Chicon 7 Aug. 30-sept. 4 2012

[LacyinTX]

Lacy,

Correct menif I'm wrong but we can't make hotel reservations for Chicon, can we?

Not until January 2012.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Lacy,

That's what I thought. I just like to have things nailed down as early as possible.

[smegma]

I will definitely meet up with y'all - being another Chicagoan and all that. Love being the drunken city guide, so put that down as my official role. I don't know how many of the actual events I will be at - that will be up to you guys to convince me to get a membership and go to those things.

Edit: And I PROMISE I will have ADWD read by then! :P

[MinDonner]

I am hoping to be there. Can't confirm just yet as I have Reno to pay off first, but there's a ways to go before I need to make a final decision. :)

[Mr. X]

I'll be there provided nothing incredibly strange happens.

Yet if you are there, there's a chance strange things will happen.

We're highly likely.

[Regina]

Fenryng and I plan to be there, barring any disasters. As long as we're gainfully employeed and the hordes of ice zombies stay away we should make it!

[Regina]

Hmmm, has anyone else read this notice on Chicago's party page:

http://www.chicon.org/parties.php

I can't decide how I feel about the possibility of spreading the parties out on all floors. It could be a bitch in terms of noise problems for those of us who need some sleep (not to mention non con folks staying at the hotel). And I'm not sure if it makes crowd control and traffic flow issues better or worse overall.

[LacyinTX]

I read that too. I will definitely request a room on a quiet floor. And if it is noisy, I will be noisy to the management. :tantrum: I am that serious about my sleep. I may not get a large quantity of sleep, but what I get needs to be quality sleep! :angry2:

Surely they will re-think this. I can't imagine the elevator mess multiple party floors will cause.

Edit: Yes, I am a grumpy old woman. GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

*makes note to send Stego Lacy's way in Chicago*

:P

[lady narcissa]

I think the problem is the suites are spread around the hotel complex (it has several towers) and not conveniently located on the same floor.

If people are really worried about noise, consider staying at a neighboring hotel. The advantage of being in the central part of a major city is that there are lots of options which don't require long walks or cabs. In fact, you'd probably have to walk less of a distance to get to another hotel than you did in Reno walking from one end of the Atlantis to the other.

[Suzette]

Being from Chicago I will most definatly be at this Con.

[Arlingzen Bill]

My con footprint should be smaller as I am now the Fan GOH liaison... it will keep me out of trouble.

[Perrianne Lurie]

I'll definitely be there. I don't have a job for the con yet, and don't know if I'll be on program (they haven't picked a program head yet AFAICT), so I have no idea what my schedule will be.

[Arlingzen Bill]

I'll definitely be there. I don't have a job for the con yet, and don't know if I'll be on program (they haven't picked a program head yet AFAICT), so I have no idea what my schedule will be.

Bobbie DuFault is the head of programming. Or so he said.

[Bronn Stone]

I had a great experience in LA NOT being in the official Con hotel. Ran and Linda found a much less expensive Embassy Suites (or somesuch) about 150 yards from the 'real' hotel and I was grateful for the quiet and for not being on one of the massive decks at the real place that would have made the experience a bit TOO immersive for my tastes.

The Peppermill-Atlantis divide in Reno was absurd. Those hotels are far too far apart to make for a real Con experience. But that does not mean that one cannot have a great Con experience outside the official hotel.

[smegma]

I hadn't noticed the hotel it was at - holy crap, that's one block from my office!

The good thing is that it's very close to tons of other hotel options, if you don't want to stay there.

[Parris]

Hmmm, has anyone else read this notice on Chicago's party page:

http://www.chicon.org/parties.php

I can't decide how I feel about the possibility of spreading the parties out on all floors. It could be a bitch in terms of noise problems for those of us who need some sleep (not to mention non con folks staying at the hotel). And I'm not sure if it makes crowd control and traffic flow issues better or worse overall.

