Ruminations

[digitaldiscipline]

The fact that people are already complaining about the weather [1] and a general distaste for the states involved [2] and not debating the more substantive matters among the two bids [which, thus far, seem to be it. . . well, Boo's pants is always a contender ;-)] makes me wonder. . .

Has it finally gotten to the point where Convergence is really, truly, and finally -not- about the music and theme, and actually about seeing friends, and the merits of one bid vs. another is a matter of committee dynamics and meteorology?

Some of the concerns voiced about both bids have been valid, and some of the criticisms have bordered on the reactionary and ridiculous (of course, a.g.* ain't what it used to be, but some of the trollier parts of it certainly are).

There have been concerns voiced that "another east coast bid" is a concept too hideous to bear, and that some folks feel that C9 doesn't actually qualify as a "west coast" venue. Rather than attempt any rational or semantic justifications, I'll instead provide a simple visual to let folks draw their own conclusions as to where Convergence has and has not been, geographically, over the last five years.

C10: Chicago
C9: Las Vegas
C8: Montreal
C7: NYC
C6: Seattle

[1] - Yes, it will seem warm if you're from up north. So will San Diego. However, every one of the Tampa committee members is a transplanted northerner (Buffalo, Indy, and NJ), and we're not dying down here. . . Frankly, it's a heck of a lot less humid and five or ten degrees cooler than New Orleans. And even the street cars have air conditioning. You're not going to melt, people. Just don't be a velvet-and-latex clad mummy and use some judgement.

How -is- the weather in Boo's Pants? I keep hearing about how hot and humid they can be. . .

[2] - I feel the same way about New Jersey and Texas, but it doesn't stop me from visiting friends there. You're going for a long weekend, not signing up for a three-year tour of duty.

Aside to niugnep: You didn't appear to have a real function on your committee, and so you're not eligible for the gentlemen's wager. ;-)

Comments

[helcat.livejournal.com]

Never voted, never attended. GO ME!

~~Hel, the antidrama

[etcet.livejournal.com]

yes, which is why some of us have yet to give you a hug, toots. pbpbpbpbttttt.....

[jruske.livejournal.com]

I'll see if hugs can be arranged... the next time you get your butt to DC!

[niugnep.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'll be heading up, for the first time ever, a film festival at Convergence... plus one or two seminars thrown in for good measure. Also, I'll be developing the treasure hunt (but I consider that function minor compared to the other one).

[etcet.livejournal.com]

you're not simply filming Goth Girls Gone Wild?

whatever came of that, anyway? :-)

[niugnep.livejournal.com]

you're not simply filming Goth Girls Gone Wild?

No.

What became of it was that it was more like "Goth Girls Don't Go Wild" which was just kinda sad. I intended to make a highlights reel of C9 of about 20 to 30 minutes... but unfortunately, I have about, I think, SIX hours worth of footage to condense and other things (i.e. my own film projects) came up.

Although, I might be able to have that ready for C11.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I think any GGG-ingW happened off-camera, where it was safely private.

[geekers.livejournal.com]

I read too much Savage Love... GGG didn't come off as Goth Girls Going until second thought. :P Although it is my believe that the GGG-ratio is and should be higher amoung GG... especially GG who GW. :D

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

Why is the upper peninsula of Michigan midwest while the lower peninsula is East? Culturally speaking, all of MI should probably be in the midwest camp. Ohio, too. Also, I am somewhat amused that Canada doesn't even warrant a category of its own. ;)

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Canada wasn't on the map I cadged. I just added the splotchy bits to play "Spot the Freaks."

Since we've never had a Yoopie Convergence, I didn't think the minor oversight was going to cause teh angst. *chuckle*

[jruske.livejournal.com]

Were you going based on timezones? It looked that way relative to where you placed the dividing line between east and midwest.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I.

Did Not.

Draw.

The Map.

It was a two-minute google search for something to illustrate a basic concept, not provide the cover for a sixth-grade term paper.

#############################################################
this is slack. feel free to cut me some.

