Unfortunatly it's not as simple as just changing venues
The deal billing offer us we dont have to risk a large amount of money on holding the show - this year i knew the max amount of money we could possably loose and even if no one turned up then the losses would be the same, other places (and ive talked to a fair few) we need to spend a lot more money and take a gamble on the amount of people are going to turn up!
i appreciate people would like the event to be cheaper - and if it was up to me it'd be free entry for everyone
the idea behind Transitmania is a show run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts - all i want is for the show long term is for it to be self financing (ie not cost money to run) i'm not the slightest bit interested in making money out of it, if it ever got to the point where it's making money that money would go back into the show! If it cost the same in 2010 as it did in 2009 then i dont think we'd be able to continue long term, but on the bright side the running costs should be less and we should have more interest from traders!
I have talked to wicksteed park and the way they run it is we have to hire the field and re-coup our costs by adding our costs to the ticket prices, i havent discounted Wicksteed as a possable future venue - infact in 2010 i'm gonna make a point of going to a show there have a look round at the facilities and hopefully have a chat to the manager who ive spoke to on email.
once the show is established it's easier to move from billing, in 2009 we had roughly 150 people 80/90 vans if we can improve on that for 2010 then it gives us a better idea as to how many we'll get for 2011. The problem i have is if we book a different venue we need to gamble on how many will turn up - it'll be more predictable in 2011 than it is in 2010 the running costs for the show dont go up relative to the amount of people turning up - what i mean by that is it wont cost twice as much for twice as many people.
I hope everyone can see things from my side - what i'd like is for us to eventually have a show to rival the VW's (aim high
) but seroiusly i see no reason why we cant have a weekend show with 1000 transits there in a few years
but we need to walk before we can run!
The top and bottom of this is i'm gonna book Transitmania 2010 at Billing again
and if the feeling is the same then move it for 2011 - i hope people will continue to support us as we do need the show to grow! one thing is it wont be on the bank holiday weekend so hopefully no one will have to pay the extra price mix up
if anyone wants to speak to me about this feel free to approch me at a meet and have a chat i dont mind at all - i find it much easier to explaine things face to face than typing it out! and theses so much more to it than what i've just typed out! i dont mind hearing peoples opinions - i know we cant please everyone but we do want to make it a weekend everyone enjoys
comments welcome