Funding Future AWS Events

[EpicentrE]

I feel as if I'm being spoken on behalf of...

I appreciate the message here, but I am certainly not looking to make a profit, nor even cover the whole costs of the venue. The School is under a different business manager now than last time I hired it, so the price might even be different. I appreciate everyone's willingness to contribute - and certainly don't wish to suggest what others should or shouldn't do for their events in the future - but for mine at least, I will not charge more than I feel is absolutely necessary, and if I can get away with not charging at all I will do so.

I'll know in the coming weeks either way. I echo the sentiments of others that I'm certainly not opposed to a small fee if the organiser feels it's necessary in order to run their event, but that's entirely up to the organiser. No-one should feel that they should charge fees if they don't need to.

[BeligerAnt]

I don't think anyone was trying to speak on your behalf Scott, rather in general terms.
I think we're all violently agreeing with each other!

[Hogi]

the venue for antweight open is where my mum works. her boss is nice so last year we got the hall for the whole day for just a tenner or so.

my point is this: i encourage anyone in a similar situation or who has any other means of getting a venue on the cheap to organise an event. sadly i can only get melrose hall once a year for the open or i would host one.

EDIT: an entry fee of a bob fifty per robot would mean entry of a full team ( 3 rollers plus 1 walker/cluster) would cost 6 quid which isn't bad considering it's only two or three times a year. i'm just afraid it'll put people off entering robots just for the fun of it or people with two fleaweights entering them as a cluster. if that sort of thing was to stop it would take something away from the competition however i do appreciate that these events don't pay for themselves.

[Rhys]

I'm all up for paying an entry fee, especially if it safeguards the future of AWS. We all spend hundreds on this hobby and getting to and from the events, so what's an extra £6? It costs more than that just to pay the toll for the bridge home from most events!

I do worry slightly that it might price some of the younger more cash strapped people out of the event though. Maybe we could have do like museums and galleries and have a "suggested donation" of £1.50, but if you can't afford it, then whatever you have will do? We're a pretty honest bunch and I can't see people trying to avoid paying it if they can afford it. Mind you, I guess if you can afford to have 4 ants, then £6 isn't going to break the bank.

And I agree with what others have said in that this should only be a last resort when the costs are prohibitive. The hall that AWS 41 was held at was about £50 for the day which is a totally acceptable loss. but some places were quoting over £200 for a full day, which would have probably led to me reconsidering organising the event.

[Roboteernat]

Out of curiosity, do we have an up to date map (google type location map) where users of antweights can post their location?
Then we can see where the users are (and arrange events nearby?) or have a place where locations of AWS are held for people to look at.
Im thinking of something like this:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8 ... dg=feature

Edit - although the reprap map seems a bit screwey,...

[BeligerAnt]

We know that the centre of the Antweight universe lies somewhere in the Thames Valley

Events in Reading are always very well supported; events held in the north of England (or further afield) are supported mainly by the die-hards travelling a long way with relatively little local support. Reading also has the advantage of being within 1-2 hours drive of many large centres of population and a good rail service.

We try to move the events around geographically but do rely on volunteers to run them. Most people want to run an event somewhere convenient to them

[peterwaller]

Some time ago Simon Windisch set up this one.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?authuser ... 87608b3cbd