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Daytona 2009

Ok - I will wait to hear back from her on the prices and food selection from the other place. But for right now - we are holding confirmed at the hotel.

I forgot to add earlier as well...due to federal regulations for hotels - they can only hold a buffet open for an hour and a half maximum time. Right now I tentatively scheduled for 600pm-730pm. I was thinking that should be ok giving enough time for vendors at the show to close up and make it over for dinner still. If you think it should be a bit later - let me know and we can adjust it.
 
Hour and a half eh?

I can put a buffet outta bitness in an hour and a half.
What's this about drinks?
 
I am not positive on the alcohol situation yet. I know we can't bring in outside food, but I am checking about drinks. I cannot remember if the little "pantry" area they have sells beer or not. I am verifying the policy with them.

Worst case scenario - if they don't want us bringing in alcohol to our little GTG, some of us have rooms there so we could always make a pitstop for a drink or two and come back down.


More questions keep popping up.....

For those coming in Friday night - she offered to look into putting something together for us at Daytona Lagoon. They have mini-golf, go-karts and more. I told her I wasn't sure if anyone would be up for it Friday night but if she could let me know what she could put together I would pass it along and see if anyone is interested.

She is also donating a two day, one night stay at the hotel (for future use) for our raffle.

In regards to the raffle - I was talking to Nanci last night and we had more questions come up...
I think we were originally thinking of setting up two "buckets", one for live animal prizes and one for non-animal prizes. Nanci suggested having one bucket for each particular prize (maybe just on the live animal ones?) so people could enter just the raffles that they wanted to win? I can see where that could make sense...maybe someone doesn't need/want a blizzard corn, but they do want a snow for example. But I can also see where it may make it more complicated.
Also - do we want to have a "win as many times as you can" or just a "you can only win once" policy? Again, I can see where both sides have pros/cons.

What if people want to win a live prize, but are flying and don't have a way to get it home? Are the people donating the prizes going to pay for shipping or would that be the responsibility of the winner? I think for the donator to pay for shipping too is an awful lot to ask for a donation considering cost of the snake AND shipping. Would it be easier for some of the donators to leave the actual snakes at home and arrange shipping later with the winners instead of bringing the snakes with them? Or maybe make it gift certificates from each breeder instead?

Thoughts?
 
The gift certs might be a good idea. If the people donating are bringing the live prizes, I think it had been mentioned that SYR was going to be at the show accepting shipments. Not entirely sure on that, though.
For the buckets, individual buckets for every prize would be great. That way, people could "choose" the prize they want to receive before hand.
I also think, though, that it should only be 1 prize per person. It's just more fair for everyone that way. It wouldn't be any fun if only the person that can afford to put 20 tickets in each bucket was the only one winning.
Daytona Lagoon looks like a lot of fun, but from what I've heard, it's pretty expensive (just like any other amusement park) if you're going to spend the day there and eat and what-not. Although if they have a meal deal, it could be worth it. :D LOL.
 
I think with live animal prizes, only locals and vendors would have the option of bringing them. That being said, those people probably have the means to ship after the fact if someone can't take it with them. There is always the possibility that some of the money raised could help split the cost of shipping? I don't know?

As far as wins per person...my vote is people should be able to win more than one prize. What if there are two animals I'd like but one I like more. If I win the lesser animal first then I am eliminated from my first pick. Also, if I can only win one then the purpose to spread my money around diminishes and I'll just put in for the one animal I want and am able to win.


And to complicate things more....

We could have a big bucket that all the tickets go into. Then we lay out ALL the options for winning on a table. First ticket drawn gets first pick. Second gets second and so on. That way you can pick what you want if it is still there and you can also choose live versus non-live, etc. This helps to prevent the individual donation buckets spreading the money too thin and having maybe only one or two tickets for something. This would result in someone buying as many tickets as they want and not having to decide what buckets to put them in. And if there is nothing of interest when a winning ticket is drawn that person can step aside and let a new ticket be drawn.
 
I could see the limit of 1 prize per person IF there are only 2 buckets - live or supplies. But if there is a bucket for EACH prize, you might first win one that is not too important to you, and have to give up the one you REALLY wanted if you win it after the less important one. That might limit people putting in tickets for smaller items. I guess you could let the person give back either one of their wins - their choice - but that would necessitate keeping the ticket stubs for each bucket until ALL winners were selected, so that you can re-select a new winner for the prizes given up. Doable, but a little complicated.

