Who would want a Fan Reunion?

The only way it was possible to get ~50 celebrities, producers, writers, directors, actors, etc. to the Leap Back was the charity aspect. You would have to set ticket prices at astronomical heights, and then it would be impossible to have the intimate, fun event like Leap Back was. It would have to be very commercialized, selling space to vendors, and those vendors would have various rules they'd want, etc. etc.

The big commercialized conventions weren't about maximum face time with the celebs and the fans. It was about making money just to pay for the event.

Even with the charity aspect of Leap Back and being done basically on a shoestring budget, some of the actors did not join the fixed autograph fee and charged a bit extra. I do understand why. Not every actor or actress who appeared on Quantum Leap is rolling in the dough. Some really haven't worked much since at all, or in small productions. Imagine what they'd all want to charge if this was a for-profit event? I don't think with the limited size of the Quantum Leap audience that another Leap Con like the ones in the 90's could be done again.
 
feldon30 said:
I don't think with the limited size of the Quantum Leap audience that another Leap Con like the ones in the 90's could be done again.
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Well first of all, if one wouldn't try than one wouldn't know that right? And what if one would just keep the quests down to just Scott, Dean, Don and Deborah. Than instead of asking astronomical prices (cause i think 250 dollars per ticket was a bit high) one would have several prices in the range from 250 for say first row, and less when you move back ending with about 15 dollars. QL is still loved all over the world, there are many, many new fans and a lot of old fans, many which couldn't make it due to the high prices.

Many of us ladies got it somewhat fixed by sharing our rooms, how about fans knowing this and getting together online to keep down hotelroom prices. "roomies wanted" area. I got one on my forum, so why not?

And how about instead of doing this in a high class expensive hotel one would rent down a hostel or something. Okay so fans would be spread cause not eveyone would want to be in a hostel, but main thing is people could have an affordable ticket as well as an affordable bed and cook their own food if they care to do so.

Than how about renting out a hall. Okay so that would need to be march or april just so you don't freeze your butt off or melt while enjoying festivities.

Tickets for planes are cheapest in feb and march for foreigners comming in to LA so march april would be good for foreign fans.

I do believe if this could be set up, even a low budget fan might have a shot at comming with a 15 dollar entrance ticket and a 30 dollar per night stay in a hostel.

So this con wouldn't make 45,000 for charity, who cares, even if it would only be 3,000 at least it would be 3,000 that wouldn't be there without that con. The con should be for the fans in the first place anyway and than all proceeds can go to charity, but i would love to see one of those earlier cons happen again as they did in the beginning. I only have footage of that and I love the feeling and atmosphere of those. Don't get me wrong, I loved this con, but it was definatly higher budget members only.

Oh and for PR, well Youtube is an exelent free place to start :)
 
You bring up some good points, leapme. There are a lot of issues besides just the price of the facility.

Guests are a big draw. Will people come from other countries just to see three or four people sit on a stage and talk? (Sorry, this is what it boils down to, in a sense.) Or, would they be more likely to come if there are other things to see - even if it drives up the ticket price a bit? I think you'll find people on both sides of the fence.

Room rental is such that if you rent a room for a few hours you may as well rent it for a day. A whole weekend isn't too bad if you choose the right place/time. (This goes back to traveling a distance. Would you be more likely to come for one or two events on a single day, or a whole weekend? Again, the answer will vary because different people have different priorities.)

There's really a cost/benefit factor in choosing a hotel. The LA area is expensive, but for a convention like this you're more likely to get those people that you want to come for free.

And I don't know if Brian mentioned this, but most conventions and corporate events work deals with the hotel. The more room nights booked in association with an event, the lower the facility charge. That's where a hotel makes their money. Even when you go four people to a room, when you stay at the hotel you're giving the convention two or three room nights they wouldn't have had if you stay at a hostel or cheaper place down the road. And you may end up paying the difference in taxi or car rental fares if you're from out of town. And if there are room parties at the hotel, the often go on until 1 or 2 in the morning. It's safer to stay at the con hotel. (You may not be drinking alcohol, but you'll be tired and on the road with others who HAVE been drinking.)

