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

To address concerns of how the project profits were calculated. I increased ticket sales by 12% for the Saturday luncheon from 2022 numbers. For the lifetime lunch I got a current count on how many lifetime members LPTexas has, and used the total from last convention to estimate a total for next year’s convention. For the kick off party, in the 2022 budget it states the cost per person, and I divided that into the total food and beverage cost of the kick off itself. I then took a percentage off of that attendee total and applied it to a happy hour event for the 2024 convention. I increased the Gala ticket sales by 15%, which were the calculations predicted by the last convention staff. I do have a high estimate for ticket sales to the Friday night event, but with it being a presidential year, I expect a good turn out. I added 2 new events for this projection, which are breakfasts, and I calculated ticket sales based on attendees at the last breakfast after our May event, and the expected VIP ticket holders at the 2024 convention, that were determined by last convention’s totals. All of these ticket sales were added up, based on standard and VIP ticket prices to get to a total of $82,900. Then I totaled food and beverage expected spends based on menu prices by each venue, except for the Westin. Since they did not provide a catering menu, I used the Hyatt’s pricing, which should be comparable. Then I added each venue’s service fees and taxes to get a total FB spend. I subtracted that FB spend, and all other costs from the projected ticket sales, and added exhibitor & sponsor revenue (based on a 15% increase from last convention) to get a profit projection. One thing not calculated in the projection, which is mentioned in the spreadsheet, is speaker costs. That is hard to determine, when a city still hasn’t been selected. And the right speaker could be sponsored. In my calculations I added minimum sponsor revenue, as I did not see any data on that for the 2022 convention. However, just like with the events I have been doing for LPTexas, I would like to get sponsors to help increase revenue for the convention.
Mind you ticket sale prices are fluid at this point for many reasons, but 2 main variables are actual menu selections haven’t been made and guest speakers haven’t been booked.
 
First, thank you committee for spending so much of your free time working to provide an excellent venue. I know it’s often thankless work and is tedious. I know I am not an effective event planner so I always appreciate those with the skillsets who can do it. There are a lot of moving parts and we are just getting started.

That said, I’ve reviewed the bids and the comments. Here are the rough bullet points at how I arrived at my decision:
  1. Fiscal responsibility: We just had a long discussion at our previous SLEC meeting regarding our financial health. We have to be cognizant of that so that we plan a beautiful but responsible convention. I want the most successful convention we can have in order to set up future conventions for success as well.
  2. Accessibility: Can our members easily travel to and from the event? How inexpensive is it for them? Additionally, what is the airport access for talent and attendees? I appreciate Jocelyn’s comment about those with mobility needs.
  3. Economic impact: Will we be noticed?
I love San Antonio. This is where I grew up and my family has lived in this area since before the Alamo. The food is amazing. The people are great. The culture is vibrant. It is my favorite Texas city without reservation. However, it does not meet my preferred requirements in the slightest.

I am fine with either Houston or Corpus with a slight lean toward Houston due to accessibility concerns.

Next convention, I would like to see a centrally located smaller municipality targeted like College Station or Waco because we could have a good economic impact.

We have a diverse group of people who are extremely passionate. You don’t just wander into Libertarianism. Every single one of us has had a unique pathway to this party and the philosophy. Disagreements will occur – passionate discussions will occur. That’s just a side effect of caring. All that to say – thank you everyone for putting in the work to present some good choices to SLEC. I appreciate the hard work. Looking forward to a good meeting tonight.
 
I hate to be the fly in the ointment here. This seems like so, so much money. I understand we have to spend money on the mechanism of governance of the party… but 85 grand not including speakers? I remember some heated discussions about a bingo hall convention. If I missed that that was a joke, will someone chime in?
 
As the Brazos County Chair, and a resident of College Station, I appreciate the suggestion. There was one previous convention here, in 2004, and from everything I hear, it was a success. And this area has grown tremendously since then.

When I brought up the idea at our next county meeting after I had been selected to the convention committee, I wasn’t met with much enthusiasm, so given the time constraints, I quickly shelved the idea for this cycle. But I definitely have not given up on the idea of a B/CS convention in the future! 🙂
 
It was the BCS convention that really showed me how much I hate event planning! I was stressed out, pregnant and so very cranky. It was, however, a success. 😃
 
It was a joke. Def. a joke. At least, I hope whoever said it was joking… That’s something we say when it’s time to phone it in. Also, I am pretty sure our budget for the convention is peanuts compared to what the DNC/GOP spend AND they get government assistance with theirs.
 
