@QBConvention: What I am thinking on what was supposed to be QBC 2020 today.

Good day everyone. On what should be one of my favorite and hardest working days of the year, I don't know what to do with myself. At the time that this is being posted, I would usually be in full gear with Dan and the QBC Volunteers throwing the QBC together and counting down the time until we open the doors. As disappointed you all are that there is no QBC today, I might be even more disappointed. Since we began the QBC, it has been a passion project. I pour my entire essence into this event every year because I want the QBC to be the best thing out there. I don't want anyone to walk away unhappy from it(even though I know it is an unrealistic goal). Running the QBC the day of is one of the most exhausting days I have during my life. It doesn't stress me out but I become hyper focused on making the day enjoyable for everyone and that includes our volunteers who bust their asses too.

This year we had two wins. One was against Yahoo and the other was with the Mets. The Mets finally saw how successful that we can be and that Mets fans wanted a fan fest. That was our original goal and that has been accomplished. The only problem with that win is that is drew fans away from the QBC. Why go to the unofficial Fan Fest when the can go to the official one. I get it. I really do. 

I wanted you guys to know that I wanted to have the QBC at Citi Field this year. I approached the Mets about this and this is when the Mets told me about their idea of a fan fest. They even asked us to join forces with them to consult on panels and on the day but they told us that they didn't want to pay us anything for that. We found that a bit insulting. The reason is, I know that the Mets would take our ideas and use it for themselves without any compensation for us. I don't think we should give up any of our successful formula for nothing. Dan and I with the backing of our family and friends who volunteer to help with the QBC, decided to carry on with it. We had to find a location that would work for the growth of the QBC and there aren't that many places that fit the budget and all our needs for a successful QBC. While having the QBC on LI wasn't ideal for everyone we were very happy that Mulcahy's wanted to bring us out there and we thank them for that. They have been great even with the cancellation of today's event. We tried every which way to make this years event work. But Dan and I would have taken a huge personal hit money wise in our pockets and since the QBC is a passion project it wouldn't fair to our families to do that to them. Dan was also getting slammed at work and was trying to make sure he could make the event himself, but his job schedule might have conflicted with him being able to be in LI today. That is a lot of burden and work that would have been put on my shoulders. 

Tickets sold very well at first when we put them up but the pace slowed down a lot. Especially when folks were buying tickets for the Mets Fan Fest instead. We ran the numbers and looked at the personal loss and scheduling conflict and realized the best thing to do was cancel the QBC and reassess when we could do an event later on. Will it be a full on QBC or a smaller version, I don't know yet. I just wanted to get past today. I am still recovering from all the work I was doing behind the scenes with the websites, promoting, eventbrite, PayPal, and then my brain got fried because I had to refund everyone one by one by one. Eventbrite doesn't let you bulk refund orders and I spent a good six hours at it. Dan had to deal with cancelling the guests, the vendors, the mascots, etc. We also had to break the news to you guys too. I saw some of the reddit posts about how some folks didn't like how we handled cancelling and I'll touch on that too. We are just fans like you. We tried to do for our fellow fans what we would like to attend. We do not make a lot of money off this. If you factor in the amount of work Dan and I put in, we are actually personally in the red. We aren't promoters. We don't run events like this full time.We do it for our fellow fans because it is a fun day. We do it because we believe in the fan base of the NY METS. We do it because we feel like we filled a void that was left by our favorite baseball team that makes us bleed Orange and Blue.

I want to thank all of you that have supported us over the years. I want to thank the folks who volunteer year after year that give up their Saturday to help out. They don't get paid. They usually get taken out to a nice dinner the week before QBC, get fed all day at QBC, and get special Jerseys. But they too do this all out of the goodness of their hearts for us and for their fellow fans. This is my QBC, no. This is my family that helps us out. I also want to thank the folks who no longer volunteer with us. They might have started with us in the beginning but have had other commitments over the years and couldn't continue on helping out. And thank you to all of you who have attended the QBC over the years. I feel like we let you down this year by having to cancel. It was not an easy decision to make. Right now I should be running around Mulchay's getting everything ready for a kick ass day but I am not. Instead I am thinking about what this day could have been and right now I feel empty inside. I am hoping in a week or two that the fire comes back. That I again start thinking about what is next for our brand and our friends and fellow fans. The QBC isn't over. It is just in a state of metamorphosis and will return.

I can't write a post about this without touching on the Mets Fan Fest and my feelings on it. I have been wavering on letting my emotions out and letting you guys know what I think about it. I think it is cool that the Mets are trying to be fan friendly and have a Fan Fest. Do I think it is going to be good? In my personal opinion from what I have seen in the past I am wavering more to that there are going to be problems with it. Now will it be growing pains problems from being brand new? Or will it be typical Mets problems like how they throw three different promotional days together at the Stadium. You know what I mean. Mets welcome Japanese Heritage day. Mets welcome Comic con day, and he Mets are giving out winter beanies in Aug day.. all on the same day. I personally think it could go that way. The Mets told us that they wanted to do this for a good PR event and I believe that. I also know the Mets half ass stuff and I have been railing against that for over a decade now as a blogger with metspolice.com and this blog. I really hope for the fans that bought tickets to the Fan Fest that I am wrong and it goes off without a hitch because the fans deserve that. My friends that work for the Mets deserve a good day because sometimes they are served a shit sandwich for dinner and have to eat it.

 I hope I am wrong and this is a fantastic event. I also am curious what the Mets are going to do with all the cosmic karma that has been happening the last few days with a manager who was fired and that was supposed to appear at the fan fest. I can't wait to hear/see the questions going on that day at the panel(s) that will be going on. 

These are all my thoughts about the QBC and the Mets Fan Fest as I sit at work on a Friday night at Midnight. One other note, it is great that I don't have to field a 1000 questions about snow this weekend.