One thing about getting a convention off the ground is the budget. This is speculation (but based on years of experience), but just about any convention getting off the ground - especially a single event like this one - and has no guarantee of making their room nights. New conventions have to plan for the worst and hope for the best in terms of budget. I'm glad it worked out that they had money left over to send to the charity.

It probably could have just as easily gone the other way. Anyone remember the '94 convention? I was on the concom for that one. We were being very prudent with our money, but who could forecast the Northridge quake a month before the convention? FEMA decided that OUR hotel was the closest safe place for them to stay. The large function room we'd booked was damaged. We were fortunate that the Civic Center Auditorium wasn't booked, and that the hotel offered it to us at no extra charge in compensation. I live in Texas. What if a tornado hits our hotel a couple of weeks before the event? One year the hotel was packed with Hurricane Rita refugees. That was the weekend they'd practically evacuated Houston. We couldn't forecast that. Hey, it was a fun event and some of the refugees partied with us.

My point is that it's really better for an event like this to plan for dire stuff financially. They don't have the luxury of spreading their losses over several years. (I wasn't in on the planning for this event, so I am speculating, but since they had money left over at the end, I'll assume they didn't lose their shirts. For a first year/single event, that's good!)
 
It seems like, by the time you get through all the factors involved, you're going to have The Leap Back or something much like it. If you want it to be simple, you might be better off with the fan reunion idea that was discussed on another thread.
 
JulieB said:
You bring up some good points, leapme. There are a lot of issues besides just the price of the facility.

Guests are a big draw. Will people come from other countries just to see three or four people sit on a stage and talk? (Sorry, this is what it boils down to, in a sense.) Or, would they be more likely to come if there are other things to see - even if it drives up the ticket price a bit? I think you'll find people on both sides of the fence.
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Well on our forum people go where Scott is so yes for them it wouldn't be a problem :)

Room rental is such that if you rent a room for a few hours you may as well rent it for a day. A whole weekend isn't too bad if you choose the right place/time. (This goes back to traveling a distance. Would you be more likely to come for one or two events on a single day, or a whole weekend? Again, the answer will vary because different people have different priorities.)
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Well I do have to say there were many people at the Leapcon that just came in sunday for Scott and Dean and didn't do friday or saturday, so I guess a single day or a weekend wouldn't be to bad of an idea. But three nope I wouldn't prefer that myself next time.

There's really a cost/benefit factor in choosing a hotel. The LA area is expensive, but for a convention like this you're more likely to get those people that you want to come for free.

And I don't know if Brian mentioned this, but most conventions and corporate events work deals with the hotel.
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Yup saw that on the link you put up

The more room nights booked in association with an event, the lower the facility charge. That's where a hotel makes their money. Even when you go four people to a room, when you stay at the hotel you're giving the convention two or three room nights they wouldn't have had if you stay at a hostel or cheaper place down the road.
And you may end up paying the difference in taxi or car rental fares if you're from out of town. And if there are room parties at the hotel, the often go on until 1 or 2 in the morning. It's safer to stay at the con hotel. (You may not be drinking alcohol, but you'll be tired and on the road with others who HAVE been drinking.)
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On the other hand one could hire some busses to bring people back to either hotel or hostel if one picked both so everyone could choose.
Pesonally I don't have a problem traveling per public transport and I doubt many foreigners have. I traveled by myself up to Forrest lawn memorial and back, so I have no problem with that at all either. At night though maybe it would be better to travel in groups, which I guess if many stay at the same place that wouldn't be a problem either.
But busses could be a good option, ask some busfare like 5 dollars per person and they can drink as much as they like and be driven home without high costs.