You already might have few or no tickets deposited in the smaller item buckets if they tickets cost the same no matter which item it goes to. But if you can only win one prize, it will accentuate that problem even more. You could group 2 or 3 small items together, but some people might only want 1 of them. I guess it depends on how many donations there are. You could also help the situation by selecting the winners of "bigger" items first. But there will be a few smaller items that a particular person might REALLY want - even more than what most of us would consider "bigger" or more desirable, items.
 
kathylove said:
I could see the limit of 1 prize per person IF there are only 2 buckets - live or supplies. But if there is a bucket for EACH prize, you might first win one that is not too important to you, and have to give up the one you REALLY wanted if you win it after the less important one. That might limit people putting in tickets for smaller items. I guess you could let the person give back either one of their wins - their choice - but that would necessitate keeping the ticket stubs for each bucket until ALL winners were selected, so that you can re-select a new winner for the prizes given up. Doable, but a little complicated.

You already might have few or no tickets deposited in the smaller item buckets if they tickets cost the same no matter which item it goes to. But if you can only win one prize, it will accentuate that problem even more. You could group 2 or 3 small items together, but some people might only want 1 of them. I guess it depends on how many donations there are. You could also help the situation by selecting the winners of "bigger" items first. But there will be a few smaller items that a particular person might REALLY want - even more than what most of us would consider "bigger" or more desirable, items.
Click to expand...

Basically, give the option to "swap the prize"?
I would say go smaller to bigger as far as the prize awarding goes. That way, it helps build the excitement!
I do have to agree that if there's buckets for everything, it should be more than one prize. But with just 2 buckets, I'd say only 1 prize per. Or maybe 1 prize per bucket (with 2 buckets).
 
If you can only win one prize, what's the motivation for spending more?

If prizes are left over, maybe we could have a door prize drawing at the very end. But I think if someone sees that a particular prize has no tickets, they will put in one for a guaranteed win.
 
Jeff posted while I was writing, and brings up some interesting points.

How about this idea (only if we get lots of donations)?

Group live animals into 2 or more groups of similar items (snakes vs. lizards, or colubrids vs. boids, etc). And group dry goods into 2 or more groups of similar items (items for reptile set ups and care vs. art items, such as photos, carvings, etc). Number of groups would depend on number and types of items donated. You could deposit tickets in as many groups as you want, and could win once in each group. The first winner gets their choice of anything in that group, second winner gets second choice, etc, until all items in that group are gone.

It would distribute tickets somewhat, but probably not to the point of only 1 or 2 in a bucket. You could win more than once, but not dominate a whole category. Winners would get SOME choice, but only amongst their group(s) of their choosing. It would be a way to raffle off small items that might not attract tickets as individual items. And it would be less complicated than buckets for EACH item, some of which might be quite small.

Whatcha think?
 
Most events that I have attended that had raffles were just one bucket (or in our case two - one for live and one for goods) and you could only win once. More tickets in the bucket - so people buy more tickets for the chance to win. Kinda like playing the lottery - you only need one ticket to win - but people buy more tickets to give themselves better odds.

Considering the types of animals/prizes being donated...I don't really think people are going to be all that picky about what they win. I think it is just the excitement of winning at all. And of course - they could always opt to try to exchange prizes with someone there. I have seen that done before as well.

I am just afraid that if we spread out buckets for each prize, it is going to stack the odds too much and we may actually see fewer raffle ticket sales.

I am also a little wary of letting people choose their prize. IMHO that would mean all the best prizes would go first and the last winners would be left with stuff that maybe they aren't interested in or don't really want.

I don't want this to be a big "control" issue thing, but I do think we need to have some control over how this goes. Again, just referencing past raffles I have participated in - usually the prizes are decided on and handed out by those running the raffle. Usually it starts with handing out the smaller prizes and working their way up to the "grand prize". As Robbie said - it builds the excitement.

Going off of past years - I imagine we will have around 50 people or so at that part of the GTG. I don't know yet exactly how many donations we will have, but not everyone is going to win something. I don't think we will have enough donations to really set up individual buckets for each prize - at least - not without hurting the chances for a really successful raffle in raising money for our charity - which in my opinion is the ultimate goal here.

