<div dir="ltr">Mr. Benedict, thanks for this list. Comments below:<div><br></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px">1. Choose a hotel that offers reasonably low pricing and terms. For example, in 2014 and 2012, staff recommended lower cost hotels than were chosen. There was a much lower cost hotel in Las Vegas (but still good quality). But still convenient to fly to for most of the U.S.</span></div>
<div><br></div><div>I'd add that the Red Rock is not all that easy to fly to. Most on-strip hotels, in my experience, are cheaper, still have convention halls (I don't know the costs though) and are easier to get to.</div>
<div><br></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px">2. Memorial Day weekend conventions typically cost less than other weekends. If candidates are too busy campaigning, that's fine. I think the extra attendance at Memorial Weekend conventions is higher than the loss of candidates who prefer campaigning.</span></div>
<div><br></div><div>No real opinion other than to note that students and educators would probably find it easier to go on Memorial Day.</div><div><br><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px">4. Those lunches and dinners cost like $40 to $80 per person at the hotels we've been choosing. Yet, we don't usually have a food and beverage minimum that requires us to buy as much as we do, and could choose hotels that minimize that.</span></div>
<div><br></div><div>Don't we charge more than that? We could keep the price the same and pay less, but if the quality of the meal falls, expect less to attend.</div><div><br><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px">5. A/V costs could be cut significantly. $10k+. Use the screens in some of the breakout rooms that LPHQ has. Use a single screen at the front of the convention hall.</span></div>
<div><br></div><div>I've long felt that we overdo AV. I also think we shouldn't have any breakout sessions, but that's a separate point.</div><div><br><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px">7. Let staff make the convention website--which doesn't take long (we did that this year), but not in prior years.</span></div>
<div><br></div><div>I would tend to agree with this.</div><div><br><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px">8. Cut back on the speaker travel, meal and hotel expenses. You can get decent speakers for free or at lower cost. And you can have fewer meals and meal speakers. That way delegates can mingle more, or go to training sessions. You could probably sell speaking slots in some cases. </span></div>
<div><br></div><div>This can be tied into our mission quite easily. Use elected officials and candidates as speakers. Most will speak for free. Don't stick elected officials in an elected officials panel that runs opposite LNC elections.</div>
<div><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px">11. Staff tends to not like spending lots of money because we have to raise most of it. Non-staff convention organizers have typically been given authority to spend without oversight on many expenditures. With more oversight, suggested savings can be proposed.</span></div>
<div><br></div><div>I would disagree with this. While I see the benefit, I've been sent to negotiate without the authority to actually do anything, I usually haven't gotten good results. I think the logistics costs of appointing committees without power overwhelms the savings from oversight. I'm also not convinced that the LNC would significantly reduce spending by attempting to manage these committees and approve all their spending.</div>
<div><br><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px">12. "Right-size" the space. Which means be open to reserving a slightly smaller space. If attendance starts shooting through the roof, then let half the states sit in "class-room" style seating (with tables in front of each row of chairs), and the other half of the states sit in "theatre-style" seating in the back third of the room (no table in front of them--you keep your papers on your lap or under your chair).</span><br>
</div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.333333969116211px"><br></span></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">I oppose any setup with the potential to make some states more equal than others. Let's right-size in a way that still ensures all states can be treated equally. We could look to actual attendance and consider the allocation of nearby states, which even if they don't fill usually are likely to fill when the convention is near them.</font></div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">However, I'm hesitant about the LNC spending a lot of time discussing all of these, since most of them belong to committees anyway, and those committees don't need micromanagement from the LNC. I think the list Mr. Benedict provided could easily be given to the appropriate committees and we can proceed from there.</font></div>
<div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">Joshua Katz</font></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr">Joshua A. Katz<div>Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)</div>
</div></div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 11:15 AM, Wes Benedict <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:wes.benedict@lp.org" target="_blank">wes.benedict@lp.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div>Dan, I'll just list several areas where
