Cost Update: the lunch conundrum
Costs keep rising. We thought San Diego was an aberration, but it’s more like “the new normal.”
AV costs ($3069) will add just under $50 to the cost of every registration fee.
Hotel adds 12.85% tax PLUS a 25% service charge = 37.85%! (Contract)
The buffet lunch initially planned for Friday will add about $80 to each full conference fee.
Resultant registration fees: $345 full, $195 half, $145 banquet-only
SOLUTIONS:
a. Not host any lunch, leading to a roughly $265 per person full conf fee, or
b. Have a full conference (with lunch) fee of $345 or a non-lunch full or half conference fee of $265.Plus/Minus
It’s better to have everyone sit together for lunch, but it costs a LOT!
It MIGHT be better to forgo lunch altogether because if we do both, there will be an “in” and “out” group during lunch, and we don’t want to encourage that type of division. The alternative is that everyone is on their own for ALL meals except the banquet.
We’ll discuss the relative merits of these two options during the meeting. We need to make a good faith effort to set fees to meet our costs!
VOTE:
Full with lunch—full is $345
Full without lunch—$265 (includes everything else)
Offer both—both of the above
FYI: HALF is normally everything AFTER the sit-down lunch.
Location and Date
UPDATE (12/9): Poll results (25 participants)
Location tally
Nashville 9 45% (Jim can’t attend here)
Dallas 7 35%
Kansas City 4 20 % (Rob lives nearby and has offered to help with planning)
UPDATE (11/26/24). Only four board members provided input to our methodology, so we’re moving ahead with a poll to ask for input.
Only those who plan to attend (plus “maybes”) will be asked to vote.
We’ll ask for input on content, cost, and activities during the conference and MWSA programs and benefits (open to all).
We’ll take member input to fix and approve the location during our Dec 11 board meeting.
San Diego, so now mid or east
We traditionally alternate West of Mississippi, East of MS, central US
San Diego, CA
New London, CT
New Orleans, LA
Virtual (Covid)
“
Albuquerque, NM (joint w SWW)
Charleston, SC
San Antonio, TX
Top 3 from conf survey: Nashville, Kansas City, Dallas
In the conference survey spreadsheet below, click on “Location Tally” (at the bottom of the spreadsheet) to see the results from San Diego attendees.
Vote by membership on location and/or date
If we’re soliciting input on the date, I’d ask for a date range: i.e., end of Sept, or mid-Oct, or early November, etc.)
Date range constrained by awards schedule—earlier than mid-September tough-to-impossible. December is too busy. Also, need to allow time for travel planning for awards finalists.
We need to nail down the location and date soon to allow planning
My preference is to have our membership vote by the end of THIS MONTH (November), approve in our Dec 11 meeting, and announce after approval.
Organizer? Cathcart if no one else wants to run it.