TAXI RALLY IN NASHVILLE -please use this thread

[jay10music]

Hey guys,Jimi here. I saw your thread on holding a "mini rally" and alerted Michael to it (on a sunday!!). He was really happy that somebody else was willing to do the heavy lifting... the rally takes an unbelievable toll on him every year. As he thought about it more, he realized that the momentum would probably stop when the financial realities set in.He went on to tell me that he personally goes (and I'm copying from his email here) on the hook for $93,000 in hard costs if certain aspects of the rally fail. Just the ballroom is approx. $20,000/day, but is offset by sleeping room rentals. Enough rooms sold, the ballroom is free. If the room sales fall short, he write a check for the difference. Every member who stays somewhere outside of the hotel, indirectly costs him money.He also go on the line for the mentor lunches to the tune of $36,000. The luncheons bring down the sleeping room rates. If the luncheon seats don't get sold, then he has to write a check to keep the rooms at 149/night or the members pay $269/night for their sleeping rooms. If he can't sell at least $50,000 in sponsorships, the things that the sponsorships pay for become his personal expense. If you HAVE sponsors, you need to take care of them.... green room, parking, drinks, a sponsor luncheon before the Rally (that alone cost $2,000!). So when I asked Michael why he'd want to do a conference in Nashville, and go through all this pain and risk, his answer was (and I got permission from him to post this), ]"Because it's sorely needed and it's the right thing to do. Problem is that the people talking about this online don't have any sort of clue as to how many moving parts there are on something like this. They'll blue sky it to death on the boards, then when they see what reality is, it will probably die. Who would be crazy enough to go on the hook financially for it? How many people would actually show up? People talk a good game, but then have a family emergency or wedding that suddenly comes up when it's crunch time That will leave somebody holding the bag. Maybe I should keep my nose out of this, and let it happen organically, for better or for worse. One thing will defintiely come of this... when they see how far you have to put your neck on the line and how many hours it takes to pull off, they'll appreciate the rally even more )))))"When you get right down to it, how many people would really show up? Out of towners need to cover travel. If they stay with friends, the event costs more... much more cuz without the sleeping rooms, the ballrooms get very expensive. And what about breakout rooms? Would they want to do classes of ten to 20 people to get some personal attention? Who pays for all those breakout rooms?These are just a FEW of the reasons I haven't done this yet, but I DO have plenty of high-powered friends/writers that would do it. Who would pay for their honrariums when necessary? Here's another... we spent $6,000 just on parking for the speakers, teahcers, panelists, etc, at this year's rally. If we do this thing, let's say we have $750 in parking and meals for speakers/teachers... who pays for it? PA system? Lighting?I've done some of my seminars in clubs to consolidate some of those expenses, but the feel was totally wrong. Gets weird in clubs... they don't feel like a place to learn, they don't have breakout rooms.... lots of issues there.Has anybody ever tried to get a sponsor on the phone, let alone committing thousands of dollars, plane flights for booth people, sleeping rooms for booth people, hourly wages for booth people, meals for booth people, rental cars for booth people, no committments anywhere else that weekend for booth people, etc. Hell, TAXI's a international brand in our space, and I can get pretty much anybody on a phone, and still takes me dozens of hours over 5 to 6 weeks to pull together sponsors for the rally, and then there's all the follow up tina does after I've gotten them to say yes. She works out all the particulars... do you need electricity at your booth, do you need internet, they want to teach a class, they want main stage time, but if you give it to one, do you have to give it to EVERY sponsor, bag stuffers not arriving on time, bag stuffers not being labeled correclty and ending up lost.... the list goes on, so I don't think they'd want to do sponsors.Sponsors also want a successful history and guaranteed attendence levels, so it's even harded to get them for a first year. If they're not happy, you could end up writing a refund check after the money has been spent! If you don't make good, reputation and event over.I've looked at doing a small, very personal song camp thing, and that precludes sponsors because they want big numbers. The hit writers want it to be somewhere "cool" which means a high-end resort. I'd have to pay for their $350/night rooms (probably 4 nights each), plane flights and their wive's spa treatments. Everybody who attends would HAVE to stay at the resort to help offset the ballroom, breakout rooms, etc.. We have some fairly well-heeled members who have told me they'd drop $3,000 or more for a weekend where the ratio would be 1 writer to 5-10 members, and everybody's songs would get heard and worked on to some extent. But if I do that, what about the people who can't afford it?More questions than answers at this point, but I am a little concerned that by hatching the idea in public, the blue sky stuff will get out of proportion to the financial and logistical realities that the well-meaning blue skyers have no idea about. Maybe we should reach out to the people talking about it and see how many people would spend $150-250 per ticket to do something with 200 attendees, and stay at a hotel that costs $150 or more per night. Hard to get Jeffrey, Don, Craig, and Rivers to show up for an event at the Hampton inn People forget that these guys are asked to do this stuff a dozen times a year or more, and have BEEN doing a few a year for a decade or more.Just looked at Jeffrey's site re; his bootcamp. you have to apply and get accepted. Looks like it's 4 days, 12 writers and Jeff. The FINAL payment is $1,750.... not sure if that's one of THREE or two payments. Looks like it's at least $3,500 with a 12 to one ratio... hard to find all the info.Anyway... moving on to other stuff today, but interested in trying to make this work. Maybe send this to the people who are thinking about it... let me know.Wan to post it, I guess it's okay. let me know if you think otherwise.Give the baby a kiss from Deb and I thx,MSo people, I just wanted to give you Michael's thoughts on this and facilitate a place for you to discuss it.Jimi

