Incidentally, Re: InConJunction
Posted on July 9, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 22 Comments
Howard Tayler wrote the post-con write-up I would have written (minus, you know, the parts that refer specifically to Howard Tayler’s professional life), so I’ll just point you at it and let you read it with my voice in your head.
Nevertheless, I will amplify what Howard said about it being an excellent example of a well-run local convention, and in particular I would recommend all cons try to emulate InConJunction’s Con Suite, which rather than being a hotel suite was one of the meeting rooms, with lots of tables for folks to sit at, and (importantly) enough ventilation so that by the end of the con, the consuite did not reek of fan funk and crockpot chili. It makes a huge difference in my desire to actually want to spend time there. Conrunners, if you’re not doing your con suites like this already, you should.
In any event: I had a really wonderful time, and it all went off without a hitch, at least on my end. Thanks, InConJunction, for having me.
Yeah, the fact that the typical hotel suite has windows that cannot be opened adds to the closeness after a couple of days.
At WindyCon last year they’d taken over the whole hotel and so used one of the restaurant spaces. Not sure what they’ll do in the new hotel.
Dr. Phil
I moved Windycon’s con suite into function space back in 2002, when I chaired the con. That lasted for the two years I was in charge and worked quite well.
From 2004-2007, we were at a different hotel and our con suite was in neither a suite or function space, but rather in the hotel bar, which they turned over to us for the entire weekend.
Moving to a new hotel this year, we’ll be back in function space.
I’m glad to report that at Penguicon’s new 2009 hotel, the consuite will be in the spacious hotel restaurant. There is a door that opens to the outside of the building.
Matt:
Excellent.
Steve — I hope to back to WindyCon in 2008. And I’ve been meaning to go to Penguicon all these years…
Dr. Phil
RE: Edits (grin)
Insert “go” as appropriate in post #5.
Dr. Phil
John,
Please don’t be too hard on cons that do this-for nearly all of them, it’s a budget thing. In my state (Arizona), we have yet to find a hotel that would allow us to do this while still bringing in our own food and drink as opposed to paying the ruinous hotel prices for them. We just do not have the budget for that.
I have to comment that the reason consuites are often held in suites is that many state laws prohibit the dispensing of food/drinks out of hotel function space by any one other than hotel staff (which the hotel then quite naturally charges out the ever-loving wazoo for), but is perfectly legal to do in guest rooms.
So, in these states the concom has no choice, unless they want to quadruple/quintuple their consuite budget.
critter42:
Ah. That’s an interesting point I did not know about.
John it was indeed a pleasure to host you at this year’s convention. I also did not know about the differences in state regs regarding food and hotels – sort of like not knowing the difference between motor license branches and bureaus (big difference here than in my previous state of Ohio).
Over the years we have cultivated a good working relationship with the hotel and sounds like the folks at WindyCon had it good with an actual bar to setup in – that would ROCK!
Anyway – the mundane life has started to settle back in and the lost sheep have been found, so we take a pause and cherish the time we spent this past weekend. Then we get to start on the next one… is this a great country or what?!
Take care,
Tony
As someone who has attended Inconjunction, on and off, since the ’80s, I would add my praise for the current concom’s handling of the convention.
Frankly, the recent Incons are particularly praiseworthy because the convention has come so far from its past when, its management was . . . less than stellar. If any of your readers gave up Incon as a result of the past administrative fiascos, I would encourage them to give it another try.
You haven’t been to Confluence, yet. A
Delete stray “A”. Thanks
It seems likely I’ll get there, Adelheid.
Wick:
“If any of your readers gave up Incon as a result of the past administrative fiascos, I would encourage them to give it another try.”
Would that be the year a vanity press author was Incon’s GoH?
I’m glad I was on staff for a con that’s getting such rave reviews!! Thanks for coming!! Glad you guys had a great time!
-Elka, registration monkey
IMHO, the most memorable example was the year that the main function space was displaced by a wedding on Saturday night.
In terms of planning skills, the Incon comcom has gone from F Troop to the A Team.
We were glad to have you there, and to meet you. Although since I didn’t personally see her I don’t believe in your wife.
Megan
(who you poked at your Q&A panel)
But, Megan, you said hello to her on the phone! Well, you and the entire rest of the audience.
It was lovely to meet you too!
I have always though of consuites as the social hub of the convention especially since most of the hotels I have been to did not have nice lobbies and I usually did not have cash for the bar.
A consuite in a suite lets you own the space while in consuites in function space I almost always feel like I am in someone else’s space.
The chili crockpot smell can be avoided by not having hot food in the consuite.
Midwestcon goes out and rents couches for its consuite something I recommend other cons try. That and avoiding chokepoints in furniture placement in general.
So, would you pay to go back to InConjunction?
I am informed that as I’ve been a Guest of Honor, any future visits to InConJunction will be comped. So it’s a null question. But if I had to pay, if I were not a guest and there were someone there I wanted to see, sure.