[Hartwood] 2014 events

[Danielle Bevan]

So we're having a problem finding a hall for Yule -- we'll be looking in the Courtenay/Coombes/Port Alberni areas instead of the originally planned Nanaimo area, because all the halls are booked.

Yule is a special case to a degree, because the christmas season is so busy, but it -does- underscore that council begging for an event bid a few months before an event is a recipe for failure. I mentioned it at council, but as Chair of the financial committee, I'm going to be a bit hard-nosed about having our 2014 bids in by Nov at the latest, so we can ensure everything is tickety-boo by Dec. Especially the winter event.

Our main events are:

Spring TUTR, ??, 4/22
Fall Camping, Port Alberni: 9/22
Winter Event, ??, 11/22 <-- yes, november this time.

We held off on June/August reservations until we found out if we're getting any of our Principality Event Bids.

If you have an event you'd like to run that isn't one of these, by all means, pitch it to us. But we need bids for these this coming, or the next, council. And when a bid is awarded, one of your first priorities will be to lock in a site.

So what do event stewards need? A membership, a partner, and a budget. A budget requires a potential site. A budget also requires flexibility; if the financial committee says 'we need you to adjust your expected attendance' or 'we need you to charge another two dollars', this isn't a slam against you! It's just our job to make sure the event has the best possible chance of breaking even/making money -- especially those three above, which are really the only opportunity for our branch to make the money required to do things like buy an Iron Key shed and reserve sites for events. If you want to run an event but don't have a membership, consider the $30 associate... but if not, find a member to co-steward with you. :) We'll make it work.

In the meantime, though, lets brainstorm Yule sites. 

~ Cunegonda