Re: Minicon 40

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fredcritter

14 April 2004 @ 10:03 am

Re: Minicon 40

Sent today:

To: Minn-Stf Board of Directors
From: Fredcritter
Subject: Re: Minicon 40
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 09:39:16

I’m sure Greg Ketter will do a very businesslike job of running your fundraiser for you.

I personally think there are better and less labor-intensive ways of raising money, but that’s not my call to make.

Good luck!
--
Fredcritter • “If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.” —Thomas Pynchon

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12 comments | Leave a comment

12 comments —

( 12 comments — Leave a comment )

redbird on April 14th, 2004 08:12 am (UTC)
[*]

In the best rassef tradition, I'm requesting a footnote/more information. Like, is this actually what Greg thinks he's agreed to?

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fredcritter on April 14th, 2004 06:14 pm (UTC)
Re: [*]

I don't know what Greg thinks. From where I sit, however, raising funds appears to be the Minn-Stf Board's only concern. Of course, I could be wrong. I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken…

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davidschroth on April 15th, 2004 08:15 am (UTC)
Re: [*]

For the last couple of years, cutting expenses also appeared to be a major concern of the board. A concern prompted by the fact that MnStf was/is spending more money than it takes in.

The income/expenses gap has shrunk, due to the efforts of the previous boards, but the gap remains.

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elisem on April 14th, 2004 10:41 am (UTC)
another [*]

Um, I've been in the workshop and not keeping track, so I have kind of a dumb (and probably accidentally inflammatory) question: was there more than one proposal?

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kaustin on April 14th, 2004 11:00 am (UTC)
Re: another [*]

was there more than one proposal?

Yes.

Depending on how you count it there were as many as four Minicon 40 proposals.

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fredcritter on April 14th, 2004 06:02 pm (UTC)
Re: another [*]

I had proposed that this would be an ideal time for the club to take a break from Minicon (after all, there were no Chairbeings and no hotel contract as of a week before Minicon 39). I received two replies from the Board: 1) "Sounds good but what is Minn-Stf going to do for money?" and 2) "Thank you for your input."

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minnehaha on April 14th, 2004 12:03 pm (UTC)

I agree that there are easier ways for Minn-StF to make its money than Minicon. I also think it's trivial to add a $5 "Minn-StF Annual Operating Fund" charge to each membership. I bought my Minicon membership for $30 last weekend, that's rediculously cheap.

B

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fredcritter on April 14th, 2004 06:07 pm (UTC)

I think that Minicon = fundraiser is missing the point. That is, if the only, or even the primary, reason the club has for hosting Minicon is its need for funds, with a bit of fear and force of habit thrown in for spice, I think it's time to do some serious rethinking.

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jbru on April 14th, 2004 06:19 pm (UTC)

I think that Minicon = fundraiser is missing the point.

I agree totally. If all we wanted to do was make money, we could easily have kept running the Big Minicons with a few modifications. (Paid staff, more diverse content a la Dragon Con, etc.) For me, Minicon is about different things and money is an important thing to not lose and a nice thing to make.

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dd_b on April 15th, 2004 12:02 pm (UTC)

Starting as far back as 1992, we started trying to run the big Minicons more effectively (with fewer risks of disasters and less burnout).

We failed pretty miserably.

The particular jump of paid staff working along with volunteers is an especially scary one.

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redbird on April 16th, 2004 06:08 pm (UTC)
Another foolish question

If Minicon is a fundraiser (rather than being expected to break even) for Minn-stf, what is the club doing with the funds that it's raising?

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fredcritter on April 21st, 2004 05:28 am (UTC)
Re: Another foolish question

If you want a real answer to your question, you'll need to ask a Board member or somebody else in a position to know. But I'll hazard some guesses for you. Lessee, we're no longer paying for Tales Of The Unanticipated, so that's off the Minn-Stf budget. I suppose the club would pay for a RUNE if there were to be one….

Hmmmmmmmmmmm….

Okay. Um. Hmm. There's the storage locker, where we keep the Artshow panels, Parties mixing & serving bowls, and other miscellaneous Minicon stuff. Uhhhh. There's the Post Office Box….

Oh yeah, I believe the club pays like $50 for munchies to the host for each meeting, but I could be wrong about the amount — that seems awfully darn high to me.

I think we kick in something to help defray the cost of Minn-Stf/Minneapolis in '73/Minicon-promotion type parties at conventions, although I don't know if it's any more than the $50 or so given for meeting munchies — it certainly isn't enough to cover the actual expense of supplies for a reasonable con party.

… And that's all I can think of. I may not be correct even about those. As I said, if you really want to know, your best bet would be to ask someone who's in a position to actually know. And care…

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