<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div>Wes,<br></div><div><br>Regarding your suggestions for keeping convention costs down, I agree with some of it, disagree with some of it, and in other instances would need more info to have an opinion. <br>
<br>Overall, while I'm sure we could find some areas to trim, I am very skeptical that we could get costs down to $40k - $60k without seriously impacting the quality of the event. I don't so much care about the raw cost of the event, so much as I care about the cost relative to the revenues. If our costs were $200,000, I'd be happy as long as our revenues were at least $200,000 as well. <br>
<br></div>Sure we can cut food costs by offering fewer organized meals with speakers...but keep in mind that if we're not going to charge a registration fee to delegates, we depend completely on those meal events to foot the bills of the general business session. Eliminating too many revenue-generating items can quickly leave us in a financial hole.<br>
<br></div>Regarding item #1 in the itemized list of suggestions, you stated regarding the 2012 site selection process, "There was a much lower cost hotel in Las Vegas
(but still good quality)." Would you remind me which hotel you're referring to? <br><br>I had much earlier (before I was even on the convention committee) gotten 2012 proposals from some mid-strip Vegas hotels with room-night pricing in the $159 - $189 range, which was too far off the mark to even make the starting list. I was thinking that Vegas just wasn't a feasible option until another local suggested I try the Red Rock. We had a proposal from the Hilton (off-strip, though you could walk to the north end or take the monorail to the middle/south for about $5) with room-night pricing of $129 (with up to a 6% increase allowed by the hotel), with various pricey union a/v requirements, and we'd have to rent vendor space by the sq-ft. We did have a proposal from the South Point, which is well off-strip, and their room-night rates were $89-$99, but they required $100,000 of food and beverage spending. Our average F&B spending over the most recent 3 conventions for which I have data has been $70,000. Cheaper on the room rate doesn't mean cheaper on the LNC's wallet.<br>
<br></div>As a side note, during and after the 2012 convention I've heard several people who have never been involved in our convention processes allege that we picked the "most expensive place in Vegas" for 2012. Baloney! All factors considered, they were the best overall deal we got in Vegas. Just because you can go to the internet and get an inventory-clearance room or two for $59 does NOT mean you can easily get a block of 400 rooms at that rate. Strip hotels tend to charge premiums for their convention space, and their union requirements tend to substantially inflate a/v costs, which are a significant part of our convention budgets. Most of the strip hotels are looking for those MASSIVE conventions, and we are just minnows in their pond.<br>
<br></div>I do agree there are ways to save on A/V. I don't think we can go to just one screen in the convention hall, though. In landscape orientation, delegates on the edges of the room would have difficulty reading the screen in the center. In portrait orientation, the delegates in the back won't be able to read the one screen at the front. But I do think we should look into buying our own convention hall projectors. The projector that staff has already is fine for small settings like LNC/committee meetings, but it is nowhere near bright enough for convention hall use. The high-end ones needed for the convention hall are expensive to buy, but we can probably buy them for less than the outrageous rental rates for them in hotels. And we could re-use them at future conventions. I think they would pay for themselves quickly, even with the extra fee we'd have to pay for the a/v staff to hook up something other than their own equipment.<br>
<br></div>The last point I'll make here is that I completely disagree with and am confused by the assertion that, "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></div>I'm familiar with the process used for 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016. In none of those cases did we just pick the state/city we wanted and then go searching for bids in only those locations. Cost (not just room cost for delegates, but overall cost to both delegate and LNC, including food/beverage requirements, average airfare, proximity to cheap restaurants for delegates, etc.) was a primary factor that narrowed down the bids to the finalists. We didn't eliminate cities/states. We eliminated bids based on their specs. We started with at least 33 bids from 21 cities for the 2016 search. We started with 40 bids from 18 cities for the 2014 search.<br>
<div><div><div><div><br><div><div>-Alicia<br><br></div><div><br><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 8:15 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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