Starchild on alternative convention venues

Comment posted by Starchild on a previous thread:

The funny thing about the idea of holding conventions in non-hotel venues is that other people talk about me talking about it, even when I’m not talking about it. Geoff and Mark sometimes seem to see it as a catch-all excuse to dismiss any idea I have that they don’t like, as if to say in so many words, “Oh, that Starchild, we can’t listen to him, he’s just nuts! He wants us to have our conventions out in a field!”

As Paulie has pointed out elsewhere in this thread, that’s not exactly a fair assessment. Do I think an LP convention could be held largely outdoors, and that people would find it a positive and refreshing change, among other benefits? Absolutely. Do I recommend holding the entire event in a location without any shelter whatsoever, and no electricity? No. That’s not because it couldn’t be done — in human history, many people fighting for freedom have accomplished much greater things with little or nothing in the way of luxuries or amenities. It’s simply because we don’t need to go to such extremes in order to avoid getting soaked by the upscale hotels.

The Libertarian National Committee now has three different convention committees. One of them is the Convention Site Selection Committee (see http://www.lp.org/bylaws-mandated-committees). [The title of that page is somewhat misleading, by the way; only the Bylaws, Credentials, Judicial committees are bylaws-mandated, the others are LNC-created.]

I’m simply asking that the Convention Site Selection Committee do due diligence and take an honest look at a wide range of venues, not just hotels, when carrying out its function. That should be standard operating procedure. And all the results should be documented and written up on a web page so that we can build an institutional memory for the benefit of future convention site searches. Is this being so horribly unreasonable and annoying?

I’ve volunteered to be appointed to this committee and help conduct the search myself, but ironically no one who’s told me I should go do the legwork and bring back a proposal has shown any enthusiasm for the offer. There appears to be a double standard at work — If we’re talking about holding a convention in a hotel, they feel it’s fine to have an official party committee involved in the site search, as well as paid staff using party resources and so on, but if we’re talking about any other kind of venue, whoever dares propose such an idea must go and do the search entirely on their own without any official support of any kind or even any guarantee that any findings will get a respectful hearing.

For the record (once again) here are some of the potential advantages of a non-hotel convention (some of these advantages would accrue to some types of alternate venues, and some would accrue to others):

• Instead of paying top dollar for hotel-catered meals, the party can make money by selling food and beverages, or licensing vendors to sell food and beverages to our attendees

• Instead of being where space is at a premium, we could have virtually unlimited space for vendors. By inviting them to come and sell for free, or at minimal cost, we could go for volume, and create an entire freedom-oriented shopping experience that would be a significant draw. With large numbers of vendors attending, some of them would no doubt buy our food/beverages, pay for events, join the party or donate to support LP candidates, etc. (especially if we weren’t charging them to be there)

• Instead of being buried deep inside the hotels, often invisible even to other guests staying at the facilities, we could have prominent, external signage and visibility

• Instead of being hassled by hotel security for making too much noise in the hospitality suites after hours, we could party to our hearts’ content, enjoy the camaraderie of sitting around a campfire, etc.

• Instead of people on a budget having to go offsite in order to find lodging, we could hold our conventions at venues that allow on-site camping, making the events much more appealing to those without lots of money to blow, and attracting more attendees

• Instead of the organizers having to fill a block of hotel rooms per their contracts with the venue, and thus being dis-incentivized to help people secure alternate less expensive lodging arrangements such as room sharing and crashing with locals, organizers would be incentivized to help people save as much money on lodging as possible, so as to leave attendees with more money to spend on the convention itself, to donate to the party or candidates, etc.

• Instead of paying lots of money in hotel taxes to the government, more of that money could stay in the movement and go toward advancing the cause of freedom

• Instead of sterile hotel banquet rooms with their hours and rules and high per-square-foot costs, we could be free to host concerts and performers and DJs and so on in more vibrant settings on our own terms

• Instead of appealing yet again only to people who like hotel conventions, we could reach a different crowd and appeal to the large numbers of people in this country who enjoy and attend outdoor music festivals

• Instead of appealing mainly to an aging demographic, we could appeal more to students and other younger, more adventurous, and less well-heeled attendees

Libertarians are big on the virtues of independence and self-reliance. Why continue as a party to rely on the hotels to meet our needs, instead of cultivating a more DIY (do-it-yourself) spirit? We don’t have to go as far toward that end as the Burning Man festival (http://www.burningman.org) or the Rainbow Gathering (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Gathering) — we have an excellent example of what can be done with a little more outside the box thinking right within our own movement.

The Free State Project’s PorcFest (Porcupine Freedom Festival) held in New Hampshire every summer for the past decade or so and last year attracting more attendees than the 2012 Libertarian Party convention, is a good example of the kind of thing that is possible. I encourage readers not familiar with it to check out the website — http://porcfest.com/ — and have a look around. Check out the

PorcFest is held at a campground, with some indoor lodging available onsite as well. They have electricity, wi-fi, and space for indoor events too (including a large hangar or industrial barn type structure that could conceivably hold an LP business session, although there might not be room for everyone to sit at tables). The party could conceivably even set up some tables and chairs in the back and charge people to sit at them (not staying at a hotel, you’d still save money!); other people could bring their own, or sit on the floor for free. Of course those really desiring luxury lodging could stay at nicer accommodations off-site. Since PorcFest happens in a temperate region in the summer (as our conventions certainly could be and often are), the weather is rarely a problem, but when it does rain or something, the experience of dealing together with the elements can become an opportunity for bonding and the creation of shared memories that can’t be bought.

A libertarian national convention could be a week-long festival like PorcFest, with a wide variety of events, parties, activism, concerts, speakers, workshops, training sessions, and so on happening throughout the week, leading up to the usual business sessions on the final weekend (for those unable to attend during the week). I’ll bet such a format would draw a new, and younger, group of people to the Libertarian Party, who our current efforts are missing. My sense from having been to PorcFest twice is that the average age of attendees is younger than at LP conventions — and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.