The 1 day Vs 2 days event poll !!!!

ok, so we are now starting to think about 2009, and as many know Roaming Robots have started to push boundaries, and move into other directions with our shows.

2009 is going to be a fantastic year, with lots of exciting things planned.

Our callender is booked, just a couple of venues to secure, and we will be ready to launch them.

However, the venues have been booked for 2 day events, but before we go ahead we thought wed get some feedback. Of course each has its advantages and disadvantages, we wonder what the feeling is ????

We will most probably be taking the venues for the two days anyway, however it depends on the feeling if we run the saturday night show, or just go for the two shows on the sunday.

Of course a two day event means hotels for roboteers, but it does give a good social gathering with it.

On a one day event, maybe you dont get to play with your robot enough, but maybe you enjoy it better as its cheaper?

Comments welcome.

John
Roaming Robots

For us, continentals a 1 day event is not that much cheaper than a 2 day event.

And, if there is a saturday night show, the ones that have a long drive have 3 options then,
1) stay to the end, and drive home in the middle of the night, what they did the previous night to reach the event.
2) Leave asap, once sure they dont have any fights left in the competition.
3) Get a night rest, and drive home during the sunday.

i like the idear of 2 days as long as Campping is involved ie Fairford etc as thats a cheaper option ( and teambeast does do camping) better cheaper social gathering But weather dependant!

Agree on the camping. But all the hassle involving for 1 night stay is a bit much for us.

Thats why Im more interested in less, but longer events. Especialy in the camping periode of the year.

i like 2 day events more as you can have more fights and a bigger competioton but i know i wouldnt be able to attend many if i had to get a hotel for each 1 but if camping was avalible as an option for all the events i think it would be great

what about a monster 3 day event once a year?

From A Crews Point of View the 2 day events are better because we are not putting up doing the shows and taking down and driving home in one day :uhoh: it is too much :P after Portsmouth it was thursday before i was somewhere near back to normal ... whatever normal is lol and that was a 2 day event!!! a social on the sat night is a good idea .... if you are not absolutly done in from the day ... ( like portsmouth )Sorry i missed it ... as for camping ... not a prob but a rush on the sun to take down tents do shows then arena then drive home ....

So Its 2day Events for us :):):):):)

Well camping is always an option for anyone the summer events. I personally HATE camping but if that€™s where everyone goes/is then so be it, it€™s worth camping for the great social.
From a crew€™s point of view, i prefer 2 day events. It feels like we have accomplished more over 2 days, than just spending 1 day setting up, doing shows then taking down then going home. It is a long day, even if we stay in hotel night before and night after.

From a Roboteer€™s point of view when i used to be just a roboteer and not crew, again 2 day€™s is the better option. No early start needed if it was a 1 day event and also the FINAL show on the Sunday ends earlier than the final show on a single day event, meaning get home at a better hour.

2 days just seems more relaxed, more fun, less late nights, more time for social, feels worth it being a weekend than just 1 day. You don€™t get chance to really talk and have fun on 1 day events with 2 shows. Feels rushed and takes the fun out what we do i think. Roboteers and crew get more chance to mingle and socialise over 2 days than pushing everything into 1 day. Also for over sea€™s roboteers, less stressful travelling pattern and like Mario said, not that much cheaper for 1 day. You will see need a hotel for a night, may as well make it Saturday night and socialise with roboteers to make it worthwhile.

Mr Stu

Deffinately 2 day events from our perspective.We do not have a local event, over 1000 miles in travelled in consecutive weekends,2 days makes the trip more worthwile.Saturday night is a great opportunity to chill out with friends over a meal and unwind after a stressfull day fixing machines.If booked in advance a travellodge can cost from £19.00,if you dont want to camp, and who says that you cant just attend for one day and fight in the white boards?

From the newbies point of view 2 days is better as long as there is plenty of notice around where people are staying. Unfortunately I dont do camping so it will be hotels all the way for us
We enjoyed the social on the Saturday night, more time to quiz experienced roboteers.

got to say that 2 day events prefer team bud. as much as i love robots the phrase roboteering means socialising as much as battling robots. there is nothing better than having a few beers with people who have the same thing in common. it does cost more with the room but if you share then its half the cost and like clive said if you book well in advance its cheaper. debbie i know you say you dont do camping but i would say do riat camping cos for me its the best social of the year. camp bud plan on bigger and better things next year :)

all that said weekenders can be difficult for me as i work saturdays so i might only be ablke to make the sunday anyway but when we do a weekender i like to plan in advance a social and have a good time, and portsmouth was a good social and i had a good time. :)

yeah shame i missed it :sad::sad::sad::sad::sad:

We are more likely to attend events that are further away if they are two days, driving hundreds of miles and playing robots in one day is a lot for an old man like me!

