[Lnc-business] FW: convention duration and costs

Wed Sep 17 22:16:08 EDT 2014

It costs the average delegate about $2,000 out of pocket to attend a four
day convention.  Add lost pay, or the value of two vacation days, and the
true cost is about $3,000.  Thats $750 a day.

Let me make you an offer.  I have single day tickets providing participation
Libertarian National Convention for an entire day of By-Law debate for the
low low price of $750 a pop.  Any takers out there?  How about a days worth
of haggling over the Platform for the low low price of $750?  Any takers?
How about a real deal: Two days of haggling over what the meaning of is is
for the low low price of $1,400.  Any takers?

Given that we have been around for 43 years, our success in the political
arena is rather poor.  Many of our members would say dismal.  Is our lack of
success because our By-Laws are not up to snuff?  I know, Im out of touch.
Our lack of success is because our Platform hasnt been tinkered with
enough.  Or, maybe our lack of success is due to the fact that we habitually
violate rule 23.4 (iii)(g) on page 472 of Roberts Rules of Order.

Of course, Im being facetious.  We should be putting on conventions our
members can afford to attend, where members will participate in political
action, where the delegates are better activists when they return home.
Four day conventions on a non-holiday weekend make our conventions so
expensive that roughly only a third (half on presidential years) of the
delegate slots are actually filled. We need to put on conventions where
1,000+ think it worth the time and money to attend, especially in the off
years.  We need to put on conventions that young people, especially
students, are anxious to attend and can afford to do so.  Saving a few bucks
on the room rate would be a welcome improvement, but that represents only a
small portion of the true cost of attending a convention.

Our members want more political action, not more governance. 

Norm

PS>  Cost of attending the Columbus convention:

Airfare:
$   500

Hotel (4 nights @ $130)
$   520

Airport Transportation (to, from, to, from, plus parking) $   100

Meals/Sundries/Tips at airports:
$   100

Gold Convention Package:
$   400

Meals (not covered by Gold Package)                                     $
200

Entertainment/Beverages/Sundries                                        $
100

Lost Pay/Value of 2 vacation days
$1,000

Total Cost
$2,920

Cost per day
$  730

For 400 delegates              $ 1,168,000

Did we get our moneys worth?  The surest way to reduce the cost of
attending a convention is to have a shorter convention on a holiday weekend.
To have a better convention that 1,000+ delegates will attend requires much
less governance and much more activism.

--

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

From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of
Scott L.
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2014 8:38 AM
To: lnc-business at lp.org
Subject: [Lnc-business] FW: convention duration and costs

Starchild asked me to forward the petition below to the LNC.

   Scott Lieberman

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

 Re: [Lnc-votes] [Lnc-business] convention duration and costs

      Excellent call, Daniel! We agree staff's list of unneeded expenses
that could cut our national convention costs in half so we spend $60,000
rather than $120,000 should be documented. As members of the Libertarian
Party, we share Daniel's interest in seeing this information shared, and
seeing it acted upon. 

      While we welcome and thank Wes Benedict for coming forward with this
information, however, we do not like the idea of shorter conventions as a
way of saving money. Conventions are vital to our party's governance, and
they happen only once every two years. We want a more bottom-up party with
more time at conventions for members to engage in party governance (update
platform and bylaws, pass resolutions, and hear debates among candidates for
LNC positions), not less. At our June 2014 convention, there was an
important resolution that did not get considered and debated because we ran
out of time, and few proposals were considered from the floor. For those who
find the current format boring, longer conventions would give us time to
work in lots of fun stuff and local activism as well as our business
sessions. There should also be a full, open investigation by the Convention
Site Selection Committee into holding conventions at less expensive,
non-traditional venues.

      By the way, we request all of you on the LNC to include your names and
contact info on your email messages to the LNC list, as Wes Benedict did
below, to make it clearer who is saying what. That way LP members reading
messages forwarded from the list will be able to clearly identify who is
saying what, and how to reach them.

 For liberty,

 Starchild (California)

Additional signers subsequently signed on:

Mike Shipley (Arizona)

Sharona Nelson (Kentucky)

Roderick Long (Alabama)

Bruce Majors (District of Columbia)

Jerry Dixon (California)

P.S. - Would a member of the LNC please forward this message to the LNC list
so it appears there for the record, since we cannot post?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>> On Sep 1, 2014, at 6:16 PM, lnc-votes at hq.lp.org wrote:

>> 

>> Wes,

>> 

>> I am a little lost here..Not sure where Mr Olsens referenced email is.
If there are blatant unneeded expenses then please share those here with us
Wes. Consider this a formal request from the District 7 Regional Alternate
for the information.

>> 

>>    Daniel Hayes

>> On Aug 31, 2014, at 4:07 PM, Wes Benedict <wes.benedict at lp.org> wrote:

>> 

>>> I'm confident a survey of members would show people would prefer shorter
conventions. (I think that's what Mr. Olsen is suggesting below.) I don't
recall that question being asked in a survey in recent years. But I do hear
the complaint quite often that the conventions are too long, too boring, too
much parliamentary theatrics, and too expensive. Shorter would be less
boring and less expensive. Training could more easily be fit in before the
convention for those that enjoy hanging around for more days. And for those
that try to squeeze in local sight-seeing, a shorter convention would make
it easier for delegates to join their families. One less average hotel night
per convention would be a great goal.

>>> 

>>> LP Texas had over 300 attendees at its 2014 convention at a cheap venue.
I don't know the total budget, but I'd like be interested in knowing. And
I'll take a guess it cost $25,000. 

>>> 

>>> The 2014 national convention in Ohio cost over $120,000.

>>> 

>>> I'm pretty confident Robert Kraus and I could design a pretty good 2018
national convention for 400 to 700 delegates that cost $60,000. That's
because he and I know of a lot of costs at the 2010, 2012, & 2014
conventions that could have been reduced or avoided. 

>>> 

>>> $60,000 versus $120,000. Our services and advice are available upon
request (but preferably not this coming week due to other priorities).

>>> 

>>> Wes Benedict, Executive Director

>>> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.

>>> New address: 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314

>>> (202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.org

>>> facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational

>>> Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership

>>> On 8/31/2014 1:21 PM, Norm Olsen wrote:

>> 

>>>> 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.

>>> 

>>> _______________________________________________

>>> Lnc-business mailing list

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