I see large savings potential without looking up all the details
and writing up a formal report. I believe a formal request would
have to come from the chair, the LNC, or a convention committee.<br>
<br>
1. Choose a hotel that offers reasonably low pricing and terms.
For example, in 2014 and 2012, staff recommended lower cost hotels
than were chosen. There was a much lower cost hotel in Las Vegas
(but still good quality). But still convenient to fly to for most
of the U.S.<br>
2. Memorial Day weekend conventions typically cost less than other
weekends. If candidates are too busy campaigning, that's fine. I
think the extra attendance at Memorial Weekend conventions is
higher than the loss of candidates who prefer campaigning.<br>
3. Shorten the convention a little (as Mr. Olsen suggested). <br>
4. Those lunches and dinners cost like $40 to $80 per person at
the hotels we've been choosing. Yet, we don't usually have a food
and beverage minimum that requires us to buy as much as we do, and
could choose hotels that minimize that.<br>
5. A/V costs could be cut significantly. $10k+. Use the screens
in some of the breakout rooms that LPHQ has. Use a single screen
at the front of the convention hall.<br>
6. Those vertical state delegation signs used in Columbus cost
about $2,500 but we already had a set we could have re-used. Now
we have two sets.<br>
7. Let staff make the convention website--which doesn't take long
(we did that this year), but not in prior years.<br>
8. Cut back on the speaker travel, meal and hotel expenses. You
can get decent speakers for free or at lower cost. And you can
have fewer meals and meal speakers. That way delegates can mingle
more, or go to training sessions. You could probably sell speaking
slots in some cases. <br>
9. Keep staff travel expenses to a minimum. That was done very
well this year. <br>
10. Printed material costs could be cut in half by printing
earlier at low cost printers instead of at the last minute at
FedEx-Kinkos. <br>
11. Staff tends to not like spending lots of money because we have
to raise most of it. Non-staff convention organizers have
typically been given authority to spend without oversight on many
expenditures. With more oversight, suggested savings can be
proposed.<br>
12. "Right-size" the space. Which means be open to reserving a
slightly smaller space. If attendance starts shooting through the
roof, then let half the states sit in "class-room" style seating
(with tables in front of each row of chairs), and the other half
of the states sit in "theatre-style" seating in the back third of
the room (no table in front of them--you keep your papers on your
lap or under your chair).<br>
<br>
It all adds up fast. If all of the above were done to a
significant degree, perhaps a $40,000 convention could be done.
But I'd keep the budget at $60k to leave plenty of wiggle room. <br>
<br>
If staff were formally requested to provide a convention proposal,
I'd start by brainstorming with Robert Kraus about where a few
good cities might be with potential for low cost venues (still
nice national chain hotels--but ones with lower than average
prices), then I'd pick a few good hotels from those cities. That's
not been our process recently. It's more been about selecting a
state or city. Then picking a hotel. Cost has been further down on
the list of priorities. <br>
<br>
Yes I'm too busy, but hopefully this email has the potential so
help save at least $10,000 to $20,000 in future savings. <br>
I'm fully expecting the LNC to steal all of my ideas above and not
stick staff with putting on the convention. : )<div class=""><br>
<br>
<br>
<div>Wes Benedict, Executive Director<br>
<small><small>Libertarian National Committee, Inc.<br>
<b>New address: 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314</b><br>
<a href="tel:%28202%29%20333-0008%20ext.%20232" value="+12023330008" target="_blank">(202) 333-0008 ext. 232</a>, <a href="mailto:wes.benedict@lp.org" target="_blank">wes.benedict@lp.org</a><br>
<a href="http://facebook.com/libertarians" target="_blank">facebook.com/libertarians</a> @LPNational<br>
Join the Libertarian Party at: <a href="http://lp.org/membership" target="_blank">http://lp.org/membership</a></small></small><br>
<br>
</div></div><div><div class="h5">
On 9/1/2014 9:16 PM, Daniel Hayes wrote:<br>
</div></div></div><div><div class="h5">
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>Wes,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
I am a little lost here..Not sure where Mr Olsen’s 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.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Daniel Hayes</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>On Aug 31, 2014, at 4:07 PM, Wes Benedict <<a href="mailto:wes.benedict@lp.org" target="_blank">wes.benedict@lp.org</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div>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.<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
The 2014 national convention in Ohio cost over $120,000.<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
$60,000 versus $120,000. Our services and advice are
available upon request (but preferably not this coming
week due to other priorities).<br>
<br>
<div>Wes Benedict, Executive
Director<br>
<small><small>Libertarian National Committee, Inc.<br>
<b>New address: 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA
22314</b><br>
<a href="tel:%28202%29%20333-0008%20ext.%20232" value="+12023330008" target="_blank">(202) 333-0008 ext. 232</a>, <a href="mailto:wes.benedict@lp.org" target="_blank">wes.benedict@lp.org</a><br>
<a href="http://facebook.com/libertarians" target="_blank">facebook.com/libertarians</a>
@LPNational<br>
Join the Libertarian Party at: <a href="http://lp.org/membership" target="_blank">http://lp.org/membership</a></small></small><br>
<br>
</div>
On 8/31/2014 1:21 PM, Norm Olsen wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">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.</blockquote>
<br>
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