How (Not) To Run A (Furry?)Con
Feb. 9th, 2009 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyThis essay is a backdated public repost with comments disabled. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Arrogant title, I know, but I really don't have the time or energy to be involved anymore and this is important enough that people who want to see cons succeed should know it and think about it.
So, you want to run a con? You need two things: people and a venue. You can run a party with ten people in your living room; 30 people at a restaurant; 150 people at a small hotel; 500 at a medium hotel; or 2000 at a convention center. It's all a matter of scale and of money. Securing the venue requires (a) money and (b) a generous person with good credit, willing to book the restaurant / sign the hotel contract and risk being stuck with a $500 bar tab, or in the case of the hotel contract, personal credit damnation.
The people have to 1) want to come and 2) spend money in particular con-supporting ways. Two CaliFurs ago did a lot to enrich the walking distance McD's, for example, but this did nothing for CaliFur.
Why do people want to come to conventions? To hang out with other (cool) people (aka network), to attend cool events and find out things, to buy stuff they can't easily get elsewhere, and in the (often mistaken) belief that they will get laid. This last is the secret sauce for any convention, whether you are attracting accountants or science fiction writers or furries or pirates or lawyers or even Chiefs of Police. Really.
Prior advertising and good reputation are critical. No one will come to a con they don't know about. Conversely, fewer people will go to a con whose reputation is new or poor. (Some will go to watch the flameout, but as they rarely buy a badge, they should not be counted.)
What are the four (4) ways in which people spend money to support the con?
Convention attendance. "The badge." Anywhere from $20 to $60 times the membership. Prereg is cheaper because you need some of the money before the con (to make the hotel deposit, among other trivia.) This is the big one. Most of the budget is badge sales to pay for the hotel. People who don't buy a badge are stealing from the convention, folks, and this is why we need to keep deadbeats out of the paid areas. However, doing this rudely or poorly can alienate people and they don't come back next year. There are also the people who can't afford a badge anyway, who can be leveraged into slave labor (gophers!) and become paying customers in future years. Party badges, day badges, etc. are selling part of a badge to get at least some money out of the situation if someone can only make one day or the party nights.
Incidentals. This includes dealer's room tables, the con store (t-shirts!), the Art Show flats (or other display advertising), the kitty in the Con Suite, you name it. (Except charity events, which generally support an outside worthy cause.) This also includes the various sponsor levels, which translate as "give us money and we will bow before you, for you are worthy."
Room nights. This is where it gets sticky, so to speak. Hotels are in the business of selling rooms, not function space. If you sell out the hotel, they give you the function space for free. Sell enough room nights (credited to the con!) and you pay a lot less than market rate. Sell only a few room nights, and get out a check with lots of zeros on the end. This is why it's so important to reserve a room under the convention rate. Otherwise the con might not make its room block and the cost of the function space will skyrocket. The hotel does NOT give us a cut! but room nights make or break the budget.
Hotel incidentals. If the hotel makes enough money on the in-house restaurant, snack bar, etc, this may help offset other parts of the hotel contract, a little, on the bigger conventions. This could be selling hotel pizza at a snack bar, or a buffet in the hotel restaurant or by the pool, etc. (This is also why con staff tear their hair out when someone buys $100 of pizza and tries to give it away in the front lobby. This actually hurts the con and pisses off the hotel, which sees lost money and a food safety violation that goes on their record if caught.)
Nice things that don't directly enrich the con, but can help if not done poorly: holding a room party, providing free soda / snacks, possibly a controlled liquor bar IF salty snacks as well, buying people's art/stuff, buying things in the dealer's room. These encourage people to come back next year, encourage dealers to return, etc. but make no money towards this year's budget.
So the task of the successful con must be to persuade people to 1) kick down for a badge, 3) kick down for a three or four night stay, 2) spend money directly into the con's coffers, and 4) confine as much other spending as possible to the hotel restaurant and snack bar.
Note: economic downturn. Fortunately, people like to party in bad economic times. However they are less able to afford it.
So why buy a badge? To see the Art Show and Dealer's Room, to attend panels and events and concerts and dances, to hang out in convention space and to show that you're neither broke-poor nor a douchebag.
Why buy a hotel room? To sleep on site. Why sleep on site unless you are traveling from out of town? Fork 1: attract as many out of town attendees as possible (defined as living out of commute range). Fork 2: convince people that they are going to get laid. This requires people meeting long-distance or seeking after casual partners or renewing old acquaintances.
So every convention needs to be selling sex. Not blatantly, mind you, but very discreetly. More in a California Lottery style "Are you feeling lucky??" This is also the reason for max four in a hotel room; not just selling more rooms, but little sex happens in a 14 person crash pad and everyone knows it.
Why support the con? Cool shirts, chance to sell stuff to other people, pride in the event, etc. Feeling good, hanging out, having a good time.
