Subject:
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Re: BrickWorld 2007 - who's getting paid?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.events.brickworld
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Date:
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Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:20:23 GMT
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Viewed:
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6692 times
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In lugnet.events.brickworld, David Eaton wrote:
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In lugnet.events.brickworld, John Neal wrote:
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I’m just curious: what leads you to think that this type of information
should be public knowledge? It’s as if you believe that fest organizers
are somehow obligated to account for every penny to the GP, and AFOLs in
particular. Do you suspect that such people are somehow ripping off AFOLs
who attend?
And if they do make money off of an event, is that somehow a Bad Thing™?
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Mostly, I think it comes down to community volunteers. Lots of people out
there were viewing this purely from an attendee standpoint. And yes, from an
attendee standpoint, who cares if the ‘fest is for-profit or not? If you get
your money’s worth, it’s worth spending it!
But the problem creeps up on you when you start realizing that it’s NOT
purely an attendee event. If you’re a volunteer, the situation is a bit
different.
I’ve given this example before, so I’ll give it again, because I think it’s
relevant. I volunteered to organize a Lego Game Show for BF’04. Great fun.
And I wanted to have prizes. Question was, where should the money come from
for those prizes? BrickFest or my pocket? If it’s a for-profit event, I would
be much less likely to volunteer my own money. I might still do it, but odds
are I won’t. BUT, if it’s a non-profit event, I’m actually far more likely to
just front the cash myself.
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This whole “profit” “non-profit” conversation is a straw man. AFAIK there have
never been any “non-profit” organizations putting on LEGO fests. Non-profit is
a category of organization with a specific legal status.
What this whole thing boils down to is what do the organizers do with the money
that they may make off of a fest (because I don’t hear anybody shedding a tear
for the poor shlub who might lose money off of a fest).
Let’s consider your particular example. In the first year of an event, most
expenses will probably come out of pocket, because there is no way to know
whether or not there will be a profit until after the event. So let’s say
that there IS a profit. Now the next year the event has a budget with which to
work. Maybe now the fest can fund your Game Show. But say it doesn’t. And so
maybe you are not so inclined to not volunteer funds out of your pocket anymore.
And that would be a mistake on the part of those organizers IMO, because events
like this absolutely depend upon fan participation, and “bad press” like this
would soon doom the event.
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The question comes down to whether the community should be contributing to
the event, or whether everyone should just say “Ok BrickFest/BrickWorld,
impress us without any community assistance”.
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I would assert that no fest can get off the ground without heavy fan
participation. Once the event has a few years under its belt, and if it’s
wildly successful, questions about finances might be germane. But for Mark to
pose the question before the event is even an event is putting the horse before
the cart, to say the least.
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And it’s not really about numbers. I don’t really care that much if the
answer is “profits go here” instead of “xxxx profits went here”. The question
is mostly *where* the profits go, not how *much* goes there. Sure, it’s nice
to know the numbers, but knowing the numbers probably won’t affect a decision
to volunteer as much as knowing the destination.
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I could see where there might be a problem when a LEGO fest profits wildly and
none of the bling trickles down to defray costs to coordinators or exhibitors.
But if the event is popular enough, there will always be someone willing to do
more for less. Making those decisions is the sole responsibility of the event
organizers.
JOHN
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: BrickWorld 2007 - who's getting paid?
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| (...) Mostly, I think it comes down to community volunteers. Lots of people out there were viewing this purely from an attendee standpoint. And yes, from an attendee standpoint, who cares if the 'fest is for-profit or not? If you get your money's (...) (18 years ago, 15-Mar-07, to lugnet.events.brickworld, FTX)
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