Re: Critically-low Attendance

[Ted Cabeen]

Yeah. While there has been some interest, the excitement levels we've
seen in the past aren't there. Even if the people who have expressed
interest register this afternoon, I'm not seeing the necessary level of
commitment on behalf of participants to produce a real event. The last
thing I want is an underattended Nerdly that puts the nail in the coffin
of the event. That said, if the Fall even falls through, that would be
worse.

Do our regular attendees have the sense that the fall is looking better
than this spring, or are we going to run into the same situation in the
fall that we have here in the spring? Historically, has fall or spring
been better attended?

--Ted

On 3/16/2011 1:23 PM, Ryan Macklin wrote:
> Gang,
>
> We have a problem.
>
> I've only received money from five people, and that's not really
> enough to pull this off. We're under a month away, and around now is
> when I would tell Jesse to start collecting game proposals.
>
> I'm going to suggest that we cancel this season due to low attendance,
> and redouble our efforts for the fall one. Given that, if quick math
> serves, 12 is the minimum we need to make a NBP, I don't think we're
> getting seven more people in time *and* have the time to organize
> games. My call yesterday on Twitter about asking for people who are
> planning or thinking about it but haven't yet paid got crickets.
> (Actually, that's not true. Andrew Lindstrom said the low attendance
> was why he was going to look at a different event happening at the
> same time.)
>
> The five people who have registered: Ted, Christina, Vernon, Shayna, Will.
>
> If no one gives me a good enough reason to not cancel in the next day
> or so, I will. But since it's not a dictatorship, I'm waiting to hear
> from y'all before I pull the plug and refund folks.
>
> Thanks.
>
> - Ryan
>
> --
> Ryan Macklin
> Production Manager, Evil Hat Productions
> blog: http://RyanMacklin.com | @RyanMacklin
>

[Ryan Macklin]

[Ryan Macklin]

Historically, Spring is the stronger one. But it also has to do with
Easter weekend and other stuff.

There's only one way to know if Fall doesn't work, and that's to try
it. We'll want to evaluate after that if Nerdly should reduce to a
yearly event. Six months might be just often enough to be "okay"
missing one.

Given your comment about the enthusiasm (and given that quite a few of
the enthusiasm generators aren't attending, that's part of the issue),
I think it's good to call this season's event.

- Ryan

--
Ryan Macklin
Production Manager, Evil Hat Productions
blog: http://RyanMacklin.com | @RyanMacklin

[Jesse Burneko]

Work has been brutal for me which is why I keep spacing and not
properly responding/registering. But yeah, even if I register today
that gets us to 6. Only half of what you say we need. So, yeah, I
don't think we're going to get 6 more people.

Jesse

[Josh Roby]

Yeah, I think we're also seeing the result of not having "I'm coming!" threads on popular message boards, too.

[Ryan Macklin]

Josh,

Good point. Next time, someone needs to be the dedicated PR/forum person.

So, the refunds have all been processed. I'll have the page changed to
show the event's been canceled shortly.

- Ryan

--
Ryan Macklin
Production Manager, Evil Hat Productions
blog: http://RyanMacklin.com | @RyanMacklin