Why eat at the hotel? Convenience. Thus the careful dance between having enough food in consuite that people don't feel deprived (and do feel snacky) but not so much that someone can eat off of it. Have to do a staff feed for the gophers (who otherwise might pass out in the halls!) but need to hide it from the attendees and sometimes the hotel. But none of this can stomach-block the hotel food, which is often overpriced and too spicy/specialized to appeal to most congoers. This requires negotiating a special menu with the hotel (read: easy and cheap for the kitchen to pre-make or short order serve).
All of this requires that the attendees enjoy the convention. Every part of the con's dealings with the attendees must be aimed at soothing them into a mood to part with their cold hard-earned moolah. Everyone on gophers and on staff needs to use the complete shine-them-on, high intensity customer service routine. Department heads can and should say no to giving away stuff for free, but know how to do it politely and in a way that the would-be moocher vaguely feels that they should say thank you.
Daytime events should be fun and encourage people to mix with each other. This is what programming is for. Gaming rooms, Internet rooms and video rooms should be thought of as Holographic Emergency Programming; if these are the best part of your program, your programming sucked. This requires a program ops (small cons can use a programmer lead/second), a bunch of panelists, and some adroit scheduling so that the Animal Art Panel doesn't cross the Live Animal Showing.
Evening events need to be aimed at selling room nights. Dances, concerts, as much of a stage review or 'auction' as local law will permit, etc. Not selling sex, that would be illegal. Selling the fantasy. Also keeping people up until they decide not to bother with the drive home, and just get a hotel room.
A word on security / safety / hospitality: the goal is to make sure that all attendees feel safe in attending the convention, and to protect the convention from theft or liability losses. This means a lot of boring behind the scenes stuff that should stay behind the scenes. This does not mean hassling guests or making threats. Only the security department head should kick a paying attendee out of the con, after consultation with the convention executive and typically after "three strikes" are earned. Non-paying attendees are trespassers, true, but should be treated carefully. Often a gentle suggestion that someone should really buy a badge, or a sign saying "This area is rented space for convention attendees only" is more effective than ineffectual bullying. Good security is like an English butler: invisible until needed, invincible once summoned.
Much of the above assumes "hotel." Outdoor venues can be lots of fun, but are weather dependent and require a whole new range of logistics support. Bring your own booze becomes bring your own restaurant . . . but you trade surly hotel managers for surly park rangers.
Edited Disclaimer: prior references clarifying that I was not speaking about a specific convention held on a specific date, which I did not attend, have been removed.
Arrogant title, I know, but I really don't have the time or energy to be involved anymore and this is important enough that people who want to see cons succeed should know it and think about it.
So, you want to run a con? You need two things: people and a venue. You can run a party with ten people in your living room; 30 people at a restaurant; 150 people at a small hotel; 500 at a medium hotel; or 2000 at a convention center. It's all a matter of scale and of money. Securing the venue requires (a) money and (b) a generous person with good credit, willing to book the restaurant / sign the hotel contract and risk being stuck with a $500 bar tab, or in the case of the hotel contract, personal credit damnation.
The people have to 1) want to come and 2) spend money in particular con-supporting ways. Two CaliFurs ago did a lot to enrich the walking distance McD's, for example, but this did nothing for CaliFur.
Why do people want to come to conventions? To hang out with other (cool) people (aka network), to attend cool events and find out things, to buy stuff they can't easily get elsewhere, and in the (often mistaken) belief that they will get laid. This last is the secret sauce for any convention, whether you are attracting accountants or science fiction writers or furries or pirates or lawyers or even Chiefs of Police. Really.
Prior advertising and good reputation are critical. No one will come to a con they don't know about. Conversely, fewer people will go to a con whose reputation is new or poor. (Some will go to watch the flameout, but as they rarely buy a badge, they should not be counted.)
What are the four (4) ways in which people spend money to support the con?
Convention attendance. "The badge." Anywhere from $20 to $60 times the membership. Prereg is cheaper because you need some of the money before the con (to make the hotel deposit, among other trivia.) This is the big one. Most of the budget is badge sales to pay for the hotel. People who don't buy a badge are stealing from the convention, folks, and this is why we need to keep deadbeats out of the paid areas. However, doing this rudely or poorly can alienate people and they don't come back next year. There are also the people who can't afford a badge anyway, who can be leveraged into slave labor (gophers!) and become paying customers in future years. Party badges, day badges, etc. are selling part of a badge to get at least some money out of the situation if someone can only make one day or the party nights.
Incidentals. This includes dealer's room tables, the con store (t-shirts!), the Art Show flats (or other display advertising), the kitty in the Con Suite, you name it. (Except charity events, which generally support an outside worthy cause.) This also includes the various sponsor levels, which translate as "give us money and we will bow before you, for you are worthy."
