Call to Meeting: Wednesday, June 28 @ 7pm - 8:30pm

I have sent out an email with the PowerPoint presentation on Corpus Christi put together by Rebekah Everhart of Visit Corpus Christi. In addition, here is a link she sent me to some of the nearby restaurants:


If there are any other questions you want answered by Rebekah or Melanie Granado at the American Bank Center before the meeting tomorrow night, please let me know and I will try to get them answered. Thanks for your attention, and Vote Corpus! 😁
 
I have questions and comments:
  1. Hotel rooms are required in both SA &Houston. Is this an advantage for Corpus since we don’t have a quota and attendees can choose where they want to stay?
  2. If the convention is not held in SA, will MC undermine LPTexas like they did in 2022? Should that be a considered as problem factor in making this decision?
  3. The June 29th deadline is a red flag in negotiations in negotiations to me. Anyone else do contracting?
  4. Are decisions on what is best for LPTexas the responsibility of SLEC members? Are some SA votes for SA Caucus-focused because it’s an MC stronghold?
  5. Thank you Jodi for mentioning cost for speakers to fly to convention as a factor. I was hoping to see a comparison of the cost to fly speakers from 2020 and 2022 to those convention with what it would now cost each to fly to the given options. We can probably assume that Houston is the lowest, but Southwest might surprise us.
I know I asked a couple of elephant-in-the-room questions here. I’m not attacking anyone or any group. I just happen to wonder whether or not there are hidden agendas since we have a fiduciary responsibility to pick the best option, and the SA option is clearly not that!
 
Thought it wasn’t directed at me, I will try to answer:
  1. Jodi can answer that during her presentation.
  2. We cannot predict what anyone will do, and I certainly hope that there is no plan by anyone to “undermine LPTexas”. As always, we should expect (and execute) a robust, enjoyable, productive, and peaceful convention here in Texas.
  3. The deadline of June 29th was troubling to me, as well, especially given the manner in which they submitted their proposal. However, I was interested in getting their proposal heard before then, at least. If they intend that as a contract execution deadline, we won’t meet it either way.
  4. Decisions about what is best for LPTexas are indeed the responsibility of SLEC members.
  5. We shall see.
 
From what I’m seeing, it looks like San Antonio doesn’t want our business.

Not only did they not give us the courtesy of a clear and professional quote.

The quoted price is inflated as hell compared to the other quotes.

The deposit is well above what the other venues are asking for.

And they gave us the shortest deadline to make the decision.

If they don’t want our business now, what makes us think they’re going to treat us well leading up to and during the convention?
 
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I’d like to remind this body that if it feels we haven’t been given adequate time to review/digest/research or get our questions answered, we do have the ability to postpone voting on this until we are ready.

Whether intentional or not, bringing something to a body very last minute and putting them in the position of having to move more quickly than they otherwise would have is not cool. I find the amount of time I’m being given to review the last minute proposals, do my due diligence, and get my questions answered, AND vote to be unreasonable. I get it. Proposals expire. But you plan for that. And if we have to get renewed proposals, then that’s what we have to do. I personally won’t be pressured into voting before I’m ready.
 
I know it may be semantics, but I would argue that a line in an email does not qualify as a bid by today’s standards. It might, just maybe, qualify as a quote…from a plumber…who doesn’t really care if he gets my work.

I’m a bit perplexed and feel like I’m missing something here.
 
carter.fanning said:
but I won’t support a Houston convention until we have had one in San Antonio
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Is there anything else affecting that call other than the fact that historically, San Antonio is 2 years ahead of Houston on the rotation schedule?

The reason I ask, and I’m almost positive you didn’t mean for it to come across that way, but effectively, you’re saying that you are willing to spend $17,000 to have this convention in San Antonio this cycle instead of next cycle or beyond. (17K is roughly the difference in profit projection between San Antonio and Houston And, all things being equal, the amount of money this party does not gain that it otherwise would if it went with Houston).

While I’m always open to additional information, at this time, San Antonio is not looking good for me based simply upon it being the least likely option to be profitable combined with their unprofessional approach to the process.

