LALA Land - LosCon Redux
Nov. 29th, 2006 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the13thfairySo last weekend was the second trip in slightly over a month down to LALA land. First time was for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arianrhodstorm's birfday, this time it was for LosCon.
As next years BayCon Chairperson I kinda had to be there. It went pretty well - as I focused on staffing the fan table while various minions decorated and prepped food for the parties. We got a LOT of "Why did you leave the DoubleTree? It was perfect for you." questions - and I got to set the record straight. We didn't leave the DT - they said "Here's your hat, where's your hurry?" (by optioning our dates to another group) and put us in a place where we HAD to find a new home. Fascinating that fandom in general thinks that the CONVENTION is the bad guy and NOT the HOTEL. *snerk*
I ALSO got to explain how the DT really wasn't perfect for us any more - that it had been too small for years, and that the hotel declining our business just made us take a good look at our growth and what we really needed - that in the end we BayCon folk in general feel it's for the best. This then led to the inevitable question of "If you need MORE space why are you at the Marriott - it's smaller".
Well yes, it's smaller - and YOU try finding a hotel big enough for a 2500+ convention with less than 11 months notice. And when you figure it out? Let me know OK? I would LOVE to have that particular ace up my sleeve if I ever have to help move an event this size again.
So I explained further (multiple times) that we were only at the Marriott for the one year, and that for 2008, 2009 and 2010 we already had contracts signed and in place for the Santa Clara Hyatt Regency and Convention Center which has roughly 12,000 MORE square feet of function space so we can grow. At which point there were more questions, mostly along the lines of "But then WHYYY aren't you there in 2007?" Breathing deeply, I again calmly explained that all the hotel/function space that was big enough to house BayCon was already booked (and referenced them back to the earlier bit about less than a years notice). And that while the Hyatt had been interested in 2007 - they were already booked cause when they bought the Westin they also had to take existing contracts and that Memorial day 2007 had already been booked at that hotel when it WAS a Westin. *sigh*
I felt like a school teacher in a kindergarten class - All this whinging and wringing of hands and asking of "Yes but WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?"...
Like it doesn't occur to them that I may remotely feel the same? I mean COME ON PEOPLE - I was a Gofer at the FIRST BayCon. I GREW UP in that hotel - generally doing 2+ cons a year (and a couple years of FOUR cons) in that hotel for TWO THIRDS of my LIFE - and they honestly think they are the only ones affected. *argh*
*breathing* So yeah - it was a fun weekend. Kinda... We sold a nice bunch of memberships to BayCon. And PR1 should be printed and mailed any day now. *still breathing*
And now I just get to deal with the horrid feeling that I have dropped the ball on something immensely important. *sigh*
arianrhodstorm's birfday, this time it was for LosCon.As next years BayCon Chairperson I kinda had to be there. It went pretty well - as I focused on staffing the fan table while various minions decorated and prepped food for the parties. We got a LOT of "Why did you leave the DoubleTree? It was perfect for you." questions - and I got to set the record straight. We didn't leave the DT - they said "Here's your hat, where's your hurry?" (by optioning our dates to another group) and put us in a place where we HAD to find a new home. Fascinating that fandom in general thinks that the CONVENTION is the bad guy and NOT the HOTEL. *snerk*
I ALSO got to explain how the DT really wasn't perfect for us any more - that it had been too small for years, and that the hotel declining our business just made us take a good look at our growth and what we really needed - that in the end we BayCon folk in general feel it's for the best. This then led to the inevitable question of "If you need MORE space why are you at the Marriott - it's smaller".
Well yes, it's smaller - and YOU try finding a hotel big enough for a 2500+ convention with less than 11 months notice. And when you figure it out? Let me know OK? I would LOVE to have that particular ace up my sleeve if I ever have to help move an event this size again.
So I explained further (multiple times) that we were only at the Marriott for the one year, and that for 2008, 2009 and 2010 we already had contracts signed and in place for the Santa Clara Hyatt Regency and Convention Center which has roughly 12,000 MORE square feet of function space so we can grow. At which point there were more questions, mostly along the lines of "But then WHYYY aren't you there in 2007?" Breathing deeply, I again calmly explained that all the hotel/function space that was big enough to house BayCon was already booked (and referenced them back to the earlier bit about less than a years notice). And that while the Hyatt had been interested in 2007 - they were already booked cause when they bought the Westin they also had to take existing contracts and that Memorial day 2007 had already been booked at that hotel when it WAS a Westin. *sigh*
I felt like a school teacher in a kindergarten class - All this whinging and wringing of hands and asking of "Yes but WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?"...
Like it doesn't occur to them that I may remotely feel the same? I mean COME ON PEOPLE - I was a Gofer at the FIRST BayCon. I GREW UP in that hotel - generally doing 2+ cons a year (and a couple years of FOUR cons) in that hotel for TWO THIRDS of my LIFE - and they honestly think they are the only ones affected. *argh*
*breathing* So yeah - it was a fun weekend. Kinda... We sold a nice bunch of memberships to BayCon. And PR1 should be printed and mailed any day now. *still breathing*
And now I just get to deal with the horrid feeling that I have dropped the ball on something immensely important. *sigh*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 06:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 01:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 05:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 07:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 06:21 pm (UTC)Don't worry
Date: 2006-11-30 08:57 pm (UTC):)