I enjoy both one and two day events. i must say though that the late finish on a Sunday is often a bit difficult as kids wake up the following day to the reality of school. So Id have to go for two day events with an early finish on the Sunday.

Andy

it was different getting home early night on the sunday!

do 2 days so i can attend on the sunday cus i work on sats :sad:

I have been to 2 day events and see the whole of the show on the first day and see most of the show on the second day, but have had 2 go home before the show ends on the 2nd day :sad:

My main concern is the event organisers make money! no profit no shows, no shows my robot is scrap! (some might say it is:uhoh:)
So I would go for 2 days and three shows as this should mean spreading the fixed costs over three shows instead of two.
Sometimes i will only be able to make one day but that is my loss.

I agree with craig. I want whatever is best for the organisers financially, spent a lot on a new bot, want to use it! 1 day or two days is no prob, not fussed about camping or hotels, dont mind either. Distance to the shows may be a issue.

2 days definately. Even going backwards and forwards to Maidstone or Portsmouth for a one day event is a trek and a damn long day so I tend not to go to one day events up north - Nottingham being the only exception this year because of the Halloween theme.
I would rather go over the 2 days with an overnight hotel/camping but having said that - from where I live just about everywhere is tup north :)

There are lots of things to think about and change matters.

For instance lets just say for arguement sake, an event will get 3000 spectators. All the advertising and marketing has generated 3000 customers. If we spread that over 2 shows in one day, thats 1500 per show, if spread over 3 shows thats 1000 per show. Revenue is the same - The costs of Pyros and lighting hire goes down by aproxx a 1/3rd etc if we run only 2 shows instead of 3.

For 3 shows Crew need hotel for sat night, extra pyros/lighting hire etc so event organisers costs go up also, not just roboteers

I think its safe to say roboteers would prefer mor shows to have more fun - most of the crew prefer more shows to make it feel more worth while than setting up the stage for just 1 day then take it back down again in same day!

So the balance is money vs time/social.

Its cheaper for MOST teams to drive up sunday morning, attend 2 shows, then go home. No hotel, no camping etc - but you will be very very tired, only 2 shows of fun instead of 3 (less fights) and not much time to soicalise.

Arrive Saturday afternoon, do a show, hotel/food/beer, sunday 2 shows, go home early. So less tired and more shows, but extra cost of hotel and food/drinks but you get to have a social with roboteers and more relaxed.

Mr Stu

I can agree with your reasoning Stu, but for us Roboteers its still just a hobby - not a livelyhood. We put money into it, we dont have to eat bread from it. So for us the choice is easy: more time and easier travel/socialising, more time too to repair our bots and get them working again for the next fight. And sleep... ahhh blessed sleep.
Or was that beer ? So confusing this language.

I think the Event Organisers should not just look at the extra spending required, but also take into account that Roboteer attendance could go up if an event is spread over 2 days. You already have several ones agreeing that they would surely come if it was a 2-day event because of the travel-trouble. That means more robots in the show, better quality for the audience.
Dont look at it short-term, look at it long-term... call it an investment.

I was thinking if you had 2 shows at 500 people per show then its 1000 tickets sold 3 shows 1500 tickets sold more profit, but if attendance is just spread over the 3 shows I can see the problem
Thanks for pointing this out Mr Stu,
for me the guiding factor is the show organisers should always maximise profits for each show situation.
the worst thing to happen is for the organisers to go bust!!!:sad:
Then where would we play!!!!

Hi Babs.....

I think you (and craig) got the wrong end of the stick of what i was coming accross as.. yes havnig 3 shows will cost more to put on.. but thats not a MAJOR issue.

I was looking at the issue of costing roboteers more money for 2 day events really. I didnt want people thinking its just the roboteers folking out, when really so does the event organisor which im sure you can work out for yourselves anyawy.

If anything i think the general gist is we WANT to do MORE 2 day events than 1 days... but dont want roboteers thinking; oh for god sake its going to cost us more on food/hotels for 2 days than 1 day events where the event org will get more profit for running 3 shows instead. when attualy they dont, its costs more if anything.

When i mentioned above in my post abut it costing more to put on 3 shows, i have come accross the wrong way, didnt mean awww it cost us more to do 3 shows so really we want to do only 2. no complete oppersite, like i said i was only pointing out those facts so roboteers didnt think they were the only ones havnig to spend more on exspenses and think coz theres 3 shows instead of 2, that the event organisor gets more profit, when attualy, there in the same boat as you - more costs.

So i think Jonno is just asking roboteers if they are happy/prefer 2 day events or 1 day. Because i know, Pete, Jakie, Myself and Dave findlay prefer 2 day events, and we know alot of other roboteers prefer 2 day events, but just asking everyone else.

Do you both (babs and Craig) get where im coming from... that we WANT to do 3 shows at an event, but dont want you thinking its just the roboters that have extra costs, so does the event orgs, which means less profit in the short run...
BUT if the shows are better as roboteers are on form, better/more robots, more time to set Effects up and have smashing shows, then the crowd will want to come back even more and in the future the shows get bigger, more money flys about in roboteernig and bigger things can happen.

