unforum

[Incitatus]

ArgFest-o-con 2008: Boston

[airewicke]

Well, as discussed in #unfiction, I'm tossing Toronto's hat into the ring. We have a *lot* of attractions, as well as cheap food, cheap booze, and to top it off, more green space than you can shake a stick at, in a varied number of neighbourhoods, all easily accessible via our awesome public transit system (subway, streetcar, and bus). We're pretty much a "global city", and you'll find many many diverse communities within the bounds of even the downtown core.

See the wikipedia entry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto

for tons of information - especially check out the architecture and culture sections.

If there's anything else anyone needs to know, I can probably cover that too.

[imbri]

As fun as Toronto would be, we ran into difficulty during the Vancouver ARGfest because of the extra costs to fly into Canada. Heck, even the Canadians that went flew into Seattle and then drove up, iirc. Having folks flying into Buffalo and renting a car or taking a bus up to Toronto might dissuade some (not to mention the added time). Also, passports. We might be hit by the crazy new passport requirements (not to get into Canada but to get back into the US) (see link).

[Incitatus]

San Antonio, Texas

[addlepated]

Re: San Antonio, Texas

[imbri]

My votes on cities would be...

New York
* ease for international travellers
* ease for Rose (as we've come to rely on and appreciate her incredible planning skills)
* variety of accommodations & things to do

Austin sometime around SXSW
* increased attendance by PMs, game designers, and new media types

Las Vegas
* cheap travel
* variety of accommodations
* fun for all

Savannah, GA
* PITA to get there, but...
* Great size city for a conference of our size
* Interesting history
* I've wanted to build a game around Savannah for ages
* I've been saying Savannah for 4 years, I can't stop now

[rose]

One thing: we need a place that has local people willing and available to help plan and to help with the festquest. San Francisco was great because of Ariock and HMRPita.

What other criteria are important?
Expense.
Ease of travel for everyone local and international.
Likelihood we can get PMs and other people there to give talks
Other things to do.
Possibly connecting to other events like SXSW?
Ease of travel for the group via mass transit

I know at one point, SpaceBass suggested that we make this like the Olympics, where people submit cities, and then we decide.

[vpisteve]

Do you mean, the next ARGFest after EuroARGFest in Amsterdam???

Gee, and I've already booked my flight....

ETA: We could always just pick the city like we used to back in the day: Hey Space, where would you like to meet for drinks?

[October]

I can't tell you *how happy* I am to see this thread!!

I'll throw my vote in for San Antonio or Austin, Texas, first of all. I live in Houston and will be more than willing to make myself available for planning and preparation.

I also wouldn't be disappointed with a NYC ARGFest, so I'll put my hand up for NYC, too.

[Incitatus]

Well personally, I think that it has grown beyond a small group of people who can just be told.

I think it's very reasonable to be more democratic and instead of leaving so many people who would love to participate in the lurch, picking an optimal city and time as decided upon by more than 5 people.

Of course, that's just my 2 cents, and the inspiration to this thread, and the polls to follow. :p

[aliendial]

So is this for next March-ish?

If we're considering repeating ARGFest cities, let's not forget Orlando. Big fun, easy access.

As pretty as Savannah is, getting there really will be a pain. Everyone (except if you live in the Atlanta or Raleigh hubs) will have to change planes, and tickets won't be very cheap because it's a small market.

San Antonio is indeed very pretty, at least in the tourist districts. Much excellent partying opportunities on Riverwalk. Certainly enough going on to keep UFers interested for a weekend. The Alamo is walking distance if you're in the riverwalk area. Not sure about travel access - direct flights from DC are on smaller jets so I suspect much of the country would have to change planes somewhere to get in.

Nobody has mentioned Boston, which I thought was getting some consideration - good flight access and interesting history to visit.

And I suppose I should ask (imbri?) if not SXSW, what other conferences could we meet near? Dave S. mentioned a conference a friend of his was putting on in Philadelphia that might have some overlap for us, but I don't remember what it was. Philly is beautiful - Independence Hall, the Art Museum overlooking the river, the renovated waterfront, Fairmont Park, the Science Museum...

[October]

If we're getting into the subject of voting also, it might be a good idea to take a look at how some other large, independent conventions handle location voting.

In one example, I know that altgothic's Convergence (the annual Gothic convention) has a system where the vote for the next location is held a year in advance (before the current year's event), and the next location and date are announced at the current year's convention.

Planners who would like to host the Convergence submit planned proposals for their city to the Convergence committee; the committee wittles the proposals down to three (I think?), and then the previous Convergence attendees vote for the next location based on the showcased proposals. (http://www.altgothic.com/priorbids.php)

We could implement a similar, modified plan for ARGFest, if needed.

[Rogi Ocnorb]

Having just the attendees vote on the next location sounds great, up front, as they're the ones with demonstrable attendance.
But you could quickly get stuck in a rut. If only the Westies went and voted, they'd likely choose the same/another Western town for the subsequent year.

[October]

[Varin]

Having attended ARGfests and planned one, I'll echo the statements about ease/cost of travel and available local planners being very important deciding factors.

That being said, I would like to visit places I've never been like Austin.