Re: 2014 AIS Convention

["pwgossett@juno.com" <pwgossett@juno.com>]

Good Evening All,

John mentioned here about the Madison group receiving a check from the Kansas City group.  This actually started in 2007 when the Oklahoma City committee donated $1,000 to the Austin committee and it has continued ever since.  I actually was going to make that recommendation to the 2007 Oklahoma City committee to make that donation when we were talking about what to do with the money we had made from our sales after the convention but, someone else on the committee made the recommendation ...and so it was started and has continued.  A BIG THANK YOU to those convention committees whom have donated forward some seed money to the next convention committee.  That money has helped the next committee with putting some funds into their convention account.

Paul




---------- Original Message ----------
From: "John W. Baker" <johnwbaker1@frontier.com>
To: <aisdiscuss@aisboard.org>
Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] 2014 AIS Convention
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:24:13 -0600

Goof morning, Terry:
Thank you for your words of wisdom regarding conventions.
As a past president of our local club for a number of years, and chairman of 
the 2010 AIS Convention in Madison, I agree with what you say.
We were happy to receive a large check from the Kansan City Convention 
committee prior to our convention, and we sent one in return to Canada for 
their convention.  However, if every club that can afford it would make a 
contribution to the AIS for an insurance to cover the hotel (OUR BIGGEST 
DOWNFALL) it would help everyone hosting a convention.  We all know in 
advance what the buses, food, convention bags and give-aways are going to 
cost, but the hotel always has to be the big question mark for any 
convention, due to the unknow attendance.  We were absolutely sure that we 
were going to hit 500, but planned for only 300-400 which seemed positive.
As for the iris sale, it was a salvation to uur club.  We had several very 
large orders from around the country which amounted to a few thousand 
dollars, and made $14,000 on our three-day iris sale at Olbrich Botanical 
Gardens in Madison.  This was our salvation, truly!
I understand that the AIS Bulletin is going to be late again, forcing the 
California people to push the
higher registration fees from March to April.  This is a loss of money to 
those people.  I have already gotten myself into trouble with Kelly Norris 
regarding my outspoken views on his job as editor, but I feel that the 
printing deadline is something that should never be overlooked.  How would 
he like to receive his daily paper a couple weeks (or even a month) late?
Enough said on that subject!
Thanks for your words of wisdom, and for your many years of service to the 
AIS.
John Baker
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Terry Aitken" <terry@flowerfantasy.net>
To: <aisdiscuss@aisboard.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 6:29 PM
Subject: RE: [AISdiscuss] 2014 AIS Convention


> Hi "All"
> The local committee does all of the negotiating with contractors, be they
> hotels, buses, meals, whatever.
> When all of that is added up, they should allow about a 10% contingency.
> The local committee then sets the registration fee.
> So far, so good. AIS advises but is not responsible. Thank you, Paul
> Gossett!
> The big unknown is ATTENDANCE ?!?!? and nobody can predict that if there 
> is
> no history of iris conventions at a specific location.
> On any committee, there will blatant optimists and blatant pessimists. 
> Being
> "REALISTIC" is a crapshoot at any time and many circumstances are beyond 
> the
> control of the local people. I hear that there is insurance against a
> financial disaster but it is very expensive. It covers the hotel fees for
> "under" attendance. It would be nice if the successful conventions could
> donate some money to AIS as a backup fund so that AIS and the local
> committee could be "self insured". (No idea where that money is going to
> come from!)
> Another big unknown is the distribution or sale of plants after the
> conventions. Sometimes they can bail out a convention that is in a
> precarious financial position.
> Terry Aitken
> Planning for the 2015 convention.
> Conventions are for the dissemination of information and nobody owns that.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-aisdiscuss@aisboard.org [mailto:owner-aisdiscuss@aisboard.org]
> On Behalf Of R. Dennis Hager
> Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 5:53 AM
> To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
> Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] 2014 AIS Convention
>
> There are underlying questions that need to be considered as a part of 
> this
> question.
>
> Who OWNS the Convention?
> How should the Convention be promoted?
> Who owns the intellectual data that is generated at each convention?
> Is that data used to promote and improve subsequent conventions?
> What functions of the convention should be administered by the Host?
> What functions of the convention should be administered by AIS?
>
> These questions are NOT about how things ARE done, but how they SHOULD be
> done.
>
> Dennis Hager
> Irisarian, Pharmacist, Restaurateur, Councilman, Former Mayor and General
> Pain in the A....
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Maureen
> Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 10:40 AM
> To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
> Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] 2014 AIS Convention
>
> Hi Paul,
>
> I think we all suspected that a discussion on AIS policy on conventions 
> was
> going to happen sooner rather than later.
>
> I expect that the current ad hoc help at the back end should a club suffer
> catastrophic losses from a convention is not going to be sufficient going
> forward.
>
> I would suggest that board discussion consider the following.
>
> If AIS takes on the riskiest and costliest expense of the convention, 
> should
>
> AIS then also receive some part of the revenues generated by the 
> convention?
>
> (for example, collect a fixed portion of registration fees and receive all
> revenues from silent auction)
>
> Should AIS get involved in fund raising for conventions?
>
> What is the impact on the long term financial health of AIS?  While AIS
> manages its finances fairly well by managing its expenses with variable
> revenues. How will AIS manage with a significant variable expense?
>
> The last question is probably the most important.
>
> Unfortunately, I won't be at the national convention this year. I will see
> some of you at the Siberian convention.
>
> Maureen Mark
> Ottawa, Ontario
> (Not a current board director)
>
> On 2012-01-11, at 3:00 AM, "pwgossett@juno.com" <pwgossett@juno.com> 
> wrote:
>
>> Good Evening Folks,
>>
>> The weekend of December 3 & 4, 2011, I had the pleasure of meeting with
>> the Delaware Valley Iris Society at their winter board meeting in
>> Pennsylvania.  After they concluded their board meeting they allowed me 
>> to
>
>> tell them my thoughts about them hosting an AIS Convention in their area
>> and what AIS can do to assist them.  We discussed all aspects of hosting 
>> a
>
>> convention and had volunteers to be the Chairperson, Guest Iris Chair,
>> Transportation Chair, and Treasurer all from the area.  We also discussed
>> 4 or 5 gardens that might be on tour along with local non iris gardens 
>> and
>
>> historical attractions that could be used as an optional tour.  They 
>> would
>
>> like to receive guest plants but, will have to have a limitation on the
>> number and also 2014 would be too soon for them if they would be 
>> receiving
>
>> guest plants.
>>
>> We also discussed financial concerns and obligations.  I believe their
>> greatest concern is how much of a role would AIS be willing to take in
>> both manpower and financial.  On the financial side the hotel is the
>> biggest expense of a convention.  I believe if AIS would be willing to
>> sign the hotel contract and take on the financial responsibility of the
>> hotel we might have a convention site on the east coast probably not in
>> 2014 but, maybe 2016 or 2017.  They are thinking about it now and will
>> make a decision by the end of January.  I am hoping for a positive
>> response from them on hosting an AIS Convention.
>>
>> My question to the AIS Board is....  Would AIS be willing to sign the
>> hotel contract and take on the financial responsibility of the hotel?  I
>> would estimate the cost of the hotel expenses would be about $25,000.
>>
>> I would like to have your suggestions as to what I need to do and what
>> role will AIS have in this convention and also future conventions.
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Paul
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ____________________________________________________________
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