FUDCon - Dave & Busters Proposal

[Chris Tyler]

Here is the proposal from D&B.

Notes:
- They have 'appetizer-style' buffets and 'dinner-style' buffets. The
former include finger food such as cheese and crackers, kebabs, and bar
burgers; the latter, a more traditional meat-starch-vegetable-salad
menu. For our event type and budget, only the appetizer style seems
appropriate.

- Drink tickets are charged on a as-consumed basis -- if a $5 drink is
ordered, we pay $5, if a $7 drink, then $7, if the ticket isn't used, no
charge. We can include the non-alcoholic drinks via ticket, or for
$2.59/person have unlimited tea, coffee, and soda. Tickets can have a
maximum value attached; $7.20 (recommended) covers most drinks.

- They will throw in the space rental for free under their current
promotion. Of the various spaces available, the space that looks best to
me includes 9 pool tables, a snooker table, and two hand-shuffleboard
tables (which will be covered and used for the buffet for part of the
evening). This is the "Viewpoint 2/3" on the proposal -- it's normally
$125/hour.

- They have recommended "Power Cards" for each attendee -- these can be
used on the midway. They are optional -- we can just have the pool
tables available, and if someone wants to use the midway they can pay
their own way. If we include the Power Cards, we're over budget.

Hope this info is useful. Paul, in case Mailman scrubs the attachment,
I'm CCing you on this mail directly.

-Chris

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: [e-mail]
Reply-to: 
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Feodora Project - Software Developers 12/5/2009
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:23:07

See Attachment(s):

Hello Chris.

Deposit Due:

I have attached your party proposal.  Please read over and confirm that 
everything is correct.  if you have any changes or questions please feel 
free to contact me. I came in a little over budget but there are lots of 
things we can adjust.. my goal was just to give you an idea of costs and 
we can add/change/delete as you'd like.

Please fill in the credit card info on the Authorization page and then sign 
and date the contract page where it asks for host signature. Then fax or 
scan it back to me to confirm your space.

Thank you for choosing Dave and Buster's to host your event. I look 
forward to working with you in the future.

Jacqueline Scott
Special Events Representative
905.760.7600 x 236
905.760.7603 Fax
[e-mail]

[Paul W. Frields]

On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 10:21:26PM -0400, Chris Tyler wrote:
> Here is the proposal from D&B.

Excellent, thanks Chris.  I read the proposal you attached, and would
recommend others check it out too.  Thoughts follow...
> Notes:
> They have 'appetizer-style' buffets and 'dinner-style' buffets. The
>
> former include finger food such as cheese and crackers, kebabs, and bar
> burgers; the latter, a more traditional meat-starch-vegetable-salad
> menu. For our event type and budget, only the appetizer style seems
> appropriate.

I agree.  This worked fine at the most recent Boston FUDCon, and I
notice they have chips+salsa and crackers+cheese on the menu for
veggiesauruses.
> Drink tickets are charged on a as-consumed basis -- if a $5 drink is
>
> ordered, we pay $5, if a $7 drink, then $7, if the ticket isn't used, no
> charge. We can include the non-alcoholic drinks via ticket, or for
> $2.59/person have unlimited tea, coffee, and soda. Tickets can have a
> maximum value attached; $7.20 (recommended) covers most drinks.

Here's what I would suggest, but we'll want Max to chime in from his
position as the chief financier for this operation. :-)

Right now the total for the whole night is coming out at ~$4500.
That's actually pretty close to what things cost at Boston, but we had
a sponsor who picked up that tab.

If we are paying $1000 for a deposit up front, that money will come
out of Red Hat's third fiscal quarter, whereas the balance in December
will come out of the fourth.  That may give us some flexibility.

If Max thinks the overall cost is at our ceiling, we may want to opt
for paying for nonalcoholic drinks for everyone, and attendees are on
their own for everything else.

As Chris notes, in the proposal, none of these tickets are included in
the bottom line.  So these $5/$7 drink costs are all *in addition to*
whatever we're paying for other stuff.

