The sad thing is, I sucked at statistics in college. Something to do with the professor sleepwalking through the class while being completely bored out of my mind. Believe it or not, it’s the *only* class I ever took where I skipped class with any regularity…and my grades showed it.
No, this is more of a result of years and years and years of writing reports and presentation on chemical laboratory data. If I wanted to get hard-core into the statistics I could apply the logistical model that Neowolf mentioned, but I don’t so I won’t 🙂

As for keeping the “character” of Midwest FurFest, I’ve heard many people talk about that and honestly I have no idea what we are doing to achieve that character…
Not to sound cryptic, but you’re doing it right now. The reason my arm didn’t have to be twisted to get me on staff this year was and is the people that I knew I’d find myself working with. You and Takaza and the rest of the staff at previous MFF’s have always made me feel like I was a guest in your home. I hope I was able to extend at least some of that from where I was as Gopher Second.

I find it rather impressive that we haven’t had to raise regular membership rates since the con started. And that even though we’ve fiddled with the sponsorship rates, they’ve continued to rise.

…the idea that it’s not so far away, or that I’ve been doing this thing since it started…
You and me both.
And I’ve been working on it for a year and a half before it started.

First off, great job with the report. As for pre-reg numbers, I think there really was more economic uncertainty this year than last. People just weren’t sure they’d be able to afford the trip until later. The percentage drop is pretty small in any case. It’s still tracking a little above 50%. I wouldn’t lower the pre-reg rate at all. If anything, raise the at the door by $5, $10, or even more. At this point, it’s no longer so much a matter of needing the money early to pay for the con as a need to be able to plan reasonably accurately the numbers to expect. People registering at the door make that more difficult, thus the premium in cost to do so. The trick is finding out where the maximum in motivation ends and the lowering of attendance due to people unable to comit early who can’t or don’t wish to pay that premium starts. We are pretty well self-sustaining at this point otherwise.
As for the character of the convention, I think part of it is what you mentioned. Part of it is the mix of panels and programming. There seems to be something for everyone with enough under each topic to provide for all. The same goes for our special events. I’ve not heard anyone say they were bored.
Finally, there is our con suite. It rocks. Every attendee at any level membership knows they can get a reasonable meal there if needed. We serve actual food items and name brand soda. I think that shows a certain amount of concern for our attendees’ needs.
When it comes down to it, our attendees are paying their registration with the expectation that we’ll spend that money in such a way that they have a great time. We seem to be doing a good job of that. As long as we do, we’ll likely continue to grow.

I will be 30 years old in 2010. I don’t quite know what’s more disconcerting, the idea that it’s not so far away, or that I’ve been doing this thing since it started…

Growth in the con attendance since 2000 (with the exception of an anomalously low attendance in 2001, which can be explained by 9/11) has been remarkably steady, around 19%/year (doubling every four years). We’re seeing steady exponential growth.
Things don’t grow exponentially forever. The mathematical model used for saturating growth is the logistic curve. This curves starts exponential, then transitions to linear growth, then asymptotically approaches a plateau.
If MFF attendance is growing according to this kind of curve, we’re still on the early exponential phase. This means the ultimate plateau would be at least twice, and possibly more, than the 2004 attendance. So I would not be surprised if MFF reaches 2000+ attendance by 2010.

Hey, it beats commuting in Los Angeles, let me tell you.

Well, I never expected all four of the people who live in Nebraska to show up at once 🙂
And sorry, no can do. Our Privacy Policy forbids giving out that kind of information.