Subject:
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Re: "Was it worth it to you?" was Re: Cost of Brickfest
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org.us.wamalug
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Date:
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Mon, 12 Jun 2000 21:43:19 GMT
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Viewed:
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1247 times
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In lugnet.org.us.wamalug, Stephen F. Roberts writes:
> ...A 'variation' on that question is 'did you get your money's worth?" And I • want honesty
> from people here! Course, the fest itself was free,
OK, honesty. I had a great time. It was very cool. I will be
back.
But unfortunately, I did get my money's worth on the fest itself. The old
adage, you get what you pay for, is correct. And free was too little. The
place was barely air conditioned, we didn't have it all night, and there was
too little space. I would gladly pay $30, or more, for those issues to be
addressed. The heat issue was compounded by the fact that the AC on our hotel
room was pathetic as well, so I could only really cool down at lunch if I went
somewhere cool. Please, please, please charge admittance.
I've actually been thinking about what could be better. But I want to
emphasize how much fun I had...thanks for all the time and work you put into
it. And thanks to whomever took it upon themselves to see that I had
vegetarian options when food orders were made. I guess that was due to
my conversation with Chris Tracey on off-topic.debate, but I never asked
for such service, it was just provided. I really appreciate it.
Things could have been much more organized. I know it was a first time, but
communications and planning were sometimes poor. I didn't really know what was
going to happen, and when. The schedules were only roughly accurate for the
things I was doing. And with more advance planning, hopefully you'll have more
demos, talks, presentations, etc. where the hosts have planned stuff for
certain times. If we had had a sign-up sheet for the food runs, and
announcements when food arrived, more people could have planned and tuned their
expectations.
There is a private board-game gathering annually where the cost for entry is
~$200 and participants are expected to bring two new good board games for the
prize table. At the end of the event, the participants take turns going to the
prize table and taking their pick. First, everyone who won a tournament, then
everyone in a random order, one at a time, until everything is gone. Something
like that would be neat too. It would allow people on a tight budget to bring
in a couple of lesser goodies and those of us with a bit more income could
bring in a couple of nicer items, and people who are quite well off, could
maybe bring one pretty rare item - as each person saw fit. It's a really fun
event where everyone gets together in the same room and the names are called
out, so if you haven't met everyone, you get to associate their names with
their faces and everyone goes home with something cool that maybe they didn't
have before.
Also, if you charge admission, you should make the option of working as an
assistant, runner, presenter, or whatever an option so that those unable to
cough up the admission price can get in another way. Anyone who runs a
scheduled event should get in free. And people who are far away but who could
contribute substantially through presentations (e.g. Gary Istok, and others)
should be courted for the fest.
All of the different discrete things that happen should be considered events.
Each event should have someone clearly in charge. And there should be
someone(s) clearly in charge of the fest. It sort-of seemed that Stephen,
Denise, and Kevin (in that order) were "in charge." I think it would be
better for each of them, and others, to have clearly (to all of us) delineated
roles. If each event has a coordinator then the flow of information can be
clear and responsibilities are straight-forward.
Did I mention that it was too hot? Please don't have it there again. And if
you do...please make it two months earlier. Summer in DC sucks.
> but things like airfare and hotel
> rooms can add up (and unfortunately, there are no real cheap hotels in that
area,
What about that dive one block away (maybe on Wilson?) on the way to that
sandwich, ice cream and pizza place? It looked cheap.
> And its not even counting driving • costs for
> those who drove here (Charleston SC, Boone, NC, New Jersey, Philadelphia... we • had drivers
> from several hours in all directions.)
I drove my car 4.5 hours from central New Jersey. It cost me $18 in gas.
> ...relatedly, knowing what you know now, how much would you
> have been happy to pay to get in?
I would have paid up to $50 if it would have gotten me something. I would have
paid $20 for exactly the same thing but with adequate air conditioning.
If you want to charge $30 (as a fairly random example) and there are community
members who can't afford that I would pay an extra $10 into a "scholarship"
fund to help bring them in for less or free, as long as I believed that such a
fund would be managed responsibly.
> (the place we had this time was free, and free was an important • consideration for us,
> but if we want more flexibility in the future we will have to consider • somewhere we have
> to pay for (and in turn, attendees will have to pay for)).
I believe I have fully commented on this, but just in case...please get
somewhere bigger and better and charge us for it.
> ...You can email responses if you don't want to say some things in public
forums :-)
That's good, but I hope that most people will post here, I'd like to know if
I'm the only one who feels this way.
> Honesty is important for these things.
Yup. Proper feedback is the only way that you folks will know how to make this
better each year.
Sincerely,
Christopher Weeks
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