Why BayCon moved: We were sharing the Memorial Day weekend with two other, much larger conventions (Fanime [30k+]and Kubla [5k+]), and the demographics of the younger audience were going to those two cons, which meant we were fighting attrition as our attendees were trending in median age higher each year since 2015. Moving to the 4th of July also put us in a position where Fanime and Kubla (with whom we have great relationships) were better able to help feed younger attendees to us with some agreements. We saw the benefits of that in 2023.
As we're a four-day event, there's only so many three-day weekends we could use. Given our time constraints in choosing a new site in 2023 (I was on the hotel team and negotiated the deal personally), our current facility only had the 4th available to use and we had to make the decision quickly. In order to keep room rates as low a possible, we signed a three year deal.
While I do feel for Westercon, my priority is always going to be BayCon, because it's my fiduciary responsibility to do so.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2023-11-13 10:42 pm (UTC)As we're a four-day event, there's only so many three-day weekends we could use. Given our time constraints in choosing a new site in 2023 (I was on the hotel team and negotiated the deal personally), our current facility only had the 4th available to use and we had to make the decision quickly. In order to keep room rates as low a possible, we signed a three year deal.
While I do feel for Westercon, my priority is always going to be BayCon, because it's my fiduciary responsibility to do so.