posted
Well Tom they always say that hope springs eternal. My Dad, who was a salesman all his life always said to ask for the sale. If I don't invite the Cards then there is no way that they are ever going to show up. I am no worse off and there is always that slim chance that they might just be driving through town on that day and decide to drop in.
posted
It's kind of funny; I've been thinking about what it would take for a true Hatrack Get-Together for a couple of months now, and was thinking about doing some research on what it takes to put together a con.
Pros for LA: Many choices of venue, second largest city in the US, major international airport, plentiful hotels, agreeable climate for the vast majority of the year, plenty of activities for before and after the actual convention, definite attendance of saxon75.
Cons for LA: Nearly non-existant public transportation, lots of traffic, possibly long drives, saxon75 not nearly as good in person as online.
I'd really love to attend a big Hatrack function, but I doubt I'd be able to do any long-distance travelling in any reasonable timeframe.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
So, is anyone thinking this might actually happen?
A few questions to get the ball rolling:
Are we thinking about a real convention, or just a big get-together?
If we are thinking about a real convention, what sort of venue are we looking for? A city convention center? A university arts center? A community center? Somebody's back yard?
How long? Just an afternoon, or a whole weekend? Something in between?
How many booths, if any? What sort of vendors might we invite?
Guest lectures/speakers? Panel discussions? Who? How many?
What sort of theme?
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
I vote Boston! Or NYC. Or Philli. Any farther and there's no chance I can go. What am I talking about, there's almost no chance of me not having something planned and talking my parents into letting me go and getting a ride there. :sigh:
Posts: 981 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
In my opinion, an actual convention would be a bad idea; it'd add a lot of hassle and wouldn't actually add much benefit. Hatrackers are notoriously disorganized and/or competitive, and I've noticed that just sitting around chatting with fellow forumites is often far more enjoyable than any actual EVENTS going on.
If more than ten or twelve people showed interest, it would probably be worth obtaining a number of adjacent hotel rooms; a smaller number might well be hosted by locals. Obvious activities would include music, massage, video gaming, roleplaying, poetry readings, crosswords, and book discussions, but things like shopping, canoeing or hiking might well be popular depending on the site.
In any case, a multi-day event would probably be required; it wouldn't be worth flying or driving out for a single evening.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
To my mind, the main benefit of an actual convention or something similar is that it has the best chance of actually bringing in a lot of people. I have been thinking for the past couple of months of how to actually pull off getting a a large group of Hatrackers together, given that we are dispersed throughout the country (and world). I couldn't think of anything that would be a big enough draw that didn't include some sort of concrete activities and/or celebrities.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Realistically, we're not going to get more than thirty people -- period. And given thirty people, there's no way any actual halls can be rented or celebrities paid to attend.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Although, with thirty people coming, surely we could all take up a collection to fly Kama out to the States....
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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SkyAuction currently has roundtrip tickets on Lufthansa from Poland to NYC for $260 with tax.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I actually think I could save up the money for the trip myself. There are a couple of things in the way, like: getting a visa without a pernament job (I only have a contract till February), not knowing if I don't move out for half a year in April, and not knowing if I get the vacation time at all if I stay working where I work right now. I'm slowly sorting things out, though, and maybe I'll know some thing early next year.
Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I need to point out a personal big pro for Chicago as a site:
I might actually get to go if I'm not scheduled to be out of town on business. (I might even have managed to convert Diane to being an OSC fan by then - I've convinced her to try "Seventh Son" for her next excursion in leisure reading.)
OK - that's only a "pro" for me - could even put Chicago on the "con" side for someone else.
Come on - Yellowstone Park! Glacier Park! Cow tipping!
I live in Ohio, but I have an "I <heart> Montana" sticker on my Jeep from one of several vacation trips out there. I get out there almost every year. You wouldn't have to twist my arm to get me to come to MT. Posts: 241 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Instead of one big con, we could have a whole bunch of little ones... four at least: east coast, west coast, south and north.
Or wait, that would be 'get togethers'. Ah, well. There goes that idea.
