Zepfest 99 In Review

[Grant Burgess <grantburgess@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well I have had time to sort out a few things and had some final
thoughts on Zepfest 99 and it was a mixture of ups and downs for me.

1.the attendence at the Pheonix was 300 people. It was made up of about
250 canadian people and about 50 US people.

2.Over all, the convention did cover it's costs.

3. The Hotel. The price of the Hotel, was fair for a hotel in toronto
with convention room facilities. However i agree the cost of drinks in
the room was way to high. While there were several things, good I can
say about the hotel's service there were several issues that we had to
deal with, that should not have been left to the last minute.. With the
exception of the Niagara Falls Hotel, the other hotels we have used in
the area were $80-$110 in US Funds.

Some of the letdowns I had to deal with were:
1.Some key Canadian dealers forced to back out at the event at the last
minute. I had three dealer forced to cancel attending the show at the
last minute.

2. I had hoped that more people from this list would have made it. I did
listen to the list and took in suggestions such as bringing the jam back
and not having the White play at the event as many people here had seen
them 3 times. In the future, I will have to really gauge if something
like a FBO Jam is viable as it will have to be measured in interest and
attendence from this list. I think many people from the list dropped out
and lost interest in the event once this list fell apart with all the
technical problems.

3. Many people did not make it to the Saturday event in the evening
because of the Toronto/Buffalo playoff game.

On the plus side:
1. Toronto has proven to be the first city that could hold a Zepfest and
pay for itself from local attendance. Even the event in the New York/New
jersey Market in 1988 last money.

2. While Merit Adventure/ Rick Barrett have always been very supportive
of my first three events, it was nice to know I could promote the event,
without having to rely on any support from him. When Rick and I talked
about doing an event in Cleveland, he felt that he needed a break from
doing an event this year. Rather than doing the event in the US such as
Cleveland again, I chose to make the event a canadian one instead.

3. It was nice to meet and make friends with many of the Canadian
friends in my own back yard!

Some things I have to think about in the future:

1. Check out the price of booz at the hotel. The $5.75 a bottle of beer
was way to steep for my liking. Even in US Funds that's $4 without a
tip. The Renaisance hotel in Cleveland was much better as it was about
$3.25 a beer in US funds. Believe me, I did not make a nickel off the
bar. I would have had a hall reduction at the hotel if over $1,000 of
liquor was served, but the hotel over priced themselves.

2. I have to wonder if putting on the events at the hotel are really
worth it in the end. While a $10 cover charge in Canadian funds my seem
steep, my costs of PA Rental, video projection services, hall rental,
security were over $700 a night. The evening events did cover their
costs, but I have to wonder if their are better things to do with the
people's time. It's true some new zep footage had surfaced, but only a
litlle.

Overall the convention had some letdowns to myself as a promoter off the
events and a lack of US interest involvement was one. But many factors
are tied into this such as timing of the long weekend, readership of
this list dropping from 1000 people to 500 people and not to mention
that many of us are still financially recovering from last year's
concerts. Because I can still come out ahead with all these challenges I
faced, the Zepfests will continue in the future. The next one is
tenatively being considered in the Fall of the year 2,000.

Take Care!
Grant