Plaidman Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 This is an official post from The Vershke Group. Whack+Dangle and Simon King After months of planning and the completion of several recent slideshows in Portland and Colorado it has become painfully obvious that I must cancel ALL future shows that I am producing. This decision is based solely on financial concerns. I want to be CRYSTAL CLEAR that this decision is made by my business and myself personally. In NO WAY were ANY of the speakers responsible for this decision. Let me be clear that Glen Denny, John Bachar, Dean Fidelman, Mike Graham, John Long, Royal Robbins, Jim Donini and Dean Caldwell have been 100% supportive and helpful at every step of the way. They have all been a wonderful crew of people to be associated with both professionally and as fellow climbers. This decision is mine alone and should not reflect negatively on any of these fine people or their companies. It was my intention all along that these shows would be first class; from the selection of speakers to the presentation venues, I wanted a show that the climbing community could be proud of. I may have set my aspirations too high. I spent many thousands of dollars pre-booking venues, marketing, travel, etc. in hopes of presenting the community with top-notch shows. This was never intended to be a huge money-making machine; but it did need to cover costs. Sadly, costs were not covered, attendance was minimal and a massive correction had to be made. Let there be no confusion on two matters: 1. All individuals who purchased tickets and raffle tickets for all future shows will be fully reimbursed. The process of notifying every customer individually by e-mail (or post if we do not have an e-mail address) has begun and will be complete by July 6. Refunds will be completed no later than August 1. 2. The speakers I worked with have been stellar and my decision is not something that they had anticipated. Needless to say, I feel I have let these individuals down with this decision and for that I offer my public apology. I want to extend my sincere happiness and satisfaction with the climbing community that has supported my efforts through purchased event tickets, show attendance and written word. Thanks! For those of you who did come to the recent events, you all had a VERY intimate evening with a great show! Finally, why did this happen? Perhaps it was just a set of eyes that were too big. In my 30+ years as a businessman I have tasted great success and abject failure. In each case I was able to identify what worked and what didn’t. I just didn’t see this one coming. While some might argue it would be wrong to hide behind the state of the current economy, I believe it would be ignorant to ignore the effect a shrinking paycheck has on people’s ability to spend money on slideshows. However, I should have foreseen that and planned accordingly. If anyone has any question at all please contact me directly at simon(at)Vershke(dot)com. ----------------------------- I found this on SuperTopo.com and got permission from Simon to repost this announcement. Plaidman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaidman Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 Dean Fidelman, Mike Graham, John Long, Royal Robbins, Jim Donini and Dean Caldwell -- Slide Shows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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