[jchitty]

I wondered where that thread went. Thanks for your reply to all of us, Mr. Laskow. You really do care about your board members and their suggestions, and it shows in your words.I can't speak for what the others want....they can just chime in themselves.But here's what I'll say for me....yes, it's a super daunting task, although one member had proposed a really good alternative idea if you've had a chance to read the full thread. You'd have to make sure that many TAXI members (country and otherwise) would attend as you've pointed out. No one thought of doing something on a scale like this, but I can see why you're concerned. This is very valuable information to have. To tell you the truth, I'm blown away by this daunting task information, and I might just see what the others say first....WOWZA. Thanks for listening to everyone here though! It's extremely nice of you to even offer up a possibility like this. Maybe we can wait a while on this and see if people are interested in a year or so.....maybe folks will have more money in their pockets if they can plan ahead a year or two.Over and out. One thing though, if people do decide to go, and you have very good guaranteed attendance, I would be there with bells on.

[jchitty]

Quote:So, first...thank you, Michael. When you speak, it matters. And it never ceases to amaze me, every time I'm reminded how much we TRULY DO matter to you. thanks.And secondly, last time I was online about this topic, I was left with the impression that we were leaning more toward forming a TAXI contingent at Tin Pan South and sort of sharing meals together to network and trade class notes, etc. during extended breaks. I'd certainly still be up for that, and we'd loose most of the logistical problems by letting the Tin Pan people take care of them for us.Is that still a viable option?I for one would support that option. I didn't want to bring that member and their fantastic idea about Tin Pan South up yet until they appeared and posted about it themselves, but if they do, I'd go for that too. It's all good!

[Casey H]

One way to see how many people will really ante up for any kind of event is do the simple thing that was suggested-- try to get people together to all go to a known music conference in Nashville (not involving TAXI). Let's say you keep it at that, for example-- nothing but a bunch of friends meeting in Nashville and doing the conference together. The organizer would have to book a bunch of rooms at wherever you'd be staying and collect deposit checks from those who wanted to attend. Deposit checks would be required before booking the rooms and non-refundable after a certain date. This is where the metal meets the road. How many will ante up? If you DO get some minimum number than you could look into whether it's worth adding anything other to the trip besides the conference itself. (e.g. a bus trip to Elvis's house or whatever)It could be a nice thing. A simple group "outing" to Nashville. But you have to give it the acid test and see who is serious enough to write a check and stand behind it. I say go for it. Try the simple and see if you can make it work! Good luck! Casey

[jchitty]

Quote:One way to see how many people will really ante up for any kind of event is do the simple thing that Vikki suggested-- try to get people together to all go to a known music conference in Nashville (not involving TAXI). Let's say you keep it at that, for example-- nothing but a bunch of friends meeting in Nashville and doing the conference together. The organizer would have to book a bunch of rooms at wherever you'd be staying and collect deposit checks from those who wanted to attend. Deposit checks would be required before booking the rooms and non-refundable after a certain date. This is where the metal meets the road. How many will ante up? If you DO get some minimum number than you could look into whether it's worth adding anything other to the trip besides the conference itself. (e.g. a bus trip to Elvis's house or whatever)It could be a nice thing. A simple group "outing" to Nashville. But you have to give it the acid test and see who is serious enough to write a check and stand behind it. I say go for it. Try the simple and see if you can make it work! Good luck! CaseyYou Yankees....'Graceland,' which is Elvis' house is in Memphis. We'd really need a long shuttle drive for that one, hehe.

