Clown Forum's Spring Fling (as it is flung)

[Willace-the-Clown]

I have Many times plus i asked for help getting there like rides & what not

[tim]

Originally Posted by Willace-the-Clown

I hope the next get togeather is somewhere i can go other wise like this one it wont be offishal with out me

I think that the better word would be that it will always be "incomplete" without you.

[tim]

One of the ideas which we started tossing around when chatting about future plans is the possibility of adding an extra day. So, the gathering would be more of a Thursday night early bird, all day Friday, all day Saturday sort of event in that case. I can see both pros and cons to this. But I'd be most interested in everyone's opinion on this idea.

[Duckie]

Sounds great to me!!!! More days, yes, yes, yes!!!!!

[Scruffy]

Originally Posted by tim

I think that the better word would be that it will always be "incomplete" without you.

Willace, If you want to have a spring Fling of your own that's "official" as you put it; then find a bunch of clown forum members from you area and then have one! Please try to understand, This happened because so many of us live in this area. And more than likely Most of us who were at this event wouldn't be able to come for similar reasons as yours. Scheduling, distance, travel expenses and the like. For instance, I know that If you had one I wouldn't be able to attend. I live 1330 miles from Naples, Fl. Which is a 20 hour drive according to mapquest. I don't have money for airfare to get there, or for the expenses of food, gas, a motel, or a little pocket money to pick up a prop or something. It is just out of reach for me.
If it did happen in Florida then I'd check at the computer frequently, check out the pictures that were posted and post everything on it I could for questions and try to get answers from the people who attended. I might even try to get together with someone else who didn't go or for me , the most likely thing would be to go out and do a clowning thing of my own. like go to the nursing home where I work and visit people.
I realize that you very badly wanted to come and I am sorry that you couldn't. I very badly wanted to go to the Circus Sarasota event that came to your town and you didn't go to. But I couldn't go to it for reasons similar to the ones that kept you in Florida while a few of us got together in Indiana.

Try to keep your chin up. If this forum keeps growing like it has then maybe you can host the Southeast convention when the time is right!
Scruffy

[in Harmony with Jesus]

There is actually talk of having a Mini Fling or at least a 1 day Jam in the Piedmont area of the Carolinas. If anyone in this area is interested, shoot me a Clown Mail or an email.

[SuitcaseSam]

Originally Posted by Scruffy

.....while a few of us got together in Indiana.
Scruffy

Willace, you ain't the only one my friend. I didn't get to go and I'M IN INDIANA!!!! It was just a case of bad timing on my account + $$$$.

I was SOooo hoping to go and meet Scruffy, Tim, Dan and everyone else and get to see Miss Mooseburger & Marshal Mike again but my buddy backed out on me in going and my wife was outta town on business which left me with the younguns here at home, reading all about it online. Oh, I was tempted to just load the kids in the car Saturday morning and go but my budget just wouldn't handle it at this time.

But, all is not lost. As long as there are plans of another Spring Fling next year, then I have a whole year to plot plan and save. I won't miss the next one.

The pictures were great as well as the stories of meeting one another and putting a face with a name.

See Ya'll next year!

~Sam

[pixcoco]

If it was a little longer it could be worth the air fare to go.

[Willace-the-Clown]

I AM the only one in my area that is a memeber of the clown forum so if i did throw a convention herei would be sitting in a room by my self. I wanted to go to the work shop but everyone i asked for help refused to help me. I usely ask the alley clowns for help & i never get any help I get leftout of everthing & have to hang out with me.

[Plain Old Jello]

Ok, first of all - bigger room. That said...


I think a Thursday-Saturday event would work. It could grow past that in future years I suppose. Just realize the costs increase the more days are added. I thought more people would be sticking around on Sunday (even though I didn't), but with Church and travel for many it was a neccessary recovery day.

Many issues, including costs, timing, transportation, and such can be helped by preparing and announcing details a few months in advance. This allows people to plan and save as needed.

Admission fee is fine, but there's also merchandising opportunities. Just t-shirts and things like that, which could help finance part of the fling. If people bought. I'm surprised clown forum doesn't have it's own cafepress store or something, the art here is great!

On a similar note, setting up a nice digital video camera and selling a dvd afterwards, for only a small profit per disc. The idea of "profit" is wrong - it would be to cover costs, if any actual profit occurs it should be donated to clown forum or a charity, but I don't see that happening. Also, additional donations could be solicited to help other clowns attend at a discounted or complimentary rate.

Since this is internet-land, there should be some web cafe's setup. Tim bravely shared his computer, but a public 4+ machine cluster in the corner would be nice.

Webcasting the event should be possible, especially the lectures. It would be nice if it was also possible to video-conference in a few small get-togethers on one day, so we could actually sit down and have a coast-to-coast chat. But that part is quite a bit more difficult.

Everything done this year was excellent, if a bit hectic. Times & schedules should be at least roughly provided, including down-time. Information about local eateries and reccomendations would be helpful. If more 50+ people attend we could probably get discounts from some places also. How many people attended this year? It had to be close to 30.

Now, on to the content:
Everything was great, I've forgotten so much already! I'd really like to see more of the experienced clowns in character. I know that would be helpful for me as a newbie, and I believe it would allow for a lot of play. There's no time for a scheduled show in two days, but some more skits or even improv would be appreciated.

I'm a bit low on ideas for content since I'm new to this.

There has to be thoughts at to who this is tailored for. Most here have some experience clowning, so some of the basics can be assumed. Take all the sub-forums as topics, each one of those can be a workshop. That's an excellent place to start. Some may have to be scrapped due to time.

I would think that a small team should get work on the core issues, and allow the larger questions (if need be) could be put up for a vote on the forum.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something I wanted to say, oh well. There will be more discussion.