Chase Ruffley

Assignment for JMC 104 class, used to illustrate skills in analysis and formulation of a memo style report. For this assignment, we were given three locations and asked to determine the best fit for an event before putting together a report for our fictional boss.

Chase Ruffley

Prof. Fraley

05/13/2026

JMC104

Writing Assignment 14

Memo

To: Ansel Richards, Head of Communications and Events

From: Chase Ruffley, Assistant to Head of Communications and Events

Date: 05/13/2026

Subject: Venue found for Gamecon

Good afternoon

After crunching numbers, the best venue to host our inaugural Gamecon is at Union Station Annex.

Union Station Annex provides us with the greatest fits for our needs, including flexible room layouts to fit our needs and accommodation for the members of the gaming industry. We also have the space needed to set up for our food vendors, with enough restrooms for three-fourths of our attendees. The only concern that arises with this venue is the lack of free and accessible parking, but I believe we could make the effort to accommodate those in need and utilize the Kansas City streetcars to get attendees to and from the venue.

Being near the Crown Center Neighborhood, this offers attendees a wide variety of restaurants, hotels and attractions for them to enjoy when not at the convention. There is also flexibility when booking, as there is no restrictions in the same way the Rural Kansas Fairgrounds have.

Union Station Annex comes in as the second most expensive option, costing us $35,000 for the venue and set-up fees. River City Event Center is the cheapest out of the three, ranging from $13,000-$18,000 depending on when our event takes place in the week and including both the space and set-up fees. Rural Kansas Fairground is the most expensive sitting at $60,000.

Running through the other two options, River City Event Center is not as visually appealing from the outside as it is situated in a more industrial area. While this is the most appealing pricewise, some of the reviews noted that “…the place is rundown” and “Iffy service shabby furnishings and a weird smell in the restrooms”.

It was a more difficult decision between the Rural Kansas Fairgrounds and Union Station Annex. It came down to specificity primarily. After contacting the planning department at the Fairgrounds for more information, I wasn’t entirely convinced that our needs could be entirely met due to the restrictions the property has when setting up for events. While the buildings are pre-set up and would not cost anything extra, we are unable to customize the different buildings to fit our needs in the same way we are able to at Union Station Annex. The cost as well, though there are not any additional fees, is still considerably higher.