Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2006 13:39:36 -0500
From: Ted White <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: A DC hotels question
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Michael Nelson wrote:

> > -----Original Message----- From: Eva Whitley
> > [mailto:eva.whitley at gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 12:16
> > AM To: WSFA members Subject: [WSFA] A DC hotels question
> >
> > Why, exactly, would using the Wardman Marriott and the Omni not
> > work for a Worldcon? I assume there's a problem because they're not
> > being discussed yet it seems like Washington wants a Worldcon. And
> > they had enough space in 1989, when we were bidding Discon 3 for
> > 1992.
> >
> > Personally, I like the location as it's right across from the zoo.
> > Isn't Worldcon sort of like a zoo? --Eva Whitley
>
>  A Worldcon could be squeezed into the Connecticut Avenue hotels.  We
>  briefly talked about splitting the Worldcon into a Day Con and Night
>  Con because there's not enough large function space in any one hotel.
>  We would have the art show and dealers' room in one of the hotels.
>  Day programming would probably have to be split among several hotels
>  along with videos, films, gaming, etc.
>
>  I had what I thought was a brilliant idea for the "big tent" events
>  like the masquerade and Hugo Ceremony.  Since there would be no large
>  function areas available to host these events, we would turn a
>  medium-sized space into a real television studio and broadcast the
>  events to various small function rooms.  There would be room for a
>  small studio audience of a hundred or so people -- maybe we could
>  have a lottery to decide who would get a chance to be in the live
>  audience.  I figured that high definition video will be standard by
>  2011, so Kathi and her crew would be able to produce a pretty good
>  show.
>
>  And if we arranged for shuttle buses to travel up and down
>  Connecticut Ave., we figured we could host a Worldcon there... if we
>  put a cap on membership.  We don't believe the site could comfortable
>  host more than 4,000 fans.  There's a lot of Worldcon fans with
>  mobility issues and we really want to limit the distances between
>  parts of the convention they would have to travel under their own
>  power to a few blocks.
>
>  These arguments also apply to the Crystal City site.  No central
>  facility or adjacent buildings with enough large, medium, and small
>  spaces to accommodate all of the various activities of a modern
>  Worldcon.  Worldcons are a queer (in the old sense) duck.  We require
>  an incredible variety and amount of small, medium, and large function
>  space when you consider the relatively small number of members we
>  have compared to a typical professional trade show or conference.
>  And the mobility issue is becoming an even more serious issue as we
>  age.

I wonder about Crystal City.  Alexis picked a CC hotel for the 1994
Corflu (Corflu NoVa) which turned out to be actively hostile to all room
parties.  Seems airline crews stay in the CC hotels, along with business
travelers.  Many go to bed early and get up early and they are not a
good fit for fans wandering the halls and room parties.

--Ted White