Response the the "NW Filkcon" Idea

From: Karen Rall <quarong at eskimo.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 1996 13:17:36 -0800 (PST)

        PROPOSAL = A NW Folk Music Convention for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Community. With some 15 pages (not counting parties quoting message portions back at one another) of insightful discussion to consider, this is not an easy response for me to write. Personally, I am excited by the *idea* of a filkcon in the NW. However, given that I have a decent amount of experience in organizing such events, (more than the majority of the other participants on this list apparently), I feel compelled to play "devil's advocate" in this conversation. John Bunnell did a very nice job at raising several of the practical issues that would need to be considered in such an undertaking, and I'd like to continue that thread now. My remarks below are more or less in the order ideas were brought up on the mailing list.

        SPONSORSHIP = A couple of you recognized that one of the largest obstacles to organizing an event like this is obtaining the financial backing necessary to make it possible. I was one of the three principal organizers of Impirecon 1: It was a Saturday/Sunday Star Trek con in Seattle in 1991 (specifically at what was then the SeaTac Radisson), with local Greg Bear as the GOH & about 180 attendees. We had one track of panel programming and another of videos, a costume ball and a dance, space for gaming, merchants and hospitality. We also had the administrative efforts for volunteers, security, con office, compiling a program book, and doing a fair amount of publicity. The chairman's father gave him $5000 and yet the con still came out in the red by over $500 to the best of my memory, though I would argue that perhaps the money could have been better managed by those who controlled the purse-strings (not me) to have avoided this. It would be very diffcult to find private individuals willing to donate this kind of money out of their own pocket, for something with a very questionable return.

        As for the suggestion of finding an organization such as OSFCI or the Seattle equivalent, NWSFS, this is a more feasible alternative, but not one I currently would hold a lot of hope for. NWSFS is the agency that sponsors Norwescon, publishes the "Westwind" monthly zine, and coordinates a variety of social events (parties, movie trips, etc) in the greater Seattle area. There are no real filkers part of this group, and the con itself has varied from negative to minimally supportive in its attitude towards music activities. (Norwes 16 was a positive exception, and that track was primarily pulled from the local mundane folk community, not filk.) As for the Portland bodies, about two years ago a couple of us approached some of their musically oriented members with the tentative idea of organizing a NW filk con. The basic answer was "Yes we love filk, and like seeing it get decent attention at cons. However, running a con specifically for it would mean we'd have to worry about hotel contracts, hospitality, security, etc. We've found it's just better to let other silly fools who enjoy such things organize them & provide the backbone of a general con; and then we'll step in and plan as much music programming as they'll let us get away with." In short, I would not say "don't bother approaching them with this proposal", it's entirely possible that their composition and interests have changed sufficiently to be interested, particularly if they were handed a well written out plan indicating how they would benefit by supporting this activity. This is of course assuming that they currently have the capital to spare for a project like this, that whatever excess money they have in their bank account at the moment is not already slated for *their* next event. Obtaining sponsorship from one of the existing fan coalitions might be possible, but I would not start counting your decimal places just yet.

        TIME & SPACE = These principles are so often unseparable, I'm not even going to attempt to deal with them individually. The original proposal was to create a filkcon as a replacement for Dreamcon, a general interest event of about 1000 members held Halloween weekend in Everett, WA for 10 years. Real honestly, this always sucked: The date was too crammed between the handful of local cons in Bellingham, E WA, & ID which inhabited Aug & Sept; and Orycon in mid November. The location was in a city that seemed determined to crash our parties with drug dealers and underage rebels; the Quality Inn in particular had a lousy layout for programming and accessibility, and after the problems of the final two yrs won't want to see another SF con until the management changes a couple of times (which was how Norwes ended up back in the SeaTac Red Lion :).

        I think the Greater Portland area would be a better option for the following reasons: One, it would maximize the accessibility for all of us who are currently considering this crazy idea, coming from Everett to Eugene. Two, as the Portland sponsoring organization OSFCI is the most likely possibility to back us, they'll want their offspring close at hand. Three, we would be drawing from the San Fran, LA, and Phoenix area filk communities for attendees and guests; and Portland is just enough closer to them to be more appealing than Seattle. Four, keeping it in a major metropolitan area increases one's options for a hotel, raises the likelyhood of having a critical core of committee members all within a local phone call, and makes it easier (ie more appealing) to commute to. (Airport area hotels are often good options as they tend to have more reasonable rates that downtown sites, while still having more meeting space than small town or out of the way hotels.)

