[Artemisia] Uprising fees and NMS

[Charles Wemple]

Greetings to all on the list.

We are breaking our usual silence to address some of the comments that 
have appeared recently regarding the Uprising site fees and non-member 
surcharge.

First, we would like to thank Baron Sir Conrad von Zuberbuhler for his 
posting.  His Excellency has been "in charge" of this event from both 
sides, as autocrat and as Baron, and is well aware of the costs 
involved in putting on this event.

Perhaps some recent numbers might help clear up some misconceptions.

Our budget for the event this year is approximately $16000.  This 
includes $9500 for the site, portalets, showers, and trash service, 
$4000 for the Grand Pavilion rental, approximately $700 for site 
tokens, $300 for printing costs, and the remainder covers assorted 
miscellaneous costs associated with putting on a large camping event 
(children's activities, water bearing supplies, encampment and road 
markers, etc.)  Last year, the total budget was about $15000.  We had a 
grand total of 800 attendees; not 800 adults, 800 total through the 
gate.  Accounting for pre-registrations (reduced site fee) and children 
(reduced site fee), the average entry fee was about $16.  Simple math 
shows that we lost our shirts last year.  There were two reasons for 
this:

1)  The event was operating on a very tight budget.  We knew that times 
were tough in Artemisia.  The regional economy was suffering, and we 
tried to keep the site fee increase down to a minimum ($1 is considered 
minimal).  This was done by operating on a budget that left no margin 
for error, or reduced attendance from the previous year.
2)  Attendance was down 15% from the previous year.  (Our heartfelt 
thanks to the Kingdom of the Outlands, who really came out in force 
last year!)

Obviously, this loss could not be repeated.  So, we (the event staff) 
had to set our site fee to accurately reflect the costs of running the 
event, and set our breakeven at a slightly reduced attendance from 
Uprising XVII.  Hence, the $5 increase for pre-registration.  The $7 
on-site increase resulted from the increased discount for 
pre-registration, to encourage more people to take advantage of this 
service.  This makes our event planning easier, and provides a better 
method to estimate camping areas required for groups.

As for the non-member surcharge, we felt that $5 was reasonable.  The 
minimum required by the Society is $3; Estrella charged $10.  $5 is in 
the middle somewhere.  Increased NMS encourages membership; this is 
definitely a desirable goal for the Kingdom.  At Uprising XVII, over 
25% of the attendees (218 of 800) were NOT SCA members.  A similar 
ratio was observed at the Coronation of John and Symonne.  In a Kingdom 
that has been struggling to maintain sufficient membership to retain 
its status, this is untenable.

Note that ALL of the money collected in non-member surcharges, whether 
it is $3 or $30 per person, goes to the Society.  Not the Barony, not 
the Kingdom.  To Milpitas.  All of it.

We hope this posting has been enlightening.  If anyone has additional 
questions about the event costs or site fees, please direct them to us 
at this address, or to the Event Steward, HE Wilhelm von Adlersheim, at 
warriorpoet at onewest.net.  We will be happy to discuss this with you at 
length.

Regards,

Dietrich and Adelheid
Baron and Baroness, One Thousand Eyes