Gratuity (16%) has been included, so we shouldn't need to worry about
an extra tip on top of the numbers we're seeing in the contract.
> They will throw in the space rental for free under their current
>
> promotion. Of the various spaces available, the space that looks best to
> me includes 9 pool tables, a snooker table, and two hand-shuffleboard
> tables (which will be covered and used for the buffet for part of the
> evening). This is the "Viewpoint 2/3" on the proposal -- it's normally
> $125/hour.

This is fantastic, just what the doctor ordered.  Even if people don't
opt for midway and video games, fun will be had. :-)
> They have recommended "Power Cards" for each attendee -- these can be
>
> used on the midway. They are optional -- we can just have the pool
> tables available, and if someone wants to use the midway they can pay
> their own way. If we include the Power Cards, we're over budget.

Right, this is the first place I'd consider cutting from the proposal.
In fact, I'd rather use the ~$900 quoted for these cards to pay for
drink tickets, if we decide the overal bottom line is OK.  Then we'd
let people just buy their own midway Power Cards.

So again, the bottom line cost options look something like this:

* Basic costs for food, non-alcoholic drinks, space, tax + tip: ~$3500

* Power Cards: ~$900

* One "alco-bevvie" per person: ~$900

Once Max is back and settled we'll have a short chat about this and
get things finalized with D&B.  I do know that Max thought D&B was an
absolute winner of a place to have FUDPub, so no question about the
venue at this point.

[Andrew Overholt]

Hi,

* Paul W. Frields  [2009-08-31 08:55]:
> On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 10:21:26PM -0400, Chris Tyler wrote:
>
> I agree.  This worked fine at the most recent Boston FUDCon, and I
> notice they have chips+salsa and crackers+cheese on the menu for
> veggiesauruses.

As a vegetarian (non-vegan) I can't say I'm *thrilled* with the non-meat
options but being the location that it is I'm not surprised.  It would
be great to have something more substantial for non-meat-eaters (ex.
samosas or mini veggie burgers) but I realize we're a small minority and
thus won't harp on it any more :)
> > They have recommended "Power Cards" for each attendee -- these can be

We went to D&B's for a Christmas party once.  It was fun, and I wasn't
paying for our "Power Cards" but I go the feeling that they were
probably rip-offs.  Things are more social with pool tables than with
video games anyway ;)

Andrew

[Paul W. Frields]

On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 01:05:11PM -0400, Andrew Overholt wrote:
> Hi,
> Paul W. Frields  [2009-08-31 08:55]:
> > On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 10:21:26PM -0400, Chris Tyler wrote:
> >
> > I agree.  This worked fine at the most recent Boston FUDCon, and I
> > notice they have chips+salsa and crackers+cheese on the menu for
> > veggiesauruses.
>
> As a vegetarian (non-vegan) I can't say I'm *thrilled* with the non-meat
> options but being the location that it is I'm not surprised.  It would
> be great to have something more substantial for non-meat-eaters (ex.
> samosas or mini veggie burgers) but I realize we're a small minority and
> thus won't harp on it any more :)

Yeah, sorry if I wrote that off too quickly Andrew.  I talked to Chris
earlier (he's having some email problems today) and he is exploring
some more substantial options with D&B as we speak.  They've already
told us they can come up with something better, so hold tight while we
spin up another edition of the paperwork! :-)
> > > They have recommended "Power Cards" for each attendee -- these can be
>
> We went to D&B's for a Christmas party once.  It was fun, and I wasn't
> paying for our "Power Cards" but I go the feeling that they were
> probably rip-offs.  Things are more social with pool tables than with
> video games anyway ;)

I tend to agree, a video game (in a lot of cases) sort of separates
you from everyone else.  Some of them at the D&B I visited in Maryland
about 8 or so years ago were group participation, but it was the
exception rather than the rule.  Having the option for people who are
"social'd out" is probably a plus, but we can just let those people
pay their own way.  The rest of us will all be sharing group hugs and
Fedora gang signs. ;-)

[Andrew Overholt]

* Paul W. Frields  [2009-08-31 16:18]:
> They've already told us they can come up with something better, so
> hold tight while we spin up another edition of the paperwork! :-)

Awesome!

Thanks a lot,

Andrew