[Robotgroup] CON Jobs :)

[Vern Graner]

Ok, so the CONs we've attended thus far have been fun, attendees of said 
CONs have been entertained and have greatly enjoyed our presence. It 
seems that we are looking down the road and that CONs of various stripes 
are interested in our presence... This I see as a good thing... :)

However, (trying not to be a wet blanket here) :) I can't help but 
wonder what benefit the CONs are deriving from our presence and whether 
or not the robot group is reaping similar benefits. Does The Robot Group 
benefit to the same extent as the event organizers? I tend to think that 
(based on past events) we do not.

IMHO, the balance seems to be distinctly leaning towards the CON 
organizers. They get The Robot Group in all it's glory; engineers and 
programmers, artists and technicians and a ton of interesting eye candy.

Not to mention sometimes even event equipment i.e. projectors, PA 
system, cords, cables and when needed troubleshooting expertise. Make no 
mistake, The Robot Group is a draw and people will enjoy a show more if 
we are there. They might even remember the event more clearly/fondly 
because of it.

When it comes to the group itself, providing such a service is not 
without it's costs. I'm not talking about the cost of creating an item 
like the Babbling Head or the Dungeon Keeper, I'm talking about direct 
costs such as:

- Gasoline for 5 (or more) vehicles
- Tape
- Staples
- Business cards
- Flyers

And then there are indirect costs:

- Repair/replacement of anything damaged/lost

- MTBF of "one of a kind" devices (i.e. it will
   only "work" so long before it requires
   repair/replacement)

- Time for "X" number of people on the
   weekend that cannot be spent actually
   building robots or projects.

During the show I had to repair one thereping and I had a booth visitor 
drop a large, heavy magnet directly on top of the Thereclock. Eggbot was 
having trouble running on the laptop. Babbling head was without his 
power supply (left behind, brought later).

Having spare parts again is a indirect cost. Having tools available. All 
the little things that need to be done in order to allow The Robot Group 
to work it's magic.

Now, start adding in the replacement costs if we really had a major problem:

- an overnight robbery of the show floor left us with no robots
- a fire destroys the robots
- a car accident destroys robots
- rain damages a robot
- a robot is dropped or damaged being setup/torn down
- a robot is damaged during loading unloading

We have been *lucky* so far in that there haven't been any major 
disasters during recent events. However, relying on luck is probably a 
bad idea as I have come to understand that there is a finite amount of 
it around. :)

So, the question (which for some reason seems to be unpopular) seems to 
me...

   *** WHY don't we get PAID for doing these shows? ***

We have much risk, the CON operator has much benefit and SELLS tickets...

I mentioned in my first post, and I'm still mulling it over in my head.. 
was the show a "success"..? How do we define success..? Can we be more 
successful?

For example, Apollocon was wanting to know if we could go to Houston. If 
The Robot Group was collecting $500.00 per day of show, we could AFFORD 
to drive to Houston! We could AFFORD to purchase event insurance of some 
type. We could AFFORD to pay for repairs or upgrades of the devices. We 
could afford to buy parts for interesting and new devices! We could 
AFFORD to rebuild devices in need of repair!

I think we're limiting our reach by NOT charging some type of fee for 
appearance since by not charging we haven't the funds needed to pursue 
reaching a larger audience to inspire. To grow the membership. To join 
with us as a catalyst to make new and interesting things.

Based on my observations (of myself and others in the group) we tend to 
be blind to the value of our creations and ourselves. This really may 
boil down to a deficit of self esteem! The things we can do as a group 
are truly unique. I think it would be WORTH IT to pay for The Robot 
Group come to an event. But thats just my $0.02... :)

So... The question I put is two fold:

1) Why is it I perceive a general negativity when I bring up fees for 
appearance?

2) And, if I've just got misconceptions, then how can we move from "free 
appearances" to "paid appearances"?

Comments?

:)

Vern

-- 
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