Help Required: Writing a Proposal

[whetu]

Hey guys,
I'm looking at the possibility of hosting a small LAN (~30 people). A few emails have been sent around already, and I'm currently creating a proposal.

For the most part I'll be fine, I can spout off enough BS to make City Idiot blush, just want your input on the following:

Early on in the proposal, I describe what a lan is and have split LANs into the following categories:

Grass-roots (~8 people)
Medium-Small (~50 people)
Medium-Large (~150 people)
Large (~1000 people)
Extreme (1001+)

What I want from you guys is, in YOUR opinion, the pros and cons of each category... for example:

grass roots:
pros: social, problems sorted quickly
cons: no room for expansion

medium-small:
pros: social, problems sorted quickly,
cons: hire fees etc drive entry fees up

etc etc

Cheers for your help

[Wibber]

grass roots:
pros: easy to organise, no power or network considerations, inet connet easy and cheap
cons: lees ppl to leech off, limits MP games playable,

medium-small:
pros: better gaming/leeching
cons: more organisational problem, good chance of getting stuck helping others and not getting much time lanning

[Tobiaz[nz]]

Large:
pros-have a few MP games going with something that everyone likes
cons-your fUx0red if the network goes down or its relly relly slow

[Antallica]

Grass-roots (~8 people)
Pros: Nice and small, goor for close mates

Cons: Bit too small if you want to really achieve anything (too easy anyway)

Medium-Small (~50 people)
Pros: Just getting to the right amount to be able to play a wide variety of games. Lost of rigs to drool over.

Cons: You could do with more people, wouldn't be that many games going of different tastes.

Medium-Large (~150 people)
Pros: Now we're talking numbers, gamers galore. Wide variety of games. Host near local food district. This would be my preferred choice of a sized LAN to goto.

Cons: Plenty of CS kiddie gamers but a gentle reminder how to act should be sufficiant. Mass food ordering. Keep the rowdies under control or the public will waste you.

Large (~1000 people)
Pros: That's the lot of people!

Cons: Got enough games!? haha

Extreme (1001+)
Pros: Money money money

Cons: Messy toilets after that one, get a huge facility. Too many people for me to want to goto personally.

[KingJackal]

LOL, I'm explaining a similar thing in my LAN guides - but I divide them up via their organisational complexity:
-> 10-12 people
-> 35-45 people
-> 75-85 people
-> 140-160 people
> 160 people

...though I believe there's clearly at least 1 more organisational level between 500-man LANs and 150-man LANs. ( 1000+ LANs are more like LANs and trade shows rolled into one )

I divided them up that way for good reason. Running a 10-man LAN is very different to a 20-man LAN. BUT, running a 20-man LAN is NOT very different to running a 35-man LAN. It's curious - but there are very real boundaries between sizes of LAN, caused by the points at which ( as Wibber alluded to ):
- power becomes an issue ( 3-phase )
- networking becomes an issue ( big switches, not just 5/8's strung together - and also, when gigabit backbones become necissary )
- that more obvious 'can't hold it in the garage anymore' issue coming up ( venue costs )
- sponsorship and partnership becomes a big issue

NOT in that order, BTW ;)


Anyways, on with some notes for you:

Grass-roots (~8 people)
+ Friendly atmosphere, know everybody, no venue cost, easy net access, no special networking gear needed, power not an issue
- No big games, no big leeching, no new people to meet

Medium-Small (~50 people)
+ Friendly atmosphere, low venue cost, good gaming, power not an issue
- Need bigger switches, low venue costs enter, no net access ( normally )

Medium-Large (~150 people)
+ Good gaming, Tons of leeching
- Need very powerful network gear, high venue costs, no net access ( normally ), 3-phase needed

Large (~1000 people)
+ EXCELLENT gaming ( any game, going all the time )
- leeching often blocked ( becuase of.... ), Need large-scale power networking gear, astronomical venue costs, no net access, huge power requirements, tricky sponsorship requirements

Extreme (1001+)
ummm

[whetu]

here's an edict to add to your guides KJ:

WWJD? (no, not jesus. What Would Jimminy Do?) :D

[Grrr!!]

I had to write a proposal recently for much the same thing; except that it's sitting in Hamtown. (I'm in Welly for the next week).

Anyway; I would say catagories go:

Mini-LAN
1-8 People / Garage / 1 Switch
Everyone knows one another, everyone participates in same games.
Very little leeching, as everyone knows one another and generally have the same stuff.
Little hardware requirement (cheap switches, no expensive network gear). Fast Network (100Mbit)
Only one or two powerpoints necessary.
Minimal Organisation

Grass Roots
9-24 People / Small Hall / 1 Switch
Everyone is roughly acquainted with one another, good participation in games, though multiple games can go on.
Good Leechate component, though still fast over the network.
Borrowable Hardware, (someone will have a spare server box, and a 24 port switch). Fast Network (100MBit)
A couple of powerpoints / extentions necessary.

