Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 15:27:04 -0400
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
From: Elspeth Kovar <ekovar at worldnet.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Trees... forest....
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

At 01:02 PM 10/20/2005, Mike B. wrote:
>At 12:38 PM 10/20/2005 -0400, Michael Walsh wrote:
>
> >One thing to keep in mind about growing the convention, even in small
> >increments, is hotel function space.  WIth the exception ofthe Maryland
> >Ballroom (that the hotel rented out for a wedding and proably made them
> >a boatload of money) we had pretty much all the function space.
>
>The big ballroom is as big as the consuite and dealer's room put together
>and if the con gets bigger, there might be enough money to add that to the
>function space.  If the con doesn't get bigger, there's no need for it.

Trust me, we were very lucky to get the ballrooms we did at the rate we
did.  Mike's correct: what we sometimes refer to as "weddings and
'mitzvahs" brings in a ton of money.  The people who rent space for them
generally don't know much about the hotel business so don't negotiate well
or at all and pay a lot for the function space.  They also buy a lot of
food, a lot of drinks, use a lot of staff, often pick up a number of
sleeping rooms sometimes close to rack, and bring in a lot of revenue.

We'd have to do much the same to get the largest ballroom. (I'll admit that
I also like the advantage of being able to casually say, "I want you to
make the most money you can and keep up the revenue stream.  Why don't we
do X and Y which will leave space Z available for weddings and such."  It's
useful in negotiations.)

>. . .
>While the con suite was good this year,
>it did seem a bit...cavernous.  People were in there all the time, but it
>was never even close to full.  A smaller room would have accommodated it
>very well.

That's a good point but had things gone as planned it wouldn't have been
that empty.  The intent had been to have it more like the old Discaves.  It
was Mike Nelson, I think, who for the first Capclave came up with the Town
Square concept that we're now using.  If rather than thinking of the space
as being in a hotel you imagine it as the town squares in small towns in
Europe and early America combined with the Neighborhood Local (a term
sometimes used for the neighborhood bar or pub) it helps.

Elspeth