Just an idea , maybe the paint fumes are getting to me but .....

[[NIUE] BIRRY WONG]

Had a massive post. Started doing work. Rory beat me to it. Had to fucking start my post again.

We appreciate the suggestions guys, and by all means keep them coming. I feel i need to reiterate that Lenny, Rory and myself have put EXTENSIVE thought into this, and have considered a hell of a lot of different options. Just remember that its not as simple as "Lets just change venues". We have a lot more variables to consider than just that. For example. Hook noted the parking and setups issues. Theyre fairly significant. Not so much parking, but setups especially. And we know that 90% of you guys would be willing to donate your own equipment for use at our tourneys, and you guys are fucking legends for that. But ultimately, this is a workaround that leads to inconsistancies, and we would like to avoid these if possible. We have options here, most of which actually use Giga as a means to an end.

ATM guys, Giga is it. Everyone rips on Giga, but economically at this stage it makes the most sense for us to use it as our venue. Rory, Lenny and myself have discussed this A LOT, and as Rory says, we cant divulge any of our plans at this stage. (By "our" plans, i mainly mean Rory and Lenny's plans ) But our consensus is that Giga has to stay for the time being. It may not be the flashest diggs, but it is serving its purpose, and allowing us to expand both the community, and the quality of our events. From a player standpoint, I think we could definitely do better in terms of event location. Behind the scenes though, I also get that Giga is bridging our gap to bigger and better things. Growth is, and should be our focus. Giga is serving its purpose well atm. Could our location change in 2011? Maybe. But also maybe not. There are a few things we need to get under our belts this year before we can take another hard look at venues. But absolutely keep the suggestions coming, as we add them all to our list of potentials.

As i say, we really do appreciate the suggestions, and particularly the offers of assistance (Thanks Hook), and i personally would love to see some more threads like this pop up in the future.

Basically, I want to say that the 'admin' (I guess you could call us that) hear and understand you guys. We're all players as well, and we feel the same way you do. And we are actively spending a lot of time exploring options around these issues. Rory and Lenny especially. I can't give those guys enough credit.

[CrazyMobius]

^^ Incredibly expensive. The smallest room at the conference centre at sky city (33 square m) would be in the realm of $1k+. Outside of the CBD there are cheaper venues but the minimum outlay for something suitable is going to be $500+. We need to be hitting 100+ participants to even start looking at the places you've suggested (hotels in the CBD). Remember that as you start getting bigger events you have to start paying for more things up front, this puts more financial risk on the people signing their life away for things like a bond on the venue.

Honestly, all the ideas in this thread have been mentioned at some stage by the all of the people that organise NZism stuff. We have some big plans but to pull those off we have a bunch of smaller steps that we need to work on, these are slowly (but surely) coming into play.

Admittedly we don't say too much publicly about what we're planning, though I'd much rather NZism under-promise and over-deliver than hype shit up and then pop like a balloon. This year I think a lot of the things we've been discussing and planning over 2010 are going to fall into place in 2011 and hopefully (depending on the success of MVC3) we can start implementing some of it before the end of the year.

Excellent! Great to hear the pros and cons. Without this information people don't know what they're dealing with.
I really think it's good to see people discussing this type of thing on the forums as it can only be good for the community.

So it sounds as though Birry, Rory and Lenny are already planning some things. If you guys want any input on your ideas this would be the perfect forum for it.

[[NIUE] weazzyefff]

That's why i was asking that Ali guy how they got Gamerbee, Tokido and Mago. It seemed pretty easy. Just need heaps of money for their accomadation and prizemoney worth winning it sounded like. You could proabably get more info off him on facebook or something.

I would rather have these guys over here. Even if they don't speak english. Just cos their awesome.

I know the venue is a problem too. But with our small community we could have the international players at Giga no sweat. I think they would like to come cos New Zealand is a mint country and they would love to travel here. I just know they would.

They could stay in CBD and we could take them on mint trips i bet. Like beaches and shit. Don;t know why they need to be promoting and stuff though. They not like Americans. They might just come cos travel and for free and shit.

edit: Oh, and i think we should only do it if we get them from after Aussie event. Just easier for them cos they close. And cheaper for us. And easier to contact i suppose.

[CrazyMobius]

They might just come cos travel and for free and shit.

You've got a point. Mind you return tickets would cost about $2000 - $3000. And accommodation would be about $150 a night.

