WisCon as planned activity

[bcholmes]

I attended my first WisCon on an impulse decision. Someone had mentioned the con on alt.poly, and when I read the panel descriptions, I was, like, "wow." This was something like three weeks before the con.

In those three weeks, I booked a room at the Concourse and bought my plane tickets. Advance membership sales had closed, but I bought a membership at the door. The WisCon block of rooms at the hotel had expired, but I got a room in the Governor's club. Fascinatingly, someone involved with doing WisCon hotel coordination recognized my name on the reservation lists and, without any prompting, arranged to have my reservation included in the WisCon rates (this remains one of those moments that makes me feel that WisCon is a more organized con than any other I've attended).

That was eight years ago, for the WisCon in 2000. It's a bit sobering to think that I couldn't do that now. You hafta plan your attendance to WisCon so much earlier now; the hotel fills up quickly and the registration is capped at a certain number of people.

Comments

[secretsoflife.livejournal.com]

the hotel is sold out nearly 5 months before the con - that's impressive :)

[erik]

I drove up to Madison on the Friday of a Wiscon to drop in and visit a friend. I stayed the rest of the weekend and haven't missed one since. That was...around the same time; maybe 2000? maybe the year before or after.

These days I buy my reg and reserve my room for next year while I'm still at the con. Because yeah; missing Wiscon is not an option.

[annaoj.livejournal.com]

there's actually been a membership cap since 1996; it's only since WisCon 30 (iirc) that the con's reached the cap well before it starts!

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

has reached the cap at all, actually.

i don't know anyone who likes the cap; it's just that those i've talked to (including myself) think that the hotel is full and that there's no other good place in madison to put it. if the concourse ever decides to expand, the membership cap will likely go up. but until then...

(a note for those about to say "well, why don't we hold it in some other city, then?", i look forward to your proposal of what other city to hold it in including concom members (current not necessary, future is fine) in that other city, and the name a union hotel big enough that is available over memorial day weekend. kalmn @ lj works just fine as an email address for me.) (this is actually why we are strongly encouraging other feminist sf cons in other cities; if wiscon can't get any bigger, can we have more of the same sort of thing?)

[nolly.livejournal.com]

The hotel rate thing may speak more to the hotel's attitude than the con's organization level -- most cons I've been deeply involved with try to do that sort of thing, but the hotel doesn't always cooperate.