Using the Facilities: Q & A on Hotels and Other Venues

[Rathany]

As is mentioned here: http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=11394.msg476217#msg476217 before the Elections Meeting I will host a 1 hour panel on Hotels, the OCC and related matters.  

Basically, if I keep trying to explain the same things over and over again in certain threads here my brain will melt.  It's hard to keep on top of everything and keep explaining why we cannot do things.  So, anyone who is interested in knowing about about the 'Facilities' part of Kumoricon, or wants to talk venues on the forum or present ideas, I ask that you please come and attend this panel first.  

In the meantime, myself and others will be doing more research to make sure we can answer as many questions as possible.  

If people have topics they want covered, they may comment to this post.  HOWEVER, I will NOT be answering these questions before the panel.  I also DO NOT want people jumping in and saying 'hey ... I think that is because of blah de blah'.  People giving incorrect or half-right answers creates lots of problems for us.  Jumping in before people can give such answers is why I have spent so much time on the forums recently.  Misinformation spreads very, very fast.  Though, if I have already answered that question elsewhere, feel free to point the asker to the relevant post.  Thanks.  

Topics I will be covering:
*The Hilton, The Hilton and The Hilton - The only three hotels for cons larger than 2k attendees.
*The Oregon Convention Center - Why it would be so hard for us.
*Things that have shut other cons down, permanently, because they can no longer get hotel space.
*Outside parks and why we cannot rent them.
*General Meeting Space - why it sometimes takes us forever.
*Coffee - It's about $65/gallon at a hotel.  No, seriously.  
*Multi-venue options - If elevators fill up moving us between floors, the same thing will happen to buses between hotels.

For people who have interest in higher level positions at the con, this is also a great primer on how alot of the back-end stuff works.  For us to grow we need more that more space, we need more people who will take on Manager and higher positions.  We need more people who understand the ins and out of running a con.  

Note: This panel will only run one hour.  We cannot delay Elections and I will need a break before we start that grueling process.  Also, if people ask pointless, inflammatory, of-topic stuff to this thread or start using it as a chat thread I will delete it or toss it into other threads.  The point of this is to give me less to deal with, not more.  Got it?  Good

[melchizedek]

I think something that might be worth looking into is putting some stuff in adjacent places near the con.  Maybe set up some anime viewing in starbucks for example.

[RemSaverem]

I am so grateful that you are taking the time to do this and believe it will be quite helpful and informative.
Questions (which it will be fine with me if you don't have time to get to until after the meeting):
--Are there multi-venue options that would not involve busing?
--Are college campuses even remotely a possibility--either as a base or an adjunct?
--Can we at least have the entirety of the Hilton & Exec Towers next con?
--Are alternate neighboring facilities a possibility, e.g., renting a theater or gallery or concert venue during times it's not normally in use?
--If we can't expand vertically (in numbers), could we expand laterally (in days)?
Thank you! Love you

[TomtheFanboy]

One of the things that was mentioned when the Hilton was first announced as our 2 year location, one of the ideas brought up was using the Schnitzer down the block for Main Events and then having the main hotel ballroom for more event space. Because of the incredible cost of such an endeavor I don't think it was ever seriously considered, but I am eager to see if it will be mentioned during your panel.

[Animeman73]

This is Animeman73, Rathany I hope you and the Kumoricon staff found the coffee I delivered to Jaz of use. If it makes you feel any better I could always bring more next year. I could bring 4 or even 6 containers for you if you'd like. Well, what do you say  ?

[BigGuy]

  *muffled laughing* "using the Facilities" hahahahahaha. Dawn is well known for puns but I don't know if she caught this one.

[AllyKat]

Oh Dawn!

Having only come to know you on the forums I cannot WAIT to get to the meeting and ask for a big hug from you, cause you are awesome! This will make my day! Being one of those people who wants to work towards becoming a bigger part of the Convention development and implementation in years to the future, I just love any little oppouritunity to learn more! more! more!