As someone who was the last remaining member of the 2020 Convention Committee and on the 2022 Convention Planning Team, I’m of the opinion that San Antonino shouldn’t even be considered as an option. In the past we eliminated any incomplete proposals or proposals that came with an unreasonable deadline to sign. The 3 options we would present to SLEC were of the High, Medium, and Low ranges in relation to cost. This Convention Committee was voted in to make objective decisions for the good of the party, but presenting an unreasonable 3rd option has me wondering what’s being prioritized for this convention. I will be looking at the 2 remaining proposals from the side of objective Treasurer and experienced convention/event planner and hope to help SLEC where I can so we can make the best decision for location.
 
Might I toss out a suggestion: The bid-good-till dates are June 29th for San Antonio, July 17th for Corpus Christie, and August 1st for Houston. I’d feel remiss if I didn’t say that the looming deadline for the San Antonio bid is pushing us into making a big decision on their schedule and not on ours.

I represent the membership in Bexar County, and it should be fairly obvious that the members here would be thrilled to have the state convention in San Antonio. However, the disparity between the cost of San Antonio and the other venues seems like a non-starter for me.

My suggestion is that we vote on whether to accept the SA bid or reject it, and that’s it.

If we eliminate the current San Antonio bid from consideration, we have about 3 weeks left to consider the alternatives in a timely and reasonable manner.

It also gives us time to go back to San Antonio and tell them we rejected their bid, and why, and say if they want to come back with a counter offer they have until July 15th to do so. (And yes, please make a PROPER bid). I absolutely think we should continue to push for this as long as we have time to do so, I feel that is my duty as an SD26 rep.

This way we are not being rushed into making a decision when there are accommodations and workarounds we may arrive at if we just had more time to consider the alternatives.

I would also love for the convention to be in San Antonio. However, I am leaning toward Corpus Christie, for several reasons:
  • The length of time since we’ve had a party convention in South Texas
  • It is a vacation destination, and I think it would really make the convention a very special and memorable occasion, outside of election days, the convention is probably the biggest and most active opportunity for our members to participate
  • The cost gives us the most flexibility in handling additional member accommodation re: mobility, accessibility, etc
  • I think our impact will be bigger at Corpus Christie than in Houston
  • I think the media (photos and videos of events and locale) we generate there will be better than what we will get in Houston
  • I think–while remote for most Texans–being in a convention hotel on the beach would be a big motivation to combine party business + getaway. I don’t see Houston having the same draw.
I don’t know how important the convention has been, historically, as a fundraiser for LPTexas, however, I feel fundraising is a secondary purpose. The primary being to put on the best convention possible for our members, to envigorate and pump them up, and motivate them to push harder for Libertarianism in Texas. While we all know that the primary function of the party is unglamorous and happens year-long behind the scenes most of the time, from the members’ perspective the convention is the event that represents how successful—and worthwhile–our party is as a whole.
 
I appreciate your perspective here, Austen.

My only concern with postponing is that I’d like the convention committee to move ahead with the planning of the convention including booking speakers and talent. That way, SLEC has plenty of time to respond to any concerns (if any – not saying there WILL be). This will also give the committee the time they need to negotiate the remainder of events.
 
I am firmly in the Bingo Hall Convention camp, since I have not seen any data that correlates venue to revenue. Thus, I would vote in favor of whichever venue is cheapest, regardless of all other factors.

My only question is, which of the three choices is cheapest? The cost analysis report stated that Corpus Christi has the lowest convention total and correspondingly the highest estimated profit, while San Antonio is the inverse, and Houston is somewhere in-between those two. Is that undisputed, or is there something I am missing?
 
sberlin said:
It was a joke. Def. a joke. At least, I hope whoever said it was joking…
Click to expand...
I said it, I said it in 2018 when Tim told us there was no other option then to spend way too much money on a convention location or we could host it in a bingo hall. I was not joking then but it has become somewhat of a running joke since… but only half-way a joke and trust me if we can’t do better than this it will be “not a joke” again.
 
According to the committee’s calculations, yes, Corpus is the cheapest. The only way for it to not turn out to be is if we were not able sell tickets to our events there, but given that we were able to sell tickets to events in places like Abilene, which are not nearly the vacation destination that Corpus is, I am confident we would be able to draw plenty to Corpus Christi.
 
Attendance at this meeting is incredibly important. However, I feel it’s important to make sure the body knows that, because there was not a minimum of 2 weeks notice for this meeting, attendance today will not count against our 2 absences rule.
Screenshot 2023-06-28 3.34.14 PM
 
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