Unofficial History of Drama in the Free State

[BonerJoe]

Sovereign Curtis
I love you all, and I hate to impose upon you, but WE'RE BROKE!
The PorcFest budget is WAY short, like TEN GRAND short. And thats AFTER I cut out unnecessary 'future' expenses (17 days aint so far away). Its begging time.
PLEASE consider donating (again). Please, get your friends, family, neighbors, ex's, co-workers, etc to donate. $5, $50, or $500, WE NEED YOUR DONATION!

[John Shaw]

Seriously?

[dalebert]

What's different this year other than more people coming (additional revenue) and no vendor tent (less cost)?

[blackie]

 

[Evil Muppet]

Are these the same people in charge of the whole Liberty Forum? 

[dalebert]

Are these the same people in charge of the whole Liberty Forum? 

RUT ROH!

[One two three]

This year there are no vendors, I don't know if Porcfest made or lost money off of vendors.  There are the 20% discount codes this year and perhaps more volunteers (which get in for free).  I think there may be a bunch of the communication devices like people in Keene use.  I think registration is happening in the bowl instead of the bingo room.  If that's true, it may cost money to rent tents to but over the registration area. 

Maybe Roger's is charging the FSP more money this year?  I know I would if I was Roger's.  Maybe the bands or speakers are being paid money?

[BonerJoe]

I wouldn't mind paying a fee. Curtis hasn't asked for one, and most people are just paying only Rodger's for the campsite and that's it. Of course, Mandrik and I plan to donate some money, but still.

[One two three]

Sovereign Curtis
SO SERIOUS. How much do you think PorcFest costs?

Underfunded list:

* ROGERS CAMPGROUND: $6000
...* SPEAKERS: $4000
* RENTALS: $2500
* SOUND ENGINEER & TECH NEEDS: $1500
* MUSIC/BANDS: $1000
* REGISTRATION/WELCOME NEEDS: $500
* MISC EXPENSES: $250

Thoughts for next year or how to cut 7k from the budget.

Speakers
Come up with a coupon system.  All of the food vendors that chose to locate in the vending section have to provide one free food item to the folks that get the coupons.  For the main speakers, provide free entree to Porcfest for them and their family/assistants and they also get the coupons.  Consider that their pay.  For the minor speakers, give them free entree to Porcfest and consider that their pay.  That would take $4000 out of the budget.

Rentals
Do registration/official merch/central operations/safety inside the bingo hall and that likely cuts the rental budget in 1/2 or something.

Bands
The Bands/music can likely be cut in half too.  Have free bands a couple nights (Hannah, Luthor, Varrin, Cooper), do Soapbox Idol one night, have karaoke 2 nights and paid bands on just one night.  Maybe have 3-4 bands that night and spend no more than $400 in total for all of them, maybe even less.

SOUND ENGINEER
Cut some of that, especially with only one night of paid bands.

[dalebert]

Speakers

I like Stefan, but if he's too expensive, can't we just find some other dood who really hates his parents?

Seriously though, my understanding is as a general rule based on how cons are run, speakers are only worth paying if they bring in enough fans to at least fund their fees.  Does it feel like you're getting at least $4k more registration fees due to the speakers you're paying than you would without?

How much was spent on speaker fees last year?  Seems like Porcfest is a lot less about attending speeches than it is about a bunch of people partying, chilling, hanging out with other movers, etc.  I went a whole PF week one year and hardly attended a single planned event and I had a BLAST.  I even made a comic about it.

[blackie]

Sovereign Curtis
SO SERIOUS. How much do you think PorcFest costs?

Underfunded list:

* ROGERS CAMPGROUND: $6000
...* SPEAKERS: $4000
* RENTALS: $2500
* SOUND ENGINEER & TECH NEEDS: $1500
* MUSIC/BANDS: $1000
* REGISTRATION/WELCOME NEEDS: $500
* MISC EXPENSES: $250

What part of porc fest was funded?

Why is it just coming out 17 days before porcfest that they are 1000% over budget?

[BonerJoe]

Why is it just coming out 17 days before porcfest that they are 1000% over budget?

One person doing too many things who's uncompensated for doing them?

[Evil Muppet]

Why is it just coming out 17 days before porcfest that they are 1000% over budget?

One person doing too many things who's uncompensated for doing them?

How much of that is a result of this:

I see 'Sovereign' Curtis continues to win friends and influence Porcs.
Not.

Why they have this abrasive, immature jerk running PorcFest is utterly beyond my ability to fathom.

[One two three]

Why is it just coming out 17 days before porcfest that they are 1000% over budget?

Where did you get the 1000% number?

I guess lots of folks will register b/t now and then or even at Porcfest and that will cover much of the costs.

I know there are some people that have spread that you can get in without paying (steal your way in.)

[freeAgent]

So the costs are approximately $15,750.  Assuming that everyone who registers for PorcFest gets 20% off, he'd need nearly 800 people to register.  Weren't last year's registrations well short of that?  How did they manage?  Did Curtis or any other organizer take the time to get out a calculator?  If they're $10k short, that means they've got fewer than 300 people registered right now.