[jruske.livejournal.com]

######## ########

There you go. Equal lengths too!

snicker

I'll buy your first round in Tampa or San Diego, ok?

[etcet.livejournal.com]

awwwwwwww.

no sweat. :-)

[hel_ana]

Dude.....

You kind of misplaced Montreal, by a couple hundred kilometers....

[etcet.livejournal.com]

No wonder I never made it to C8. . . . !!!

Teh Map

[jruske.livejournal.com]

I'll instead provide a simple visual to let folks draw their own conclusions as to where Convergence has and has not been, geographically, over the last five years.

Errr, Rafe. I know you and I both suffered our way through a NYS education, but that was a terriotory map akin to the ones the European firms I deal with used to show due to a complete lack of understanding of the US.

Montreal, after all, is about due north of the east edge of where the north border of New York state goes flat. And it is no further north than the mid part of Maine.

Albeit it seems much more exotic having it float somewhere near Chicoutimi.

But at any rate, the point could easily be made that we have not had a true deep South convergence since New Orleans. No need to colour code a map to get that point across.

With respect to the specific Tampa bid - the events and details are pretty loose right now. It seems people are reacting to that more than anything else.

I was quite happy though. I saw a good overall plan that would get detailed once things were a bit more locked down. I thought the San Diego bid did look more polished and cute - but I'm not a bit flash int he pan kind of guy.

I guess the one thing I didn't catch was how the "Ghost in the Machine" theme really played out over the event in Tampa. Yes, I see the connections in general - but Dragon really did a stellar job driving his Pirates Ahoy theme into each event and the site overall. If you are looking to market the Tampa bid a bit more you may want to look at how to enhance that sense of cohesiveness.

But again, I thought it was quite direct and to the point - which is all I needed for me.

Re: Teh Map

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

Until we win the bid, it is very hard to obtain contracts with hotels and venues. Thus, you are correct when you say the Tampa bid is 'looser' than the San Diego bid. To their credit, they've been working on it for a year. However, it also means they are entirely inflexible about a number of things - such as dates, hotels, and venues. I prefer to stay flexible until such a time as we win, which will ultimately allow us to negotiate with more power (ie. We have a concrete convention as opposed to a potential one).

As for the Pirate theme, well we actually thought about that. Tampa is more well-known for Pirates, after all. Our 'theme' is played through by the ghost walk, Replicant's Dance, and the general flavor of the site. But, you're right, we're not hammering home our theme with abandon. Basically, if I could summarize Tampa's bid in a nutshell:

"Tampa's cool. Your committee is comprised of seasoned Convergence goers and folks who know what they're doing. We promise a good time, cheap drinks, and all your favorite freaks. Everything else is icing."

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

that some folks feel that C9 doesn't actually qualify as a "west coast" venue.

Oh man... Las Vegas is closer to the west coast than Toronto is to the east coast... Here's some math:

The contiguous civilized US stretches from W70.25 degrees to W122.5 (52.25 degrees) and from N48 to N25. (23 degrees) Civilized limits of the whole of North American don't add more than about 5 degrees to each North and South border (Calgary to Mexico City). Let's divid it up to the northern third of the range is "North", middle third is "Central", southern 1/3 is "South", and do similarly for East, Central, and West.

Convergences have been held at

C1/10 Chicago N41.84 W87.64 (73% of northlyness, 33.28% of westerlyness, so this is NE region)
C2 Boston N42.38 W71.08 (75% N, 1.6% W -- NE region)
C3 San Francisco N37.78 W122.44 (56% N, 99.9% W -- Central West region)
C4 Toronto N43.68 W79.38 (81% N 17% W -- NE region)
C5 New Orleans N29.96 W90.09 (22% N 38% W -- SC region)
C6 Seattle N47.58 W122.34 (98% N 99.7% W -- NW region)
C7 New York N40.71 W74.03 (68% N 7% W -- NE region)
C8 Montreal N45.46 W73.58 (90% N 6% W -- NE region)
C9 Las Vegas N36.16 W115.13 (49% N 86% W -- CW region)

So 6 Convergences have been in the NE, 2 in CW, 1 in NW, 1 in SC. Five regions of the country (CE, SE, NC, CC and SW) have never hosted a Convergence.

