If I ever ran this thing, it would start real small. One of the things I have noticed, and my info is a wee bit old so this may be even harder, is that cons don't "break even" until the third one or even later. The cost involved may be more than I can handle, and I don't feel right charging my pals something obnoxious and insulting like $250 for admission (plus hotel and travel). Nor do I want to put friends, some of whom have already had this horror happen to them, invest in a convention that will never pay them back.

I would also like to state that it would start out a lot like TCEP (see, I am stealing ideas from FanTek and TCEP... I have no shame). They only have a few function rooms. I would probably start with 3. A lounge area, a gaming area, and an area for events that would interfere with the other two rooms. Maybe this would save money. I am not sure how many functions rooms one can get free with X amount of rooms sold, or if they even do that anymore. Obviously, if I had any merchants, they'd be stuck with gamers. I might stick an art show in the lounge.

I'd borrow a lot of my equipment. It would be relatively ghetto. Not only because I can't afford to buy or even rent a nice HD TV for videos, but the storage costs would also be difficult off-season. I suppose certain things I could use for personal use, like an HD TV, but I think that would be suspect if I wanted go 503(c).

Food worries me. Hotels shove fistfuls of revenue down their gullet with catering. Back in the day (for me, 1980s), con suites were a staple for any con. Staff suites provided staff with free meals for their hard work. Then the real estate market tanked in 1987 due to a significant tax law, and suddenly, you couldn't roll revenue loss into property, so hotels had to be profitable. Nowadays, hotels have all sorts of rules about food in their favor. You have to have massive leverage and a little palm greasing just to have a staff suite. Some cons still manage to hold onto a con suite, but many have to pay an exorbitant cost. Hotel want you to eat at their restaurant or have you pay $2.50 for a mini soda and $3.00 for a bag of chips. Many won't even allow pizza delivery past their front door. I'll have to ask TCEP what they do since their food is a private room you just have to know about somehow. Even past the hotel's greed, even if I had a Bag of Holding, I don't know if I could afford to put enough food in there to feed a staff. But a lot of this worry is based on ignorance.

All moneys made and spent would be listed publicly. This way, people can't claim I am financing some ulterior purpose. Man, if I had a nickel for every rumor I heard about Bruce's millions, or Katsucon paying 6 digit wages... oh, wait:

$1.25 = Nickels earned from rumors about FanTek and Katsucon's revenue 
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$1.25 TOTAL REVENUE (projected)

Another issue about money is the 503(c) option and make the con non-profit. My goals would be simple: any money left over (after reinvestment) would be donated to science education for elementary school students. I would even attempt a scholarship program for those who want to pursue science as a major. The convention would even be tax deductible. Of course, getting a 503(c) is not like filling out a postcard and sending it to Mickey Dolenz for a photo, no. I think it requires donating limbs to a pit of alligators while tap ancing and writing sonnets in assembly code.