Organizing the Con | Star Frontiers

Tossing out some ideas about organizing the con for general feedback and discussion: Gaming sessions: My plan is to initally put up a signup page for GM's and allow them to post a title, short description, min/max number of players, and what session(s) they want to run the game in. Once we have sessions that GM's have commited to, I'll open up a player's page for people to sign up for the specific games and sessions they want to participate in. I'd like to get the GM page up by the end of the month at the latest and have the player's page up by no later than the first of the year. Advertisement: I'm going to work up a flyer and a short blurb for the con and set up an inital web page for it. I'd like to have the ability to register set up by then as well so people can sign up immediately if they want. Once that is done we should all start posting about the con anywhere that comes to mind (facebook, twitter, gaming sites and blogs, etc) to get the word out. Patch Design: The more think about it the more I think I like the idea of not having a 100% embroidered patch. I like the idea of leaving the part of the patch that is space (above the planet and behind the AS) as just the base black cloth of the patch. That gives the border, the ship, the stars, and the planet a raised 3D effect above the background of space. And if we get the patches comercially produced, saves about $0.50 per patch on the cost. 
Con Prizes: 
I have a near new Alpha Dawn boxed set (pristine shape except for some
wear on the corners of the box and 7 of the counters have been punched.
6 of the counters are missing but I can replace them with counters from
another like new boxed set I have that has all the counters punched.) I
was thinking of offering that up as a door prize. Basically for every
session you either Referee or actually play in, you get an entry in a
random drawing. The winner gets the boxed set. 
 
I was also considering, as an incentive to get people to Referee a
session, to give all Referees an extra patch. The bonus patches would
be mailed out after the con once the Referee had acutally run the
sessions they had committed to. 
 Maybe we want to do other prizes as well. Suggestions or donations are welcome. Registration Cost: This really depends on two factors. One is how much it costs to produce the patches and second, how many people show up. I can set up a payment page through Paypal to accept credit card/electronic payments. The overhead cost on that is $0.45 per registration. The patch will weight 1-2 oz and so the shipping cost will be $0.44-$0.84 to mail them out to US participants and $1-$2 to mail them overseas. So just the overhead for registering and shipping the patch is $1.29 for US participants and $2.47 for those overseas. I'm assuming that most of our participants will be from the US. We're still waiting to hear what it would cost for w00t to produce the patchs (and whether or not his wife would be willing to do so). Commerical production of the patches would run $5.47 per patch if we made 25 and $2.85 per patch if we make 50. That's the price if we don't have them 100% embroidered. Add $0.50 per patch if we do. At the $2.85 per patch, a registration fee of $5 seems reasonable for the con. Basically if you register you get the patch so you are paying $5 to buy the patch. And $5 would cover the cost of the patch, registration overhead, shipping fees, and leave just a little extra to do something with. Do we think we could get close to 50 people interested in registering (if for no other reason than to get the cool patch)? I think we might but maybe not. As long as we think we might get close, I have no problem ordering 50 patches and paying for the difference out of my own pockets. However, if we don't think we can get that many to register, then the registration fee may have to be $7.50 or $8 to cover the higher production cost. Another possibility is to just go with a $10 registration fee that definitely covers the cost of the patch regardless and then use the extra money to provide more giveaways or use it to help in production of the modules. The question is if the registration fee was $10 instead of $5, how many people wouldn't participate because of the extra five dollar cost and is it worth it. I think we could do it on $5 per person but $10 per person would result in less worry up front on covering costs. WOTC: Do we need/want to tell WOTC about this? The last thing I need is to start collecting money for the con, get the patches made, and then get a cease and desist letter from WOTC and have to refund the money and eat the costs. Does anyone think they will have an issue with us doing this that we need to worry about it? Should I ask them? (I have the e-mail of the brand manager responsible for SF. At least she was the one who responsed last year when I sent them a letter looking for permission to license SF.) Anyway, that's all I can think of right now, let me know if you have any ideas, suggestions, or other comments.

Pinned

Locked

Off