[Lnc-business] Notice of proposed motion

Thu Sep 4 05:14:42 EDT 2014

Some follow-up thoughts to my previous message below:

Since I got a request to clarify this subject, please note that contracting
out the convention management is a different thing than using Helms Briscoe.

The 2016 process which used Helms Briscoe only used them for site selection
and contract negotiation.  That's it.  They do also offer event management
services, but we're not using them for that.

In contrast, contracting out the convention management involves letting
another entity plan and produce our convention as a business, with risk of
financial loss or gain depending on how well they do their job.  The
contractor creates the website, selects the speakers, promotes the event,
collects all the revenues from package sales, pays for all the equipment
rentals, buys the food for the meals, prints the binder materials, etc.
The LNC has almost no say in those decisions due to FEC restrictions.  The
FEC puts restrictions on how much information can flow between the LNC and
the contractor.

The FEC allows political parties to do this through what is called a
convention host committee.  In late 2002 the LNC created a legal entity
that is our party's convention host committee.  We can use it or not in any
given year.  To my knowledge, 2008 is the only time we used it.  BetteRose
Ryan, as the manager of that convention, wasn't just any private entity.
She was given legal control of our convention host committee entity.  She
set up a DBA name to operate under.  It was our convention host committee
doing business as a particular name that managed that convention.

The rules for how it works are rather detailed, and Bill Hall (as our legal
counsel at the time) managed some awkward conversations between the host
committee and the LNC during various LNC meetings that term.  The LNC
wanted to ask questions that she couldn't legally answer.  Bill sat there
and told her which questions she could or could not answer.  I don't think
they could even relay to us things like package sales figures, etc.

Looking again at Norm's motion, I am not sure how we would solicit bids for
hosting our convention.  It is my understanding that the only entity that
can do it is our convention host committee.  I suppose people could bid for
the privilege of becoming the host committee, but WE NEED LEGAL ADVICE FOR
WHATEVER RESTRICTIONS THERE MIGHT BE ON THIS PROCESS.  I am certainly no
expert on the subject.  Maybe a bidding process would be easy.  Maybe not.
If the host committee can't even tell us how many packages they have sold,
perhaps there are heavy restrictions on other parts of the process as
well.  I don't know if there are, but it's important that we find out
before we try to make such a decision.

-Alicia

On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 4:24 AM, Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com> wrote:

> Norm,
>
> I wanted to provide my feedback on your proposed resolution.  I'm with you
> on the 2.5 day event, which is our typical length for an off-year
> convention.  I'm with you on the timeframe for selection.
>
> I am reluctant to lock us into a date for the convention before we have
> even solicited any bids.  It's not like we'll just have our pick of dates.
> Hotels start booking up 4 years in advance.  When we were picking the 2016
> site in 2012, we had very limited choices of dates that were available.  If
> we are not open to other dates, we may end up missing a good opportunity.
>
> There is a huge negative side effect to contracting out our convention to
> a private entity, one that might not have occurred to you yet.  On the plus
> side, someone else is doing work that we might otherwise have to do.  But
> on the downside, we end up contracting away the right to all the convention
> revenues, but we cannot contract out all our convention expenses (staff
> travel/meals, large donor appreciation events, etc.)  I don't have copies
> of the relevant data, but if I remember correctly from past discussions,
> when we contracted out the 2008 convention to a private entity, the LNC
> still incurred expenses of around $30k, but we had no revenues to offset
> it.  That's not a trivial loss for an organization our size.  If we manage
> it in-house, we can often manage to at least break even, which may be $30k
> better than the net effect of the 2008 convention on our finances.
>
> -Alicia
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 10:21 AM, Norm Olsen <region1rep at donedad.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Please consider this message as "previous notice" of the following motion
>> to be made at the September 2014 meeting in Alexandria:
>>
>>
>>
>> Resolved:
>>
>> 1>     The 2018 national convention of the Libertarian National
>> Committee (LNC) will be held on the Memorial Day weekend of 2018 (25 thru
>> 28 May 2018).
>>
>> 2>     The schedule of official business of the 2018 national convention
>> of the LNC shall consist of 2½ days, commencing on the morning of Saturday,
>> May 26, 2018  and adjourning by 2PM on Monday, May 28, 2018.
>>
>> 3>     We, the LNC, would prefer to have a private entity produce the
>> convention and, in that regard, hereby directs the Chair and staff to
>> solicit bids from such private organizations.  Such bids must be
>> sufficiently detailed per Executive Director specifications and received by
>> the Executive Director by close of business at the Alexandria office on May
>> 1, 2015.
>>
>> 4>     Regardless of whether the LNC accepts a bid by a private
>> organization or not, the LNC shall choose the specific venue of the 2018
>> convention at, or prior to, the last LNC meeting in 2015.
>>
>>
>>
>> Informal rationale (in lieu of a whole slew of Whereas’s :>):
>>
>> 1>     Attendance statistics suggest that attendance of an off-year
>> convention on the Memorial Day weekend is significantly greater than
>> conventions on other dates.
>>
>> 2>     A convention prior to the commencement of summer activities and
>> following most final exams would enable more students to attend.
>>
>> 3>     A shorter convention on a holiday weekend will cost delegates
>> significantly less in base financial costs, and even greater savings in
>> “lost work” opportunity costs.
>>
>> 4>     A private organization which produces a convention can (and
>> usually do) accept corporate sponsorships and engage in other activities
>> which would reduce the cost of the actual convention to both the party and
>> its delegates.
>>
>> 5>     Either way, we need to make a decision as soon as reasonably
>> possible.  Actually, we should already be looking at preparations
>> (soliciting bids?) for the 2020 convention.
>>
>>
>>
>> Norm
>>
>> --
>>
>> Norman T Olsen
>>
>> Regional Representative, Region I
>>
>> Libertarian National Committee
>>
>> 7931 S Broadway, PMB 102
>>
>> Littleton, Colorado  80122-2710
>>
>> 303-263-4995
>>
>> Norman.Olsen at lp.org
>>
>>
>>
>> "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then
>> you win." -- Gandhi
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of
>> Nicholas Sarwark
>> Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2014 12:13 PM
>> To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>> Subject: [Lnc-business] Upcoming LNC Meeting - previous notice
>> requirements, agenda item requests, and reports
>>
>>
>>
>> All,
>>
>>
>>
>> A reminder that if you intend to introduce a motion at the upcoming LNC
>> meeting with previous notice, you'll need to send complete language of any
>> such motion to the LNC business list no later than September 6, 2014.
>>
>>
>>
>> If you would like an item added to the agenda for the meeting, please
>> send me an email with the agenda item, a brief description, and the time
>> you are requesting.  The agenda is of course amendable at the meeting, but
>> everything will go more smoothly and quickly if most items are included in
>> the proposed agenda.
>>
>>
>>
>> I will distribute a proposed agenda to the LNC no later than September
>> 13, 2014.  I would ask that any written reports from regional
>> representatives and officers be sent by that date as well to ensure all
>> members have sufficient time to review them prior to the in-person meeting.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Nick
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>
>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>
>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Lnc-business mailing list
>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20140904/f84d6477/attachment-0002.html>