SpoCon 2011 Proposal
Sayer of Doom
- Join Date: 31/12/1969
- Post count:
Dave has asked me to post my proposal from the last ComCon meeting for discussion.
We do not have a venue for SpoCon 2011 that meets our needs and is within our budget. Hotels are booked or are asking for more money than we can reasonably spend. Convention facilities do not meet our usable room requirements unless we change our format and are prepared to spend more than we can afford. Some problem spots for us are as follows:
1) Gaming – is space intensive, needing large open area for tournaments and open play. Also is 24 hours which increases the costs because venues usually rent for 8hrs (weddings) or the day approx. 6AM – Midnight.
2) Art Show – is also space and time intensive. Also needs access a day early which tends to add to the price.
3) Dealers – same as Art Show as well as the desire of dealers to be in the same general area as other dealers.
As we all know GU does not have the space, especially grouped together to meets the needs of the 3 items listed above. Also GU has changed their policies on rates as well as expectations of increased classes next year so will be charging more for less space. We will not be getting most of the perks and discounts that we have seen in the past. The Cataldo Hall is expected to be available but there is no guarantee on the use of the Theatre.
So that all being said my proposal is this. We break the majority of Gaming out of SpoCon and use GameCon to fulfill the needs of gamers. We would still have some space for gaming but in a much reduced area. This would allow us to do several things.
1) With no large gaming that would open up Cataldo for other use. A possible use would be 25% for Art Show, 20-25% for gaming, and the rest for dealers.
2) Moving the groups in point 1 to Cataldo would reduce the rooms needed in College and could allow us to fit the rest of programming and such to 1 or 2 floors of classrooms instead of spread over 4 floors.
3) GU will be charging for the actual space used instead of the per /person per /day rate we have gotten in the past. That is for EVERY room and EVERY event. This will not be negotiable but off a standard rate sheet. So the less space we use the less we pay.
We still may have problems with the Theatre and our need for a large space for Opening/Closing ceremonies as well as the masquerade and dance but we will have to see on those. I am not saying that this will solve all our problems but if we cannot make a small venue work then SpoCon may need to fold up tents or take a hiatus in order to survive. We have all put too much blood, sweat, tears and money into this venture to turn our backs now.
You have a topic………discuss!!!
SpoCon Countdown
SpoCon On The Web
New Forum Topics
Our Sponsors
Mithril
Copper
Donate to SpoCon!
Quick Info
When:
08/10 - 08/12/2012
Where:
DoubleTree Hotel
Spokane, Washington
How much:
Rates Coming Soon
Contact us for group rates
Contact us for group rates
Our preferred payment method is PayPal (debit or credit cards accepted, a PayPal account is not necessary), if you prefer to mail us a check our mailing address is:
SpoCon
PO Box 48790
Spokane, WA 99208
PO Box 48790
Spokane, WA 99208
User login
Sister Conventions
Spokane Fan Clubs
Spokane Gaming Clubs
Sean
Gamer
Hi Scott, does SpoCon have any data on what percentage of Con-goers participate in one or more gaming events?
Scott Spicer
Sayer of Doom
Not really. No hard numbers because alot of people would just drop by and play during down times between programming. Chris may have some numbers.
Nick
Looks like we would be cutting the miniature gaming mostly. There would still be rooms for tabletop RPG's, and some board gaming. May not hurt us too much as, no offense, most of the Warhammer and miniature gamers stay in one spot from multiple observations.
I am guessing the cost of GU is going to roughly double... does this make us able to have enough income to move onto future years, or is this pretty much do or die situation?
On the large programming space... no ideas other than something will have to change from the traditional practices.
Irish Heather Kelly
Communications Dept Head; Fundraising, Advertising & Promotions
I think cutting the majority of gaming out of Spocon would be counterproductive. If we bill ourselves as a Full Spectrum Con - we can't cut out gaming. While I understand the space issues we are dealing with, I think we would lose most of the congoers if we got rid of gaming. I concur that Warhammer/miniature gaming takes up most of the space. I also understand - not from personal experience but from what I have heard - that most Warhammer/miniature gamers are amenable to playing wherever. So if we just didn't host that portion of gaming, or only a couple of tables maybe, we would not lose much.