        As far as dates are concerned, probably something in the June to August corridor would be best, assuming Westercon is not in the NW that yr (which it is about every other yr). You'd still have the problems of competition from SCA, street fairs and folk musical events, and mundane vacations; but you've at least avoided Orycon in Nov and Norwescon in March. Late January would also be an option if Rustycon ever dies. We'd also want to be attentive to the couple of national music cons, namely OVFF (Ohio) in mid-Oct, Toronto in late April, and San Fran's BayCon & Consonance in March; because while they may not be in our neighborhood, the last one especially will be pulling from the same crowd we wish to attract. Actually, given that Consonance is a biannual event, (because they discovered that the effort outweighed the return when they tried it every year), we might want to take their off-year and distribute out the load a little better. (Just our luck however, their next one is planned for 1998, which means the off-yr would conflict with when Westercon is generally in the NW; making *every* con, much less a specialized start-up, tougher to organize.)

        COMMITTEE = Douglas was correct in saying that to organize something like this you'd need about 5 members for the core committee. Ideally, they should all live in the same local area (in order to facilitate meetings and planning), have some minimum amount of con running experience (or other life experience) in their chosen areas, and already be at least moderately familiar with one another on a personal level. (Impirecon may have strained some of our friendships in the short term, but they were what allowed us to pinch-hit for one another, filling in for what another forgot to do, and so on. It would have gone a lot worse with strangers.) The primary roles which would need to be filled would be Chair/Treasurer/ Hotel Liaison (you could divide these roles up, but they are a sensible combination); Operations (logistics, office, volunteers, security); Static Programming (hospitality, merchants, dance, exhibits, gaming, video, anything else that isn't constantly changing); and really 2 people for Dynamic Programming (panels, concerts, jam sessions, guest wrangling, ie the main things the con attendees see). Figure you'll need another dozen volunteers in the precon stages primarily to help with publicity and brainstorming; plus to promise that they'll work lead shifts in all of the relevant areas (Hospitality & Registration being the most notable) at the con itself, recruiting their own sub-teams as necessary. Finally, you'll probably need about 2-3 dozen volunteers onsite, depending on how elaborate of a con you are running; and how many of the "suicidal" variety you can locate (ie those willing to spend most to all of their weekend working in an intelligent and effective manner). These latter two categories can be drawn from a wider variety of geographic locations and experience levels, as long as ways can be found to keep everyone reading from the same page of the same playbook. [I can go into more detail about the specific tasks needed to build a convention, and about the knowledge and skills those undertaking each task should possess; but I'll save that for whichever of you are truly curious enough to ask me about it, or for *if* we ever decide to go through with this plan.]

        ATTENDENCE & GUESTS = I think the estimates of 100-150 attendees is in the right ballpark, based both on the turnouts I've seen at filk prgrmming at the larger conventions, and on the average for other first year events. Keep in mind almost none of these will be pre-regs: Well established cons only get 1/4 to 1/3 of their members pre-con (and the bulk of those in the preceeding 2-3 months); and with a first year, no one wants to mail their money off with no assurance that the con will ever happen or that the money won't just disappear into someone's pockets. In addition, if you want to have a hope of breaking even, all of your committee members, volunteers, and general guests are going to have to pay in too; though you may be able to give some of them a bit of a discount. Most small/young cons have an at-door rate of $20 or $25; some speciality cons targeting the more financially stable segments of fandom will go up to $30-$35. [To give you an idea of how this totals out: Assuming 100 guests at $20 each is $2000. 150 guests at $30 is $4500. And based on my experiences with Impirecon, you're looking at potential expenses as high as $5000.] You might also be able to make a bit more if you offered $10 passes for that evening's main concert by the Music GOH. Someone mentioned that "those chronic fen who go to every con will also increase our numbers", but I'd disagree: A filkcon is far too specilized to appeal to the bulk of those individuals (many of whom don't have a lot of excess cash anyway). There's also going to be a limit to how many people we would be able to attract from outside of the immediate geographic area: Congoer's as a whole, and I think filkers in particular, are not overall a real wealthy bunch; so something's going to have to look awfully good for them to spend not only the reg fee, but definitely food & hotel, and some notable transport expenses to attend. We'd be better off marketing this into the local mundane folk music communities as a chance for them to learn about another variety of fun, while sharing many of their skills in writing & playing with others who wish to increase their knowledge.

        As far as guests are concerned, you're probably only going to be able to have one primary one for an event like this; even the major, well established cons don't have more than 3-6. This is the individual who will be featured in all of the publicity and who will receive the special treatment onsite. (Free badge, free room, prime concert slot, etc. Try to pick someone for whom you don't have to pay much in the way of transport costs however.) You'll certainly want to attract other musicians, but their incentive for coming will be the chance to share tunes and learn skills, not monetary compensation. You want to pick a BNF for your primary guest, someone with the exposure & reputation to make people want to come to your con. But you also want someone who's willing & able to accept that role, (being the center of attention, speaking on multiple panels, putting on at least a one hour high class concert, etc), and who will be a pleasure to work with, not driving the committee or anyone else into an early grave with their demands.

