Finances, was Re: Autocratting an event

[Dave Montuori <damont@wolfstar.com>]

Poster: Dave Montuori <damont@wolfstar.com>


> <snip lady Annarra's various pointers and experience gained
> autocrating Emerald and other events, since the age of 14>
> ..>
> > 1. Everyone has fun (including you)
> > 2. You don't lose money
> > 3. You don't run out of toilet paper

> ---->I agree with almost everthing you said,except rule #2.I
> believe that it is sometimes not possible to offer a good event
> and come in under or even on budget....
>     Which of course leads to another
> arguement,that events aren't suspose to make money. That if a
> group is in nead to funds it should make them the way other
> social groups do: fund raisers. This to me, seems highly
> preferable to charging more for a event than is needed.

In many areas people are "fund-raised out." Either the same folks are
doing fund raisers for every group (scouts, band, soccer, PTA, SCA, etc.),
and are tired of doing them, or people are tired of getting hit up for
money. Or both. The result is the same: fund raisers for SCA don't
generate the sort of money we'd like.

I am a firm believer in pay-as-you-go because I have seen the opposite
side of the coin (not in the SCA): going into debt to be spiff led to
utter disaster.

> Why are events so much more expensive than when I joined 6 or 7 years
> ago? Is it inflation? The rising cost of sites? Do people on this list
> really believe that we are offering more services to our guest(read each
> other) that warrent the additional cost?

Up here it's definitely the cost of available sites. Many churches won't
rent out space, and many public schools require far too much paper (both
quintuplicate forms and legal tender). Other sites have other difficulties
for us. The remaining supply is outstripped by demand; it's a seller's
market up here for sites and they know it. The result is high site fees.
OTOH we are still able to put together cool feasts for relatively small
amounts of money.

Evan


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