Fanfest Questions and Answers

Remember, these are only our opinions. You don't have to agree with them, these are just the ones we have come to know through experience.

1. Why does a fanfest need a sponsor?

It's important to define what this is. It is a group of people (not necessarily a company) who work on the many aspects of such an event. There are departments and people put in charge to manage certain areas of the planning and then there are people who generally oversee that all the details from all the departments are followed and completed. These senior people are responsible for seeing that everyone gets their acts together and all is complete to insure all have a good time with the least amount or mix-up. It takes a lot more than one person to plan a literally world-wide event such as this.

A sponsor also acts as someone who goes to the local (wherever that would be) radio, TV, newspapers, media to make sure that the event is recognized and supported. We all want John promoted and his name back in the lights (and hopefully on the charts). Well, this is a golden opportunity to do so. The reason for this is so that, as in this case, the artist's name gets out there and promotion is done for the management half of things. You all should know that this is a VERY important part of sitting with management and getting understanding of how all parties will benefit from the event. Don't forget, something global like this, all people (artist, fans and the like) need to agree on things so it doesn't turn out to be a mess.

2. Will the fanfest be open to only online people?

No. The reason for this is that you don't want to limit the fans to who they are or where they come from. Just think for a moment if you were on the other side of the coin. Your favorite band is The Babys. You can only come to the fanfest if you were old enough or had an original copy of their debut album. Doesn't seem fair, does it? John Waite was part of the Babys? Same thing here. It's a part of the bigger whole, so to speak. Just because someone doesn't have an internet account, you can't shut them out of the fanfest. It's for all fans, on and off line. Again, this is one of the points that will come up with management. We all want John to get as much exposure as possible. This isn't achieved by limiting the number of people allowed to attend an event. There will be tickets that you will need to purchase, should a performance by John be part of the weekend. Internet people will have the events structured around them and it will be the focus, but it can't be the whole focus. John himself will have people that he would want to come to the event, and if they don't have an internet connection, you really can't tell them (or John for that matter) that they may not attend. It's for everyone, worldwide who is a Babys, Bad English, or John Waite fan.

3. How much will it cost?

That's really something that is hard to determine. We have to wait to see how many people commit, more than verbally to the event. Of course the more people, the better as quantity tends to bring down the price. We just have to make sure that as the quantity goes up, the quality remains the same.

4. How long until the fanfest happens?

It's not going to be next week. There are many factors to consider, but to give you a better idea of time frames, if John agreed to a date and time today, we would be looking at probly fall of '99. It takes a huge amount of organization and talking with companies (airlines, hotels, restaurants etc.) to get something together like this. Besides, everyone may need some time to save money for the travel expenses. We want to make sure it is scheduled far enough in advance, so that people can save the money, get the time off from work and come relaxed to the weekend. All these things need to be addressed in order for the fanfest to fall into place.

Remember, John said he would like to do it. Most of the time that's half the battle, getting the artist there. With John it isn't. If you know John like we know John, he will make time to see it happens. JWWC is just looking to make everyone's job easier and make for an enjoyable weekend that people can relax and enjoy themselves.

5. I want to get involved, how can I help?

Being involved in something like this is a great time. It's working in areas and learning a lot about the planning of what goes into something of this nature. You make friends and generally our experiences have been good ones with events like this.

If you would like to get involved on any level, please contact us by e-mail. State how you would like to get involved and there are more than enough tasks that need to be researched and taken care of. We welcome the help (once firm dates from John get established) from any and all fans, with open arms. Just e-mail us.

What you are seeing here is just a VERY small fraction of what goes into something like this. There is plenty more to go over and inform people about as time goes on. JWWC has offered its help and stands behind the fanfest. If you, as fans, come together and want our help, we will work with you all to help make this topic a reality to the best of our ability. The ball is in your court. It's always been "give us the green light" and we will get behind it.

Send us any and all comments you have. You have a fanfest committee here at JWWC who is willing to help. Now is the time to get serious and down to the details.