Oops, sorry about the previous accidental post. I had been wondering if we were comparing the IOLI Convention with an event like Comic Con in San Diego that draws 130,000 people to it and has a regional economic impact of $162.8 million. I have never been to one of these, but it seems as though it is something that is largely supported by vendors, principally the gaming, movie, and other entertainment industries. While it is fun to see your favorite author reading, isn't he really there to enhance the sales of his books? So, he may be willing to appear for only the costs of his room because he feels that it is good advertising that will eventually pay him back in book sales. It would appear that Comic Con is an event where advertisers are eager to participate and provide entertainment in order to make contact with a huge consumer public which they believe will generate a large profit down the line. Unfortunately, the IOLI Convention is just the opposite. It exists because there is no commercial organization interested in providing lace classes to those who want them. Instead, our group of roughly 1300 people has to band together to provide them to ourselves, pooling our resources and efforts to bring teachers from various different countries that we might not otherwise get to see. We set the prices at a level that is pretty much break even because we see it as a service to the members, not a profit making endeavor. Certainly the way our convention is organized now, one takes few, but long classes. I always try to take a 24 hour or longer class, because the process is so slow that you don't get very far in 12 hours. I can see that for someone who is deciding how to spend their entertainment dollar, a "con" would seem like better value. Undoubtedly they are a lot of fun and there is a lot of creativity by the participants. Is there anything about these "cons" that we could learn that would improve our Conventions? I can't imagine any deep pocket advertiser who would want to make contact with us, but maybe I am lacking in imagination. The IOLI convention has short presentations. The banquets and luncheons are frequently presentations such as lace slide shows or other lace based entertainments that happen to have some food at them, not events where the dining is the primary pleasure. There are also other such short presentations such as the teacher showcase, sometimes evening lectures and performances. Last year there were so many evening lectures that they had to be held one after the other. There was one on the Sybil Carter mission lace, there was one about Swedish Freehand lace that included dressing a bride, and there was one about contemporary lace that included slides from the Love Lace exhibit in Australia. All were fascinating, and these presentations were among those things you got in return for the registration fee. But would a convention that was entirely short presentations be satisfying? I almost wonder if the use of the term "convention" is starting to be a liability and perhaps it would be better called a "mini-university", or "retreat". To put us on a plane where people are comparing us to a huge commercial "con" is obviously not a good thing. For those who have been to these Cons, is there anything that they do that we could do to improve our convention? Devon
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