Speaking from myself and not as a representative committee member, the recent annual events held by QUANTA has (as far as I am aware) contain two separate entities. The first is a workshop normally held on a Saturday, the Sunday set aside as primarily a discussion prior to the formalities of the AGM held in the afternoon. This has been an efficient method to incorporate both together. The added advantage has been that the workshop (people do bring their QLs and other stuff for fixing) has carried over to the second day and benefited from the expertise available. The downside is that in the short time I have now attended these, the take up is poor on either day/both, a few die-hards and that is all. It is not that anyone new is not welcomed, they are.
QUANTA would still be required by constitution to hold an AGM although I would agree about venues as being, smaller. I do not know what the advantages regarding costs be, if any. With such member numbers, my experience has shown apathy reigns supreme. A one-day event to me may be not any more viable than a two day, others would need to comment further. How well did the QL meeting fare that QL Today was advertising? What benefits and insights can we gain from that experience to improve things here?. Is there a better take up of such events on the continent? I had intended to go and was looking forward to it especially the model village, if not for personal circumstances preventing me, alas this is not a unique situation. With regards to QLis30, I had already commented on this in 2011 in an article in the QUANTA magazine. I suspect that the cheaper option should now always prevail as the risks and rewards have not paid any real dividends thus far. Unless attendance for such events improves significantly (and this in my opinion has to happen first), there is no real advantage to hold them anywhere else. As with most things I stand to be corrected and also welcome comments from others. Regards Lee Privett On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM, Geoff Wicks <gtwi...@btinternet.com>wrote: > We need to inject some realism into this discussion and that means > looking in some detail at Quanta's finances. > > We have to stop thinking that Quanta has a huge pot of gold. Admittedly > there is still some gold, but it is a very small pot. > > In practiced Quanta's finances are in a more serious condition than most > members realise and there is no quick fix for the problems. > > Quanta has made a financial loss in 8 of the last 10 years and, on > average, the loss works out at £700 per year. Almost £600 of that loss is > down to the QLis21 and QLis25 events. In other words these shows have made > a major contribution to Quanta's present financial trouble. > > Now consider income. On the last available membership figures we now have > under 100 subscription paying members. On the basis of this figure I would > predict a future annual income between £2,000 and £2,500, and probably > nearer the lower value than the higher. > > A QLis30 event run on the lines of the previous two shows would cost more > than Quanta's income in 2014. In the worst case scenario it would cost one > and a half times the annual income. > > In those circumstances I would fully support John Gilpin when he says we > cannot afford QLis30. > > Where I depart from Quanta is they have failed to look at alternative ways > of running a 2014 event. In particular they have not looked at the > possibility of a 1 day event. I have suggested that this could be done for > £1,000. This is not a figure that I have just thought up for this > discussion, but one that I reached a year ago and suggested in a QL Today > editorial. > > Quanta's problems is that is still lives in the world when it had 2,000 > members and has the mentality that "what we have always done, we always > have to do". It needs to start thinking simply and go back to first > principles. Learn how to organise a no frills show. It is what happens at a > show that is important and not the Quanta frippery. > > I would urge Quanta to go back to the drawing board and look at the > possibility of a 1 day event. > > I have considered Rich's proposal carefully and I like it, but sorry Rich, > you have not produced for me a business case. I have no idea from what you > write how much the show would cost Quanta. If you want this show to go > ahead you really need to do more homework. I need to know who the partners > will be, how reliable they are, and what the relative costs would be for > Quanta. I need to know an estimate of attendance and, given that there was > a loss on the last occasion, what you anticipate the loss to be. I also > need to know more than just the venue costs. As Sarah has pointed out there > are many other costs to a show. Venue costs represented about a third of > the total costs of QLis21 and about a half of the costs of QLis25. > > Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the discussion so far, > > > Best Wishes, > > > Geoff > ______________________________**_________________ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/**smsqe.htm<http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm> > -- Regards Lee Privett _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
