Why are MHE events so expensive?
Posted by doombunny

I get why they cost so much for the regular con, but for this year you have to buy the materials yourself after the fact. So why are the events still $20+?

Posted by jimrules27

I wondered the same thing.

Posted by xanathon

Greed.

Posted by eldrad12000

I would agree with the above statement..

Posted by llenlleawg

I checked last year's events, and some of them (the same as this year) also required the participants to buy/acquire their own materials. So, the price is the cost for the time and expertise of the instructor/artist. For a 2-3 hour lesson, that actually seems reasonable.

Posted by derekguder llenlleawg

llenlleawg wrote:
I checked last year's events, and some of them (the same as this year) also required the participants to buy/acquire their own materials. So, the price is the cost for the time and expertise of the instructor/artist. For a 2-3 hour lesson, that actually seems reasonable.

Indeed. People's time is valuable, and just because something is online doesn't make it cheaper or easier to produce, particularly in cases like this.

You should absolutely express your reaction to prices, but keep in mind the time and skill that goes in to producing those events - and events of all stripes, honestly - when looking at costs.

-
Derek Guder
Senior Event & Program Manager
Gen Con LLC

Posted by doombunny

I don't recall any that had you buy stuff separately but it's certainly possible . However a number of the ones in the catalog right now had materials included in the cost last year and I don't think their price has changed.

Posted by llenlleawg doombunny

doombunny wrote:
I don't recall any that had you buy stuff separately but it's certainly possible . However a number of the ones in the catalog right now had materials included in the cost last year and I don't think their price has changed.

That may well be, i.e. I have no reason not to believe you. What I do know is that for some of the crafting events (e.g. some of the knitting or crochet or cross stitch events), the hosts were able to get either stores or online companies to donate material. While from the participants' point of view, it seemed like paying both for the instruction and the materials (e.g. yarn and needles/hooks), in fact you were paying for the instructor with comped materials. Since sending free materials for crafting isn't possible this year (financially, that is), the prices are the same.

I guess I am wondering how much of the free material from past years might have been comped from various sources rather than being paid for by the event cost.

Posted by tpbwiz

I registered for Wizard Cards Tournament Thursday, 7:00 PM EDTI am VERY surprised that so few people have registered to date.  It cost $2 to register and they are maxing out the registrations at 50 people-- meaning $100 maximum being paid in.  But they are paying out prize money of $200 for first, $100 for second and $50 for third so they are LOSING MONEY on this deal.  If this low number of registrations continues, even though I am not a good player I think I will have a decent chance of getting at least my $2 back.  Am I missing something here???  Seems like a great risk/reward equation on this.  I look forward to spending my winnings on more games.

Posted by doombunny llenlleawg

llenlleawg wrote:
doombunny wrote:
I don't recall any that had you buy stuff separately but it's certainly possible . However a number of the ones in the catalog right now had materials included in the cost last year and I don't think their price has changed.

That may well be, i.e. I have no reason not to believe you. What I do know is that for some of the crafting events (e.g. some of the knitting or crochet or cross stitch events), the hosts were able to get either stores or online companies to donate material. While from the participants' point of view, it seemed like paying both for the instruction and the materials (e.g. yarn and needles/hooks), in fact you were paying for the instructor with comped materials. Since sending free materials for crafting isn't possible this year (financially, that is), the prices are the same.I guess I am wondering how much of the free material from past years might have been comped from various sources rather than being paid for by the event cost.
I suppose that's a possibility I hadn't considered, it seems  unlikely in the event I took previous years but it's certainly possible. It's also possible I'm misremembering the cost and it has gone down.
@tpbwiz I think you might be in the wrong thread.

Posted by jimrules27

I don't have any issue with paying people for their time.  I did a couple mini-painting events last year and they all included min's and weren't more then 20$ (I don't think).  

Posted by stahlnee

There are some events where people are chargining quite a bit where at other conventions online the same event by the same person is free. Not sure what is driving this.

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