Last Friday, my writer’s group put on the 3rd Jot Conference, and for all the positive feedback we received, we also had some problems. But they were good problems to have.
The main complaint we heard was about parking. Jot is held at Baker Book House, my place of work, so I am able to hold the conference there free of charge. The building was just remodeled and the event space within is beautiful. 
Plus, what better surroundings could writers ask for than a bookstore? But while the inside of the building is quite nice, the outside doesn’t have quite enough parking to accommodate the growing crowd of Jot attendees.
You see, Jot is getting bigger. Our first event, we had about 60 people attend. Our second event, the number was around 70. This time, Andrew Rogers counted over 80 people in attendance. And amazingly, around 30% off the audience had never attended a previous Jot Conference. 
We are a bit overwhelmed by the response of the writing community in West Michigan.
But what do we do about our growing numbers and the problems that can cause?
If we move the conference to somewhere larger, we would likely have to pay for the event space. And as Jot is a free conference, we are loath to do anything that might raise our costs.
I
f we keep it at Baker, we’ll have to get creative when it comes to parking solutions. Do we rent a shuttle van for attendees? Do we ask people to carpool with other writers? Do we cap the number of people allowed to come?
When I met with my writer’s group, The Weaklings, to discuss these things, 
we all agreed that something will have to change before Jot 4 (tentatively scheduled for September 2014). We’re looking at options, but I’d love to hear some feedback from you. How can we continue to grow Jot so that every aspect of the conference goes better? Should we have an opportunity for people to offer donations? Should we charge? Should we do a Kickstarter campaign?
Anyway, I thought Jot 3 went really well. The content was great. The turnout was great. And I can’t wait for the next one! How about you?
Josh Mosey 
I think people like an opportunity to donate. Having a box at the door on the way out is a great idea. As for parking…is that Chinese restaurant by TCBY still defunct? You could probably park some cars there (like the cars of volunteers) to keep them out of the way. Since Zondervan’s building is now nearby, maybe you could shuttle from there or provide valet? It would be a shame to move it from Baker Book House. Then again, if you get to a certain # of attendees, you will be forced to.
Thanks for contributing! It was a shame that we didn’t see you there this time. Although, maybe you tried and just didn’t find anywhere to park. We told as many people as possible to park across the street at the TCBY, but the run across East Paris is always awkward. I like the shuttle from Zondervan idea. We’ll have to look into that for next time.
It was great, Josh. Please pass along my compliments to the rest of the Weaklings. I wish I had a good idea to help with the parking problem, but I don’t got nothing.
Sorry but I can’t think of anything sensible to help you right now. If I do I’ll be back.
Meanwhile congratulations on running such successful conferences!