Convention Budget Meeting

It's been 72 hours since my last convention planning meeting so naturally it's time for yet another convention planning meeting. This one, fortunately, had a relatively limited scope: the budget.

We definitely have fewer registrants than we'd like. No one has cancelled outright yet but we've had a relatively high number of transfers in recent months. The recession has a great deal to do with the lower numbers; a surprising number have begged off because of health and/or surgery... as our crowd ages, we should probably get used to that.

Paid registration currently sits at 731; adding in staff callers, their partners and assorted contractors, we have total seating of about 750.

Our treasurer scared the bejeezus out of me with an opening balance sheet showing a massive loss on operations. She quickly calmed us down by explaining that she exaggerated some expenses and minimized some revenues to compensate for unknowns; as well, there are still large portions which are unknown (eg. revenues from program sales, merchant fees, credit card points, etc.). A more average-case scenario shows about a $5k budget surplus, provided we keep expenses under tight control and collect a little more income. Any additional registrations secures that margin.

The largest expenditure is --per usual-- the food & beverage allocation. Thanks to aggressive negotiation by John Faulds, we have a pretty good deal on the banquet and brunch per plate rates ($60 and $30 respectively), but with lower registrations, it's a steeper climb to make our contractual obligations to the hotel. In fact, we were starting from a total of $54k with a contractual obligation of $70k, a $16k shortfall. Adding in some minor meeting refreshments, we reduce the shortfall to $13.3k. We're making up the balance with a combination of bar receipts (Friday at the Honky Tonk Queen contest, Saturday before the banquet, Saturday after the banquet, Sunday during the brunch), additional minor refreshments and food for the fun badge tour.

The assorted pre-convention and post-convention tours have reached the break-even point so those are solid. There may even be a few more seat sales in the mailbox for these tours... we'll know more in the next few days. Fun badge tour seats continue to sell but that was always designed to be financially self-sufficient.

Another topic of discussion was how to allocate the hotel room freebies. Our hotel contract gives us a free room-night for every 45 booked, along with some executive suites, upgrades to executive suites, upgrades to concierge suites, some discounted room rates and three wine & cheese events. The wine & cheese events will be distributed to the committees of each upcoming convention (Chicago, Atlanta & Vancouver); the premier suites will be offered to All Join Hands and the IAGSDC to host their meetings and fundraising events. Many of the upgrades will be distributed among the volunteers who have contributed so much to getting this convention off the ground.

Still so much to do... *sigh*

Convention Budget Meeting

It's been 72 hours since my last convention planning meeting so naturally it's time for yet another convention planning meeting. This one, fortunately, had a relatively limited scope: the budget.

We definitely have fewer registrants than we'd like. No one has cancelled outright yet but we've had a relatively high number of transfers in recent months. The recession has a great deal to do with the lower numbers; a surprising number have begged off because of health and/or surgery... as our crowd ages, we should probably get used to that.

Paid registration currently sits at 731; adding in staff callers, their partners and assorted contractors, we have total seating of about 750.

Our treasurer scared the bejeezus out of me with an opening balance sheet showing a massive loss on operations. She quickly calmed us down by explaining that she exaggerated some expenses and minimized some revenues to compensate for unknowns; as well, there are still large portions which are unknown (eg. revenues from program sales, merchant fees, credit card points, etc.). A more average-case scenario shows about a $5k budget surplus, provided we keep expenses under tight control and collect a little more income. Any additional registrations secures that margin.

The largest expenditure is --per usual-- the food & beverage allocation. Thanks to aggressive negotiation by John Faulds, we have a pretty good deal on the banquet and brunch per plate rates ($60 and $30 respectively), but with lower registrations, it's a steeper climb to make our contractual obligations to the hotel. In fact, we were starting from a total of $54k with a contractual obligation of $70k, a $16k shortfall. Adding in some minor meeting refreshments, we reduce the shortfall to $13.3k. We're making up the balance with a combination of bar receipts (Friday at the Honky Tonk Queen contest, Saturday before the banquet, Saturday after the banquet, Sunday during the brunch), additional minor refreshments and food for the fun badge tour.

The assorted pre-convention and post-convention tours have reached the break-even point so those are solid. There may even be a few more seat sales in the mailbox for these tours... we'll know more in the next few days. Fun badge tour seats continue to sell but that was always designed to be financially self-sufficient.

Another topic of discussion was how to allocate the hotel room freebies. Our hotel contract gives us a free room-night for every 45 booked, along with some executive suites, upgrades to executive suites, upgrades to concierge suites, some discounted room rates and three wine & cheese events. The wine & cheese events will be distributed to the committees of each upcoming convention (Chicago, Atlanta & Vancouver); the premier suites will be offered to All Join Hands and the IAGSDC to host their meetings and fundraising events. Many of the upgrades will be distributed among the volunteers who have contributed so much to getting this convention off the ground.

Still so much to do... *sigh*