohrman, passed on by Rick

• Wine at the tables, a beer bar, and a separate liquor bar.
• Move the food lines to the lobby so the tables can spread out.
• The buffet ran low at times.
• Make the night 30 minutes shorter.
• Drop the spouse role in presenting.
• Decide when people are only named and when they come up on stage.
• Limit the smaller awards, such as the tire awards.

From Dustin

• Close the bar inside the room during the show.
• Have the full run of show a few more days ahead.
• Review every award. The Catalyst for Scott Lahrman was missed.
• Tell presenters ahead of time. Luke Rohrman did not know he was presenting.
• Work with presenters on engaging the room.
• Plan the timing for awards that have many winners.
• Do the click-by-click slide run-through the day before, not on the day.

• The Halsted Ballroom, with the cocktail reception in the area outside it.
• A stage, 16 x 24 ft, with rails and steps. The venue has no permanent stage.
• Podium, microphone, speaker, an HDMI cable for a laptop, three projectors and three screens.
• 35 round tables of 10, white floor-length tablecloths, black napkins and six reserved-table signs.
• Two coat attendants, 10 or 11 tall cocktail tables, and two bars with four bartenders. No dance floor.

• Anyone bringing in equipment parks on the north side and enters by the employee entrance, Door 17. Security holds your driver's license and gives you a vendor badge. Call Iris Mathews from the security desk.
• Anyone wearing a vendor badge may not drink or gamble.
• There is a digital sign outside the ballroom. The venue needed the image by noon the day before.
• Melissa arrived the day before to test the laptop connection and check the layout.

• Load-in last year. Jon, Melissa, Ben Hannah and Skyler arrived Friday night. The trailer was unloaded about 9am Saturday. Wiring was taped down by late afternoon. Skyler's extra help came at noon.
• For hanging the banners. Eight rods, twine and string, the banner stands (Skyler) and the banner skin (Rick). Printing came up on Saturday with Tammy.
• Gear carried over. TV cases, Atem case, both Teradeks, Canon camcorders, camera bag, A7c, A7ii and A6400 cameras, two telephoto lenses, one wide lens, power for all cameras, SD cards, tripods, gold mount batteries and belt packs, cable bag, adapters, power bins.
• Gear added last year. XLR to 3.5mm adapters with ground lift, four 50 ft and four 100 ft network cables, an 8-way HDMI-over-network splitter with receivers, an 8-way HDMI splitter, four separate HDMI-over-network adapters, charged walkie talkies, and plenty of HDMI cables.

• Winners arrive late. Store banner winners came on January 11 in 2024 and January 13 in 2025. In 2026 the banner files are dated January 7 to 15, and Rick posted every winners list on Thursday, January 15, two days before the banquet. Have the artwork finished except for names, and agree a hard cut-off date with Rick.
• Check the die-cut on medal proofs. The 2025 Sales Associate medal from Wizard Pins came with a solid white area under the ribbon that was meant to be cut out.
• State sizes in writing. Store banners were ordered at 4 x 6 ft in 2024 instead of 4 x 8 ft. Fort Wayne Toyota needs 2.5 x 5 ft to fit its showroom.
• Factory holidays. Custom medals are made overseas. Lunar New Year is February 6, 2027, and factories slow down in the weeks before it. Maxwell could not add a second medal design on December 20, 2024.
• Keep one status list. Jon's January 2025 status sheet worked. It is saved in "4 Lists" and the original is the Google Sheet named "2025 Banquet".
• Do not email card numbers. Card details were sent to vendors in plain email in January 2024 and December 2024. I removed them from the copies in this kit. Maxwell's own invoice asks customers to phone card details in.
• Order name tag sleeves early. In January 2025 the name tags were printed, but the sleeves and holders arrived on the morning of the banquet.
• Chase contest winners to register. On December 31, 2024, 33 of 37 had signed up, and only after a special reach-out.
• Remind people of the time zone. In 2025 Rick asked for a reminder that times are Central, with driving distances from each region.
• Proofread the registration page. In December 2025 it went out with a mistake nobody caught.