It takes a bit more than talk.......
Ok, so this is a thread in response to many who have inquired as to what is needed to submit an accepted proposal. Those who have organized Fests from previous year, please feel free to post information as to what it took to get your proposal submitted. This is a thread that is meant to encourage others around the nation/world to organize a Fest in their area.
First step: Organize a group of people in your area.
You need a group of people who are dedicated to pulling off this organization, as it is a lot of hard work. People who are willing to give up a few of their weekends to run around and get venues, scope out the area, have frequent meetings.
Next, you need to set up formal meeing times when you can sit down to discuss the fest. This means setting up SEVERAL meetings between the end of the previous fest and the deadline for submitting the proposal (the end of october - giving your 2 months to organize yourself, unless you start earlier than that!
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Once you have everyone collected you'll need to discuss the city/town/area that you are proposing for the fest and organize what information you'll need for the proposal. this is where it gets tricky, as everyone will have idea's as to what they want to DO at the fest. This is not the time for this discussion. Try to keep on track and discuss hotels, parks, other venues where the fest can be held. Then distribute the research work evenly among the group members.
Things you'll need to know about your proposed Fest area:
VENUE! (can't have a fest without a Venue).
- Cost of the venue - if it's a hotel, what are the room rates, food/menu rates, meeting/conference space costs, etc.
if it's in an outdoor space other than a hotel: area rental costs, place to hold the banquet, outdoor wrenching restrictions (environmental laws?)
Things to do around the area: Parks, malls, tourist attractions, places to eat,etc.
- International considerations - passports required, taxes, Currency exchanges, vendor issues (if the fest is going to be over a border other than the US - ie Canada, or wherever else).
Basic Agenda:
- What are you planning on doing with several hundred people for 3 days
- Friday - registrations, evening meet-n-greet usually - what will be your
menu, activity of choice, etc.
- Saturday all day - registrations, activities (tech sessions, vendors, area actvities, etc), food (breakfast, lunch, OR dinner... pick one), activity saturday night?
- Sunday - food (usually the banquet sunday night), Show n shine, other activities, banquet, wrenching, etc.
What are the qualifications of your group members:
WHO ARE THEY?!?! who exactly is going to be in your group. If you have group members that are planning a fest from one location that is different than the actual fest location - Do you have Area Volunteers!?!?
Who are they?
Who has experience organizing large scale events? does their career choice allow them to volunteer for such a dedicated process? In other words, they have the drive, but do they have the time?
Who will be your group "leader" or primary contact/liason?
This is just some information that folks will need to know if they are planning on organizing a fest proposal. Once you submit a proposal, in an organized, informative format - the work gets more abumndant from there. But with the righ crew of volunteers, and everyone pitching in to help, it can go VERY smoothly!
To previuos fest organizers, please feel free to pitch in other information. If you have your previous proposal and would like to link it on the page, i'm sure it would be a great help to future fest organizers, to see what others have done. We need to learn from one another! Maybe this will encourage others to volunteer, rather than compete or stand asside for someone else to do it! Let's help to make Fests in furture years easier and more fun for everyone!
