Website

The website has been updated with the latest information.

Facebook Event

A Facebook Event has been setup. It can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/229722324617377/

Cost Structure

The team has worked hard this year to keep prices as low as possible. Our aim was to have the price be the same as last year. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t manage it so there has been a small price rise of $5. We know for a lot of our attendees this event is a large financial commitment for the year and over the last three years we have been as transparent as possible with the pricing structure to ensure people understand we are delivering the best price possible for the Event. As part of that we want to cover the main differences from last year and why we had to increase the price.

The additional costs over last years budget include:

• Kingdom levy policy change to per day rather than per event.
• Increase in hire fees. Aladdin’s, who we get most the equipment from had not increased prices the last two years so we knew this was coming and it is a fair increase but still adds to the budget.
• Toilet hire cost increase.
• Increase in the ratio of disabled toilets.
• We’ve gone to hire gas bottles from the Hire Company. Only a slight increase in cost compared to fill your own but saves a significant amount of time for the stewarding team and solves the issue of bottle storage and ownership.
• Booking automation / payment method. There is a more in depth description of this below but this direction was taken to save many hours of work in the back-ground, processing and reconciling payments.

With the past two years experience we have shaved off some costs from the current site. This, in combination with running the Event at practically break even, has allowed us to mitigate a lot of the above increases.

Additionally, to reduce attendance costs as much as possible we have removed all price rise increases prior to the Event. We have heard the feedback that not everyone can commit so far out from the Event so the cheaper price for longer would help. We are experimenting this year and are hoping the number of additional bookings this helps generate will offset the additional income we used to receive from the price rises.

There is one price until two weeks out when bookings close. Beyond that you can still show up at the Event and pay at the Gate (food not available though). This also dramatically simplifies the paperwork behind the scenes.

Also, as there aren’t intermediate price rises we’ll only be chasing up payment to happen before the 31/5, just before the Event. Ideally you book and pay sooner, rather than later, but if things are tight this gives you longer to save up for the Event (we’d still appreciate the early booking though to save me getting even more white hairs).

Booking Process

This year we have gone a long way to fully automating the booking process. A very big thanks to Sebastian and Kamara for all their hard work in the background getting this up and running. The process for booking is as follows:

• Go to the website https://gnw.lochac.sca.org/
• Go to the bookings tab and follow the link to a Google Form.
• Fill out and submit the form online.
• An automated email with a PDF will be emailed to you confirming your booking.
• After that a further email will be sent from Kamara, our Bookings Officer.  This will be an invoice generated in ‘Square’, an online payment system. Note, the setup of this is a manual process so there may be a short delay for this to be sent to you.  Note that you will have received an automated email confirming you are booked so there should hopefully be no uncertainty as to whether the booking went through or not.
• From the invoice email click the pay button.  This will take you to a website page and you enter your credit card details and submit.  It is very quick and easy to follow. Once submitted, an automatic confirmation of payment email is sent.
• There will also be the ‘Square’ electronic payments at the Gate.  It is strongly preferred that people are pre-booked and paid to ensure quick entry to site with minimal sign in time.  The electronic payments on site are there to minimise any cash on site risks. There will be a faster sign-in process for all pre-paid attendees.

If at any time you have issues or need to confirm something please contact our Bookings Officer, Kamara, at gnw-bookings@lochac.sca.org

If anyone is interested in specific details of the process, why we’ve chosen this method and how it all works I’m happy to discuss privately. There’s been about three months work on and off by several of us to get to this point so I am happy to discuss / review with anyone interested in this, especially if you think you might have something to improve the system.

Catweasel Coffee

Traditionally there is tea and coffee included in the food price and this is made available in a help yourself form at the kitchen serving table.

This year we are trying something new. Vicomtesse Huguette and Mistress Felice have kindly offered to run a coffee house named ‘Catweasel Coffee’. This will be set up at the end of the main dining pavilion and be adjacent to the Jolly Duke Tavern and a lounging area.

Catweasel Coffee is not a for profit business. This will be operated by volunteers looking to improve the ambiance of the event, similar to the Jolly Duke Tavern. The price is set to cover the costs of the drinks and sundries like ice etc.

There will be two general categories of beverage.

Tier 1 – Free

Similar to previous year. Instant coffee, tea and drinking chocolate powder. These are basic entry level drinks. There is no need to book in special for this Tier other than booking for the food.

Tier 2 – $10 for 6 drinks

These are handmade beverages consisting of but not limited to items like plunger coffee, better quality tea, Turkish coffee and real hot chocolate. These tickets will be booked in addition to the main entry price. This will help facilitate to gauge quantities of goods. This Tier is only available by booking beforehand, not at the gate. Catweasel will not be taking money on site. You can buy as many tickets as you like and transfer drinks between people. If you’ve already completed the booking form and want to add drinks to your booking please contact the Bookings Officer at gnw-bookings@lochac.sca.org to arrange.

The Tier 2 beverages will be available Fri – 7pm to 9pm, Sat – 7am to 8pm, Sun – 7am to 8pm and Mon – 7am to 1pm. Outside of these times the Tier 1 beverages will still be available on a help yourself basis as per previous years.

Allergies / Dietary preferences: There will be soy / almond milk available. For both Tier 1 and Tier 2 drinks. Please let the bookings officer know any dietary requirements through the booking form or via the email address above.

Note: There is no external coffee providers this year.

The End

Thank you, on behalf of the Stewarding Team we can’t wait to see you at the Event.  If you have any questions you can email us at gnw-steward@lochac.sca.org