Profoxers,

Putting on a conference is a risky endeavor. Conference centers require a guaranteed minimum income to block the dates

of a conference; for a conference like Southwest Fox and Southwest Xbase++, that minimum is in the tens of thousands of

dollars.

Last week we had half the number of people who were registered at this time last year, and last year's number took a big

leap of faith on our part to carry on. See, our break-even point is about 75 people, and according to our contract with

the hotel, we have until July 2 to cancel or we're on the hook for our guaranteed minimum whether there's a conference

or not.

Southwest Fox is one of the highlights of the year for the three of us. A ton of planning and work goes into organizing

it, but we are happy to do it because we feel it's an important way to keep our community going. We're realistic enough

to know that it won't go on forever and each year could be the last. So, was 2012 the last year? You can help us make

that decision. If you were thinking about going this year, vote to continue the conference by registering now. If you

know others thinking of attending, share this message with them.

If we do end up cancelling, everyone who registered will get their money back in full, so you can't lose out. (Just

don't make your flight reservation right way.)

The FoxShow #77 (http://www.thefoxshow.com/) features an interview with us discussing this and other SWFox-related

issues, so be sure to check it out. Andrew MacNeill also has a blog post about this.

Rick, Doug, and Tamar

--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---

multipart/alternative

text/plain (text body -- kept)

text/html

---

_______________________________________________

Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com

Subscription Maintenance: http://mail.leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox

OT-free version of this list: http://mail.leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech

Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox

This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/012201ce7117$03eaa960$0bbffc20$@whitelightcomputing.com

** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.