[[NIUE] BIRRY WONG]

edit: Oh, and i think we should only do it if we get them from after Aussie event. Just easier for them cos they close. And cheaper for us. And easier to contact i suppose.

This isnt a bad call.

[CaptainHook]

They could stay in CBD and we could take them on mint trips i bet. Like beaches and shit. Don;t know why they need to be promoting and stuff though. They not like Americans. They might just come cos travel and for free and shit.

This is quite true. Showing them a good time and the country is a big part of it. And of course there's every possibility
that just about any of them would come (americans too) if everything is covered and they're well looked after. Free trips
can be enticing  to anyone providing they don't lose money they would otherwise gain if they didn't come.

But like it's been said we need to be well prepared and have more things in place, first impressions last and the first time
this happens needs to be fucking great for everyone involved so it's not a one time thing.

[Lennysaurus]

It's not really as easy as getting them tickets from Aussie to NZ and then back to Aussie again.

The Aussie guys are the ones paying the big bucks for them to come from abroad, so they aren't going to want to let them go until after all their stuff is complete.  That means we wouldn't get them till Tuesday.  At which point we would have to put them up till the weekend when we have our event, as well as tickets to and from Aussie.  Your looking at a minimum of $2000-00 for accommodation and flights.  Then consider feeding them etc, getting them to and from the airport.

While I think it isn't a goal we can't aim for, I think we need to be realistic about crawling before we walk.  Personally, I would like to see us holding events with excess of 70 participants, a "nicer" venue, and all recorded on nice recording equipment ready to be uploaded to Youtube.

[CaptainHook]

Personally, I would like to see us holding events with excess of 70 participants, a "nicer" venue, and all recorded on nice recording equipment ready to be uploaded to Youtube.

+1 

[[NIUE] BIRRY WONG]

I think we need to be realistic about crawling before we walk.

QUOTING FOR EMPHASIS

Personally, I would like to see us holding events with excess of 70 participants, a "nicer" venue, and all recorded on nice recording equipment ready to be uploaded to Youtube.

QUOTING FOR SUPPORT

[[NIUE] weazzyefff]

How much did we have for nats? More than 70 wasn't it? All together i mean.

a "nicer" venue, and all recorded on nice recording equipment ready to be uploaded to Youtube.

Giga is allgood. Nobody's gonna buy recording equipment.

The Aussie guys are the ones paying the big bucks for them to come from abroad, so they aren't going to want to let them go until after all their stuff is complete.  That means we wouldn't get them till Tuesday.  At which point we would have to put them up till the weekend when we have our event, as well as tickets to and from Aussie. 

Yer you got a point on this part. We could cross that bridge when we get to it. Just work something out with Ali or some Aus. That like 5 days and 2 tickets or something?

But like it's been said we need to be well prepared and have more things in place, first impressions last and the first time
this happens needs to be fucking great for everyone involved so it's not a one time thing.

You mean like after they see Giga they will be like 'oh damn, aint coming back NZ'? Sheeeeit. I hope not. Another venue might cost so much we can't afford the pro players and shit.

[CaptainHook]

No, i mean more like we don't want them leaving thinking "fuck that was so badly organized and i didn't have any fun, NZ is amateur hour hard".
We'd want them thinking the opposite.

[[NIUE] weazzyefff]

No, i mean more like we don't want them leaving thinking "fuck that was so badly organized and i didn't have any fun, NZ is amateur hour hard".
We'd want them thinking the opposite.

Oh yer yer harrd.

[[NIUE] BIRRY WONG]

Thats our focus this year. Polishing our shit. When its all nice and shiny, we can start with the long term goal of international exposure. Ive said it a lot. Shit is getting REAL in 2011.

[originaljulz]

Personally, I would like to see us holding events with excess of 70 participants, a "nicer" venue, and all recorded on nice recording equipment ready to be uploaded to Youtube.

Lol goal for 2011?

[Lennysaurus]

How much did we have for nats? More than 70 wasn't it? All together i mean.

Giga is allgood. Nobody's gonna buy recording equipment.

Yer you got a point on this part. We could cross that bridge when we get to it. Just work something out with Ali or some Aus. That like 5 days and 2 tickets or something?
You mean like after they see Giga they will be like 'oh damn, aint coming back NZ'? Sheeeeit. I hope not. Another venue might cost so much we can't afford the pro players and shit.

Nah we had 50?  Something like that.  I'm talking about NZism having it's own recording hardware etc.

But yeah we don't want to bring guys from overseas to see us in a shambles setup.  Get everything sorted and then start doing it.