        PROGRAMMING = This was where I was really impressed with the diverse ideas everyone was coming up with!

• CAT, your suggestion of sort of an auditory "art show" was really creative: being able to sample an album or performer before one buys is always nice, especially when you're new to the genre, and this would be a neat way of letting people do that at this event. (Normally a couple of the filk dealers have a tape player going softly at their table showcasing some new release or a customer's request, but no headphones makes this tough in a crowded merchant hall. Sometimes I've had my walkman with me when I'm shopping, and ask to test out tapes before I buy; but that only helps if I'm carrying my equipment.)
• To recap the rest of what I remember seeing, though I also saved the original messages as reference material in my planning for Westercon: Concerts, one-shot performances, theme hours, song circles, and jam sessions. Panels and workshops on everything from music theory, lyric writing, instrument purchase, marketing oneself and one's albums, copyright law, getting performance opportunities in the community, recording equipment & techniques, to the role music plays in our lives. Contests for insta-filks, best new song, best genre song, etc. Musical related games, merchants, and an "auditory art show". Some kind of dance activity, whether the normal rock variety, Celtic, or even classes. A copy area for reproducing material with open rights.
• What am I forgetting?

        TAPES & SONGBOOKS = These topics came up in a couple of your posts, and at several conversations I had at Orycon, so I wanted to be sure to address them. Creating a songbook or a tape collection out of a musically oriented convention is a great idea, but one which is a bit more complex than some people immediately realize.

• Songbooks actually are not all that bad, assuming you have someone with the time, skills, and energy to really do a good job on the project: You put out an advertisement for submissions, explaining how the material will be reproduced and used, and specifying the topics and formats you want; and then compile and print the materials you receive. (Admittedly the last is easier said than done, but not impossibly so.) The two tough points here are: One, getting everyone to submit their material with full musical notation or at least guitar chords. (If you're going to do this, it's not really worth it if you aren't going to include the music; but a lot of filkers don't have the skills and/or the equipment to produce said same.) Two, assuming that this was going to be something other than just a collector's item for those who attended the con, (and there will be at least some demand for this, as well as the need to recoup the effort & money one put into it), you have to find a merchant willing to carry and market this item.
• Tapes are a bit harder. Again: One, you need someone with the time, skills, and energy to really do a good job on the project. Two, you need to find enough musicians willing to donate material to this endeavor, and explain clearly all the legalities involved. (This has been a sticking point in the past.) Three, you need to find a distribution house/merchant willing to carry the material, which has also been a major sticking point. (Con compilation tapes actually do not sell overwhelmingly well, as most of the songs that end up on them are already/or shortly will be recorded on other albums under studio conditions. Also, the NW is down to Firebird Arts and QuickSilver Fantasies as music distributors; and the former is moving out of carrying a lot of filk material, while the latter has always carried a large number of other products and more mainstream music. There are houses elsewhere in the country, but if our tapes are featuring local artists, they aren't going to have the name recognition to really sell elsewhere.) The really big problem with making con tapes is *equipment*: You have to find someone with (or rent = $$$$$) sufficiently high quality recording equipment to obtain good copies of the material. They have to have the space to set it all up, a room with good acoustics, a cooperative audience, and be there the whole time tweaking it. Then they have to go back and sort through all of the material, make decisions about what they feel came out well, check with the performer for their approval, and then mix the final product into a cohesive and enjoyable whole (preferably before everyone forgets the con ever took place). I record at filks just for my own pleasure and to obtain copies of material I know will probably never see a studio, and just doing that much taping and later mixing is a royal pain; tackling a con compilation album is a lot more work, though not impossible.

		#########################################

		     **** A MORE REALISTIC PLAN ****

	So you may be getting the impression by now that I'm not necessarily

ready to leap up and volunteer to put this event together for next spring, and you'd be right. This doesn't mean that I'm against it altogether, however, or that I would decide not to help if some of you went ahead with it. I do have some suggestions for ways we might work towards this goal, though, if we really want to have the best chance of succeeding at it.

