Closed (fixed)
Project:
Twin Cities Drupal Camp 2019
Component:
Parties
Priority:
Normal
Category:
Task
Assigned:
Reporter:
Created:
5 Mar 2019 at 19:07 UTC
Updated:
18 Jun 2019 at 20:39 UTC
Jump to comment: Most recent
Decide on a venue for Thursday. Last year we went to Hell’s Kitchen. I think it was a good experience but would like to hear from others as well. The cost was a bit higher than our previous years at The Local. The cost for Thursday last year was just over $3,000.
We can decide to look at Hell’s Kitchen again and check on availability or search for another venue for Thursday.
Comments
Comment #2
stpaultim commentedIn my view, there should be a social event on Thursday night that is open to everyone who is visiting from out of town and/or attending summits/trainings. I don't think it should be a speaker/sponsor event.
If we want to recognize speakers and sponsors, I think there are other ways of doing it.
One option is to simply designate a restaurant/bar for Thursday evening as the meeting place/party without paying for any drinks or food. It's just a place that camp participants can meet and socialize. We could have special drink tickets that we provide to speakers and sponsors, but that basically it's an open event. Maybe a bowling alley or arcade.
If we want to cut costs on our budget, this would be an opportunity to save $2000-$3000. This could also reduce workload and stress on the team.
If we have the funds and want to host a party with free stuff, that is also fine. But, in my opinion, it should be open to anyone attending the camp and should be promoted as such. I have never been at any other other camp that has three catered free events.
In short, it's far more important to me that we offer places for participants to meet and to socialize on all three nights than it is that we pay for the food and drinks on all three nights.
Comment #3
jerdavisI'm on board with opening it up for everyone. I think we did this half-way last year by not restricting but also not publicizing the event.
If we want to have a single gathering place and we want that to be reliable so everyone can hang out together, we need to reserve a space. Those reservations will come with either a venue fee and/or a food and beverage minimum. That's just the way it works. Thursday isn't quite as full-service as the others as we use drink tickets rather than having it totally free.
Hells Kitchen as a venue has a higher bar to hit for their food and beverage minimum, thus the increased cost. I'm not excited about going back to the Local for a number of reasons. We could certainly look for other nearby venues and get info on them.
Comment #4
stpaultim commentedComment #5
jerdavisComment #6
eojthebrave+1 to opening this up to anyone that wants to attend.
I've always really liked the idea of trying to do something outside at like Sea Salt, or similar. But totally recognize that 1.) it's far from the venue, and 2.) it probably requires logistics that I'm not interested in sorting out. But you know, I'll throw it out there in-case someone feels inspired.
I thought that Hells Kitchen was fine. But I don't think it was really any better/worse than things we've done in the past with the exception of the upstairs at The Local not being accessible.
Comment #7
minneapolisdan commentedI'm definitely on board with opening this up to everyone, and it sounds like we are forming a consensus on this. A "welcoming" party. I also think, as Tim suggests, that we have some means of particular thanks to our sponsors, speakers and volunteers– perhaps in the form of drink tickets and/or food.
As for venue, I'd be fine with keeping at Hell's Kitchen for the sake of making this easy on everyone. Or anywhere we can reserve a party room for the group that's close to St Thomas.
I also like the idea of saving money and not offering free food or drink for everyone, and putting that money towards Fri and Sat instead.
We should vote on these issues soon, and make a call.
Comment #8
jerdavisI'm going to reiterate here, it's not feasible to have a party downtown and not pay for food and drink. We can manage the cost more by say, going back to the Local instead of Hell's Kitchen, but we can't negate it or decide not to offer it. Food and beverage minimums are how these spaces operate.
Opening the event up to all and heavily advertising it will also impact decisions. We'll need to review spaces and get bids, but I don't see us greatly reducing the $3k budget for the event.
Before we can take much of a vote on this we'll need to do more leg work to see what our options are.
Comment #9
jerdavisThe Thursday party will be held at Pizza Luce. We need to review the menu options and make selections.
Comment #11
jerdavis