What I can’t find anywhere, so I’m hoping we hear about it tomorrow, is how Austin wasn’t even in the running. While many make valid points for the benefits and drawbacks of different cities (and I’m not partial to any particular one), I’m hoping we can have a convention in Austin soon because it is uniquely positioned for us to be able to have hundreds of libertarians descend on the capital as an event concurrent with our convention.
 
@Jodi or any member of the planning committee:
  1. Where is the underlying data that led you to arrive at the numbers here:
    Screenshot_20230627-230752_Drive
  • What are the projected number of tickets sold and how does this compare to last convention?
  • What ticket prices are you using in your projection and how do those prices compare to last convention?
Effectively, what I’m looking for here, is how comfortable can we be that that projected income number will approximate reality. Without any other information, it could be overly conservative all the way up to wishful thinking.
 
While Austin was not initially one of the original cities the committee looked into, I did end up sending RFP’s to several venues in Austin, Tyler, Conroe & Humble.
Humble and Conroe did not have availability.
Even though Tyler recently opened a convention center, it only had round banquet tables for set up and all catering was 3rd party, resulting in event space rental costs and no food and beverage minimum to negotiate. Also no hotels could host our size. However my contact at the visitor’s bureau was on point and very attentive.
I did get several responses in Austin, each one had some outlandish cost whether it was a high room rental rate ($30k), FB min ( $104k), or guest room rate ($199-500).
I hope this answers some of your questions.
 
It does and thank you for all your hard work. Could you expand on why Austin wasn’t considered initially? Was it ruled out for some reason?
 
joeburnes said:
Is there anything else affecting that call other than the fact that historically, San Antonio is 2 years ahead of Houston on the rotation schedule?
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You forgot the “we would like to see a better deal negotiated with the them if possible” part.

I represent San Antonio… I’m telling everyone up front I’m biased… Because SA folks are who elected me… My entire SD is within SA, but that doesn’t commit me to San Antonio. If the numbers can’t be brought down, I’d be down for other options… Of the two, Corpus is the cheapest and it hasn’t had a convention recently… Which again, I spelled out above.

Now, to be blunt (and this isn’t just directed at Joe):

I have never seen so much fucking childish bickering, baseless accusations, and group think BS in my entire life. Absolutely everyone seems to be projecting bad faith on others… And quite frankly, this BS is exhausting. Be the adult in the room, pick up the phone, and talk to one another. I spent the vast majority of my day… I Literally just got off the phone and have been in it since 5:30 PM, was on it during the day… Trying to get people to chill and stop assuming others are here in bad faith. I talked to every committee member at some point today, whether on the phone or via discord. I’ve talked to a good chunk of SLEC (and am seeing missed messages, I’ll get to them in a bit).

This is exactly why we are completely ineffective as a party. If this keeps up, I don’t see how anyone here could look someone in the face and say “LPTexas is worth your time and money.” We will work this out, together, as a team tomorrow. I’m sure some people will be happy and others will be frustrated… But stop assuming the worst of one another… Hear each other out… and let’s get through this.
 
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Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t initially read the “we’d like to see the numbers brought down” part as also having the “or I’d consider other options” with it.

And I would expect you to be biased towards San Antonio…just not to the tune of 17k. Lol

Corpus appeals to me as well on a financial basis (and for other reasons), but does have it’s drawbacks like increased travel time and cost for the majority of our members as well as the location not being adjacent to the hotel.

As for the rest, I’d agree that attempting to not assume the worst in others is best. If my comment came across as assuming bad faith on your part, I can assure you that was not the intent. I’m simply attempting to collect all pertinent info so I can make a fully informed decision.

If anyone here is acting in bad faith, I’ve seen no evidence of it.

If it matters to anyone, I’m much more comfortable with all 3 options than last cycle. I don’t think we can really go wrong here nor might we be going out on a big financial limb if we choose one option over another. I think this is just a matter of picking the best of three very good options.
 
“Absolutely everyone?” I don’t think that is true. It seems like most people on this thread are just asking questions or stating their opinion. I’ve seen very little “projecting bad faith.” I also don’t agree that we are “completely ineffective” as a party. Maybe we can cool the hyperbole a bit and focus on our goals here.

I agree with the “We will work this out” part. Let’s have a good meeting tonight and whichever venue is chosen let’s get behind promoting it and making it our best convention ever! 🙂
 
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