Another Rubbout is upon us...the third one where I'm at the helm.
I wasn't nervous about expenses and numbers and such until this morning. I had hoped for more weekend pass sales at this point and I figure I know where we'll be compared to previous years based on what I see. We had been hoping for a slight increase in numbers of attendees but now I don't think that's going to happen.
The pressure's on to sell Friday Night Grand Slam party tickets. This is where I start to feel lonely. I'm the only one postering and the only one promoting the crap out of the party on Facebook, Twitter, creating programs on Squirt, Fetlife and such. There are a few other event organizers who know the value of sharing and re-tweeting but mostly I feel at this point every year how futile the entire effort is....so much fucking effort for so little return. Very few guys take the time - even a few seconds - to forward a message or retweet something. It's pretty frustrating, because you never hear the end of people's suggestions on what you did wrong or how to make things better or how to bolster numbers, yet these are the same people who couldn't be bothered to help get the word out about the events. It's a collective organizer observation and it's eternally very frustrating.
The worst part is estimating numbers for the stuff we have to pre-pay for. How many guys are we expecting for brunch? That's the worst one, since we have to shell out $21 a head and have no idea how many heads there will be. You explain this one to people for why they should buy early and you get quizzical stares back.
We're even promoting a contest for a rubber catsuit for those who buy before end of day today. It's been running for a week and I expected the sales to come flying in, but they haven't. *sigh*
It seems no matter what we do we never get the numbers we want. I appreciate the suggestions from people on who to contact and where to spend the money but I don't understand why it has to come two weeks before the event. I guess it's not on anyone's radar other than my own to figure out a promotion plan in December or January, long before anyone even remembers when Rubbout comes around every year.
This year has been dogged by personal challenges for all the Rubbout organizers which has fatigued us even more...it's frustrating to think how much effort has gone into sponsorship, logistics and promotion while dealing with cancer, amputations, kidney stones, septic infections, influenza, master's theses and sports injuries since the beginning of the year.
Anyways, we gotta keep banging the drum. I have an overnight production deployment for work tonight until 5am....there is a three hour window in the late evening when I'm going to poster Davie Village, Robson and Yaletown with Rubbout and Grand Slam posters. A late start to work tomorrow morning then the Rubbout attendees start arriving in the evening. Half day of work on Friday and then it begins.
Hope you're coming! Please get your passes before midnight tonight to get into the catsuit draw or your Grand Slam tickets at Little Sisters before Friday at 6pm!
2 comments:
Im an event planner by trade I would love to help out next year if you feel I can contribute! Im an obiedient pup and will work for rubs & balls! Lets go for coffee sometime to see if you could use me :3
Thanks Chase...we would really love to have more people on the committee next year. We don't have enough people to dedicate time to getting things ready or to focus on the things that I think need focusing on. Let's talk!
Naturally I'm a nervous cunt the week leading up to Rubbout, thus my bad attitude blog entries. It's how I deal with stress and I know many people know that about me.
I must be learning something though; this year the stress is half of what it normally is....maybe we are starting to get used to what we are supposed to be doing?!!?? :)
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