This complex has been used for WorldCons 3 times since 1982. The compactness of the space and short distances to function areas is one of the best aspects of using this site. Using one hotel as the only WorldCon hotel will give us all a better experience in multiple ways, not the least being that the hotel will be (mostly) filled with people who are attending the convention, with fewer non-WorldCon guests to complain about the the weird people in costumes and the elevators being filled with too many people trying to get to the party floor.

Based on my experiences with this site, I'm fairly sure that there will be ways that the hotel and convention will work together to create 'quiet' areas and floors. The con com has decades of experience directly and through their ability to draw upon the 'permanent floating WorldCon committee' to plan and deal with the many aspects of organizing and planning how they use the function space and how they plan the allocation of suites for bid parties, organizations such as SFWA and ASFA, and other groups. In my personal experience (been going to WorldCons since 1974), having the party suites on several floors does give us a better chance of having better crowd flow, less hassles with the elevators all headed toward one floor for all the parties, (and more oxygen and less body-generated heat caused by holding all the night time parties on one floor) and allows more groups to hold one or more nights of parties/meetings/get togethers both public and invitation only events than several of the sites we've used in the last few years.

But! and this is a big issue to consider - the best way to ensure the WorldCon has the ability to negotiate with the hotel before the convention and during the convention when inevitably problems will come up - is to ensure that the majority of the rooms are booked by WorldCon attendees who will be more flexible and forgiving of problems with crowds and noise. So please, look at the great room rate the con com has gotten for us, and consider what benefits you can get by being in the hotel/convention complex as compared to saving $10-20 bucks per night by staying at a hotel 10 blocks away.

There are some organizations that book suites that are not wild party-central organizations 24/7 for the entire convention. There's groups that rent a suite so that their members have a place to meet, to relax, to catch up with one another and to escape to when the open parties are too big and loud for anyone to actually have a conversation. If they have a party night, it's usually a night where a private party is given for the members of the group and their guests. These sorts of parties don't tend to overflow their suite, don't tend to be excessively loud, and there's not so much party-hopping by the masses looking for another free beer at those private parties.

One of the losses we've seen over the last 15 years or so that impacts the parties and crowds presently is that so many publishers have consolidated - so where there were once parties given by Ace, Tor, Del-Rey, Bantam, Asimov's, Ballantine, etc., etc., we now see few if any open parties given by publishers anymore. This means that the bid parties - and we don't have as many bid committees competing for the honor and responsibility of running WorldCons as we did - and the SIG groups (like the Bros) have higher numbers of attendees coming to their parties than was the case even ten years ago.

Every WorldCon has to ensure that X number of room nights are booked by attendees, if those numbers aren't met, the convention is charged more for function space and other charges that may be invisible to the average attendee but are crucial to the budget and operations of the convention.

If you have concerns about being given a room on a party floor, when you know you're an early-to-bed sort of person, or that you'll be bringing along your children and need to be on a floor that isn't filled with open parties, then communicate that concern now to the committee. Asking questions now, giving the con com your input both positive and negative early means that the con com has more time to consider options, find solutions, and give us all a better experience.

And, as always, I strongly urge folks to offer your help and experience to the committee, particularly if you have specific abilities that would be of use, or if you live close enough to the Chicago area to participate in planning and preparing for the convention.

This could mean turning up on the weekend when the 'job' is stuffing PR reports and sticking the labels on the envelopes so that the PRs can be taken to the Postal Service, or bring the cookies and snacks to a meeting. Or volunteering to help with receiving artwork shipped by artists and getting those shipments to whatever secure storage site the committee is using.

Maybe you could help develop the programming apps, or be a beta-tester of the apps for your digital device, be that an iPhone or an Android phone or other device to shakeout the bugs a month before the con begins.

Maybe you have experience with dealing with handicapped access issues and could assist in planning and checking out the physical spaces we'll be using to see where there could be problems for people with mobility or visual impairments, or can offer some time to do ASL interpretation if we have members who request that service.

