FISM 2006 - We need your input

[opie]

Mark, that is true gospel....Thank you for making clear what should be obvious to everyone....

Who would attend conventions, if there were no amateurs? Right on!

opie

[Jon Elion]

Mr. Houdi,

While this is not a direct answer to your question "what kind of acts you would like to see at the gala shows", I have a suggestion about registration (a request, actually).

I would like to register now, and come to FISM accompanied by my wife (a non-magician). She would see the main shows, but spend the rest of the time shopping (ack!) and visiting. I see no way to register this way on your web site or with the accompanying registration. Perhaps you could make instructions on this type of registration (magician plus accompanying spouse) more clear? No one at your organization has answered my email inquiries about this, either.

A question for FISM veterans -- any suggestions?

[John Houdi]

Originally posted by Jon Elion:
[QB]
I would like to register now, and come to FISM accompanied by my wife (a non-magician). She would see the main shows, but spend the rest of the time shopping (ack!) and visiting. I see no way to register this way on your web site or with the accompanying registration. Perhaps you could make instructions on this type of registration (magician plus accompanying spouse) more clear?

Jon; I will look into that and try to get an answer.
I don't think there will be separate tickets sold to the gala shows since we have to make a priority to the persons buying a congress card.
I agree with you that there is no info about spouses on the registration form. I will check into that as well.

BTW; Your wife will love the shopping in Stockholm ;-)

No one at your organization has answered my email inquiries about this, either.

I am very sorry to hear that and I deeply apologize for that. Hopefully there will be faster replies to questions like this in the future. What e-mail address did you use?

Sincerely,

/John Houdi, www.houdi.se
Webmaster
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

[John Houdi]

Jon; you have now received a mail from StoCon (the organisation helping us with FISM 2006),

I guess some more will be interested in this so I quote from the e-mail you have received:

***
To answer your question;
All participants pay the same fee as no tickets are sold to the shows only. When registering on-line, you can use the box for "Special remarks about my registration" to let us know the names of the persons that should be seated together.
***
Hope this will help you all.


/John Houdi, www.houdi.se
Webmaster
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

[MaxNY]

John, I think that is a fantastic idea!! My wife enjoys live magic, as in a nitetime show, but could care less about dealer's room, lectures, etc. Let's say your auditorium holds 3000, you should have a separate registration for wives, or significant others (New Paltz is only 18 miles from here!). If there should be anyone punished, it should be the late registrants, not the wives. So, in order to get the night show only, she (or he) should accompany a full registration. This could also be used to help get a better rate for hotels..."we also have incentives for magicians to bring their wives."..

[Jon Elion]

Well, folks, I just registered for FISM 2006! For those who register late and wonder how my wife and I got such good seats, now you know!

Hope to see you there!

[Richard Kaufman]

Sorry, Jon, but you are already late! Hundreds of people signed up for 2006 at the last FISM in Den Haag!
Personally, I can't see why I should let someone have my money three years before the actual event--I think that stinks! (Note that this is the exact opposite of what the Magic Circle are doing for their big event next summer--those who have been pre-registering won't be charged until closer to the event.)

[Jon Elion]

Alas, Richard, some of us "unconnected" souls still have to get tickets "the old fashioned way"! ;)

[Richard Kaufman]

I'm not sure what you mean by "unconnected."
I get nothing for free being the editor of Genii:
No one flies me to any conventions.
No one comps my registration fee.
No one comps my hotel room.
I have to pay for everything just like anyone else, and if you think that the people who run the conventions might contemplate giving the editor of Genii a decent seat for the shows ... forget it. I usually get a crappy seat!
The press doesn't get treated like that in the real world! :)

[Jon Elion]

Richard makes an excellent point when he asks "why I should let someone have my money three years before the actual event..." It is difficult to make plans for an event so far in the future (some would say that at my age I shouldn't even be buying any green bananas!).

Some conventions require only a small downpayment to secure the initial registration, followed the balance of the payment closer to the actual event. Instead, FISM charges the full amount to the applicant's credit card now. Their cancellation policy also seems a bit rigid; if I cancel before March 31st, 2006, they will still keep $130 (1000 SEK) from each registration. Any cancellation after that date and I forfeit my entire payment. Yikes!

I knew all this when I registered, and decided to make the commitment anyway. But I wonder how many more registrations FISM 2006 would have now if their payment policies were different?

[John Houdi]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
Personally, I can't see why I should let someone have my money three years before the actual event--I think that stinks!

Well, even if I'm in the FISM 2006 Group, I don't have the authority to explain this in detail since Stockholm Convention Bureau (StoCon) are in charge of the registrations. I will try to explain this without stepping on someones toes.

It costs a lot of money to arrange a FISM. I think everybody is clear with that.
The better venue for the convention, the better technical requirements for the competitors, the better acts and shows booked for the galas, the more money it costs.

The people at StoCon does several conventions with the size of FISM:s each year in Stockholm. They charge always the same way if it is a convention for heart surgeons or car manufacturers. This is a standard procedure in large conventions in the corporate world.

Usually these conventions are held by big corporations with a lot of money in the budget.
The FISM is a different story; this time StoCon works with a small association with 350 members (Swedish Magic Circle). This means we (SMC) naturally can not put up the money up front to StoCon for all their work up to the convention. StoCon therefore are the ones who right now take the economical risks with this FISM.

It costs a lot of money to arrange a FISM. The biggest source of income we have is the congress card. The sooner we reach our break even point and that we know that the convention is safe economically, the better. We can then go full force in hiring the best performers for the gala shows, lectures etc (and; yes, we have to do this early, before the best performer's are booked elsewhere).

We (SMC) dont do this convention to make money. Every Swedish Krona extra that comes in, will be put back in the FISM-project to make the convention better and better.

/John Houdi
FISM 2006 Group

[John Houdi]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
and if you think that the people who run the conventions might contemplate giving the editor of Genii a decent seat for the shows ... forget it. I usually get a crappy seat!
The press doesn't get treated like that in the real world! :)

Richard! Glad you mention this. I have never thought about it before and I think no one else has thought about either. I think you are the first editor of a magic magazine saying something about this issue.

I think it is hard for most conventions to make exceptions to journalists of magic magazines. If the convention would provide better seats for journalists, I think there would be over 2000 journalists and journalists at FISM 2006 ;-)

But for the biggest magic magazines in the world I personally think there should be some extra benefits (press room, written material, access to copiers, fax, Internet etc, etc).

If you dont mind I will send your post to the rest of the FISM group. Maybe we can make FISM 2006 even better for our magical journalists covering the convention.

/John Houdi
FISM 2006 Group
www.fism.com