Okay! I've crunched the numbers and here's how we came out.
The forum party took place on the 25th floor of the Riviera in a 1200-square foot king suite complete with two bedrooms, a living room, a bar, two and a half baths with spa tubs, three beds, and a balcony overlooking Vegas. It technically began at 9 pm, though people began showing up around 8:30. It continued until approximately 3:30 am when hotel security arrived with the police and kicked everyone out.
Refreshments included chips, pretzels, crackers, dips, cheeses, cheese-like products, vegetable trays, and an absolute crapload of chocolate. Loon, Badger, Beleth, Val, Scrut, and Patricio all helped get supplies early before the party started, even allowing me some time to run out and get changed for the party. Chaos oversaw the chocolate challenge, which included a 5-kg bar of chocolate and lots of weird and delicious offerings. Grayman did a particularly smashing job showing up with awesomely tasty treats. a.real.girl won the chocolate challenge with a cayenne-infused chocolate.
There was one bathtub full of soda. There were many varieties of cold beer in the bottle, whiskey, vodka, wine, scotch, gin, rum, and weird Chinese liquor. "Phil" was the bartender, and he did a really, really great job keeping those glasses full. He worked on nothing but hugs, tips, and dirty limericks. A number of people such as KingMerv ran out to pick up extra supplies early in the evening. One man whose name I forget ran to Walgreen's to pick up some absolute essentials just as the party was revving up. If you're reading, tell me who you are so I can thank you again! That was a huge help.
The music was provided by Hauteden, who brought a laptop and hosted a very professional set-up complete with full printed playlists, allowing anyone to choose whatever song they wanted. He even accepted other music provided by partygoers on CD or flash drive. Zygar brought a fantastic speaker set-up. The music was rocking all night long, and even encouraged a number of people in the living room to dance. An excellent job all around -- I owe them my deepest thanks.
Word of the party was distributed by word of mouth as well as posted on bulletin boards. I personally made it a point to invite everyone, regardless of whether they were on the JREF forum or not. No accurate head count occurred, but most people estimated that 125 to 150 people showed up. These included forum and non (future?)-forum members, as well as speakers like Chris Hitchens, the guys from Reason Magazine, Phil Plait, and Richard Wiseman, as well as all the guys from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast and multiple Skepchick and Skepdude calendar models. Possibly others I missed. It was crowded.
As far as I know, no one got hurt. No one threw up in the suite. No one got unruly. No one had to be thrown out, except all the people left over when the cops showed up. "Phil," Jas, Kitten, and others were able to stick around and clean up. Thanks, guys.
Money
The suite for the party cost $436 when I first booked it. The hotel charged me an additional $11.84 on checkout, but I'm not sure why. Snacks and drinks bought by me cost a total of approximately $150.
Total expenditures: $586.
There was a bucket at the front door where people could drop money. I also accepted larger donations via PayPal prior to TAM. Altogether, we raised $839. As promised, the leftover will be split evenly between Skepchick.org and JREF. I'll Paypal $127 to JREF shortly.
Why I Didn't....
A number of people have suggested that it would have been better (or would be better next year) to rent a function hall. I hope to be as comprehensive as possible here, since I'm getting tired of repeating myself. From now on I'll just link to this post.
Unlike previous TAMs, this year JREF was not given a hospitality room to use for the forum party, so I offered to take it all over. Obviously my first try was to rent a function space. Please compare the above actual numbers to what this would have cost. All numbers are based on 125 guests.
Rental of the Top of the Riv function room: Free!
Appetizers (chips, dips, vegetables): $700
Bar (house [cheap] brands): $2750
Tax: $267
18% Gratuity: $621
Total: $4338
This figure would cover the party for two hours. After that, the bar would increase in cost by about $600/hour. Time would be limited by the Riviera's schedule.
The hotel would not allow outside food or drink at such a party. It is possible I'd be able to talk them into allowing the chocolate, but I am sure that there would be no liquor/wine/beer challenges of any kind.
So that's why.
In conclusion
I'd like to host another party next year. I see a lot of people talking about taking it over, formalizing it, putting it in a ballroom - if anyone is interested in doing that, no problem, go for it. However, I had a lot of fun this year and I think other people did, too. I personally would not be interested in a party like what has been proposed, so regardless I'll probably go ahead and throw another big party next year anyway. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I just thought I should mention it now. Thanks to everyone who showed up and made it one of the best parties I've ever been to. Thanks especially to those who contributed money, food, drink, and time. You guys kick ass!
