Richard,
I believe convention attendance *is* important. In my experience, attendees find it invigorating and refreshing to be in the company of lots of other libertarian-minded people, and coming together en mass to party, socialize, network, and share ideas and experiences is one of the most widely enjoyed and valuable things that happens at our conventions. As Mark Hinkle notes, the more people attend, the greater the fundraising potential, and my sense is that people also tend to leave somewhat more libertarian than they came, especially when we have strong, hardcore libertarian speakers. It has not been my impression that our business sessions scare people away. On the contrary, I think they tend to impress attendees, because they illustrate that we are a grassroots party run by our members, who engage in real debate over the party's business (not just pre-scripted dog-and-pony shows like the establishment parties) and have real power to control the party's governance and set its priorities and direction. I believe our conventions that did not have floor fees also made money more often than they lost money.
But we should be keeping detailed records of our conventions and sharing them with LP members, so that people don't have to rely on the varying recollections of individuals like ourselves, but are able to access solid, reliable, objective information. Building up such an accessible knowledge base from year to year to use will be invaluable to LP members planning future events.
Having real committee oversight would help with this. It should be the Convention Committee's responsibility to compile the information, and it should be done as soon as possible after, and maybe even to some extent during, each convention. Any convention contractors or organizers should be advised beforehand that they will be required to provide the Convention Committee with this info when requested:
• The name, location, and contact info of the venue where the convention took place, and the dates when it took place, along with the full published schedule and any changes subsequently made to that schedule
• How many people attended the convention, their names and contact info, and what packages or event or meal tickets each of them purchased, and at what cost
• The total amounts of money collected for each category of sales
• The amounts of money collected in donations for each fundraising event at the convention, and the totals for fundraising and new memberships for the entire convention
• How many delegates were registered for the convention, along with their names and contact info, and what the delegate totals were for each convention business session
• Who the speakers, presenters or special guests were, what their topics were, how much each was compensated in money and/or perks such as free meals or rooms, and their contact info
• Approximately how many people attended each convention event
• What the venue's financial requirements were, if any (e.g. how much had to be paid for space rental, how many rooms had to be booked at what prices, how much in food/beverage sales was required, etc.).
• How many rooms were actually booked by convention attendees at what price per room and what total cost, and how much money was actually spent by attendees on food and beverages, including the breakdown for each meal or bar event
• How much money the party, and the contractor if there was an independent contractor, made or lost on the entire convention
• The name and contact info of the person who was the point of contact with the venue
• Any feedback received about the convention from attendees or others, and the names and contact info of the people providing it except for individuals who specifically requested anonymity (forms for feedback should be distributed at the convention*)
If a convention organizer or contractor is unable to provide the requested info, they should let the Committee know the reason why in writing, stating when they expect to be able to do so, or if not, why not. Do you have any hard data that you can supply from previous conventions?
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
At-Large Representative, Libertarian Party of California
*As a member of the Convention Committee for 2013, I volunteer to prepare, distribute, and collect feedback forms for our upcoming convention. Please let me know if anyone has any thoughts or ideas for these forms.