Like I said, I agree that $95 is great. I just thought we had a cheaper option and I wish we would make a point of keeping prices as cheap as possible because I'm 99% sure we would get better attendance if we made that a priority.
Maybe next year.
Mal: Does she understand that? River: She understands. She doesn't comprehend.
'Objects In Space'
F2F5: I forget that everyone isn't us
Plan what to do, what to wear (you can never go wrong with a corset), and get ready for the next BuffistaCon.
Trudy Booth - Mar 19, 2011 4:35:52 pm PDT #6754 of 12706
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart
sj - Mar 19, 2011 4:39:13 pm PDT #6755 of 12706
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
I think the price of flights to F2F locations is probably more of a problem for people money wise than the cost of the hotel usually is.
javachik - Mar 19, 2011 4:42:16 pm PDT #6756 of 12706
Our wings are not tired.
I was just going to say that, SJ. $20 difference for hotel rooms is much less a variable than the cost of flights.
As for attendance, interest it seems to be waning every year. Perhaps the novelty has simply worm off for a number of people? There might well simply be a group of hardcore enthusiasts who would be served very well by planning for them by them and not worrying too much about those who choose not to attend.
sj - Mar 19, 2011 4:46:22 pm PDT #6757 of 12706
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
As for attendance, interest it seems to be waning every year. Perhaps the novelty has simply worm off for a number of people? There might well simply be a group of hardcore enthusiasts who would be served very well by planning for them by them and not worrying too much about those who choose not to attend.
I was thinking about this the other day, and I wonder if part of it isn't that many people are in different situations than when the F2Fs first started. It seems to me that there are far more people on the board now with families, mortages, and other obligations that didn't have those things when I first joined the buffistas. Those things do often make it more difficult to travel. Not to mention that the economy isn't as good as it used to be.
javachik - Mar 19, 2011 5:11:55 pm PDT #6758 of 12706
Our wings are not tired.
Good points, sj.
Also, I wasn't implying that cost isn't a factor. It just seems that the interest isn't there in general the way it used to be, as evidenced in the historical F2F discussions.
NoiseDesign - Mar 19, 2011 5:14:30 pm PDT #6759 of 12706
Our wings are not tired
I'm curious what people consider a cheap option. To me a hotel room for $99 is a very cheap option. For most of the cities that I travel to I expect a decent hotel room to be $159-$209 a night. Perhaps we could lower hotel costs by going to small off market cities, staying in the suburbs, and then optioning for a Motel 6, but I'm not certain that is where everyone would like to end up. When I stay in smaller markets for travel I usually opt for a Holiday Inn Express, which is typically a decent room and is present even in small towns, but even there I usually expect to pay $99/night.
sj - Mar 19, 2011 5:16:47 pm PDT #6760 of 12706
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
ND, I'm with you in considering $99 a night to be a very cheap option. As I said, airfare is more of a concern for me.
Pix - Mar 19, 2011 5:21:51 pm PDT #6761 of 12706
The status is NOT quo.
I agree. I think airfare is often the biggest money factor, but so are other factors like children and home expenses. I think waning attendance also links to the fact that we often haven't nailed down plans until a few months (or less) before the event. I agree with Java, though--I think we should just make plans and hope people can come, and scale back if the numbers are low or cancel if a year goes by without much interest. I also plan to re-propose the October F2F pimping and planning month this year, fwiw.
Trudy Booth - Mar 19, 2011 5:25:53 pm PDT #6762 of 12706
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart
Oh holy cow, $95 is great, I've said it 95 times -- but if it were a priority and we built in a enough time and people we could get it cheaper and have better attendance.
And, people clearly aren't as into it. And we could deffinately consider changing the procedures.
But for nine years running we had a big "I just can't afford to come and I thought I could" at the last minute contingent which seems to have remained pretty much proportional (with a New Orleans bubble). I doubt that will change with number ten.
The smaller the group, however, the bigger hit each individual takes. I'll go. I always go. And I'll take the hit.
And then next year I'll post this post for the ninth time. It's tradish.
(Or maybe I'll just start C&Ping them ;)
sj - Mar 19, 2011 5:27:08 pm PDT #6763 of 12706
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
I also plan to re-propose the October F2F pimping and planning month this year, fwiw.
I still think this is a good idea too. The holidays seem to eat up a lot of people's energy and by the time we've recovered it is getting close to F2F time.
However, I would prefer not to cancel a year altogether unless there is no interest at all. I still enjoyed seeing people last year, and even though it was a very small group, I think we still managed to enjoy ourselves.