When and where for 2011?

[Bitom]

V is going to yell at me for posting this so freaking early, but:

We've known for some time that Labor Day weekend was a bad choice for Brencon. So far, it's kept going on momentum. It's easier to do the same weekend every year than to come up with a new one. But there are some very good reasons to not hold it on that weekend:

1) Brennor and Joni's anniversary is around that time, and frequently falls on that weekend.
2) Brennor's son was born around that time, and frequently, his birthday is on that weekend. Now that he's getting old enough that he might remember these birthdays in his adult life, it would be nice if he had some memories that didn't involve his parents being sleep-deprived.
3) Trogdor never makes it because he has two other conflicts, which are frankly more important than gaming, even though Bitom can't remember exactly what they are.

I wish I could say that these excellent reasons were why I am now trying the force the issue of selecting a new date. But the real reason I am pushing for a new date is:

4) Labor day is dragon Con weekend, and I want to go to Dragon Con.

yup. That's me. always thinking of other people. I'm so selfless.

A number of options have been brought up, which I'd like to put forward, but None of these are yet the PREFERRED option, and it's possible that there is an obvious and/or awesome solution that we haven't thought of yet. That's what you guys are for.

Current options under consideration:

• Same bat-time, same bat-channel. We don't need Bit to be there!
• There is apparently a small con in Northern PA in November. Do a con-within-a-con there.
• With more expense and difficulty, we could also do a con-within-a-con at Dragon con.
• Choose some other weekend to do it in Binghamton.

Other ideas?

[Vardaen]

V is going to yell at me for posting this so freaking early, but:

Already Bitom? Really! Geepers!

For those of you not there, Monday Breakfast we had a Council Meeting of everyone in attendance at the time. We talked about Venue and Weekend and some ideas that did come up were...

Sooner in the summer, we could get another Tent like BrenCon 08, but not have to worry as much about cold weather. Or even a county park, but then no WiFi, far shorter hours, and no leaving things there over night.

We had some issues with the location this year, they double booked the weekend trying to not double book the following weekend. They worked with us pretty good, but still had 79 Magic the Gathering people to deal with (which netted us 3 new L5R players!) and then Warhammer 40K Tabletop guys later on as well.

We took a vote and the results were that Jupiter Games was not officially removed as an option. That means its just an option, not the new home of BrenCon or off the table either.

Personally I would be okay with the Tent again this year, I also don't have to do a 3 Day Weekend, I'll just take a Vaca day on Monday, but a 3 Day weekend might be a requirement for people?

If that is the case, then we are looking at things like July 4th, and Memorial Day, and that's about it. July 4th is a deal breaker for me, but I'm just one person.

[Bitom]

I like that Jupiter is not totally off the table, but I do think we have to be careful with it. For one reason or another, we got a lot less people this year. I don't know if the $15 bucks we charged had to do with that or not, but we got so few people that we weren't covering expenses. It's actually a good thing that they screwed us, because now they're giving us a discount. So I think we should be cautious in using them again. I still think it's a great location, but we need to get attendance up a bit before we can cover it.

I think July 4 is going to be out for most people. I could be wrong.

Memorial Day... why did we discard that as an option in the past? Was it just because it was too soon and we didn't start the conversation until march?

A non-3day weekend is always an option as far as I'm concerned, particularly now that I have a respectable amount of vacation time.

[pygmaelion]

So, let's take a look at who didn't make it this year, and why.

This is not a finger pointing exercise, but a way to gauge whether we're really dealing with money, or we're just dealing with time and priority.



Reduced presence from previous years due to priorities:
Connie
Matt
Shawn
Amaris
Idderbelle

Out due to Prior Commitment or Real Life:
Trogdor
Cattywumpus (assumption)
Soshi

There are additional "Maybes" from 2009 that were outright "No" in 2010 because they
- Dropped off the site
- Live a prohibitive distance from the location of the con
- Can't justify spending 3 days gaming


I think these are all much larger reasons to not make it than a nominal fee.

While I am not as forgiving of Jupiter (for my own reasons), I would say that a pay location that breaks down to $25 or less per attendee is not a big problem. The BIG problem is keeping people on the site, convincing them to come along, or getting passing interest as targets of opportunity based on location. Recruitment and retention was a bigger problem than cost or location.

~end of that particular thought~


Suggestions made in conversation
- Knights of Columbus Hall
Pro: Bren has an in
Con: It's very expensive; no Target of Opportunity Exposure

- Centerfield Comics
Pro: Connie/Matt/Sean have an inn; Possible ToO exposure
Con: Unknown price, unknown open/close times, unknown disposition, split rooms

- Binghamton University
This one I'm throwing in there, I'll see about doing some digging around as far as a gaming guild goes. If they have one, and they can do a "Welcome back to school" kind of event where we can sneak in a half dozen tables for the low low cost of volunteering to run a few events, that might be a Trojan Convention strategy with Lots of ToO... Of course, we'll all need fake Student IDs, and I'm pretty sure campus safety will be looking for me.

- A Firehouse Hall
Low ToO, unknown cost, no ins (other than JP's indirect connection through the brotherhood of firefighters)


Thoughts?

[TetNak]

No one has brought up the possibility that Brencon could be done somewhere else.

Although I think the chances of that are low, as it seems most everyone that goes the Brencon is local (or local enough) that driving is an option.

[pygmaelion]

"BrenCon 2011 - A weekend at Tetnak's!"

I think Brencon keeps hovering around binghamton because the lion's share of site members are in that area.

Is there a list of active members and their general location someplace on the site? I suspect that we see a lot of Binghamtonians because Brencon is there, but is there another geographical location that would unite more (probably different) site members?

I realize that the idea to move BC the heck out of its hometown will cause casualties (possibly even myself), but it's worth some consideration.

[pygmaelion]

Top Post Count

Vardaen
Tetnak
Trogdor
Bitom
Brennor
Shujiro
OD
Wayloss
MadVlat
Grimbold
Connie
Nate
JP
Hayabusa
Eanwulf
JohnnyWeird
Mackaber
EldrichKnight
sempai
BrokenWire
Wargie
Bo
Shinling
Deadman


So, that puts
6 in NY
Colorado
Florida
Wisconsin
Montana
Ohio
Afghanistan
2xGermany
Austria
Sweden
and possibly some other States or European Nations.

I can't look at "most posts per week" charts, but I do know that some of our posters listed above are not active currently.

Donan is in the UK
Phlale is in Ontario, Canada


We're up against the problem that while the site is useful in bringing together people of geographically disparate locations, the Convention is not yet large enough to do so.

[Vardaen]

Our second largest concentration would be in Germany someplace I think.

mackaber, Hayabusa, MAX_Power, paradoxa, Grimbold all these folks are in or around there. There are likely even more I'm forgetting.

SO, I elect Hayabusa to host BrenCon European Union!

[Hayabusa]

Sweet. I'll host it in the dorm so I can annoy my fellow students at least once.

[Vardaen]

The school must have a convention hall, or gym, or caffeteria you can use