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I fly to the convention. So the cost will be pretty much the same to me, travel wise, no matter where it is. Unless they move it close to AZ, which I don't see happening.
You gotta admit Las Vegas is a temptation.
Yes it is! A very big temptation!
But like Umbran said, the problem with any site that has a lot of extra tourist attractions is why go for Gencon if I'm going to spend my time doing other stuff? Sure you need something to do in the evenings, after hours, but when it comes to Gencon, that's prime gaming time for most of the attendees!
This is a good point, even though it's not as obscenely expensive as some believe (cheap eating if you're up for it, cheap efficient transportation).
However, you also have to consider that when visiting a place like New York, it's not a one-stop trip. You can also visit the ten billion other things there are to do there. There are tons of cities like this.
I'm just hugely biased because we don't get any big conventions for any kind of subcultural anything coming our way (and if we do, they just arrived and aren't that great yet). They always end up in the Midwest, or in LA (which I don't understand how that's a more convenient place to be). The tri-state area is the worst for conventions. Even when I was a miniatures-wargamer for Games Workshop products, they make a tour with their Games Day convention that makes 3-4 stops each year, and I don't think they've ever come closer than perhaps Baltimore or Chicago.
Sorry, I'm just venting. It'll probably be another schlep across the country for next years Gen Con.
I'm in the convention industry, and NY is by far the most expensive city to exhibit at. If Gen Con moved there, many of the exhibitors couldn't afford it, much less the attendees.
While Chicago would be great for me, and still maintain the location in the midwest, it also is much more expensive to have a convention in Chicago than in a smaller city like Milwaukee, Indy, etc.
The reason many conventions still wind up in NY, Chicago, or LA is that they are attended by business people, and the costs are paid by their corporate budgets, not the attendees themselves.
Also, the comments earlier about Reed Exhibits being one of the largest in the industry aren't true. The top 2 convention general contractors are Freeman and GES, with Reed being in the next three, along with Champion and George P (who has been the general contractor for Gen Con since being in Indy.)
Also, the comments earlier about Reed Exhibits being one of the largest in the industry aren't true. The top 2 convention general contractors are Freeman and GES, with Reed being in the next three, along with Champion and George P (who has been the general contractor for Gen Con since being in Indy.)
Just going through these possibilities:
Reed Exhibitions' US offices are in NYC; Norwalk CT (NYC suburb); Dublin, CA (San Francisco suburb); and Key Biscayne, FL. (Remember that Reed does the New York ComicCon, which has grown very, very quickly in its first two years.)
Freeman has many branch offices in the US, but none in KY.
GES also has many US branch offices, and none in KY.
Champion has no KY locations (and seem to be a logistics group more than an exhibition organizer?).
Same for George P Johnson.
So I wonder if this really is a group of interested investors, not from the exhibition industry, who want to make a go of it. Make a lot of sense, really. We'll know for sure by next week, at any rate, since Dec 5 is the last date to back out of the agreement.
__________________ What family doesn't have its up and downs?
Gotta keep it in the midwest somewhere to control the costs and make it available to the majority of people.
I mean, the whole reason Gencon is in this condition is because they moved the SW Celebration to LA from Indy, and that turned out to be a bust.
Did they really do that, oh that's just absolutely stupid. It was still stupid for Pete to do it there, but to do it in LA where he failed with Gencon Socal. Wow, just Wow. Talk about the executive you want to hire if you need a company to be tanked.
What do they say. The definition of insanity is doing the same insane thing over and over.
__________________ Iron Dungeon Master Dreads
2009 Iron Players Championship
Gencon 2009 features the only single day D&D tournament where players compete using all of their D&D skillset in a non-linear adventure www.ironplayer.com
The only Kentuckian besides Elmore I know of; would be Tom Meier.
Wasn't Roger Moore, former editor of Dragon magazine, from Ky? I can't remember, but I thought I read a profile in an old Dragon that said he lived here.
__________________ Killing monsters and taking their treasure since 1982.
Did they really do that, oh that's just absolutely stupid. It was still stupid for Pete to do it there, but to do it in LA where he failed with Gencon Socal. Wow, just Wow. Talk about the executive you want to hire if you need a company to be tanked.
What do they say. The definition of insanity is doing the same insane thing over and over.
That was not Peter's call. Lucas is the one who demanded it be moved to LA.
__________________ Brain: Come Pinky! We must prepare for tomorrow night.
Pinky: Why? What are we going to do tomorrow night?
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That was not Peter's call. Lucas is the one who demanded it be moved to LA.
But you'd think someone would have said '
"Hey, conventions like this don't work there too well. Did you see our last try?".
I still say that this is the fault of trying to expand a convention bigger than what it is. yeah, I just through watching the shield finale, but decisions like that makes me think that Peter's like Shane, took off a bit more than he could chew.
__________________ Iron Dungeon Master Dreads
2009 Iron Players Championship
Gencon 2009 features the only single day D&D tournament where players compete using all of their D&D skillset in a non-linear adventure www.ironplayer.com
I still maintain that what did in GenCon SoCal was the time of year they insisted on holding it: late Nov-early Dec, when everyone who's in school is in school, and everyone who works retail can't take time off.
If they'd have put it in the summer I'd have been there almost every year, as it's sure a lot closer to me than Indy.
I'll be annoyed if it moves any further east/south than it already is; I really am planning on going next year, and getting to Indy is a long enough drive from the Canadian west coast.
I’m hoping that it stays in Indy for the foreseeable future. Anything much farther than that and I wouldn’t be able to drive there, and as far as costs Indy is not bad at all.
If they'd have put it in the summer I'd have been there almost every year, as it's sure a lot closer to me than Indy.
You might have gone, but I would expect that for much of the audience, putting it in the summer would effectively put it in competition with GenCon. Folks can get time off in the summer, but only so much.
This is a good point, even though it's not as obscenely expensive as some believe (cheap eating if you're up for it, cheap efficient transportation).
However, you also have to consider that when visiting a place like New York, it's not a one-stop trip. You can also visit the ten billion other things there are to do there. There are tons of cities like this.
As I alluded to earlier in the thread...I belong to some significant medical organizations (American Urological Association and American College of Surgeons). There is no way either one would consider a conference in NYC. The building rental fees alone are cost prohibitive for the organization. We are talking about the ACS which is the main organization representing surgeons in the US. It is a group with a lot of money representing a huge number of people. Also the conference has a lot of pharmacutical and surgical product support from sponsoring companies...more $$$$
This is totally different than Gen Con in terms of revenue. In addition the average member is a surgeon and has reasonably substantial income. They have surveyed members about interest in NYC convention and the biggest criticism is cost of hotel/food/etc.
I do agree with you philosophically. It would be one heck of a vacation attached to the trip.
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It'll probably be another schlep across the country for next years Gen Con.
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