Do you think I should hit up some more people for donations? Right now we have Kathy, Jeff, Chris Olson, Susan, Bayou, myself and Joe....
I can donate snakes and a gift certificate for a print of one of my photos. Joe has said he will donate snakes. The hotel is offering to donate a 2day/1nt stay at the hotel. Kathy has offered up some books/posters. Jeff has offered some non-animal prizes. I think Susan is going to offer snakes, as well as Bayou and Chris Olson. Do we need more? Would more make it more successful? If so, who would you suggest I contact that might be willing to participate. Nanci had suggested seeing if we could get one of the Feeder Mice places to donate a gift certificate?

I mean, what do we do if we set up individual buckets for each prize and one bucket gets no ticket entries at all? Like a hide or something? Isn't that kind of a waste then?
 
AAAAA I lost my post. :(

Maybe some people will be willing to donate gift certificates so we have more "travel" friendly prizes?

I know my raffle has to be held ahead of time so we can confirm some extra dinners. When is our deadline to confirm again? I'll get this up with in the week and have the raffle run until a few days before we need to confirm. Katie do you have any problems with me offering a dinner ticket with each raffle ticket sold? So people have the option to pay pal you, send you a check or MO, or buy a raffle ticket for me and I will forward you a lump some and number of diner's? Let me know if you think that is too complicated...

One other thought about the raffles... Saturday is a tough day as far as being loose with money. Buyers will have either spent some serious money or have picked out something to buy on Sunday. Vendors will not yet know how good sales are for the show. So it might be good to have a few other raffles for Gift Certifictes ahead of time and have the drawing at the dinner.
 
I know my raffle has to be held ahead of time so we can confirm some extra dinners. When is our deadline to confirm again? I'll get this up with in the week and have the raffle run until a few days before we need to confirm. Katie do you have any problems with me offering a dinner ticket with each raffle ticket sold? So people have the option to pay pal you, send you a check or MO, or buy a raffle ticket for me and I will forward you a lump some and number of diner's? Let me know if you think that is too complicated...
Click to expand...
Deadline to get payment to the hotel for dinner is 72hrs...but I think we should give ourselves just a tad more leeway to be on the safe side - like at least a week in advance.

I do like the idea of being able to pay for a dinner ticket at the same time as buying a raffle ticket from you for your auction - but I do almost wonder if it might be too complicated. And are those who want to buy a ticket but not able to attend Daytona going to be upset that they only get a chance to win while others are paying for their meal and almost getting a raffle ticket for free? With taxes, the dinner comes out to $17.83 per person...so for those wanting a dinner - would that be the cost per ticket - and for those not coming to Daytona - just $15 a ticket?

One other thought about the raffles... Saturday is a tough day as far as being loose with money. Buyers will have either spent some serious money or have picked out something to buy on Sunday. Vendors will not yet know how good sales are for the show. So it might be good to have a few other raffles for Gift Certifictes ahead of time and have the drawing at the dinner.
Click to expand...

I thought about the money aspect of it as well. But if we do $5 a ticket or 5 for $20 - I think people will be willing to part with at least $5-$10-$20 for the chance to win some great prizes. You can't get much for $20 at the show and for $20 you may win something fantastic!

I also agree that maybe putting at least a few of the prizes up here to start the raffles ahead of time for those not attending Daytona is a good idea. Maybe not all of them, but at least some. Gift certificates or what not. But do we run those completely separate -meaning whichever raffles we decide to start early - are those ONLY for people not attending the show - drawings to be held separately, or do we include people at the show to draw for the same raffles? Again, I see pros and cons to both options.
 
BAR OPTION!!!

Ok - hotel does not allow outside liquor to be brought in for dinner (of course, if you have some in your room - no one needs to know about that). They do sell beer only in their pantry area.

We can have a bar set up that would offer beer and wine only. Normally $50 to set up and $10 per hour for the bartender.
They will set up for free, cash bar only and allow us to just make sure we tip the bartender.
Could offer a regular beer, light beer, red wine and white wine. Let me know if you think we should add this on?

Previous years at Whistle Junction we have never had alcohol. Do we need it, do we want it? I don't think we would have any "drunk" problems, but it is always a possibility which could cause a big issue if we want to do this again next year.

I am fine either way...I probably won't drink anyways.
 
I wouldn't mind having a beer or two, but I don't have to. And if they'll only be offering regular and light, I probably won't. I like my beers dark. :)
 
It doesn't matter to me either way, I'll probably just have a drink or two in the hotel room so I won't be so shy. ;)
 
P.S. Anyone is welcome to join me too. :dgrin:

Coming up next... a raffle to cover drinks in Carol's room. LOL.
 
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