unforum

[imbri]

Yep!
Here's the argfest website: http://2010.argfestocon.com (www.argfest.com will work, too)
Here's the sponsorship page: http://2010.argfestocon.com/sponsors/
Here's our sponsorship pdf: http://2010.argfestocon.com/files/argfest_sponsorship.pdf

[Caseys_Mom]

Thanks for the info, imbri

[Pixiestix]

[imbri]

woohoo! Registration is.... open!

[Giskard]

We're announcing a great deal for early registratants: ARGFest's Swagtacular Swagfest!

Register early and have a chance to win some pretty cool Flynn Lives swag! And the earlier you register, the more chance you have, because over the next three weeks, there'll be three drawings, so if you register before the first one, you'll be participating in all three!

[imbri]

Hey all,

I've had enough people ask what's going on with the hotel that I figured a post was in order...

We had a fairly good idea of how everything was going to fit together - we had selected a venue for the conference and talked with a hotel just down the street. The thing is, the conference venue cannot accommodate us for the Keynote Dinner. We've known this for a few weeks and it's not a big deal as there are several venues in the same block or two which can accommodate us. However, when I was meeting with the sales manager at the conference venue she asked if we'd checked this new hotel because she heard they had a beautiful space exactly the size we wanted for the keynote dinner. We hadn't. We didn't even know about it.

So I called and talked to the sales person and everything sounded great, but we weren't going to commit to anything until I could get in and take a look around. And, since it's a hotel, if we have the Keynote Dinner there, it only makes sense to look into getting a block of rooms there, right? So that meant not committing to the original hotel until we had the chance to compare the two.

I was able to do a site visit on Friday. I fell in love with the place. It's in a slightly better location, has slightly better amenities, and it's going to be about the same price for rooms as our original hotel plans. We won't have a contract in place for a week or two - we need to go through the quoting & negotiation process and compare their contracts to others. And, since they have a variety of conference rooms, we're going to also ask them on a quote for the whole shebang.

But I do want to assure y'all that we are on it! We will definitely have a hotel in place soon - if it's not this one, the original hotel would be great and is still able to set aside a big block of rooms for us. We will have venues - we have a hold with right of first refusal at both places that we're considering for the conference sessions (that means that if someone else wants the space, they venue has to talk to us first and give us the chance to reserve it officially).

As far as price is concerned, which is what I know most of you are interested in... we can't say anything specific until we get it in writing. I will say that the quotes we've been given are all competitive for the area. Rooms won't be as expensive as they were in Boston ($189) but they won't be as cheap as they were in Portland ($139 but reduced to $99 after the hotel posted that web rate, what a mess that all was, heh).

We'll let you guys know as soon as we can! We're as eager to have everything set in stone as y'all are.

[Caseys_Mom]

I'm a bit curious... has ANYTHING at all been confirmed? Such as all the stuff on the site that has not yet been "released" to us? I understand there's alot of work being done trying to pull all of this together, and your work and stress is really appreciated. But is there any information that can be updated/confirmed/released yet? Who are some of the speakers/topics/etc?
How many "games" have been submitted so far? If we've never been, what exactly should we expect? (Other than the food/drink events mentioned.)
Also, as far as sponsors go.. I had one that was interested, and I'm really not sure if she still is or not. But without having any "specific" details, it's kind of hard to convince someone that it would be a good "investment" of their time and money. Without more specific information, the sponsor has no way to judge exactly what they are getting...

[diszaster]

Okay, maybe this information is already somewhere, but let me just ask:

What is the earliest planned start time on Thursday, and what is the latest planned end time on Sunday (not including stragglers dinner)? Iif you want to attend the panels on Thursday, you should probably arrive Wednesday night?

Is there going to be that handy-dandy wiki thing to figure out the roommate situation? That very well might make or break it for some of us.

[thebruce]

[imbri]

The conference will start early on Thursday (9am), so if you want to be there for everything, you'll probably want to get in on Wednesday night unless you like crazy early flights. Registration will open on Wednesday at 2pm.

And, yep, there's the handy-dandy wiki thing to figure out the roommate situation. A couple of folks have already added themselves to it. You can, too. ARGFest Wiki

Panel Submissions are due on May 15. You can expect a whole slew of announcements on speakers and such after that.

Game Submissions are due on June 15. Even so, we've had already had a few games submitted and know of a handful of others that are putting games together. We'll probably start announcing some of the games in early June, but don't expect a confirmed schedule until July.

As for the who... You can expect a mix of fans and creators (and creators who are fans and fans who are creators... it's a mixed up muddled up shook up world!) who are all brought together to talk about and explore this crazy stuff that they're so passionate about.

Sponsors, in my experience, tend to be more concerned with things like demographics or reach than they are with who is speaking or what games are being played as we do not offer sponsorships of specific panels or games. We have a sponsorship opportunities pdf that explains ARGFest's demographics as well as our speaker and event history. If you need more information, such as planned press and such, feel free to email me.

[diszaster]

Aha! The argfest wiki! *tucks in her newbie shirt*

Now... can I make a 6am flight? decisions, decisions....

[Pixiestix]

keep in mind, when booking that early morning thursday flight, that we do tend to party and have fun until the weeeeee hours every night. I have yet to leave an argfest on more than 10 hours sleep total for 3 nights

[Giskard]

What is this "sleep" thing you speak of? I have never encountered this during ARGFest so far...

[Pixiestix]

I only got sleep because i didn't go bar hopping.


BTW - does anyone have the footage from the night time kite flying last year? i seem to remember someone holding a camera as the kite hit them in the chest - i want *that* video speicifally.

[vortech]

Hmm. I have not been getting watched topic emails and missed all kinds of news and progress and news of progress.

(Things seem to have gotten a bit more 'spensive, too :shock: . I think the SF ARGfest just wanted 10 bucks and some gum, if I had any. Shows me for being away so long, I guess.)