Subject:
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Re: AFOLs feelin' no love
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.events
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Date:
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Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:16:57 GMT
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Viewed:
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4062 times
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Duane,
I am always amazed when someone writes a post criticizing others for speaking
out and putting in their 2 cents and then calls for others to stop speaking out.
I realize that many 'Fest attendees think it is none of their business where the
money goes and that they should vote with their attendance. I however, have
personal experience with a 'Fest where the organizer absconded with the money
and the vendors never got paid. The actions of that one individual put a black
mark on the AFOL community and as such no event has taken place in that city
since. Do you remember BricksWest?
I was one of the volunteers and organizers of that event and allowed one
individual to control the purse strings. I allowed myself to be placated by
reassurances that everything was being "taken care of." Well, I and a few other
organizers lost our innocence that day and I resolved never to be that naïve
again.
So you and other organizers of ‘Fests on the behalf of the AFOL community must
excuse me and others when we ask basic questions and believe we have a right to
those answers. So here is a few questions I think every organizer of an event
should be willing to answer when they plan an event that will bring the AFOL
community together.
1. Where will the money to hold the event come from and where will it go?
2. Is this a profit making venture? Who among the organizing committee will
profit from the event?
3. Is there a public day? How much for admission? Where will the money from
admission go?
Now for my money, I would like to have answers to these questions before I make
the decision to book a hotel room, purchase a plane ticket, and go to
considerable expense to attend an event. Granted in the past I have attended
events without having all of these answers in place, but I have gone with the
other deciding factor, do I trust the people running the event? But I have also
been an organizer and volunteer to be more privey to these answers.
I love the comparisons people make to other conventions. I worked for a couple
years for a member organization whose stock and trade was their annual
convention. They made millions off the convention and ran the organization the
rest of the year off of it. I remember their anxiety prior to and relief at the
end of each convention when they had the financial resources to survive another
year. Prior to my working for the organization I had attended their conventions
in the past. I had ever realistic expectation that my $200 plus registration fee
was going to profit the organization.
The question is will any AFOL event last if the organizers only have a profit
motive in mind?
I am also intimately aware of another convention, DragonCon, that happens in
Atlanta every year. That Cluster-(Fest) each year leaves me wondering how it
continues from year to year. Those volunteers do not get paid but get a free
room and some eats during the convention and maybe a few drinks. Their reward is
to hob-nob with the celebrities from science fiction and comic books, etc. All
of the money raised for that goes to the convention space, the hotels, and to
bring the celebrities in on an all expense paid trip to Atlanta. Ever year
DragonCon happens I wonder how it keeps from imploding. Between screw ups in
every conceivable way, to absolutely poor management and organization, it is a
wonder the thing comes off at all.
So the next question is without a small to moderate profit incentive for the
organizer/s, how will the AFOL events continue?
I for one, do not have all of the answers, but without knowing up front that the
convention is for profit or not for profit how can I make an informed decision
and vote my approval with or without my attendance?
Respectfully,
Todd
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: AFOLs feelin' no love
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| (...) I never thought of it that way. My decision whether to attend fests has always involved the benefits I will receive from it (fun, community, etc). The talk and discussion is fine. When I wrote that post, Joe was getting mangled from multiple (...) (17 years ago, 24-Oct-07, to lugnet.events)
| | | Re: AFOLs feelin' no love
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| (...) Todd, Just as an aside--DragonCon Volunteers get free admission, have to work 20 hours of the convention minimum, and they get a free T-shirt if they attend two organizational meetings--no free room or anything else. (This is from a person who (...) (17 years ago, 26-Oct-07, to lugnet.events)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | AFOLs feelin' no love
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| Man, I can't believe the stuff that's going on. Somebody (BrickFair) is not revealing enough about money, and somebody is else watching out to make sure nobody gets rich off organizing an AFOL event (a hilarious concept to anybody of us who have (...) (17 years ago, 18-Oct-07, to lugnet.events) !!
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