Down Under Goes Under


For the second year in a row, an Australian Pony Convention has run into some serious trouble. This time it is PonyconAU which officially concluded several weeks ago, that has hit a snag. That snag? A tale than surely everyone is familiar with. It's like when you're eating at a fancy restaurant and you told all your guests that you would pay for dinner. Then dinner is over and the waiter comes with your check, you realize that you left your wallet at home...where it is also empty. So you of course have to ask your guests to cover the bill while you pat your pants nervously.

Ponycon AU ran out of money. They're about $8000 short.

The announcement read as follows:


DONATE: http://bit.ly/1Ck50E4--PonyCon AU would like to once again thank everyone who came to Seaponies Paradise this year, it's only with the support of our community that we were able to host such a fantastic weekend for Aussie Bronies.
Unfortunately, PonyCon AU has run into some trouble with costs we incurred running the event in 2015. Due to unforeseen issues arising at the eleventh hour, we still have roughly $8000 to pay off by the end of April. Whilst we will continue to work on the problem from our end, the PCAU team could really use some help from the community that's supported us so well in the past.
Nobody is obligated to donate anything, of course, but without some help we will sadly be unable to run the event in next year or in the future - PCAU needs 3,000 by the end of March, and a further 5,000 by the end of April.

If you're interested in helping out, please follow this link here: http://bit.ly/1Ck50E4 be

Even if you are unable to donate, simply sharing this message to others in the fandom will help us out immensely. Keep an eye on our Facebook page as we continue to upload the panels and events to our YouTube.
Nobody is obligated to donate anything, of course, but without some help we will sadly be unable to run the event in next year or in the future - PCAU needs 3,000 by the end of March, and a further 5,000 by the end of April.
If you're interested in helping out, please follow this link here: http://bit.ly/1Ck50E4 be
Even if you are unable to donate, simply sharing this message to others in the fandom will help us out immensely. Keep an eye on our Facebook page as we continue to upload the panels and events to our YouTube.

"
Luckily, the convention learned from the mistakes of Unicon and are at least being considerably more transparent about where the $8000 deficit came from, and are answering questions from the community on their forums.
https://broniesaustralia.com.au/showthread.php?tid=15058
Financial Report


According to one of the staffmembers, "a lot of the issues" faced "were directly tied to Sydneigh's cancellation", and that much of the $8000 requested is going to "final repayments for Guests (Meghan, Gillian, Ingrid), Venue and Equipment."

A user by the name of SeaSpray makes this observation:

"AusCons had $13,800 in cash according to the FY2013-2014 Annual report, on page 7 (Balance Sheet), I assume therefore that if you require $8000, then your deficit at PonyCon Au 2015 was at least $21,800. Us chucking money in isn't going to do us any good if next year you make another loss of this magnitude."


And he may be right. The staffmember called Pelanor provided a link to this Treasurer's Report that outlines the scope of the financial situation, including this graph which drives the point home.

It is hard to say how the future of this Australian Convention will fare, but they seem to be on their way with raising the funds. 


We hope they do, or else someone's going to be washing dishes for a long time.
Waiter, check please.



Comments (26)

  1. *whispers* Ball pit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Still cheaper than DashCon

      Delete
  2. >After the conclusion of MLP Season 4 about nine months before PCAU15, and with no plans of a fifth season to be aired until April 2015, enthusiasm for the show began to fizzle out, and the MLP fandom in Australia began to shrink at nearly the rate at which it grew in the first place. We believe that this was the primary factor contributing to a substantial demand-side decline in PCAU15.

    Well that was refreshingly honest.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fucking Tony Abbott ruined it all. Vote him out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yes, this is entirely his fault.
      No other reason could have caused this.

      Delete
    2. If you haven't noticed already consumer confidence plummuted because of Abbott's misgovernment.

      He's sure a contributing factor.

      Delete
    3. >not blaming Obama

      filthy peasants

      Delete
  4. It's amazing that there are people who actually "donate" money to it. Like, it's not a charity, it's a con by people who can't handle money. There's not good reason to give them money.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wonder where Dawn 'my con' Allies is during all this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably nonchalantly gliding through the con in cosplay and running her vendor booth while the rest of the team are working their arses off. Oh, and drawing ponies on a white board. Yep that covers it.

      Delete
    2. Not handling any if the financial aspects

      Which is probably the smartest move they've made

      Delete
    3. First to take full credit for it when it succeeds, first to bail when it sinks

      Delete
  6. WAKE ME UP!

    CAN'T WAKE UP!

    WAKE ME UP INSIDE!

    SAVE ME!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Is it just me, or did this article go into more detail than Equestria Daily did?

    ReplyDelete
  8. >Pelanor
    >Not Pelenor

    Your typos wound me.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, that's awful.

    ReplyDelete
  10. 'Strayan brony here. Went to all three PonyCon AU's (and SalvageCon, the last-minute convention salvaged from the sinking remains of Sydneigh); this event was unfortunate, but the PonyCon AU staff aren't entirely to blame, and their track record means they deserve a second chance imo.

    Two of the biggest factors that contributed to their shortcomings:

    - Sydneigh's failure left a bad taste about conventions for a lot of Australian bronies. For first-time con-goers, it really rattled their faith in the con scene and can reasonably account for a loss of sales
    - on the weekend of the convention, a hurricane hit the northern part of the state; while it didn't hit the convention directly, having every damn news station urging people to stay inside didn't encourage people to come out for the bump-in ticket sales. Another loss

    It does help that the PCAU staff are being transparent about the incident, though. My $0.02.

    - Oliver (the guy playing keyboard between panels)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like how big a hurricane we talking here?
      300? Or 500 wing power?

      Delete
    2. It was a fuckin' cyclone, cunt. Keep that hurricane shit to the sepos.
      Nah but yeah, shit was serious for a couple of towns north of Brissy to get flooded. And also Brisbane but that floods at the drop of a bear. Didn't touch the con but since it was looking like a Cat5 nobody was willing to travel too far unless it was critical.

      Delete
    3. ^ Pretty much that. Mind, while we weren't hit by the cyclone itself, we still got a fair bit of storm - the whole weekend was full-force winds and pounding rain. Not ideal con weather, and not very fun for going outside (which is a damn shame because a lot of the incentive for holding it in Queensland (instead of New South Wales or Victoria, our most "popular" states) was it being located at Surfer's Paradise, which has arguably famous beaches. Add shitty weather into that equation and, well...).

      Delete
  11. Should've had a con in Perth. Nothing goes wrong ever in Perth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nothing ever goes right, either.

      It's all just kind of..."eh"

      Delete
    2. Maybe because nothing ever happens in Perth?

      Delete
  12. Well, aside from PANiC and Supernova
    More accurate to say 'nothing ever goes in Perth'

    ReplyDelete