Mr Stu

(Message edited by stu on October 14, 2008)

Your explanation has become more clear now, yes, thank you. And I do understand that it is more expensive for event organisers to do 2 days rather than 1. But we will all have more expenses, organisers and roboteers alike. Dont take me wrong, like Craig I want to support the event organisers in any way possible. I understand the financial constraints and logistic problems. Just wanted to point things out.
So, there seems to be a consensus for 2-day events. Good.

Yeah, i think this is just to see if there is support from the roboteers for 2 day events than just 1 day events. Even more so this year of the credit crunch, money is a big factor for roboteers as this is a hobby, so if robtoeers are prepared for 2 day events to bring back the social and more battles, then great!!!

Mr Stu

Well finance is certainly a major factor for us, though not the main one. For us if the event is far away from Dover or Harwich, a one day event is hardly worth it for instance.

(Message edited by leorcc on October 14, 2008)

HI guys,

Dont have a laptop at the moment, so internet is limited, and im bogged down in Pr work for Nottingham at the moment.

Thanks for stu for continuing the discussion.

Thank you for your comments i have taken them all on board.

Of course we have to maximise profit, but we will most probably be having the venues for 2 days next year anyway, even though Generally each of our good quality venues cost in the region of £3000 for one day, so of course to have it for another day adds quite a bit of expense, but it is something we are looking for 2009 !!

It was a case of do we use the satuday to set up, and arrive fresh with everything set up for two sunday shows?

Or...

Stick with the saturday night show and the two sunday shows aswell.

With the venues we have, we can pretty muich squash the audience into two massive shows, rather than three lower shows.

Its not about profit, its not about packing the audience in, its about finding out if roboteers are happy with making a weekend of it, and costing THEM more in the process.

Its clear people are happy with a weekend away and the extra costs which go with them compared to one day events so ill beart that in mind while planning 2009.

John
Roaming Robots

Two day event all the way :)

At the tag champs in December we were only there for the one day but had a travelodge booked for both Friday and Saturday night so could have attended on the Sunday had there been a show. One day events just feel too short for me - no sooner have they started than theyre nearing the finish and then everythings packed up. Id gladly fork out that bit more to stay for two days, have a social night out on the Saturday and have two days worth of battling. I cant get to that many events so the more arena time when Im at one, the better :)

Pretty much echoing what everyone else has said :P

Since I am only a vapourboteer, I cant really say, though I do lean towards holding a two-day event slightly. :)

We WANT to do 3 shows at an event, but dont want you thinking its just the roboters that have extra costs, so does the event orgs, which means less profit in the short run...
BUT if the shows are better as roboteers are on form, better/more robots, more time to set Effects up and have smashing shows, then the crowd will want to come back even more and in the future the shows get bigger, more money flys about in roboteernig and bigger things can happen.
Many thanks Mr Stu & Jonno the above works for me too

I have 2 sides of me, one always argues with the other (Yes, i know im weird)
1 half says that a 2 day is good because i can play with my bot more, have more fights and have breakfast at a fancy restauraunt the next day :)
But the other half says that theyre bad because it means that we may have to pay extra for a hotel, and that might be terrible, i cant sleep in my own bed :-( (Its comfy) and it means that we cant go home (If were a long way from Bas) to get parts for our robots if we need them.
Good-1 days are good because it means that we can go home after the event, or stay the next day to have a lookie around the city.
Bad- theyre bad because it means that we may have to go a long way off for a single day, wasting petrol and incresing our c02 tire footprint, and i dont get to have as much fun as a 2 day.
So im 50-50 really, but in all, 2 day!

2

man of many words

What words, thats a number :)

But 3, thats the magic number.

ok another question...

what is it about two day events which makes them more popular... is it?

You get to play with your robot for 3 shows instead of 2 shows?
You get to spend the weekend away?
You get to have a social evening amungst the roboteers?
Or all of the above?

If you had to choose what was more important bewteen the following, which would you choose?

A social evening on the saturday night after the sat night show,

or...

A saturday night show playing with your robot?

Answers on a postcard.

Ta

John

what time would a sat night show be on at? cus we would socialise after it to lol a sat show could be good tho i would like more shows so i can beat envy up even more in a weekend

i want 2 day events cus i cnt get to sat cus of work :sad: however if there was a late night sat show i could shoot down the motorway to the even after 7

Seriously, for personal reasons going way back its all of the above and specifically the socialising.

well saturday night shows are typically 5pm or 6pm.

John

Well as I stated earlier, a 1 day event unless very close to the ferry is hardly worth it for us. Apart from that you get to talk more with the other roboteers after the shows and we have more fights.

So basically all of the above.