The A.B.P.A. needs to move ahead.

[Bob Pacey]

Glenny was the one who set me straight David, if they want quality they must be prepared to pay and you are definatly worth it.

Bob

[Glenny Palmer]

At the risk of sounding like a politician....'and having said that, let me say this'....we are still soft hearted when it comes to genuine budget restraints, eh David? (I hope I'm not shooting us both in the foot here. )

I think David's suggestion to print Peely's figures in the magazine is not only a bonza idea....but that it is really necessary. I'm sure the average bard has no clue about the multiple costs of running an event, and knowing that this has been distributed should make the moanings reduce?? or at least much easier to deal with.

[keats]

I noticed John said

The Queenswales ABPA Open Bush Poetry Championship (we'll make it a fictional State Championships)

So unless an organiser of an actual Championship, either State or National, can provide detailed and verified costings, then I really can't publish a 'guestimate' in the Magazine. I suppose someone could work around it with a letter to the editor.

Cheers

Neil

[Stephen Whiteside]

Just out of curiosity, Glenny, what is the moaning about? It is all very mysterious.

[Peely]

My post was to illustrate the costs of running a competition and how quickly they can add up, more than anything else. I do have actual figures on the running of one of the state championships from when I was involved on the committee, but as I am no longer involved in the running of those championships as a member of their committee, it would not be appropriate for me to make those details public without the permission of the current committee. I can say that their actual costs were lower than in my example. There was less prize money in the actual championships than in my example and that was even with junior and music sections included in their figures. Their costs for judging and MCing were also much less. I factored in for a rise in the costs of judging, though competition organisers may not have been able to manage this with their limited funds in the time since then. The breakdown of costs I have on hand are much more basic, there are no details for a prize structure or how judging fees were distributed (performance versus written).

Actual costs for a competition are always going to vary. Different committees will always have different budgets to work with. They might offer differing levels of prize money (more or less). They might be able to afford to pay judges more, or could have a very tight budget and have to pay them less. It all depends on how well they believe they can fill their shortfalls, entry fees alone rarely cover prize money so they have to have other sources of money like sponsorship/donations, door, etc to help cover costs. They also need to have money in the bank before hand just in case things don't work out as well as expected.

[warooa]

The Doctor is trying to diagnose the mysterious moanings

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thank you, Marty. Maybe the mysterious moanings need medical management.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Are they mischievous? Are they mendacious? Or malodorous, perhaps? Maybe some members have massive misgivings about the mysterious moanings, Marty.

[warooa]

The moanings may make many members marginalised. Maybe maintaining multiple mechanisms might minimise most misgivings?

[Stephen Whiteside]

Nobody wants to be margarineised. Butterfully put.