And your map's br0k3n.

[katyakoshka.livejournal.com]

Culturally, Vegas is closer to being SoCal East than anything else. Its relationship to the "central west" segments, while geographically closer... Erm. Not much. And it's a classic SW sprawl city anyhow. (For the record, I'm an SD area resident myself.)

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

But then you should also correlate that to population density, if you're going to that extent. A great big swath of land from Montana and Idaho down to Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas is very sparsely populated. There's a lot of weight on the entire length of the east coast, somewhat less along the extreme west coast, and a fair amount spread across the midwest (which actually mostly east of center).

I'll just vote for Alaska and mess everything up. ;)

[ladyclayton.livejournal.com]

Oh my lanta, I am laughing so hard right now, I think my neighbours might call the cops!

*snerkle*

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

At which? My ability to colossally overanalyze a simple misinformed opinion into an hour-long, arithmetic-ridden exposition?

[ladyclayton.livejournal.com]

Your attention to detail...the latitudes and longitudes made my day.

/me raises a glass.

[poisongirl.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear! I agree totally. Too many folks are complaining about nonissues about all the proposals instead of considering each proposal for what they are.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Yes! Let us denigrate the thematic elements and personal hygeine of committee members!

No, wait. . . everyone already knows Ian smells funny, don't they? ;-)

[anarcha.livejournal.com]

"some folks feel that C9 doesn't actually qualify as a "west coast" venue"

Um... it's in the Pacific time zone. That makes it west coast by my definition.

When I was on the business trip from hell in Vegas earlier this year, we even used a copy vendor from LA. Vegas is just an extension of Cali, and Cali is by definition west coast.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

See, the Left Coast folks who were being the most vocal seem to want to apply the same logic: "All you assholes east of the Rockies, much less east of the Mississippi, might as well be the east coast."

I'm in agreement with the time-zone thing. Sure, it's arbitrary, but it's not exactly arcane.

If your location day-trippable from the ocean, you're on the coast to people on the other side of the country. Five hours, LA to Vegas, qualifies. Four hours, Ft. Myers to Tampa, means the same thing. *shrug*

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

pssst....You mean Ft. Lauderdale, right? Ft. Myers is on the Gulf Coast (2 hours due South)

[etcet.livejournal.com]

yeah, yeah. . . fort whatthefuck. fort hurricanebait. ;-)

[hel_ana]

You know, geography classes are surprisingly affordable these days.

;)

[geeki.livejournal.com]

Hey.. if it happens in SD I could actually go.. and we could FINALLY meet up.

Furgh.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

assuming i can afford to go, i fully intend to. :-)

[trid.livejournal.com]

Well, if you'd have plopped NOLA on the map, it would appear that there's a faily even distribution over the years (geographic errors or not).

Bottom line...No pleasing *everybody*
Besides, if you guys get it this year, then we'll likely try again next year, and I'm sure vice versa. Quite frankly, I wish the DC folks could find the conhesion to throw together a good bid. I'd *LOOOOOOVE* to se a C* there. Great public transpo (well, at least until 2 on the weekends) good venues and for chrissakes, the Smithsonian is *FREE*

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Nation would be a terriffic venue, I agree.

Of course, Psyche left town, you left town, I left town, Winter left town and then came back. . . that was pretty much what the committee was gonna be, other than anarcha_crisis, innit? *sigh*

But, yeah - you guys get C11, we'll almost certainly re-bid for C12. :-) Win-win!

[trid.livejournal.com]

If it weren't for the fact that I've been through the "Absentee Committee" already, I'd say let's go for it ourselves.

I don't remember if you got along much with Sean Regan, but he and I sat down one day after "Black Collar Lunch" when we were doing it at Pentagon City, and had actually begun formulating a C9 plan...this was not long after C7 IIRC.

[ladyclayton.livejournal.com]

Didn't DC put in a bid for C7? I remember being all excited about the possibility of a District C*.

Pentagon City. *sigh*