After hosting five events, I've never once come up short (once, we came up long, but that's another story ). All my events have been prixe-fixe, the price posted up front, and one of the attendees appointed to act as muscle for collection. Zero problems.

My biggest event had about 55 in attendance and it was a great time. It would be a shame to spend a whole weekend worrying about somone you don't like - I hardly have time for the people I love! And despite being nervous about all sorts of weirdos and losers showing up, each time has been above all an opportunity to get to know great people and with one exception, completely drama-free.

In the end, these things are much more work than most people realize. And the bigger they are, the less fun they are for the host, because we spend all our time organizing/explaining/translating and don't really get to spend as much time with our out-of-town guests as we'd like. So I haven't "retired" from organizing. I just prefer to host smaller get-togethers that I get to enjoy as well.