Dear TFNationals,
On 12th - 14th August 2022, with a little energon and a lot of luck, we'll finally be able to assemble under a single roof again, to celebrate our shared love of those big fighting robots from Cybertron. This will mark the third year since we were last able to gather as one; let's hope we never have to wait as long to roll out again!
A lot's changed since 2019's event and the purpose of this post is to explain what's happened to TFNation during the coronavirus pandemic; the decisions we've taken in an attempt to secure the future of the convention; and what you can expect when TFNation returns.
Thank You.
Through the generosity of our attendees, many tickets were rolled over when our 2020 event was abandoned. Most then chose to have them rolled over again when the 2021 event was cancelled. It's important you know that, very simply, TFNation couldn't have survived in any form without these rollovers. We're eternally grateful for our attendees' support; but as we're about to explain, we need to ask for your help one more time.
(We're contacting Rollover ticket holders separately - this is a more general post for everybody)
Bills
During the pandemic, the events industry was effectively stopped entirely as gatherings were banned (a decision the TFNation crew agreed with) but no Government support package was offered, as with other industries. The result was we were essentially prohibited from making the income we needed to pay for our ongoing costs.
We knew TFNation would need to move into a state of hibernation, so every bill we could possibly cut, was cut (well, apart from Edwards/Stripes - but he works for free anyway). Sadly, as any business owner will tell you, there are some things which simply have to stay. Requirements like insurance, legal and accounts fees, together with essentials like equipment storage, are not expenses which we were able to stop paying, as much as we needed to. The unseen costs of TFNation run to thousands of pounds per year, before we even come to put on an event.
Big Broadcasts
Unable to do any more on the business side of things, we turned our attention to hosting a free-to-attend virtual convention to try and maintain the sense of community we've built up and to provide a welcome distraction from events which have proved distressing to many.
We were compelled to do this for a second year following the cancellation of TFNation 2021.
The recent relaxation of events rules mean we are now permitted to host an in-person event; but with this opportunity comes difficult decisions.
What's the damage?
The money rolled over from 2020 has been almost entirely spent on our ongoing expenses, as has most of our emergency fund. This means we owe lots of attendees an event which we don't have the money to host. Opening ticket sales is likely to bring in some additional revenue, but not enough to run TFNation to the standard we have set and our attendees have come to expect.
To compound this problem, our event production costs have risen steeply. In 2022 our venue, AV crew and other contractors will all be three years more expensive than they were in 2019, before the effects of the pandemic are factored in. By our calculations, most of the goods and services we purchase have increased in price by around 20%; some elements have even increased in price by as much as 45%.
Put simply, our previous ticket revenue simply wouldn't pay for Europe's largest Transformers convention in 2022, even if we were starting debt-free.
Can you increase ticket prices?
Putting ticket prices up would be easy, but that alone isn't the solution. Our objective isn't just to get us through TFN 2022 but, to put it bluntly, it's to ensure TFNation is still around in 2023 and beyond; an extra £10.00 on the price won't correct the damage that's been done, so a more radical change was needed.
Do you have a plan?
Yes.
Today, we're here to share our plan with you. It's fair to say the meetings which prompted this post have seen some of the most challenging and difficult discussions we've held since we started this journey in 2015. We're adamant that those who supported us by rolling over their tickets deserve a convention and will get one, even if we have to personally fund it. But we're also adamant that this isn't going to be TFNation's final hurrah.
Whilst it would be easy for us to simply put prices up across the board, that's not really the TFN way. Instead, we started the decision-making process by identifying what we felt were our "immovable" points;
- Our rollover attendees will get a convention, come what may (safety permitting, obviously).
- We don't care what other conventions are doing - we don't like charging young fans. If you're under 18, you can still attend the main convention for free.
- Not charging extra for autographs in 2022 would raise eyebrows from most convention owners; but we're not here to please them. We want to keep regular signings free.
- Other than the modest price rises events have to make from time to time, any more significant charges should be optional. We won't price anybody out of attending our events.
- We don't just announce changes to our pricing - we explain them; you all deserve that.
With these core values in mind, we've designed a new price structure which we hope will safeguard the convention into the future. That is as follows;
- A. Saturday and Sunday ticket prices will remain at their 2020 prices.
- B. The weekend ticket option has been retired.
- C. Friday will become a separately ticketed convention day.
- D. Clubcon - our Saturday evening entertainment segment - will also become a separately ticketed upgrade for Saturday ticket-holders.
- E. We've been asked this A LOT over recent years, so at long last, we can confirm we will now be offering early access trader hall passes.
