As most of you know, the Board has been hard at work on planning for 
our first showcase/booking conference which is scheduled to occur 
Sunday - Tuesday, November 8-10, 2008. The showcase and trade show 
functions would happen Sunday and Monday, while presenters would stay 
through Tuesday for the fall booking meeting.

We are at a go/no go decision point and there has been some discussion 
about the economic feasibility of the conference as planned. Even with 
our best and most creative efforts to keep costs down, this is still an 
expensive endeavor and before we sign any contracts with anyone, we 
need to have a feel for what you as presenters and agents can support. 
While we expect participation from a number of (as yet) non-member 
presenters and agencies, you folks will be the core upon which we would 
depend to not go in the hole on this first attempt. We also hope to 
attract more Tennessee presenters as members through this conference.

Accordingly, we need some feedback now.

I'm going to describe the concept of the conference to you and include 
some projected registration and meal fees. I need you to say whether 
your organization can support attendance under these parameters, I'll 
repeat, your response is critical, so please take a minute to read this 
over and tell us whether you could attend this conference.

The plan is to host the conference at the Niswonger Performing Arts 
Center and the General Morgan Inn & Conference Center in Greeneville, 
TN, about halfway between Knoxville and Bristol, just south of I-81. 
Both facilities, as is most of downtown, is wi-fi ready. The General 
Morgan is a historic hotel, recently renovated, and top-of-the-line in 
both accommodations and food. NPAC is a state-of-the-art 1100 seat PAC 
several blocks away, but still within walking distance.

We are planning for 30 showcases over a 2 day period, with tables for 
30 agencies/artists representatives to be available in the lobby of 
NPAC. There will be no "trade show" feel to this setup; agents will be 
free from shipping and setting up displays and materials, presenters 
free from having to lug around bags full of printed materials. Rather, 
everyone will show up with their wireless laptops and do business off 
of their websites.

We are hoping to have Dixie Carter and/or Hal Holbrook as featured 
speakers on Monday evening (subject to Lee Warren's ability to convince 
her/them to speak to us). We have a shuttle arranged to convey folks 
between the venues in the event of bad weather. We have state of the 
art facilities for this conference.

However. These things cost money and while for agencies and artists, we 
are working to keep total costs (travel/hotel/food/conference 
fees/showcase fees, etc) for attendance below that of other statewide 
showcase conferences, the fact of the matter is that travel to 
Greeneville will be expensive. Larry Kosson of SMG has investigated 
some flights from northeastern cities and notes that most round-trip 
tickets are in the range of $400. On the presenter side, there are the 
considerations of travel time (especially from west Tennessee) to 
Greeneville, and the cost of registration, meals and hotel.

To insure our success, we need presenters to see the artists who 
showcase and we need the artists and agencies to showcase for us. This 
has to make economic sense (especially for the showcasing artists who 
will have significant travel costs) for everyone. So let us know if it 
does for you. So look over your calendar, look over these proposed 
conference costs, and let us know by noon Tuesday, January 8 if you can 
commit to attending this conference.

Proposed Conference Fees and Meal/Hotel Costs:

Conference Registration
Presenter (TN Presenter member):  $75
Artist/Agency Representative:  $200

Showcasing
Showcase Fee:  $200
Showcase Application Fee:  $25

Meals & Hotel
Meals & Reception:  $150/person
Hotel Rooms: $85 single or double per night plus taxes

Please respond Monday or Tuesday with a yes or no as to your 
ability/interest in attending such a function this fall. We are fully 
aware of why some may choose to attend as well as choose not to; no 
explanations are necessary.

Thanks in advance,

Bob


Robert Boyer
Patten Performances Director
UTC Fine Arts Center
www.utc.edu/finearts
423.425.4379