[Robotgroup] CON Jobs :)

[Tom Morin]

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Having worked on ArmdilloCon in the past I can tell you the value that
the Robot Group adds to that Con is marginal. ArmdilloCon is a literary
SF convention and what money they have they spend on authors, artist,
and editors. Because of the type of people who attend ArmdilloCon I've
been trying to build links between TRG and ArmdilloCon since 1999. In
1999 and 2000 I rented a table in the Art Show so that we could show off
some of our work. In 2002 when I helped Debbie Hodgkinson with
programming I made sure that we had free space for our robots and we had
two panels for us to talk about our interest.
I also approached Linucon for the same reason as a place to show off our
projects and talk about our interest. Not all value is monetary and in
the case of ArmdilloCon I think we derived more value than we added.
There was a lot of potential in Linucon and if it had survived we could
have used it in a major way. That said I have no objections to charging
an Alamo Drafthouse money to provide robots to promote an I Robot.

PS

TRG is going to be twenty years old in 2009, are we going to have some
type of celebration?

Tom

Vern Graner wrote:
> 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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