If you have theatrical experience, doing lighting, AV, or stage management, the Masquerade, the Hugo Awards ceremony, and other events could use your help. Many program items need someone competent to hook up an artist's laptop to the widgets that enable them to use a projector to show their work as they present a panel, or to ensure that the sound system is working, or just to make sure the AC is running at a proper temperature.

There's a couple of hundred different aspects to running a WorldCon that few people tend to consider when they go to a WorldCon, many are the unsung heroes who do the back of house work that can make a convention a great experience for all, or could give a bumpy ride to the membership because there's just not enough people willing to do the work and those who are working are stretched thin for months before and during the convention, juggling too many responsibilities. Even if you have absolutely no experience at all in working on a convention, your participation would be welcomed and appreciated before and during the convention.

I appeal especially to folks under the age of 40 to be involved, my generation of con runners is hoping to retire in the next few years, and there's so much 'organizational memory' we want to pass on to the next generation now, give people experience now, so that WorldCon can continue to be the unique, original, fan-run non-profit convention is has been for over 60 years.

It's our WorldCon, we all have a stake in what happens each and ever year, with each and every site we use, even in those years that we can't personally attend the WorldCon, and it will only continue if people are willing to give of their time and abilities to make it happen.

Sorry if I've gone a bit OT from the original concerns of Regina, but I hope my post will clarify a bit of what we can do to help make the entire experience better for as many people as possible, while offering some suggestions on how individuals can have their concerns/needs met before August 30th, 2011.

your old-tyme fangirl,

Parris

[RaceBannon42]

Hi all,

One thing I want to bring up in this thread is that the Hugo Awards are awarded each year at Worldcon.

http://www.thehugoawards.org/i-want-to-vote/

People who were members of Renovation as well as Memebers of Chicon are eligble to nominate works for next years Hugo Awards.

I'd like to mention a few works that people who frequent this board might want to consider for nomination.

Best Novel : A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin

Best Dramatic Presentaion ( Short Form ) A Game of Thrones: The Pointy End

Best Editor Long Form : Anne Groell

Best Professional Artist : John Picacio

In order to Vote you need to be a memebr of Chicon 7, but you do not need to be an attending member. You can buy a supporting membership for about $50, which gives you voting rights as well as all the goodies which include epubs of most of the nominated short works, and sometimes some of the novels.

This year 2100 votes were cast for the Hugos. Blackout won Best Novel with 374 first place votes.

The BwB can really make a difference in who wins these awards, so if you would like to have a say in where or not George finally wins "The Big One", even if you arent planning to attend consider a Supporting Membership, if you change your mind it can always be upgraded to attending. And Remember don't forget to nominate, and don't forget to vote.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I just checked it is $50.00 per night to park at the Hyatt. I think I just confirmed that I am now definitely flying to Chicago. Anyone know if there is a shuttle from O'Hare to the hotel?

Parris,

I've already asked them to put me to work however I may be of assistance.

Race,

Do we have he numbers to get Peadar's book the Deserter nominated?

[Parris]

I just checked it is $50.00 per night to park at the Hyatt. I think I just confirmed that I am now definitely flying to Chicago. Anyone know if there is a shuttle from O'Hare to the hotel?

There's bound to be shuttles - free or paid from O'Hare to the convention hotel. I'm sure the Chicon 7 website will have that information up at some point if they do not have it up already.

I'd considered driving to the convention if only so I could bring lots of nifty clothes and plenty of goodies for the fundraisers and charity auctions. But with a $50 parking fee per day, it might be cheaper to fly and ship. But I remember when I shipped things to the last ChiCon there was a hefty 'storage' charge and it was a hassle to pry stuff out of the receiving room. Maybe we'll find some kind Chicago area fan or two with a car or truck who could receive packages and bring them down to the convention hotel on a couple of specific days, and those who had packages delivered could help reimburse the driver for gas/parking/time.

Maybe George's idea of getting together a cadre of fans and pros from New Mexico to rent a private rail car or two and all go up together on the 2-3 day ride isn't so crazy as I once thought.....