On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 8:32 AM, Nick Eden <nick_at_uZ2YjoGx6qvA1LY5l0H6l3VSdvbwHm7VyV7p0tTyHV0-HEi6nmtVOlLsljKxf9rFy0YCPOIkr7s5TQ5NHYhOWMFmlg.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
>
>
> Just to add a couple of extras - entirely from the perspective of a
> potential guest, I've never organised one of these things.
>
> 1. Assume that there will be a few people who might want to attend
> from the European circuit: So don't schedule your con too close to
> Eternal Con or Continuum. It might be worth considering alternating
> with Continuum - 2012 in the UK, 2013 in the US, every year in
> Germany.
>
> 2. Good air links and/or public transport is critical. Personally I'd
> want there to be other stuff to visit in the area as well. You could
> organise the greatest, most kick ass convention ever in Des Moines,
> and I'd be a lot less likely to try and slot the con into an otherwise
> expensive international holiday than I would if it were on one of the
> coasts.
>
> 3. The ability to leave the con, drive a few miles and get in some
> world class wreck diving would get me to commit as a guest. But
> possibly only me.
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 3:17 PM, Jeff <richaje_at_LrFUdc2PXdqCv9hzrvEx2vjeSXVlUHmzxVHnPEroBE1Pje3xxXmC6Iqx0A8rm9W-XRQNwqG4eolF.yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> > Let me give a more cheery perspective. After Fabian and his crew ran
> Tentacles brilliantly for more than a decade, Pittel and a new group now run
> the yearly Gloranthacon at Bacharach.
> >
> > Neither Tentacles nor Eternal Con lost money, but there are some
> important reasons why:
> > 1. Limit your assumptions to how many people will attend, then build your
> costs accordingly. If you think you can get 120 people to a North American
> con, then budget for no more than that. And then find an accomodation that
> will hold them.
> >
> > 2. Cheap accomodations are better. Tentacles/Eternal Con is held at a
> youth hostel (that happens to be a castle on the Rhine). It is a good 45
> minutes to an hour away from Frankfurt. Kraken was held in a relatively
> inexpensive old mansion (now convention center) in a very economically
> depressed rural area of Brandenburg.
> >
> > 3. Guests are a luxury unless they work for their status. Don't comp
> somebody to the Con just because they are a luminary of the Gloranthan
> community - make them work. And by work, I mean make them do something that
> brings people to the Con and keeps them entertained. Make them write a
> freeform, give multiple scenarios, and generally be at the beck and call of
> the Con committee. Otherwise they are a waste of money. For example, Eternal
> Con has no paid guests. Continuum's guests all work for their status.
> >
> > 4. Beer and food are important. Make sure people can easily get these two
> key components of a successful con. And onsite! Don't make people walk away
> from the Con location to get their food and booze.
> >
> > Jeff
> >
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Don't forget that conventions are, ultimately, a type of business
> venture. Someone has to put up money to get space, and hope that there will
> be sufficient paid attendance to recover the costs. The last NA
> Gloranthacon was in Toronto, because Jeff Kyer was willing to make it
> happen--but I'm pretty sure it was a non-trivial net loss for him.
> >>
> >> That was when Hero Wars was in print, and since then we've had HQ, HQ2,
> and the second age Runequest material, so one would hope that the pool of
> potential attendees has grown, and there may be locations with a better
> combination of facility costs and ease of attendance than Toronto, so I'm
> not saying that it is doomed to lose money....just that on top of the time
> commitment for the whole organizing committee, there is a financial
> commitment required as well.
> >>
> >> Good luck!
> >>
> >> --- In WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com, "David" <millians.david@>
> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > I'd be happy to be part of any planning. I'm in Atlanta: big airport,
> lots of hotels....
> >> >
> >> > --- In WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com, "Rick" <rmeints@> wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > Based on the series of recent posts I feel this topic is worthy of
> its own thread with a much more precise subject line.
> >> > >
> >> > > For openers, the first step for getting the convention planning
> underway would be to get some volunteers to form an exploratory organizing
> committee. The committee can then start going through some initial
> discussion items like:
> >> > >
> >> > > Whether to be a program track at an existing convention or a
> stand-alone convention
> >> > > Where to hold the convention
> >> > > When to hold the convention
> >> > > How many attendees would we need to make it a success
> >> > >
> >> > > Most of my gloranthan convention experience has been with
> stand-alone Gloranthan conventions, like the various RQ/Gloranthacons in the
> US and Australia and with "gloranthan heavy" conventions like
> Convulsion/Continuum in the UK and Tentacles in Germany.
> >> > >
> >> > > Tentacles started out as a "German RQ Con" but over a decade it
> transformed quite successfully into a more general games convention with a
> heavy gloranthan and chaosium games focus. Eternalcon has pretty much
> continued that track of progression. Convulsion was basically a "UK
> Gloranthacon" when it started in 1992, but it too has transformed over the
> passing years into a more general games convention with a large gloranthan
> game track of events, and Continuum has continued that progression.
> >> > >
> >> > > Past RQ/Glorantha cons in the US/canada have largely stuck with a
> "95% glorantha" game focus, with the exception of Gloranthacon VII held in
> Los Angeles in 1998. That was the main time having the convention be program
> track at a larger games convention was tried that I know of. That approach
> had its good and bad points, but that was also 13 years ago, and many things
> in terms of conventions and gaming have probably changed since then.
> >> > >
> >> > > Without further digression on my part, is anyone interested in
> heading up the exploratory organizing committee for a future North American
> Gloranthacon?
> >> > >
> >> >
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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