A Long-Delayed Party
Feb. 12th, 2006 01:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeInstead of vegetating out watching Olympic coverage all day today, I went up to WonderCon in San Francisco, now located in the relatively new Moscone West expansion of the convention center. As usual, I can't go into convention centers without sizing them up as potential convention sites. Moscone West looks like it's about the right size for a Worldcon, although I may be underestimating things. The ground floor was completely taken up with the vast dealer's hall. As I didn't get there until about 4:30, I hardly had time for more than a quick pass, where I saw a few people I know. I talked with Phil Foglio and pointed out to him that as the last episode of the "Sleepy Clank" storyline of Girl Genius Radio Theatre was performed in 2005, the production was eligible for the Short Form Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award.
The main reason I went up to the city was to come to Raven O'Neill's birthday party, which was a meal gathering in Mel's Restaurant around the corner from the convention center. Besides, I had two hugs to deliver, one of which was from Lisa, who had told me to hug Raven for her and wish her happy birthday.
Raven had to leave relatively early, however, as she was a participant in the WonderCon Masquerade, where she appeared as the 1970s-era Supergirl. I headed over to queue up for the Masqeurade, whose 1000-seat flat seat room was adequate to the task, somewhat to my surprise. I of course can't watch Masquerades anymore without thinking of them in technical terms. I'm not going to try and critique the Wondercon event. I enjoyed it.
Anyway, after the Masquerade, Raven gave me a call to see if I was still around, and we met up outside the Green Room. She'd been invited to a room party that was sort of a continuation of the birthday party -- the cake she'd brought had gone over there, for instance.
A room party in the San Francisco Marriott.
Good grief; this was the hotel that told both ConFrancisco and Bay Area in 2002 that Parties Were Not Done In Their Hotel. That People In Costume Are Not Allowed. That we want $1 Million in catering guarantees just to talk to you. (Just for info, ConJose's gross turnover for the entire convention, including gross art show sales even, was $0.98 million.)
Almost thirteen years after ConFrancisco, and four after the Bay Area Worldcon that went south after being told we weren't wanted, I finally attended a room party in the San Francisco Marriott Hotel. And now I know; yes, the rooms would have held room parties reasonably well. The group hosting this one had two rooms with the door open between them, but even the single rooms were good for maybe ten or fifteen people without seeming excessively crowded.
I spent the next couple of hours at the party sitting with Raven before being obliged by BART schedules to head back to Fremont. I enjoyed my few hours at WonderCon, even though I clearly am very out of touch with the comics field in which I used to work as a retailer back around the time that WonderCon (originally called the Wonderful World of Comics) was founded. And now I know -- parties work in that Marriott, just like I thought they would.
Update, Sunday Feb 12 1:21 PM: Went back and put in the link to WonderCon's web site.
The main reason I went up to the city was to come to Raven O'Neill's birthday party, which was a meal gathering in Mel's Restaurant around the corner from the convention center. Besides, I had two hugs to deliver, one of which was from Lisa, who had told me to hug Raven for her and wish her happy birthday.
Raven had to leave relatively early, however, as she was a participant in the WonderCon Masquerade, where she appeared as the 1970s-era Supergirl. I headed over to queue up for the Masqeurade, whose 1000-seat flat seat room was adequate to the task, somewhat to my surprise. I of course can't watch Masquerades anymore without thinking of them in technical terms. I'm not going to try and critique the Wondercon event. I enjoyed it.
Anyway, after the Masquerade, Raven gave me a call to see if I was still around, and we met up outside the Green Room. She'd been invited to a room party that was sort of a continuation of the birthday party -- the cake she'd brought had gone over there, for instance.
A room party in the San Francisco Marriott.
Good grief; this was the hotel that told both ConFrancisco and Bay Area in 2002 that Parties Were Not Done In Their Hotel. That People In Costume Are Not Allowed. That we want $1 Million in catering guarantees just to talk to you. (Just for info, ConJose's gross turnover for the entire convention, including gross art show sales even, was $0.98 million.)
Almost thirteen years after ConFrancisco, and four after the Bay Area Worldcon that went south after being told we weren't wanted, I finally attended a room party in the San Francisco Marriott Hotel. And now I know; yes, the rooms would have held room parties reasonably well. The group hosting this one had two rooms with the door open between them, but even the single rooms were good for maybe ten or fifteen people without seeming excessively crowded.
I spent the next couple of hours at the party sitting with Raven before being obliged by BART schedules to head back to Fremont. I enjoyed my few hours at WonderCon, even though I clearly am very out of touch with the comics field in which I used to work as a retailer back around the time that WonderCon (originally called the Wonderful World of Comics) was founded. And now I know -- parties work in that Marriott, just like I thought they would.
Update, Sunday Feb 12 1:21 PM: Went back and put in the link to WonderCon's web site.
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no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 07:26 pm (UTC)If we'd held a Worldcon there, we would have had 5-7K attendees, and most of them would have stayed in the hotel. We probably would have done the Masquerade in the hotel's ballroom (it's the right size and I prefer to have the Masquerade in the main hotel or in a physically-connected building if you can manage it -- I recommended that ConJose Masquerade entrants stay in the Crowne Plaza, for instance, not the main hotel 500m away). So it looks to me like the impact of the WonderCon attendees on the Marriott was minor. You would almost not have realized there was something "odd" going on, as there were just a few costumed characters about. Raven in her Supergirl outfit was relatively tame compared to all the Star Wars stormtroopers on the street, for instance.
So Wondercon probably just blocked some rooms and the hotel looked the other way at low-key room parties. A Worldcon, I bet, trying to be responsible and mitigate potential issues that we know will arise, would probably still be hammered by a hotel saying that This Is Not Done.
no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-13 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 04:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 07:30 pm (UTC)Although anime was marketed as part of the convention, I found the schedule at FurCon was better than what they were screening at WonderCon. Kudos to the Bay Area Animation Society, who programmed Further ConFusion's anime room.
no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-13 08:14 pm (UTC)Frankly, it didn't seem that crowded to me; certainly San Diego hits much higher Dealer's Room aisle density.