Date: Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:19:25 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <mjw at press.jhu.edu>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: The return of "DC in 2011"
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

> "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net> 4/1/2009 7:13 PM >>>
>The withdrawn DC in 2011 Worldcon bid which was originated in 2004 by
>Michael Nelson and other WSFA members has been resurrected by PRSFS
>with the help of some Fantek people and some former Unicon people.
>(Fantek is the group that used to run Evecon and Castlecon.)  As far
>as I know, no WSFA members are involved with the bid.

I look forward to the bid parties put on by those wild & crazy party
animals of PRSFS; I do recall the three day/24 hour nonstop parties with
non-stop flowing beer (not even Jack Heneghan could put a dent into
their supply!) they put on at Disclave.

>This was inspired by the withdrawal of Seattle's bid for that year.
>The consensus is that there should never be an unopposed domestic
>Worldcon bid.

Fear not:
http://community.livejournal.com/apg2011/403.html

>The filing deadline has passed, so this will be a write-in campaign.
>
>It's not actually in DC.  It will use several hotels at Tysons
Corner,
>which together have more than enough sleeping rooms and function
>space.  These include the Sheraton Premiere, where the 1994 Disclave
>was held, the Marriott where the 2004 Capclave was held, the Hilton
>where two Evecons were held in 2000 (one at the very beginning of the
>year, the other at the very end), the Best Western on Route 7, the
>Ritz-Carlton that's connected to the Galleria, and several other
>hotels, most of which have never hosted an SF con before.
>
>The one thing that's missing is a large auditorium suitable for
>the Hugo award ceremony, the masquerade, and opening and closing
>ceremonies.  The bid committee is negotiating with Wolftrap for
>the use of the Filene Center for those events.  It has more than
>sufficient capacity.  Shuttle buses would be arranged for.

Perhaps you could have some of the functions on the Alexandria
waterfront and then water taxi people over at the Gaylord National
Resort & Convention Center in Maryland - imagine a two state Worldcon!
I would suggest having the WSFS Business meeting their and transport the
WSFS wonks by DUKWs.

>If the Filene Center deal falls through, another approach would be to
>use a small auditorium in one of the hotels and closed-circuit TV to
>let people watch from the sleeping rooms in all the convention
hotels.
>This would have the good side effect of encouraging local fans to pay
>for a room rather than commuting.
>
>(At the last PRSFS meeting, I whimsically suggested that a too-small
>auditorium is no problem at all, as the fans could simply be told to
>get in line early to be sure to get a seat.  When people looked at me
>in bafflement, I explained that this was the same sound logic as in
>"No Child Left Behind," which proposes to fix the problem of there
not
>being enough good jobs for everyone by somehow getting most people to
>get more educational credentials than most people.  I never
understood
>how everyone can simultaneously win a game of musical chairs like
that,
>but I'm not a highly paid government bureaucrat, so what do I know?)
>
>I questioned whether PRSFS should run the bid and the con itself,
>rather than through a separate corporation.  But it was explained
>to me that PRSFS was at no financial risk, as it has no treasury
>and no assets.

Wise move!  To make sure PRSFS maintains the "no assets" I would
suggest having Bernie Madoff as treasurer.

>One complication is the 800-kilometer rule.  While central DC is
>slightly more than 800 kilometers from the front door of the Palais
>des congrès de Montréal, the main facility of the Worldcon at which
>the site selection vote will take place, central Tysons is slightly
>closer, which would make it ineligible.  However, by defining the
>Marriott at the south end of Tysons (the Capclave '04 hotel) as
>the main convention hotel, the distance is very slightly over 800
>kilometers, especially since that hotel's front door is on its
>south side.  It is slightly under 500 miles, but when the voting
>takes place in a country that uses the metric system, the rule is
>800 kilometers, not 500 miles.

A more WSFS meeting wonk methodology would be to use the meeting room
of the WSFS Business Meeting at Montreal as the "center point" to
measure from, to wherever the 2011 Business Meeting would be held ...

>This would be the first-ever Worldcon held in Virginia.
>
>Pre-supporting memberships are on sale for $20.11.  They can be
bought
>at any PRSFS meeting, at Ravencon, or at Balticon.  Pre-supports
>already bought for the previous DC in 2011 bid will be honored.

It's good to see you keeping the nominal "traditional" pre-support rate
of $20:
http://world.std.com/~sbarsky/melbourne/timeline.html

One last thing ... be sure to remind those wild & crazy PRSFSians that
water sprinklers are not sex toys.

mjw