Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 23:07:30 -0500
From: Elspeth Kovar <ekovar at radix.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Capclave '02 (was Re: minders)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Keith F. Lynch" wrote:
>
> Elspeth Kovar <ekovar at radix.net> wrote:
> > Except that -- going to the main page for the first time in a while,
> > since I have the pages I usually reference bookmarked -- you've
> > removed the fact that we have a chair for '02.
>
> You mean in the "What's New" section?  Yes.  Mike Nelson was elected
> in January of last year.  His election is no longer new.

Ye ghads.  It never occurred to you to put an announcement that
we (or I, although according to the website I don't seem to be on the
committee) were in negotiations with various hotels for a weekend in
September or October?  No matter where the hits come from, the fact that
the club's planning on having a convention this fall rather belongs on
the main page of the club.

> Even when we had a direct link to '02's page, the vast majority of
> hits came from search engines or bookmarks, not from WSFA's other
> pages.  Most Capclave members probably never heard of WSFA.  I had
> been attending Disclaves for well over a decade before I got the
> idea that there was a group behind it with a name other than "those
> Disclave people".

Knowing quite a few of the people who attended, and that quite a few of
those came specifically because it was WSFA's first convention since
Disclave, I think it's safe to say that most Capclave members really
have heard of WSFA.  And, while it was easy to go to Disclave and
without being aware of anything behind the scenes -- I also did that for
a number of years -- it was a sizable convention and the average member
would rarely encounter those putting it together.  The same is not true
of Capclave.

And WSFA is better known than you may think.  Hey, if nothing else we
hosted a great convention, it was the third oldest, and it ended in a
pretty spectacular manner.  It's the sort of thing that gets one talked
about.

> > Which means that not only is there no direct link from the main page
> > to Capclave '02, there's no mention of it at all.
>
> I don't particlarly *want* anyone to see the page in it's current
> state, since it all but screams "abandoned page, defunct convention".
> I considered removing the page, but that would scream even louder.
> I'd much rather update it.  Nobody has to know who the GoH is or where
> to send how much money in order to know that we're alive, and which
> weekend to set aside on their calendars.  I can make further updates
> later.

Keith, there've been updates that could have been made all along.  The
hotels that we were looking at, the weekends that we were considering --
perhaps I should have written it down rather than just announcing things
at meetings, and in the future I'll try to, although I may need to be
reminded.  But it would have been easy enough for you to talk to me now
and then about more things that could be put up, or asked me to write
something.

By way of example:

First update:
"Sam Lubell is doing Programming, Elspeth Kovar is doing Facilities"

Second update:
"While the Sheraton College Park will welcome us back we're also looking
into other properties to host Capclave 2002.  We plan to hold it in the
Fall, after Worldcon and before the World Fantasy Convention."

Third update, if people really think it's needed:
"We're considering a number of hotels, among them . . .  Our preferred
dates are . . . Watch this space; we'll also be announcing the
convention in . . ."

(Sam, perhaps you should choose someone early to do publicity and have
them write press, or website, releases?)

> > Just checked the Upcoming Cons and Events page and there's nothing
> > there for fall of this year, saying that we're planning to hold a
> > Capclave around that time, so that can't be it.
>
> I only list events that are at a known time and place.  You won't find
> anything there listed for "sometime maybe in the fall, perhaps near DC
> or Baltimore or elsewhere, or maybe not".

Ahem:

"Fall, 2002: Capclave 2002 in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area"

That's been known since about a week after the last Capclave, or
whenever it was that Mike made the announcement that, since Capclave
2001 was a success, he was going to go ahead with Capclave 2002 and had
asked me to find a hotel for 2002.  (I think
that he announced that Sam was doing programming at the same time.
Don't know exactly when that was but more than a few months ago and less
than a year.)

> I haven't heard *anything* from Mike Nelson.  He wasn't at First,
> Third, or Fifth Friday, he's not on this list, and he hasn't emailed
> me, written me, or phoned me.  I've heard he wasn't at Lunacon either.
> I hope he's ok.

He's fine.  I called him the other day to ask about when we could
announce Capclave; since he's talking to his proposed GoH right now he
wants to wait and make one announcement rather than diluting it by
dribbling things out.  But the prospective GoH knows that Mike wants
to announce it First Friday.

(As an aside, I never heard anything about Mike planning to go to
Lunacon, and I don't know the last time I saw him at a Third Friday
meeting.)

Look, I'd have loved to have announced it the minute I had a final
contract from the hotel or the minute that both parties had signed it.
But the former couldn't be done and the latter is entirely Michael's
call.  But you've been giving me grief for a long time over the fact
that 'no one knows that we're having a convention, something has to be
done about this, we're losing members daily' when part of the reason no
one knows is because one of our main points of contact, over which you
have primary control, says nothing about it.

Sigh.

Why don't you put up an announcement (suggestion follows) that we plan
to be making an announcemet at First Friday this month?  Granted that's
four days away but what the hell.
"Capclave 2002: We plan to be announcing Capclave 2002 on Friday, 5
April.

(Any weird formatting, and I think that I caught most of it, is the
result of having written a carefully crafted response, full of fine
rhetoric and including a careful analysis of Keith's reasons.  I then
went off and had dinner, then sensibly came back afterwards to chop most
of it out.)

Elspeth