Subject:
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Re: BrickFest registration fees (was: LEGO Adult Fan Convention at Legoland California?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.events, lugnet.events.brickfest
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Date:
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Sun, 10 Sep 2006 04:53:20 GMT
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Viewed:
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6101 times
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In lugnet.events, Marc Nelson Jr. wrote:
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You’re right - Christina/Joe/whoever could take the accumulated funds from BF
and write themselves a check for the full amount - totally legally. It would
be great if the profits were plowed into the next fest, but if someone wants
to cash out at any time, that would be their right. And that’s probably why
some people are uneasy about BF being run by a for profit enterprise.
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I can understand this, but at the end of the day there are benefits in both
models:
1. A for-profit has an economic incentive to continue developing positive,
fulfilling events.
2. A non-profit model had a higher chance of powering through rough times, where
a for-profit might look and the numbers and have to walk away.
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Obviously, people who work for non-profits get paid. But they can’t liquidate
the assets of the organization and pocket the money. There’s a board, and tax
requirements and so on. I think people would feel much more comfortable
handing over their time and money if BF were run as a non-profit, with open
books and a requirement to provide a public service instead of financial
gain.
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And if you look at the history of non-profits relative to success, there’s no
guarantee that all/most non-profits are successfully simple because of the way
the money is handled.
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Speaking as a potential attendee, I’m not terribly concerned about whether BF
is run for profit or not. If the benefits of seeing MOCs, hanging out with
other LEGO nerds, and getting a discount on stuff outweigh the cost of
registration, then great.
I can even see the good side of BF being run as an openly for-profit
enterprise. If there is money being made on BF, than I would feel comfortable
asking to be compensated for bringing MOCs for display. If
my MOCs are
helping to move the turnstiles (big pic - sorry), why should I pay the same
registration fees as someone who doesn’t bring anything to BF?
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Worthy discussion question.
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But speaking as a volunteer, there is no way I’m working for free (and paying
for the privilege) just to put money in someone’s pocket.
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Fair enough. That’s certainly your right to draw the line there. Personally, I
don’t tend to approach the conversation that way. I tend to approach it as what
I’m willing to do. I don’t beta test software based on whether it’s open source
or commercial, for instance. I volunteer to test because I have interest in
doing so.
Here’s the part that I like the best about this discussion though - the
community is to a point to even be having it. Think back 5 or 6 years ago... did
you imagine that there’d even be potential for any fan to be putting food on the
table from a full-time LEGO career?
Remember when Bricklink first launched and many people though of it as nothing
more than an easy way to exchange parts with friends? Who knew that it would
empower some to make real money on the parts exchange.
Did you ever think that there might be a possibility for a magazine about adult
fans to be created, much less sold?
Think forward a few more years... (hopefully) there will be more conversations
like this one because the oppportunities will be even greater. As I mentioned in
the elsewhere in this thread, if you don’t like the current conference model,
take a page from the tech community and start something like BarCamp for the LEGO community.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
Jake
---
Jake McKee
Webmaster BIP
Private Citizen
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