OK, let's get a couple of things straight.
First of all, we didn't pick Pratt because they gave us the date before Pace. We had been working with Pace for MONTHS to get a date much earlier than the current date. The administration is not willing to work with us and has basically blamed us for their own internal issues. For example, they sent us a bill 6 months later and then demanded that we issue payment within 2 days. Also, there was a major issue with the food last time, and the fact that we brought it to their attention angered someone who thought we were complaining. Each swap we have agreed to pay for more and more staff, and each time they stated that there was some issue and it was because we did not hire enough staff. We're paying overtime for security, janitors, assistants, etc. To make a long story short, they wanted to increase the price for the space by a few thousand dollars and there was no way we could agree to that given how unprofessional they have been. If you want more information, you have to be a Pace Alumni for the full story, PM me.
Randy, in his infinite selflessness, agreed to get the Pratt space for us so we could even do the swap this Fall. I cannot explain to you the levels he had to go to to get this approved, but it was above and beyond.
We are always looking at new and better spaces. Yes, we need a larger space. We had been operating with discounted venues to keep costs down. The swap does NOT make much money at the end of the day, whoever is throwing around numbers of 20+ vendors at $400 per table is completely wrong. First off tables are $300. We also comp a table here and there to incentivize certain manufacturers/others to see the event. If we think it would be worthwhile for them to come to the event, and for example they are in California, the only way we can get them is to give them a table.
We also pay for the following: insurance, food ($3k+), assistants, janitors, security, AV rental, table rentals, travel and honorarium for speakers, food for out of town guests, hotel rooms for speakers, supplies, water/salt stuff, decorations, food/drink for the people who set up ALL DAY on Saturday, etc, etc.
Let me tell you, it is a miracle we don't bounce checks when all this money is coming in and going out in the weeks leading up to each swap.
The price for admission has been $25 for 4 years now. If we want a larger space we have to increase the price of the event and that is something I did not want to do with how expensive the hobby is and how bad the economy has been to many people here. If we move to a new location, we can expect a lot of other issues (specifically we need the room for almost 2 days instead of the one day we pay for at Pace and Pratt). There are a whole slew of new issues related to logistics, saltwater setup, security, and in general not pissing off our new hosts so we can do it at the same location more than once. We can't exactly move the location of the swap every time, we need to know what to expect and hopefully this knowledge transfers to a smooth running event.
This thread was to answer the question "Why is it not at Pace?" which I think I have done. We exhausted every option with them and they did not want to be a partner for our event. I would rather pay more for a professional venue than a cost increase to a host and ignore all of the issues we have put up with for the past 4 years.
So now comes the task of looking for a new venue. If you have an idea (and a lot of you do), PM ME. I will examine every option you provide.
