Astronomy Ireland charging for events

fguihen. I got that email too. The email states that the food is provided by a professional caterer. Do you think that the caterer will do that for nothing? Do you think the venue lets AI have it for nothing. Do you think the insurance company who underwrite the event don't want payment?

You also forgot to mention that the email advertised a special rate of €30 for those who book early,. I understand that this is to discourage late bookings so the caterer can be given numbers. Anything that is over goes to supporting the clubs activities. Not a single cent will go to the many volunteers who give up their time. Also nothing goes to A&S Ltd out of this one.

The email clearly lays out what is on offer that night, talks, food, demos etc. People will decide whether they consider it value for money or not. I generally help at these events each year and ytear after year I see many of the same people come back.

If you don't think it is good value for money you don't have to go. To be brutally honest I don't think it is fair for people to come to these boards and adversely paint a picture about ANY organisation without including all of the facts which are available to you at the time of writing. I've been at many IFAS events this year. To be honest most times I didnt pay as a speaker. However I would have been more than happy to (and have done in the past) for the top class events the various societies laid on. Hats off to 'em all.

Live and let live, thats my motto.

Ok, il clarify a bit, In my opinion, i dont like the idea. even the early registration price of 30 euro is a lot i feel. if myself, my girlfriend and my brother decided to go, thats 90 euros, a lot of money ( through my eyes anyway). or lets make it a family night out, 2 parents and 3 kids, 108 euro ( thats 30 + 30 + (16*3))! To entice families out they will need to be a bit more realistic than that. if its to cover costs, then costs are way too high. why have a professional caterer? could people not bring sandwiches and tea themselves? Ive had other dealings with Astronomy Ireland which i wont discuss publicly, but one thing i will state it was over their price, and their unwillingness to fullfill their price matching promise. They are completely focused on money and not on increasing the hobby of astronomy, but thats just my opinion and i dont expect many to share it. i do see your point on costs, but again, my opinion has been made a few lines up. just wanted to see what others thought of it.

They are completely focused on money and not on increasing the hobby of astronomy, but thats just my opinion and i dont expect many to share it.

You'd be very surprised!.
Its like this, if you want to go, then go, if you think something is not worth it, then don't buy it, its like anything else you might purchase.

AI have lost sight in what its all about, sure there a business and there's nothing wrong in fact there in titled to make a profit but i stoped dealing with them when i felt i was being riped off i also found any time i went in to the shop they weren't very helpful and david moore only wants to talk to you when its to tell you about his latest tv or radio apperance i think he thinks people are impressed.

[Ok, il clarify a bit, In my opinion, i dont like the idea. even the early registration price of 30 euro is a lot i feel. if myself, my girlfriend and my brother decided to go, thats 90 euros, a lot of money ( through my eyes anyway). or lets make it a family night out, 2 parents and 3 kids, 108 euro ( thats 30 + 30 + (16*3))!

Well if you go to any star party Its gonna cost you that kind of money. The purpose of these things is often as a fund raiser. I don't get involved in the decision making processes at AI any more. Years ago I used to and one thing that was clear was that altough it would be nice to entice large families what inevitably happens is you end up with screaming kids running around knocking over telescopes. It has happened before.

why have a professional caterer? could people not bring sandwiches and tea themselves?

That happens every clear friday/saturday night. AI telescope nights are free of charge and open to anyone and operate this way. Several of the AI branches around the country also hold sucgh sessions.

What we are talking about is the annual star party of fthe club, which has major expenses and needs to be paid for. Basically as others have said, you have a choice. Nobody is twisting your arm. You go or you don't. Lots of people have booked many of them were there last year so something must be bringing them back.

but one thing i will state it was over their price, and their unwillingness to fullfill their price matching promise.

I am not really prepared to discuss the business side of A&S which is not something I'm involved with. I don't know any details of your experience (you're welcome to pm them if you wish). However all I can say is I have met many, many people who have gotten that price match. My understanding of it is as long as reasonable shipping costs and taxes are taken into account. i.e. what they say is it will cost you X to bring that in from the US/UK/EU etc, they will match that price. Sounds fair enough to me.

lets all agree to disagree, or just ignore the post altogether! im not a fan of worms, especially from a can!

AI have lost sight in what its all about

Tell that to the volunteers who will be donating their spare time to help run the SBQ. Tell that to the guys standing in the Phoenix park on a cold winters night showing people Saturn or some other event. See if the regional co-ordinators who are getting rained on trying to organise a telescope session will agree with you. What about the people who write articles for A&S in their own time? The memberhip secretary doesn;t get paid to give up his Saturday afternoons to make sure members don't miss an issue of the magazine. The people who run the AI radio programme would disagree with you too. The magazine packers, the people who film the lectures, and organise very high quality international speakers. I could go on..........

You can say what you like about its committee and its chairman in particular. Howver at last count there are 3,600+ people who are paid up members and that number is increasing.

Thats how I see the club side of AI. As far as the business selling telescope gear A&S is concerned, well I see a lot of improvement there, I'm sure Carl O'Beirnes (who I asked to stay out of this post BTW) is doing some great work as far as I can see to improve things on that front. He is getting a lot of happy customers at the moment.

Keiran (Phoenix): I will ask about those lecture DVD's. I agree its gone on way too long. My limited knmowledge is that the guys who rips the video to mp4 is having hardware problems. I'll see if there is anything I can do to help him along.