The Introspective Geek

So, fiona_fawkes  and I are a little bit crazy, but you knew that.  We're in the process of planning a Harry Potter Fandom meetup/gathering/reunion for this October.  Imagine this if you will:

A mini-convention without all the bullshit.  A slightly more mature crowd.  No ridiculous "welcoming feast" with lousy food that makes you wish you'd just gone to the local sushi place instead.  No programming that forces you to get out of bed before noon if you don't want to.  Free hot cooked-to-order breakfasts.  A FREE cocktail hour (actually, it' two hours) each evening.  Every room is a suite, perfect for drabble groups.  A true ROOM BLOCK to ourselves.  NO REGISTRATION FEES.  Just a weekend of food, friends, fandom, and porn.

Sound too good to be true?  Welcome to the Harry Potter Fandom Reunion Relaxacon!  (*Not the actual name of the event.  Feel free to suggest one, if you wish.  A title created while drunk might be best.)

Fiona will be handling the online polling, organizing, and information-gathering.  This includes getting a list of pending attendees (so that we can reserve a room block), helping to organize rideshare groups or transportation from the airport, and taking suggestions for group activities.  A trip to see the HP movie together?  A night of themed room parties?  A pub night?  A trip to the local drag show at our favorite gay bar?  An evening of informal "formal" programming where people do mini round-table presentations in rooms?  What do you want?  Let Fi know!

I'll be handling negotiations with the hotel.  I'm trying to get the following:
- 20% to 30% discount on rooms, maybe more.  I'm going to try for 35%.  Hey, it's my Jewy goodness!
- Free Wi-Fi
- Access to the breakfast area at night to use the tables for larger writing/discussion sessions.
- What else do you want?

I'm going to work to make this as inexpensive for all of us as possible.  The standard price for the rooms is approximately $160.  All of the rooms are suites.  The standard occupancy for each room is 2 people (additional folks are $10 more each, which I'll try to negotiate down), but a double room has two double beds PLUS a pull-out sofa-bed.  All suites come with a microwave and fridge, two flat-screen TV's, a wet bar, and a balcony.

So, without further ado, go to Fiona's post and RSVP!!!
http://fiona-fawkes.livejournal.com/256199.html

We're aiming for Colombus Day weekend, but we're open to suggestions.

Who's coming?  :D

I just got back from Arisia. It's a lovely small-to-mid-size convention (approximately 2600 attendees) in Boston. It's sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, anime, costuming, LARPing, and more... all rolled into one gigantic geek fest. I know a lot of people there, and I got to hang out with so many friends I miss. I ran into some of my Potter fandom friends. I attended a costume prom, a steampunk ball, a live stage show of Rocky Horror, and a random dance that actually had some real action on the dance floor. I even got to witness a dance floor full of geeks dancing, synchronously, to "Numa Numa." I didn't just costume as Harry Potter. I went to a panel called "i can has panel." It was an absolute, all-out geek fest. I loved it.

My highlights:



There was, of course, lots more stuff at the convention. And yes, it was great. In fact, there were LOTS of reasons why it was great. How about a summary:

- The registration was $60 at the door (less in advance).  Yes, $60 at the door.  I think I paid $40.  For the whole weekend.  Four days.
- The hotel staff was AMAZING to us, catered to us, WANTED us there, worked with us, and seemed to authentically enjoy our presence.
- We had the whole hotel to ourselves.
- The hotel!  Free 24-hr gym and pool.  Gorgeous views.  Multi-purpose ballroom.  The big, multi-story central "courtyard" had a huge window overlooking the Charles River in Boston:
  Another angle of the atrium, looking up:
- They have what they call a "con suite."  The con suite is a room where the convention staff provides food and socialization space from the beginning to the end of the convention.  It's not fancy food, but there's coffee, tea, cookies, crackers, endless platters of cheese cubes and veggies, occasional sandwiches, bagels, meatballs, and someone even brought in Chinese food one afternoon.  In other words, if you're running from panel to panel, you can just grab a quick munchie.  Or if you're trying to pull that all-nighter, there's enough coffee to wake the dead.  Oh, and yes, it's INCLUDED. Yep, after you pay for basic registration, con suite is FREE.
- If you do 12 hours of volunteer work, you get FREE registration for the following year.  
- The cost of all the dances/balls (four of them) was included.  Yep, there's that word again - FREE.
- The hotel liaisons from the convention knew how to negotiate properly with the hotel, and we got amazing rates on the rooms, arranged for free internet throughout the hotel JUST for the convention, amazing parking rates ($7 per day instead of $35), and they even negotiated a special rate for the buffet restaurant (and had a couple of excellent themed dinners).
- The organizers hold TWO feedback sessions - one on the second day, and one at the end, so that they can get immediate feedback and make adjustments.  They're also totally open to feedback from people at any time, and go out of their way to make things better.
- The organizers not only know about the after-hours parties, but they actively SUPPORT them and have a posted schedule of the open room parties.  The hotel is okay with it, too.
- Dealer's Row.  An entire floor of hotel rooms converted into shops and boutiques.

So, yes, I personally had fun, but I am also utterly enthralled with this style of convention.  On a shoestring budget, they make ALL THIS happen. 

I'm also getting really interested in hardcore costuming and masquerade competition.  So is Fi.  This is not an anti-HP-convention thing.  I still love all my fandom friends within the HP fandom, and I still want to have meetups and get-togethers.  This is simply the recognition of the fact that we've found something better.  Not just Arisia... but a lot of these types of conventions.  And I also have some very close friends in the costuming community, and eventually I want to go to things like WorldCon and CostumeCon to do higher level costume competition.  I just feel like I have no further interest in the same stale patterns of the HP conventions.  Azkatraz will be fun... but then, I think, it will be on to other things.  I'm not going to Florida in 2010.  I'll miss you guys, but I can't afford to go to everything (and as you can figure based on the prices of for HP conventions, money is an issue), and it's time for something new. 

I hope some of you might come to some of the conventions in the midwest region.  ConQuest is here in Kansas City in a few months.  We'll be there.  It doesn't seem quite as big as Arisia, but it's a new adventure.  We'll take pictures. 


♥