Worldcon Bids 2008
Dec. 3rd, 2005 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeThe 2008 bids took the head table. Representative of all known bids were there, including the rather (of late) quiet Columbus bid.
Dave McCarty of Chicago's bid started. It's the same site as past Chicago bids (Hyatt Regency), which has added additional function space since last time, and they may not need to use function space in other hotels; other hotels may be needed for overflow sleeping space. Bid theme is "To Serve Man" and many hot dogs have been served already. People piled on to the bid about errors made for Chicon 2000, which Dave freely admitted and said they would learn from them and improve. Unfortunately, this descended into minutae of conrunning, and I got tired of trying to record it all. (The bid is for Labor Day weekend.)
The Columbus bid was represented by Joni Dashoff, who expressed the regrets from the Columbus bid for not having hosted a party at the Worldcon this year and gave reasons for this. (I should note that I am a pre-supporter of all bids, and have no particular axe to grind in this bid; I regret that some people reading this are likely to assume that I have personal reasons for giving a negative review here.) The Columbus Convention Center and surrounding hotels would be the venue. Note that there is a 24-hour food court (that would probably be popular). Joni attempted to put a good face on the (IMO) generally lackluster public face of the bid, which has been nearly invisible of late in the SMOFfish arena, but she had to admit that the local fan base, while experienced with large conventions like Origins, does not travel a lot and is perhaps not plugged into the usual Worldcon conrunning circuits. (The bid dates are Labor Day weekend.)
Denver in 2008 is led by Kent Bloom, who calmly followed the rather defensive Columbus and Chicago bids with a pitch for downtown Denver, with a bid for a Wednesday-Sunday, August 6-10. (Why? Because that's when the convention center was available for 2008.) Their bid committee is large and geographic diverse, and the theme is "competence and outward focus." He said, "We're looking to take the best of the Worldcons we've attended and to possibly improve upon them and bring more social space and interaction between the members of the Worldcon." (I probably dropped some words there.) The core hotel is the Adam's Mark, which has lots of rooms. In response to a question from Tom Whitmore, Kent said that four bidcom members live in metro Denver, with an additional six in the Colorado Springs area, with the rest scattered around.
All bids have expressed a williness to participate in Pass Along Funds.
Gary Blog tossed a fairly harsly worded question at Columbus saying, "Why bother? You weren't at Glasgow or at Seattle." Joni reiterated the extenuating circumstances of the bid leadership -- death of parents is a pretty significant issue. When asked, "Why aren't more of the Columbus committee here?" Joni had no answer.
The Adams Mark is 5 blocks (at 12-14 blocks/mile) from the Convention Center.
All bids were asked about the weather, heat, humidity, allergies, and similar, but I didn't try to record the answers.
Note that you can vote on 2008 site selection if you are a member of either L.A.con IV or Interaction.
Dave McCarty of Chicago's bid started. It's the same site as past Chicago bids (Hyatt Regency), which has added additional function space since last time, and they may not need to use function space in other hotels; other hotels may be needed for overflow sleeping space. Bid theme is "To Serve Man" and many hot dogs have been served already. People piled on to the bid about errors made for Chicon 2000, which Dave freely admitted and said they would learn from them and improve. Unfortunately, this descended into minutae of conrunning, and I got tired of trying to record it all. (The bid is for Labor Day weekend.)
The Columbus bid was represented by Joni Dashoff, who expressed the regrets from the Columbus bid for not having hosted a party at the Worldcon this year and gave reasons for this. (I should note that I am a pre-supporter of all bids, and have no particular axe to grind in this bid; I regret that some people reading this are likely to assume that I have personal reasons for giving a negative review here.) The Columbus Convention Center and surrounding hotels would be the venue. Note that there is a 24-hour food court (that would probably be popular). Joni attempted to put a good face on the (IMO) generally lackluster public face of the bid, which has been nearly invisible of late in the SMOFfish arena, but she had to admit that the local fan base, while experienced with large conventions like Origins, does not travel a lot and is perhaps not plugged into the usual Worldcon conrunning circuits. (The bid dates are Labor Day weekend.)
Denver in 2008 is led by Kent Bloom, who calmly followed the rather defensive Columbus and Chicago bids with a pitch for downtown Denver, with a bid for a Wednesday-Sunday, August 6-10. (Why? Because that's when the convention center was available for 2008.) Their bid committee is large and geographic diverse, and the theme is "competence and outward focus." He said, "We're looking to take the best of the Worldcons we've attended and to possibly improve upon them and bring more social space and interaction between the members of the Worldcon." (I probably dropped some words there.) The core hotel is the Adam's Mark, which has lots of rooms. In response to a question from Tom Whitmore, Kent said that four bidcom members live in metro Denver, with an additional six in the Colorado Springs area, with the rest scattered around.
All bids have expressed a williness to participate in Pass Along Funds.
Gary Blog tossed a fairly harsly worded question at Columbus saying, "Why bother? You weren't at Glasgow or at Seattle." Joni reiterated the extenuating circumstances of the bid leadership -- death of parents is a pretty significant issue. When asked, "Why aren't more of the Columbus committee here?" Joni had no answer.
The Adams Mark is 5 blocks (at 12-14 blocks/mile) from the Convention Center.
All bids were asked about the weather, heat, humidity, allergies, and similar, but I didn't try to record the answers.
Note that you can vote on 2008 site selection if you are a member of either L.A.con IV or Interaction.
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-04 08:40 am (UTC)Inquiring minds want to know.
Columbus Bid and Interaction
Date: 2005-12-04 11:01 am (UTC)Re: Columbus Bid and Interaction
Date: 2005-12-04 12:34 pm (UTC)They don't seem to be at all interested in recruiting people to help them bid. When they were bidding for '07, I helped them with a party at ConJose and was part of a group of SMOFS that were giving them advice on how to bid, which conventions to go to, etc. I live 3 hours away from Columbus. But they never asked me to join the bid, at a time when I was going to 12 or 13 conventions a year.
Re: Columbus Bid and Interaction
Date: 2005-12-05 03:51 pm (UTC)