The aim of this new system is to provide attendees with the flexibility to attend whichever elements of the event they wish to. If you just want the main convention days, that's fine. If you want everything, that's brilliant and will really help. If you want to come on Friday, then go do your own thing before returning on Sunday - well, that's a bit weird, but we love weird, so you can do that too.
This will also have the benefit of helping us to book the correct sized halls for the various convention days at a time when hall capacity is so very important to everybody in attendance.
The Friday charge is the biggest change to our event. Friday started as a day when we'd play movies so those who turned up early would have something to do. (All officially licensed screenings btw - no half measures here). But as people have started to come even earlier, Friday has become a full day of entertainment and the truth is, we can't keep subsidising that. We have to pay for the halls, the guests and the equipment. We don't want to stop providing it, so applying a charge is the only fair way to proceed.
What's happening to my 2020 Weekend Ticket?
2020 Weekend tickets are going to be broken down into a particular combination of offerings from our new 2022 ticket range. The offering won't (and can't) be exactly the same, so we're emailing those attendees separately to explain their new entitlement. Whilst some attendees will no doubt benefit from this new flexibility, we appreciate some of you may not be so enthusiastic. We can only apologise for this and hope this post will go some way to explaining why we've had to take these decisions. Put plainly, the price you paid in 2020 will not cover the amount we're now going to be charged in 2022 - and simply cannot ever come near to covering the three years of losses we'll have suffered on top - we therefore have no option but to make the difficult decisions and tackle the issue head on.
We appreciate many of you may have questions and we've no intention of shying from them - senior TFNation crew will be making themselves available over the coming days to answer as many questions as we can for you.
New Ticket Pricing Structure
FRIDAY TICKET (LIMITED SEATING AVAILABLE)
£30.00 - Adults & Young Adults
Free - Children (must be accompanied by a ticket-holding adult)
SATURDAY TICKET £45.00 - Adults (price frozen from 2020)
Free - Young Adults (must pre-register)
Free - Children (must be accompanied by a ticket-holding adult)
SUNDAY TICKET
£35.00 - Adults (price frozen from 2020)
Free - Young Adults (must pre-register)
Free - Children (must be accompanied by a ticket-holding adult)
OPTIONAL SATURDAY ADD-ON 1
SATURDAY EVENING CLUBCON (LIMITED SEATING AVAILABLE)
£15.00 - Adults & Young Adults
Free - Children (must be accompanied by a ticket-holding adult)
OPTIONAL SATURDAY ADD-ON 2
SATURDAY EARLY TRADER HALL ACCESS (LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE)
£35.00 - Adults & Young Adults
Free - Children (must be accompanied by a ticket-holding adult)
Finally for now, a word on bedrooms.
Traditionally, we open ticket sales in about February-time. At the same time we release our special rate Hilton bedrooms. This year we're going to do things differently and we'll explain this now;
- Convention tickets will be released for sale much earlier this time around; this will help us to generate the cashflow we require to stay afloat. On Saturday 13th November, attendees who rolled over their 2020 tickets will receive 24 hours advance access to purchase the new, optional add-on tickets; all ticket types will then be released for general sale on Sunday 14th November.
- TFNation's discount-rate hotel rooms will not be released for sale for several months, to give you time to save up. This means you don't need to buy your convention tickets straight away unless you want to guarantee yourself a limited-seating ticket, or unless you just want to support TFNation with an early purchase. We'll announce bedroom sales dates in the future.
When the time comes for us to announce bedroom sales, a short advanced booking window will be afforded to attendees who rolled over their 2020 tickets; it would feel immeasurably unfair to us not to proceed in this manner.
Whilst we say this every year, it's always worth remembering - there are more than twice as many TFNationals as there are rooms in the Hilton, which is the UK's largest events hotel outside of London. It isn't, and never has been, feasible to guarantee every attendee a bedroom on site, rollover or not. Hilton should definitely be your first choice and we would dearly love as many of you as possible to be on site - but that shouldn't make or break your weekend. The NEC is an accommodation-rich area, with new hotels having been built since our last event including a new Hilton at the airport; and the wider Birmingham area too has plenty to offer. TFNation is defined by the people you meet, not the room you plonk your pillow down in (before... well, staying up all night chatting). Don't let a few minutes' travel each day get in the way of meeting your friends for the first time in years.
Thanks for taking the time to read this really long post. We promise to keep future updates much shorter, but we felt you deserved a full explanation of the decisions we've made. Thank you for your understanding and we hope as many of you as possible will help us keep TFNation viable for years to come.
Till all are one.
TFNation Crew