^_^

Perhaps another topic of conversation could be how each of the departments works together. I know this might help some people who may want to be staff understand what roles they might wish to have and also people who just felt like communication was lacking know the lines by which everything travels... meaning; why not to yell at Gaming for something a yoji did up on the 3rd floor because they don't have any connection... nor can gamming staff be expected to go running up to get a board member, because really... there weren't enough of them to allow any of them to leave there posts!

Basically a "How the bussiness runs from the grunts up" Kind of quick little road map...

Does that make sense?

~Allykat

[Rathany]

  *muffled laughing* "using the Facilities" hahahahahaha. Dawn is well known for puns but I don't know if she caught this one.

It was deliberate, actually

[Rathany]

Oh Dawn!

Having only come to know you on the forums I cannot WAIT to get to the meeting and ask for a big hug from you, cause you are awesome! This will make my day! Being one of those people who wants to work towards becoming a bigger part of the Convention development and implementation in years to the future, I just love any little oppouritunity to learn more! more! more!

^_^

Perhaps another topic of conversation could be how each of the departments works together. I know this might help some people who may want to be staff understand what roles they might wish to have and also people who just felt like communication was lacking know the lines by which everything travels... meaning; why not to yell at Gaming for something a yoji did up on the 3rd floor because they don't have any connection... nor can gamming staff be expected to go running up to get a board member, because really... there weren't enough of them to allow any of them to leave there posts!

Basically a "How the bussiness runs from the grunts up" Kind of quick little road map...

Does that make sense?

~Allykat

*Blush*  Thanks.  Without your help on the forums we'd be going nuts  

I could definitely do something like that on a different day.  I think I've worked every department except Prog, so I have a pretty good feel of how it all works.  Maybe I can drag Jaki into re-doing mid-year the 'about Kcon' panel that we tried to do at con. 

[AllyKat]

I could definitely do something like that on a different day.  I think I've worked every department except Prog, so I have a pretty good feel of how it all works.  Maybe I can drag Jaki into re-doing mid-year the 'about Kcon' panel that we tried to do at con. 

I think that is an excellent Idea, that way you aren't having to cram too much into a little one hour crash course!

I'll keep my mouth zipped though... I tend to try and add fuel to the fire when I start talking... and if I get to rambling my questions, I know that no one else will get a word in, edgewise (or edgeways if you prefer the proper British idiom)!

Just out of curiousity though darlin, what made you want to get so involved in the convention? Is it your passion for organizing insanely insurmountable odd in the favor of massive conventions? Or do you just love Anime/Manga/Japanese culture THAT much that you are willing to put your blood, sweat and tears into it's appreciation?

~Allykat

[RemSaverem]

Can't remember if I posted this elsewhere or not yet, but I had just read in the Portland Mercury that the city had only had until 9/28 to decide whether or not to extend a deadline related to devising plans towards building a hotel right at the Portland Convention Center, but then they decided to bag the idea. I don't know if that's permanently, or just for now; I'm not a Portlander. Anyway, the article did mention that something like 65 events whose organizers had considered the convention center had cancelled due to problems related to lack of a solid large neighboring hotel....I imagine this will directly impact the subject matter of this Q & A, so figured I should post it.

[Animeman73]

I read about that in the Oregonian (Portland's local newspaper) a while back. It's not unexpected, this accursed recession's taking a bite out of everyone. I know you guys will come up with something I have faith in your abilities, lets just keep things fiscally solvent. I'd like to see this convention continue onward for years and years to come the way Orycon has lasted so long. I know it's going to be hard, but I kno when the time comes you guys will do what needs to be done to keep this wonderful convention afloat. I suspect that concerning the hotel, it'll probably come back up once this recession is a bad memory, unfortunately i doubt that'll be for a while yet. All we can do in the meantime is do the best we can and fasten our proverbial safety belts because vthings are going to get er, ym "Interesting" to put it mildly.