We Love-Hate the Tents

As you know -- at our recent planning meeting, we reviewed every single comment we received from YOU -- our valued attendees. There are some things we simply cannot control -- like the WEATHER. And, of course, the first week in March -- you can put your money on cold and damp...

And, as hard as we try (we rent the biggest heaters available) there is an element of cold and damp inside the tents...

But the tent classrooms SEAT A LOT OF PEOPLE...and, it's only possible to keep the One-Needle classes at $5 because we can SEAT A LOT OF PEOPLE...

If we moved the show to a convention center the rooms would be perfectly heated and/or air-conditioned -- and the $5 One-Needle classes would cost $20 each.

By using the tent -- it's just a two minute walk for you (from either the Pavilion or the Showplex) to get to the "L" classroom -- where popular speakers like Nancy Zieman and Eleanor Burns were able to teach to a packed house..
Right out the side door of the Showplex -- the Centennial Building has two large classrooms. Mary Mulari taught in one of those tent classrooms. Her class SOLD OUT -- thank you very much. Those ticket sales help us pay the rent...not to mention our six-figure AV bill...

So, as you can see -- there are two big advantages to our tent classrooms. First of all -- they seat A LOT OF PEOPLE... Secondly -- THEY ARE CLOSE TO THE ACTION. Because you only have 15 minutes between classes -- using the tents makes it possible for you to TAKE MORE CLASSES....

This year, for some pre-show classes, we rented another building. The Pauhamus building. It is a lovely building...with real walls and actual temperature control....

BUT if you took one of those classes -- you know HOW FAR AWAY this building is. Renting the Paulhamus building costs way more than renting the tents (yes, we must pay for every space we use)...and it's so far off the reservation -- if we were to use it during the show -- we'd have to provide a shuttle service. Even if we did that -- it wouldn't replace all the seats we have in the tents...so we'd have to raise the $5 ticket price...

See what I'm sayin'?? We discussed all of this during our planning meeting. IT IS COMPLICATED. But, during these tough economic times, we are working hard NOT TO RAISE ticket prices...which is only possible if we continue to use the tents...

So -- you should know that we do read all your suggestions. But we don't control the weather. And we hate it that the tents can be cold and damp.

But we love it that they are big and near the action...

Maybe we should rent sweaters??