[Casey H]

Quote: You Yankees....'Graceland,' which is Elvis' house is in Memphis. We'd really need a long shuttle drive for that one, hehe.I vote for Vikki's idea too.What makes you think that just because I said "Elvis", I meant "Elvis Presley"? I was talking about my old buddy Elvis Schwartz... He has a house near Nashville...

[jchitty]

Quote:Quote: You Yankees....'Graceland,' which is Elvis' house is in Memphis. We'd really need a long shuttle drive for that one, hehe.I vote for Vikki's idea too.What makes you think that just because I said "Elvis", I meant "Elvis Presley"? I was talking about my old buddy Elvis Schwartz... He has a house near Nashville... Hahaha! Okay, I gotta admit that was a great comeback.See you folks later.

[hummingbird]

Quote:One way to see how many people will really ante up for any kind of event is do the simple thing that was suggested-- try to get people together to all go to a known music conference in Nashville (not involving TAXI). Let's say you keep it at that, for example-- nothing but a bunch of friends meeting in Nashville and doing the conference together. The organizer would have to book a bunch of rooms at wherever you'd be staying and collect deposit checks from those who wanted to attend. Deposit checks would be required before booking the rooms and non-refundable after a certain date. This is where the metal meets the road. How many will ante up? If you DO get some minimum number than you could look into whether it's worth adding anything other to the trip besides the conference itself. (e.g. a bus trip to Elvis's house or whatever)It could be a nice thing. A simple group "outing" to Nashville. But you have to give it the acid test and see who is serious enough to write a check and stand behind it. I say go for it. Try the simple and see if you can make it work! Good luck! CaseyThat is not what was suggested. The suggestion was, very simply, that the Eastern folks pick a date, place, & event. Then each person is responsible for booking their own hotel rooms, buying their own event tickets, making their own transportation plans & buying their own meals. Simply meet there. That's it. No one's on the hook for anyone and it requires no more organization than folks interested in doing it talking to each other (privately) so they go to the same thing.

[Casey H]

Quote:Quote:One way to see how many people will really ante up for any kind of event is do the simple thing that was suggested-- try to get people together to all go to a known music conference in Nashville (not involving TAXI). Let's say you keep it at that, for example-- nothing but a bunch of friends meeting in Nashville and doing the conference together. The organizer would have to book a bunch of rooms at wherever you'd be staying and collect deposit checks from those who wanted to attend. Deposit checks would be required before booking the rooms and non-refundable after a certain date. This is where the metal meets the road. How many will ante up? If you DO get some minimum number than you could look into whether it's worth adding anything other to the trip besides the conference itself. (e.g. a bus trip to Elvis's house or whatever)It could be a nice thing. A simple group "outing" to Nashville. But you have to give it the acid test and see who is serious enough to write a check and stand behind it. I say go for it. Try the simple and see if you can make it work! Good luck! CaseyThat is not what was suggested. The suggestion was, very simply, that the Eastern folks pick a date, place, & event. Then each person is responsible for booking their own hotel rooms, buying their own event tickets, making their own transportation plans & buying their own meals. Simply meet there. That's it. No one's on the hook for anyone and it requires no more organization than folks interested in doing it talking to each other (privately) so they go to the same thing.OK... sorry... I guess I was combining 2 thoughts. One was people going to an event and the other (more general) testing the waters on people's commitment. Apologies if I misstated your idea... Casey

[Casey H]

I probably won't post anymore on this one since it's pretty likely I wouldn't be able to attend an event for quite a while. I used up all my points (home "points", not airline miles) for the LA trip. It would be awesome, however, to meet more of you.What I was trying to say in my previous post was (as JMHO/experience/advice/FWIW ) even if you decide everyone will make their own plans, be careful about a scenario like this: Ten of you say you are going to go and make your own hotel reservations, etc. One of you then books a non-refundable airline ticket for $487. Then, due to money or other reasons, all or most of the remaining group backs out. If that person wasn't prepared to go alone (e.g. a big part of the reason for going was meeting and being with everyone), he/she could get stuck holding the bag with a plane ticket.A simple, everyone makes their own plans, thing CAN work but as mentioned elsewhere on this thread, sometimes people with the best intentions can not or will not follow through.There is nothing negative intended here. Nothing would be nicer for me than to hear that a bunch of you went to an event together and hear all about your experiences. Warmest, Casey