kevin_standlee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kevin_standlee) wrote2013-07-12 11:54 am
kevin_standlee) wrote2013-07-12 11:54 am
Entry tags:
I Am Not Bidding
And remember, as an ex-Worldcon chair, I have an permanently-paid-up Get Out of Conrunning Free card. Therefore, I can muse about such things and the $20 bills y'all toss at me as bid-starters bounce off me like I was rubber.
After reading this post, it occurs to me that a Westercon at John Ascuaga's Nugget could do worse than to use a steampunk-style mascot named "Sparks Nevada."
The real challenge with a Westercon in the Reno area is that I have yet to find a hotel that is right-sized the way the Sacramento Hilton is. Although I've heard some (sometimes justified) complaints and lukewarm reviews of Westercon 66, overall I think the fact that we "owned the hotel" and had slightly too little room meant that the social aspect of the convention was much better than facilities that have dozens of rooms, thereby allowing Programming to Never Say No, resulting in 27 program tracks, each of which has five people on a head table and two in the audience.
(It is possible that if WC66 had had 50-in-60-minute panels (instead of 60-in-75), they could have put in a few more slots; however, there still would have been a lot of saying No. I like those fifteen-minute breaks myself, and I was impressed at how many panels really did stick to 60 minutes instead of trying to use 80, the way so many 50-in-60s try to make 70-minute panels and don't get out of the way at 50 minutes.)
The Reno/Sparks-area hotels I've reviewed so far (I can't go into a hotel without sizing it up for conventions) are all too large. We could make something happen in them, but the 800 people we expect for a Westercon could easily vanish like a drop of ink in a barrel of water at most facilities. The reason Westercon 66 worked as well as it did was that nearly everyone in the building was One of Us. That doesn't work when there are thousands of other people there while your 800 people are struggling to find each other.
After reading this post, it occurs to me that a Westercon at John Ascuaga's Nugget could do worse than to use a steampunk-style mascot named "Sparks Nevada."
The real challenge with a Westercon in the Reno area is that I have yet to find a hotel that is right-sized the way the Sacramento Hilton is. Although I've heard some (sometimes justified) complaints and lukewarm reviews of Westercon 66, overall I think the fact that we "owned the hotel" and had slightly too little room meant that the social aspect of the convention was much better than facilities that have dozens of rooms, thereby allowing Programming to Never Say No, resulting in 27 program tracks, each of which has five people on a head table and two in the audience.
(It is possible that if WC66 had had 50-in-60-minute panels (instead of 60-in-75), they could have put in a few more slots; however, there still would have been a lot of saying No. I like those fifteen-minute breaks myself, and I was impressed at how many panels really did stick to 60 minutes instead of trying to use 80, the way so many 50-in-60s try to make 70-minute panels and don't get out of the way at 50 minutes.)
The Reno/Sparks-area hotels I've reviewed so far (I can't go into a hotel without sizing it up for conventions) are all too large. We could make something happen in them, but the 800 people we expect for a Westercon could easily vanish like a drop of ink in a barrel of water at most facilities. The reason Westercon 66 worked as well as it did was that nearly everyone in the building was One of Us. That doesn't work when there are thousands of other people there while your 800 people are struggling to find each other.
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It's less severe where I am than most places. For one thing, there's a lot of crossover from the local SF conrunners to the anime cons, particularly A-Kon, which has a respectable-sized SF convention (including writer's track) buried in it. And still, the smaller of the two main anime cons here is scheduled against Lone Star Con, & from what I can tell, neither group of organizers thinks that's a big deal.
I am, to put it mildly, concerned, & not just because this means that I have to skip that anime con again this year. Denvention was convenient for me, because I could do both!
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We went with the T&C because the only other proposal required putting SanSFiS on the hook for multiples of $10k if we lost.
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That's what was really missing at Seattle, the lobby was crap, the bar was very enclosed and the sleeping space (and two party wings) was spread all over the place. San Jose had a way-huge lobby and that giant ring hallway on second, so it was easy to diffuse, but the party space was decently compact.
Talk to Mike Willmoth about Litchfield Park. It was a big, sprawling property (a golf resort) with lots of self-standing sleeping areas, but it didn't feel as diffused. He might have some ideas that could help you.
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The Mission Palms on the other hand is a great space. 2-story so unless one needs to use the elevator it's easy to simply walk up a single flight of stairs. The Con Suite and party rooms all have a patio that opens out onto the pool deck, which allows both indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, lots of configurable meeting rooms which are mostly co-located. It does have the problem of having one large meeting room off in the hinterlands behind the restaurant (just like the Sac. Hilton). Having an outstanding Irish Restaurant literally 10 feet from the hotel does not hurt either...
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Is this the part where I tell you their hotel guy very aggressively courted me last year, to the point of showing up in Seattle to meet me? (As an Event Planner, you ninny!) - he's a nice guy ;>. I think the facility can be right sized because of it's amazing number of spaces.
(oh, and *volunteering*? That's clearly a critical case - but I've been called worse :>)