One thing about getting a convention off the ground is the budget. This is speculation (but based on years of experience), but just about any convention getting off the ground - especially a single event like this one - and has no guarantee of making their room nights. New conventions have to plan for the worst and hope for the best in terms of budget. I'm glad it worked out that they had money left over to send to the charity.

It probably could have just as easily gone the other way. Anyone remember the '94 convention? I was on the concom for that one. We were being very prudent with our money, but who could forecast the Northridge quake a month before the convention? FEMA decided that OUR hotel was the closest safe place for them to stay. The large function room we'd booked was damaged. We were fortunate that the Civic Center Auditorium wasn't booked, and that the hotel offered it to us at no extra charge in compensation. I live in Texas. What if a tornado hits our hotel a couple of weeks before the event? One year the hotel was packed with Hurricane Rita refugees. That was the weekend they'd practically evacuated Houston. We couldn't forecast that. Hey, it was a fun event and some of the refugees partied with us.
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Well yes you need a back up budget just in case, but you can't really plan around a hurricane, tornado or tsunami now can you. Besides if you think about that too much no con would ever get off the ground, hell I probably wouldn't be stepping outside ever again cause there are some odds I might be hit by a bus or get killed in a traffic accident. Back up budget, good, other than that don't think about how desperatly you might need to have to use it :)
 
Snish said:
It seems like, by the time you get through all the factors involved, you're going to have The Leap Back or something much like it. If you want it to be simple, you might be better off with the fan reunion idea that was discussed on another thread.
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Well a "fan reunion" wouldn't make me come over to the states and I doubt few foreign fans would attend such a meeting
 
feldon30 said:
Very early on, yes there were concerns that this convention might not pay for itself. But as soon as the Silver and Gold tickets went on sale and sold almost overnight, this was no longer a concern. Within just a few days, there was no longer any question over whether this convention would be solvent. Yet, the committee continued to run it with an extremely tight budget.

This is just one of the many things that frustrated Brian. When he saw that there were really not going to be any problems with the budget, he wanted to either lower ticket prices or add some nicer stuff for attendees to take home, or maybe beef up the audio-visual experience. All got declined.

So Leap Back ended up being extremely profitable for the charity because it was done on a budget intended for an event only 1/4 as successful as it was. In the end, the convention raised $41,000+. The original estimate was $10,000.
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LOL after winning the music vid contest my grand price was a chistmas ornament to hang in the tree, glass, fragile glass, it would have never made it to the netherlands in my suitcase. A signed pic of Scott would have been nice instead, and probably wouldn't have costs more than the christmas ornament. On the other hand no one knows who won the art contest and what first price was of that, so I guess'I shouldn't be looking that gift horse in the mouth here.
 
leapme said:
Well a "fan reunion" wouldn't make me come over to the states and I doubt few foreign fans would attend such a meeting
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I would love it if another convention even close to the level of The Leap Back were to happen again. But that seems unlikely for a number of reasons.

My fan reunion idea was the hope to have something over nothing. Not to exclude foreign fans. Some of my best friends made from the convention are from overseas.
 
A fan reunion could be fun. I love being able to talk to other people who share my interests, rather than have people look at me like I'm some sort of lunatic (which I am, but that's beside the point.) And I'd love another excuse to go to California - though it'd have to be a good enough excuse to justify spending the money, sadly. Stupid economy.

It would be nice to have some guests, but I'm sure there are other ways that could make something like this worthwhile. For example, I know that during the con, a lot of people wanted to hit various QL sites, but there was barely time to eat between events, much less do a little sight-seeing. A tour of QL-related LA could be interesting. Viewings are always fun, too; there's just something about watching a beloved show in a room full of others who share your love that really makes the viewing special. It's a shame we don't have more people doing fan films or fanzines, since this is the kind of con where showing off fanworks is effective.

Really, there's a lot that could be done that doesn't require guests or much money; the masquerade was a lot of fun, and I got a kick out of the quiz show.

Er, anyway, in other words, if there's ever a fan con, I'd definitely go, if I had the money.
 
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