If we take a hiatus in 2011 - since we have no venue, no guests - I think we can still keep our name and fans. If we hosted several game days throughout the year, along with functions for fundraising and promotions, I believe we could get into a larger venue for 2012. I would devote all my time and effort to seeing that we got more people, got more money (grass roots style, which is all I am qualified for) so that we could be bigger and better in 2012. That way, we could have all the gaming, all the dealers, all the art we wanted and not disappoint anyone.
But I have to continue to say - I don't support getting rid of gaming.
Fundraising, Advertising & Promotions
Scott Spicer
Sayer of Doom
I still propose to have gaming but just to limit it to a couple of small areas or rooms. we vwould still meet the "Full Spectrum" needs but would reduce the space needed for gaming by like 80%. This would provide a substantial reduction in the facilities costs and would help to centralize stuff as much as possible. If we want to keep everything the same then after a hiatis we would be looking at about a 250%+ increase in facilities costs by the quotes we have gotten.
I am not trying to be negative or a downer....I am just trying to find a way for SpoCon to continue.
Chad Davis
I think you would lose a lot more guests than you think if you reduced gaming down to NorWesCon or InCon levels of just a room or two. There are lots of people who go primarily for gaming and attend programming or other parts of the con when gaming can't keep them occupied (I'm one of those people). I won't be going back to NorWesCon or RadCon specifically because their gaming was very poor, but I'm willing to drive over and attend MisCon because I've been told they have a very strong gaming section. Gaming is the one and only reason I attended and have become involved with SpoCon. For me, one or two rooms of gaming options does not justify the price of admission.
I agree that we should try to find a way to continue to have a full spectrum con that includes all the gaming the fans want. I don't have any great suggestions for how to do that, unfortunately. I do think that you could take away midnight gaming and effectively "close down" the con at certain hours; gaming doesn't have to be 24 hours (that's more of a wish-list item). It's definitely sounding like GU is not going to work out for us, so hopefully we can find somewhere that will.
Scott Spicer
Sayer of Doom
My only worry is that if we try to save and do everything we are going to lose everything when we close up shop. The purpose of the proposal was a way to possibly keep most of the con intact and cut costs. I AM A GAMER...I don't want to lose any gaming, but if we are totally inflexable it may kill us. I will be very happy if someone can come up with a venue we can afford and that allows for everything we want to do without spending 3 to 5 times what we are paying now...honestly if someone can figure it out do it now while we still have time. If something does not happen soon we may not be able to keep it going. Cross your fingers.
Irish Heather Kelly
Communications Dept Head; Fundraising, Advertising & Promotions
Scott,
Since I am not sure where all you have checked, I am just going to put this out there -
Have you checked CenterPointe? We may not be able to do 24 hours, but then, maybe it is negotiable. I don't know exactly how much space we need but they have a really nice place as far as I can tell and it doesn't seem to be too expensive. Maybe look into it? If you haven't already.
centerpointeactivities.com and centerpointeoccassions.com
I don't really know if their building would work, but it is only 100.00 an hour - can't hurt to check.
Fundraising, Advertising & Promotions
David Morris
I think that the Warhammer 40k crowd (we get less than 5 people who come 'just' for Warhammer Fantasy) would be happy if ran a big 40k event separate from SpoCon. I think we CAN do that in this community. If we removed the 40k tournament, we could still have a few tables for 40k and lots of space for RPGs, Boardgames, and general gaming. We could cut back a bit, serve the majority of our gamers, and offer something different for 40K which IS the best game EVER as has been proven ONE MILLION times by scientists with big degrees. Let's look at our sister con MisCon. She grew tremendously in the last 2 years and is increasing gaming.