Forgive me if I pose this question and it seems silly but I'm just looking for clarification, and I did read the entire post (I still may have missed it though) but if we have the Ball out side of Kcon (which I completely agree with) would that cut into costs for the Ball?
Such as - for some reason, would it be hard or expensive to schedule outside Kcon as an event? And if so, would that put an even smaller size on people able to attend? Would there be limitations on music that would have otherwise not existed with the Ball being inside Kcon? Outside the Con would this still be the Ball that all our expectations remember (aside from being more of a Ball and not a rave)?
That's what I'm getting at really.
Good questions.
When we do mini events outside of our convention our goal (most of the time) is to generate intrest in our convention and also revenue. Having a dance outside of con will have an entrance fee, much like a High School Prom. Those fees go twards the the dance space rental, decorations, food etc. And we put the rest of the money twards the convention to make it even more awesome. Our first dance of the year on February 7th is $10 if you pre-reg and $15 at the door. Further dances will vary baised on our venue and many other factors
When we do dances at Kcon we dont charge an extra fee (in most cases) because it is an event many people can attend at one time. (exceptions being panel dances that want to do hotel catering. Then we have to charge for the catering fee but its normally only a few $)
Having "Pay to go to" dances as mini events offer our otaku a fun safe environment to have fun, and also to generate funding for Kumoricon. We have a lot of fun doing them too!
Unfortunatly it is true that with "Pay to go to" dances we do tend to loose some attendance but we average around 75 to 150 people at these dances and are always hoping to make those numbers higher. *So bring lots of friends cause if our dances dont make a profit....then bad things happen lol*
Also regardless of having a dance at con or outside of con we will still provide the same things. (you mentioned the possibility of cutting into funds if we have to do it outside...) We will always have room to dance, always have music (of course) and we normally provide alternitives to dancing all the time. (breathing rooms/gaming/etc...something like that) Of course AT con you can leave the dance at any time if you get bored and wander elsewhere.
I hope I got all your questions...If not feel free to ask