Medium
25-75 People / Large Hall / Multiple Switches / 3 Phase Power
Random people walking around, who have no friends, LANing Newbies, Potential Criminals.
Several games at once, though well participated.
Expensive hardware (many servers, large amounts of expensive switches). < Sponsorship almost essential. Switches may be bottlenecked.
Masses of powerpoints necessary, or 3 phase, organisers must keep an eye on power grid to ensure no fuses are blown.

Large / Huge
75-200 / 200+
More or less Medium to a much greater extent.

[whetu]

i didnt ask for your categorisation, i asked for your opinions about the pros/cons of each category as defined by MY categorisation... please pay attention next time ;)

[KingJackal]

Interesting Grrr - but it doesn't work that way.

- You get up to about 40 or so PC's before you need 3-phase. Only a moron with a yearning to lose money would get 3-phase for 30 guys.

- LAN's with 20 people DON'T use 1 switch. Oh sure, they could fit on a single 24 - but when your group is that small, you don't normally have resources like that. Normally at that stage you'll be using 5-port or 8-port switches, and if you're lucky you'll have access to a 16-port.

- Sponsorship is NOT essential as you elude past the 24 man limit. L3 was able to get along just fine without it well past 60 people. I'd put the 80-ish limit as the point at which you'd want some sponsorship - BUT IT'S STILL NOT NECISSARY. It's well past 100 that it becomes absolutely essential. This is emphasised by the recent price drops of high-end networking gear.

- 150 man LAN's do not resemble in ANY way shape or form 50-man LANs. Trust me, even the 110-man L3 was very different to the 60-man L3's ( but should have been more so ).



.....of course, I only say that out of experience having run everything up to 110 people. I haven't dabbled higher, but just from running that one LAN with 100 people, I've realised that some BIG changes happen in organisation up there.

I also forgot to mention the most crucial organisational scaling. The TEAM. 200-man LANs DO NOT happen with one guy running them. 50-man LANs CAN.

[Wibber]

Random people walking around, who have no friends, LANing Newbies, Potential Criminals.
hey, I resent that!
I walk arround lots, and the only part of your statement applies to me is randomness, and maybe a little of the criminal :p

[Major Havoc]

From my experiences
For a Medium (Around 50+ peeps say)
If you have one person organising..
You don't get much gaming / leeching in and that is the BIGGEST CON, of organising a 50+ people LAN.
PRO, Meet and Greet.. @ Ping Zero I try and make it to everyone there and ask how things are going, and probs they are experencing, and if they have ideas that might improve the next LAN !! and of course the other PRO is if you want to get all the lastest err hummm "LINUX ISOS" :) (The more people the easier)
30 is the sweet spot, for small lans, if you are organising by yourself, and you want to game.

Make sense ?

[whetu]

yeah.. thats why i'm targetting for 30... If it establishes well (eg into a monthly thing) then there will be regulars I can take onboard to assist with organisation etc and then ramping the numbers up is trivial

Its early times yet.. gotta get a venue (yes I have a few on the shortlist.. the DC Hub goons know my ultimate intentions)

[optical]

Grass-Roots

Pros: Takes a couple of phone calls, or msgs to get people to come, take some doors of hinges and your sweet, you know everyone, and you can just order pizza, much more friendly style of LAN

Cons: Not many..apart from leeching, gaming can be just as fun. TK Wars :)

[dumass]

medium/large [50-150]

Pros:
-Can still be a freindly enviroment where everyone knows each other
-Dont need to be too professional
-Can still rely on members to bring some network gear/equipment
-large enough to buy some 1/2 decent prizes with revinues from participants
-Game servers are generally pretty full
-Easy to yell out to everyone without needing sound equipment etc..
-If you get much bigger you cant have it in 1 room / you will need a stadium.
-Easy to keep track of everyone
-You dont HAVE to have a super solid expensive network background running.
-Easy enough to organize in spare time/on a monthly basis (not a once a year thing)
-Can go for 1 or more days comfortabily.

Cons:
-Large committee means disputes about what to do/organizing (takes more effort on deciding what to do).
-You usually need to go abit bigger than 150peeps to get the big sponsors/advitisors
-Organizers need to be somewhat dedicated (i.e. not lanning themselves at the lan)
- More than 75 people and you need atleast 2 3phase boxes, need 3 once you get to more than 120
-N00bs need computers set up.

[whetu]

cheers... been talking to a few people and a few great things have happened...

The DC hub goons are aware of what happened today err yesterday - I have sourced some EXTREMELY cheap (read: $0) 2m cat5 cables, I required 30 cables at least 1m in length, so this is bang on perfect :D

Anyway, currently want feedback on the site as it stands:

http://www.g33kflat.skankyflat.net/lan/index.html

Anything you feel should be added/removed/changed?

You can also ask any questions you may have about the LAN that I envision (but probably never will turn out like it is in my head), what I have planned, and where it's at.

[Artifice]

Cons: security, with anything over a medium lan, There is always the chance of somebody walking out with somebody else's computer.
id suggest people taking a security cable to a large lan.