I really want to thank Aubrey for picking the topic and finding the panelists.
A couple things to note:
I wanted to have the panel on a weeknight in hopes of getting people who aren't in the LP interested in going. I go to a lot of meetups/panels/speaker events and they are always on a weeknight. However, in order to have it on a weeknight, it couldn't be at the main library because it isn't open late enough. The Mechanic's Library is open until 9 pm so we should have enough time.
The cost to rent the venue is $100 an hour and it seats 60, so it will cost $300 to rent it. We are allowed to bring our own food to the Mechanic's Institute Library, so I would also like to buy food and drinks to the guests which will cost $50-100 (depending on how many people have signed up).
To offset the cost I made admission to the event a sliding scale. You can pay $10, $5, or $0.
For the Zoltan Istvan event, we had 37 registrations, and I only had one week to promote the event. Since I have over one month to promote it, I plan on inviting many more people and organizations. We already have one $10 ticket registered and we only need 29 more to cover the cost of the venue.
My friend Allen Saakyan will be moderating and filming the event for his Youtube channel. He is a professional interviewer; he interviewed Jordan Peterson on stage in front of 1000 people and hosts lots of events in the bay area. I am very grateful that he agreed to moderate the panel for free. Please donate to his Patreon to support his work. You can donate as little as $2 a month. Or just give him some money at the panel discussion.
Please send me questions you want to ask the panel. I need to send potential discussion questions to the panelists ASAP.
Thank you Rebecca for putting so much work into this, and Aubrey for doing a ton of work getting panelists as well! I think it is well worth the cost, and the (optional) donation structure for tickets should effectively raise funds to pay most or all of it back. With this topic, great panelists, the mechanics library venue and Allen to moderate, this is gearing up to be an awesome event.
While I appreciate Rebecca's getting this done, I would have to agree with Starchild (and Rebecca may not know this because she is very new) that we generally consult about who is going to moderate and where the venue will be… I like the Mechanic's Club and I understand Rebecca's idea that attendance fees will probably reimburse us for the cost, but if we change the way we have always done things I think it should be by consensus and not by fiat/post hoc notification.As for the comment that Nick sent out the postcards, we always do that and he did let us know what the costs would be ahead of time, giving anyone who objected a chance to speak upFrançoise
Francoise Fielding, Esq, 820 Stanyan St. #5, San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-386-8643
Hi All. I thought I'd wait a day and let things settle before commenting.
First of all, thanks to Rebecca for organizing the event because at one
point, I felt we would not be able to have it this year--at least not on
school choice. When Rebecca voiced an interest in taking over the planning
of the event, I was hesitant because my approach was different than hers.
But then, just because we've been doing it the same way for 4 years,
there's no reason it can't be done differently this time. As you know, we
need new young blood, and Nick and Rebecca are trying a different approach
to making the LPSF a more significant voice in The City, so we should not
stand in the way of doing things differently.
I was very concerned about adding Michael Strong to the panel that it would
scare Carol (the leftist lady) away from the panel. After all, who wants
to participate in a loaded panel in a den of Libertarian snakes being the
only one to argue against school choice? I met Carol at the PTA
presentation I did against Prop C a few weeks ago. She's pretty feisty,
but I was concerned that she would drop out after hearing that Michael was
invited, but somehow Rebecca has added another libertarian panelist without
getting the statist lady to drop out. That's a pretty amazing feat in
itself! I think having 3 distinct viewpoints will really make this a super
captivating discussion, and I'm pretty sure that Carol will be bringing
many of her statist PTA and government teachers crowd to the event, so we
should make it a point to be as gracious as we possibly can. Having Allen
as the moderator seems better for balance, as far as I'm concerned, and
that might have been one reason that Carol decided not to bail.
As for Starchild as the moderator, it was *assumed* all along that he would
be the moderator, as he has done it every year (except last year when he
had to be a panelist since we couldn't get any of the leftists to
participate), and always done an excellent and fair job to both sides.
Yes, a courtesy email or call to Starchild letting him know the change to
Allen would have been a good thing, but I wouldn't be too critical because
the reason for the change makes good sense to me.
Besides, I might mention that it's hard enough to get new activists to the
party, and I would do as little as possible to scare them away or we'll
have zero activists. Let's support both Nick and Rebecca in their
monumental efforts to do things differently than we've done them in the
past. They're both working really hard to advance liberty in their own
ways and make some inroads in this severely statist city. Let's all get
behind the panel discussion and support our own event by registering,
showing up, and spreading the word to make sure it's well attended. It
should be our most successful panel to date, and we would have Rebecca to
thank for that.
I indicated I appreciated Rebecca getting this done and I agree that it is hard to get young new activists in the party, that we need to support them and that there is nothing wrong with trying new approaches. If, however, the price of that is foregoing civility and moving towards autocracy, count me out. It is no longer the LPSF I care about.This will be my last meeting.Françoise
Francoise Fielding, Esq, 820 Stanyan St. #5, San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-386-8643
Francoise,
That is heartbreaking to read. What can I do to convince you otherwise?
I owe some context to this thread as well. Much of the discussion for this happened between Aubrey, Rebecca and myself. It's very difficult to organize an event with 3 panelists, a moderator and a venue, so I haven't personally had any problem putting this in capable hands-- and Aubrey previously and now Rebecca have done a great job in planning it. I certainly don't think any action we have taken has been the wrong choice for our membership.
I think the main takeaway from this is that we should share more about our event planning. I understand much of that has happened in a small group, but I didn't see this to be a big problem.
Specifically, I gave Rebecca my approval to book the Mechanics library, so I will accept responsibility for that. I have been aware of the rest of the planning as well, so I take responsibility for all of that also. Again, I don't think anything has been detrimental to the party, but I understand that sharing more of this upfront would be better. There may be some misunderstanding because of this as well.
Francoise, can you explain what you consider is foregoing civility? If you will not continue with us, I still personally heavily value your opinion. If you have a problem with how the party is operating, I would much rather correct our course than lose long time members. Some of us who are new to this party especially will make mistakes, and we need guidance.
Please feel free to reply to me personally if you prefer.
Nick:
I appreciate your response but I don't think the end justifies the means. I agree that none of the decisions have harmed the party, it's just that previously decision-making has been more collaborative and if the way we make decisions is going to change, that at least should be agreed upon by the membership.
As for the "foregoing civility", I will quote Aubrey though I disagree with his conclusion "As for Starchild as the moderator, it was assumed all along that he would be the moderator, as he has done it every year (except last year when he had to be a panelist since we couldn't get any of the leftists to participate), and always done an excellent and fair job to both sides. Yes, a courtesy email or call to Starchild letting him know the change to Allen would have been a good thing, but I wouldn't be too critical because the reason for the change makes good sense to me."Again, I don't think the end justifies the means and in my opinion the handling of this was high-handed and just plain rude. I don't want to be a party to that kind of behaviour.
Françoise
Francoise Fielding, Esq, 820 Stanyan St. #5, San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-386-8643
Dear All:
Thank you for your responses to my concerns.
I won't be able to be at the panel because I will be in Switzerland but I hope it goes really well.
Françoise
Francoise Fielding, Esq, 820 Stanyan St. #5, San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-386-8643