The forum party took place on the 25th floor of the Riviera in a 1200-square foot king suite complete with two bedrooms, a living room, a bar, two and a half baths with spa tubs, three beds, and a balcony overlooking Vegas. It technically began at 9 pm, though people began showing up around 8:30. It continued until approximately 3:30 am when hotel security arrived with the police and kicked everyone out.
Refreshments included chips, pretzels, crackers, dips, cheeses, cheese-like products, vegetable trays, and an absolute crapload of chocolate. Loon, Badger, Beleth, Val, Scrut, and Patricio all helped get supplies early before the party started, even allowing me some time to run out and get changed for the party. Chaos oversaw the chocolate challenge, which included a 5-kg bar of chocolate and lots of weird and delicious offerings. Grayman did a particularly smashing job showing up with awesomely tasty treats. a.real.girl won the chocolate challenge with a cayenne-infused chocolate.
There was one bathtub full of soda. There were many varieties of cold beer in the bottle, whiskey, vodka, wine, scotch, gin, rum, and weird Chinese liquor. "Phil" was the bartender, and he did a really, really great job keeping those glasses full. He worked on nothing but hugs, tips, and dirty limericks. A number of people such as KingMerv ran out to pick up extra supplies early in the evening. One man whose name I forget ran to Walgreen's to pick up some absolute essentials just as the party was revving up. If you're reading, tell me who you are so I can thank you again! That was a huge help.
The music was provided by Hauteden, who brought a laptop and hosted a very professional set-up complete with full printed playlists, allowing anyone to choose whatever song they wanted. He even accepted other music provided by partygoers on CD or flash drive. Zygar brought a fantastic speaker set-up. The music was rocking all night long, and even encouraged a number of people in the living room to dance. An excellent job all around -- I owe them my deepest thanks.
Word of the party was distributed by word of mouth as well as posted on bulletin boards. I personally made it a point to invite everyone, regardless of whether they were on the JREF forum or not. No accurate head count occurred, but most people estimated that 125 to 150 people showed up. These included forum and non (future?)-forum members, as well as speakers like Chris Hitchens, the guys from Reason Magazine, Phil Plait, and Richard Wiseman, as well as all the guys from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast and multiple Skepchick and Skepdude calendar models. Possibly others I missed. It was crowded.
As far as I know, no one got hurt. No one threw up in the suite. No one got unruly. No one had to be thrown out, except all the people left over when the cops showed up. "Phil," Jas, Kitten, and others were able to stick around and clean up. Thanks, guys.
Money
The suite for the party cost $436 when I first booked it. The hotel charged me an additional $11.84 on checkout, but I'm not sure why. Snacks and drinks bought by me cost a total of approximately $150.
Total expenditures: $586.
There was a bucket at the front door where people could drop money. I also accepted larger donations via PayPal prior to TAM. Altogether, we raised $839. As promised, the leftover will be split evenly between Skepchick.org and JREF. I'll Paypal $127 to JREF shortly.
Why I Didn't....
A number of people have suggested that it would have been better (or would be better next year) to rent a function hall. I hope to be as comprehensive as possible here, since I'm getting tired of repeating myself. From now on I'll just link to this post.
Unlike previous TAMs, this year JREF was not given a hospitality room to use for the forum party, so I offered to take it all over. Obviously my first try was to rent a function space. Please compare the above actual numbers to what this would have cost. All numbers are based on 125 guests.
Rental of the Top of the Riv function room: Free!
Appetizers (chips, dips, vegetables): $700
Bar (house [cheap] brands): $2750
Tax: $267
18% Gratuity: $621
Total: $4338
This figure would cover the party for two hours. After that, the bar would increase in cost by about $600/hour. Time would be limited by the Riviera's schedule.
The hotel would not allow outside food or drink at such a party. It is possible I'd be able to talk them into allowing the chocolate, but I am sure that there would be no liquor/wine/beer challenges of any kind.
So that's why.
In conclusion
I'd like to host another party next year. I see a lot of people talking about taking it over, formalizing it, putting it in a ballroom - if anyone is interested in doing that, no problem, go for it. However, I had a lot of fun this year and I think other people did, too. I personally would not be interested in a party like what has been proposed, so regardless I'll probably go ahead and throw another big party next year anyway. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I just thought I should mention it now. Thanks to everyone who showed up and made it one of the best parties I've ever been to. Thanks especially to those who contributed money, food, drink, and time. You guys kick ass!
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