Room nights. This is where it gets sticky, so to speak. Hotels are in the business of selling rooms, not function space. If you sell out the hotel, they give you the function space for free. Sell enough room nights (credited to the con!) and you pay a lot less than market rate. Sell only a few room nights, and get out a check with lots of zeros on the end. This is why it's so important to reserve a room under the convention rate. Otherwise the con might not make its room block and the cost of the function space will skyrocket. The hotel does NOT give us a cut! but room nights make or break the budget.
Hotel incidentals. If the hotel makes enough money on the in-house restaurant, snack bar, etc, this may help offset other parts of the hotel contract, a little, on the bigger conventions. This could be selling hotel pizza at a snack bar, or a buffet in the hotel restaurant or by the pool, etc. (This is also why con staff tear their hair out when someone buys $100 of pizza and tries to give it away in the front lobby. This actually hurts the con and pisses off the hotel, which sees lost money and a food safety violation that goes on their record if caught.)
Nice things that don't directly enrich the con, but can help if not done poorly: holding a room party, providing free soda / snacks, possibly a controlled liquor bar IF salty snacks as well, buying people's art/stuff, buying things in the dealer's room. These encourage people to come back next year, encourage dealers to return, etc. but make no money towards this year's budget.
So the task of the successful con must be to persuade people to 1) kick down for a badge, 3) kick down for a three or four night stay, 2) spend money directly into the con's coffers, and 4) confine as much other spending as possible to the hotel restaurant and snack bar.
Note: economic downturn. Fortunately, people like to party in bad economic times. However they are less able to afford it.
So why buy a badge? To see the Art Show and Dealer's Room, to attend panels and events and concerts and dances, to hang out in convention space and to show that you're neither broke-poor nor a douchebag.
Why buy a hotel room? To sleep on site. Why sleep on site unless you are traveling from out of town? Fork 1: attract as many out of town attendees as possible (defined as living out of commute range). Fork 2: convince people that they are going to get laid. This requires people meeting long-distance or seeking after casual partners or renewing old acquaintances.
So every convention needs to be selling sex. Not blatantly, mind you, but very discreetly. More in a California Lottery style "Are you feeling lucky??" This is also the reason for max four in a hotel room; not just selling more rooms, but little sex happens in a 14 person crash pad and everyone knows it.
Why support the con? Cool shirts, chance to sell stuff to other people, pride in the event, etc. Feeling good, hanging out, having a good time.
Why eat at the hotel? Convenience. Thus the careful dance between having enough food in consuite that people don't feel deprived (and do feel snacky) but not so much that someone can eat off of it. Have to do a staff feed for the gophers (who otherwise might pass out in the halls!) but need to hide it from the attendees and sometimes the hotel. But none of this can stomach-block the hotel food, which is often overpriced and too spicy/specialized to appeal to most congoers. This requires negotiating a special menu with the hotel (read: easy and cheap for the kitchen to pre-make or short order serve).
All of this requires that the attendees enjoy the convention. Every part of the con's dealings with the attendees must be aimed at soothing them into a mood to part with their cold hard-earned moolah. Everyone on gophers and on staff needs to use the complete shine-them-on, high intensity customer service routine. Department heads can and should say no to giving away stuff for free, but know how to do it politely and in a way that the would-be moocher vaguely feels that they should say thank you.
Daytime events should be fun and encourage people to mix with each other. This is what programming is for. Gaming rooms, Internet rooms and video rooms should be thought of as Holographic Emergency Programming; if these are the best part of your program, your programming sucked. This requires a program ops (small cons can use a programmer lead/second), a bunch of panelists, and some adroit scheduling so that the Animal Art Panel doesn't cross the Live Animal Showing.
Evening events need to be aimed at selling room nights. Dances, concerts, as much of a stage review or 'auction' as local law will permit, etc. Not selling sex, that would be illegal. Selling the fantasy. Also keeping people up until they decide not to bother with the drive home, and just get a hotel room.
A word on security / safety / hospitality: the goal is to make sure that all attendees feel safe in attending the convention, and to protect the convention from theft or liability losses. This means a lot of boring behind the scenes stuff that should stay behind the scenes. This does not mean hassling guests or making threats. Only the security department head should kick a paying attendee out of the con, after consultation with the convention executive and typically after "three strikes" are earned. Non-paying attendees are trespassers, true, but should be treated carefully. Often a gentle suggestion that someone should really buy a badge, or a sign saying "This area is rented space for convention attendees only" is more effective than ineffectual bullying. Good security is like an English butler: invisible until needed, invincible once summoned.
Much of the above assumes "hotel." Outdoor venues can be lots of fun, but are weather dependent and require a whole new range of logistics support. Bring your own booze becomes bring your own restaurant . . . but you trade surly hotel managers for surly park rangers.
Edited Disclaimer: prior references clarifying that I was not speaking about a specific convention held on a specific date, which I did not attend, have been removed.