What we COULD do, then, is have a big one in a rotation: East coast one year, west coast the next, so on and so forth. We could decide which city would be convenient for the most people, and if you can't go one year, they'll be a higher chance of you being able to go the next, because it might be closer.
On the down side, if you can't make it to the one close in your area, you might have to wait four years.
Correlle agrees with me on this though: It's not a win/win situation. This way, we could meet Jatraqueros in our general area, and a few long-distance people.
On the upside, it's better than having it in one central place every year, and more people can't come.
Posts: 873 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I know... we could get a bunch of tech junkies to set up a live web cam at 4 different locations and then post on hatrack while still interacting with each other...
Of course, if we wanted to be geeks, that is...
Posts: 9754 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Wow this is making the leap from 'joking suggestion that odouls made about pudding wrestling' to 'really cool thing that could actually happen.'
i like that a lot.
of course, if this does get put together and it's not in gboro, or NC at least, then there's almost no chance of me getting to go which would stick in my craw if i didnt get to go to the hatrackcon that i pudding wrestled in the first place
If we do decide to do this, and its gonna b here in gboro, ill be more than glad to step up and do some planning events and logistics type things. i really do know a couple live bands that we could easily get to play for some entertainment, we could have a big screen tv playing episode 1 with a big message board scrolling in real time that people could type theyre comments and critiques into. or maybe a LAN chat room instead.
We could get some of the talented hatrack actors to do readings from OSC novels, have a debate room where teams of hatrackers are asssigned topics and given an hour to formulate arguments and then they can go at it (who should play ender in the movie etc. ) and if the discussions get too heated the audience can vote to have it settled by pudding deathmatch.
Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
ooh ooh ooh and an open mic session for poets, and an open mic session for short story writers, and one for musicians.
Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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When I said good public transportation, I meant the Metro (subway system). It absolutely rocks -- I live downtown, don't have a car, and go can pretty much anywhere I might need to. And I'm sure the bus system is really extensive, as well, although I've never used it. You can check out bus and metro routes at http://www.wmata.com/.
[ December 02, 2003, 08:22 AM: Message edited by: Kasie H ]
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
other threads are popping up with ideas for the HatrackCon, as well as ideas for where it should be etc. That makes me happy. Not as happy as Family Guy possibly coming back on the air, but still, happy.
Any suggestions for OSC related events that we should have at the Con? I related some of my ideas above, but as we've all observed in history past, my ideas always suck.
Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Chicago would work pretty well for me. Boston wouldn't be bad either. Washington could be okay.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Everywhere sucks for me. American Airlines and SouthWest are both based here, and they have local politics in a death grip. It's literally 50% higher than any other airport of comparable size in the country.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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If it was in Chicago, I might even be able to go, which would be excellent. Otherwise, probably you could count me out... Is there any info on when this would be?
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
It has to be far enough away in time that it won't interfere with Wench Con, I know there are people who would probably like to go to both and I don't think they should be forced to chooose one or the other because it isn't fair to the WenchCon planners.
quote:It has to be far enough away in time that it won't interfere with Wench Con, I know there are people who would probably like to go to both and I don't think they should be forced to chooose one or the other because it isn't fair to the WenchCon planners.
I agree with AJ. I would love a Hatrack Con, but the chances of me going to both Wench Con and a Hatrack Con in the same year are slim to nil.
posted
Perhaps it would be good to plan the Con for a year from now....
The MLK Jr. weekend seems to work well for Wenches. Would MLK Jr. weekend 2005 work out for Hatrack Con?
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
I would love to go to a hatrackcon. It would probably have to be in the summer, though. At any rate, if it isn't going to be on the West Coast, then I have very little preference. I can see some advantages to holding it in Greensboro (getting the Cards to show up) and some to holding it in major hub cities (easier to fly everyone in. I also like the idea of having a rotating convention. According to OSC, Portland has a great downtown. Everyone should come to the Pacific Northwest and see how great it is!
Tom, don't you think it would be much more expensive to ship a large and delicate computer over here than a person? Surely you don't think that Kama is real. But if it only costs $20 per person, then I would vote to bring her here. She deserves to be a Real Hatracker (TM)!
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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