• GET REGULAR HOUSE FILKS GOING = I believe Anne Prather mentioned this idea, and I wholeheartedly agree with her. If we can't find enough motivated and organized filkers in each of our areas (especially the big ones like Seattle, Portland, and Eugene) to hold a monthly house filk session with at least a dozen participants for over a year; how can we honestly expect to put on a successful filk convention (barring Deity intervention)?! This is one thing any financial backer is going to want to see before they hand us a check: a proven track-record that says we have the demand and the will to carry through on what we say.
• ONE DAY EVENTS = Think of them as a mini-con: A chance to test the waters, generate some interest (and maybe even some money), and try out those programming ideas which have looked really cool on paper; all while having a good time. Rather than holding it in an expensive hotel, look into churches, community centers, civic meeting places, even the campground idea someone brought up. You may not always have as many rooms available with these options, but you won't necessarily need many for a one-day, and they are a lot cheaper and less hassle by and large. This is where the "Coffee House" suggestion would be more feasible: selling treats during concerts to split between the current event, the performer on stage, and hopefully the bank account for a future event. (However, don't count on them making a lot of money, I've known a couple of groups who've had to drop theirs because they were coming out in the red.) Programming at an event like this would probably need to be primarily performance focussed, with merchants selling their wares, and a songcircle at the end of the day. However, some number of basic workshops should also be feasible. The logic here is that in many ways it is easier to attract attendees from the general public for an entertainment gathering, than it is to find enough bodies interested in a more educational event; also the more diverse and mainstream your programming the more people who will be interested. [I helped run "Ceili at the Crossroads" in Feb 1995 at a Seattle community hall. This was an evening concert by Heather Alexander and the Wicked Celts, followed by a couple of hours of Irish folk dancing which we taught, all intended as a fundraiser for the local foodbanks. Much to our surprise, we drew about 150 people. At $6 a head in advance or with food, $8 at the door without, we were able to pay off our site and musicians, and still have 3 huge boxes of food and a bit of cash (c. $50) left over for charity. The total cost was probably around $700, with the initial $200 or so for flyers, food, & site deposit coming out of the two organizer's pockets.]
• INCREASE YOUR CON RUNNING EXPERIENCE = Judging from the remarks folks have been making in this discussion, it appears our overall level of convention running experience is far lower than it really should be if we wish to tackle a project like this. The good news is that this problem is easily solved with a bit of time and enthusiasm: There are nearly a dozen cons of varying sizes in the Greater WA & OR area each year, every one of which would love to see another pair of helping hands. Start with onsite work of whatever nature interests you (security, reg, food prep, guest wrangling), there is plenty of need and you can choose how much time you donate. Go to some precon committee meetings, almost all are open to the public: They may be boring, confusing, and argumentative; but you'll learn a lot about the business/logistical issues of running a con, and about how all of the depts interact with one another. Speak up at one of these mtngs and offer to be someone's assistant so you can learn the ropes. (Just keep being very clear about what your goals and limits are, because the nature of con organizing is such that they'll frequently grasp anyone even remotely responsible and willing, hand them a couple of cases of rope, and kick them back off the ship to sink or swim on their own, unless you act very clearly and quickly to avert this. It happened to me: I learned a lot in the process and managed to spin some nice webs with that twine, but I wouldn't recommend it for everyone.)
• TALK TO OTHERS IN THE FANNISH COMMUNITY = I've watched several newer conventions decide that they know what they are doing, at least as well if not better than anyone else in fandom, so why should they ask for help from those who've done it before, even when those parties are standing nearby sincerely holding out their hand. This has tended to result in the junior con at least doing a lot of things the difficult way, if not completely falling on their face, and has often alienated those with more experience to the point they won't help out later when asked. I don't want to watch this again. I know a couple of you have been watching the Usenet discussion groups to see how the performers and organizers out there have been reacting to leaks of our conversation, and this is good because if we ever decided to do this we would be looking to them for ideas and attendence. At that point, we'd need to try to have a more organized conversation with many of these people, with the filkers & music programming planners of Ory and the Bay Area cons; and with event runners in general, particularly about the subjects of registration, hotel negotiation, and guest handling. The NW actually has a pretty coherent SMOF (Secret Masters of Fandom, ie those who devote too much of their lives to running con after con) community, and while some them have egos which outweigh their utility, imho; a lot of the rest are valuable resources.
• DO SOME MORE RESEARCH = Which BNF's attract how many attendees to their concerts? (Particularly concerts held in mundane settings outside of that individual's home area.) How does the SCA run their music & dance Ithras? (How many people do they get, how do they publicize it, how many people are involved in planning them, using what methods, when & where do they hold them, how much do they charge, what programming do they offer and what is best attended, etc?) How do segments of the mundane folk music community run their retreats and summer camps? (same questions)

        Anyway, I've probably rambled more than enough for the moment. Please let me know if you have any comments on what I've discussed here.

			 Until later,
				Quarong
				<quarong at eskimo.com>

Received on 12/01/96