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Fighting an uphill battle
Apr. 5th, 2006 02:22 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
danaeris.livejournal.comSo, I have some ongoing debates with folks at my local con, Ad Astra.
(1) They charge for all foods in the Con Suite except chips, including Soda. They seem to think that anyone who wants free food in the con suite is a freeloader taking advantage of everyone else, and besides, they claim that it wouldn't be possible to fund.
(2) They consistently choose hotels far from downtown, difficult to get to, far from the heart of the city, and then negotiate a price for the rooms that is on par or more expensive than what we could get on the hotel's website. The last two years, a normal room has cost $120 CAD, in spite of being in a crappy location and last year, also at a sketchy hotel. They seem to think that doing better than this is impossible. They also seem to think that being downtown is undesirable.
I understand that Arisia is huge (what, several thousand people?), and Ad Astra is not as big. And also, different cities, different countries...
Nonetheless, I guess I'm trying to understand how you guys do it, and what it was like when Arisia was smaller. We may not be able to get the deals that a con of Arisia's size has, but perhaps we can understand better what you have done to foster community so that you could grow to a larger size.
(1) They charge for all foods in the Con Suite except chips, including Soda. They seem to think that anyone who wants free food in the con suite is a freeloader taking advantage of everyone else, and besides, they claim that it wouldn't be possible to fund.
(2) They consistently choose hotels far from downtown, difficult to get to, far from the heart of the city, and then negotiate a price for the rooms that is on par or more expensive than what we could get on the hotel's website. The last two years, a normal room has cost $120 CAD, in spite of being in a crappy location and last year, also at a sketchy hotel. They seem to think that doing better than this is impossible. They also seem to think that being downtown is undesirable.
I understand that Arisia is huge (what, several thousand people?), and Ad Astra is not as big. And also, different cities, different countries...
Nonetheless, I guess I'm trying to understand how you guys do it, and what it was like when Arisia was smaller. We may not be able to get the deals that a con of Arisia's size has, but perhaps we can understand better what you have done to foster community so that you could grow to a larger size.
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