uh-oh

[jazzfish]

. . . wait, Technicon, in addition to being in McBryde instead of an actual convention center, is shutting down at eleven PM?

I want to go this year: a couple days of solid gaming, plus Mr Martin and Ursula Vernon. It's growing more and more difficult to justify the time and expense, though.

Comments

[vond.livejournal.com]

There is no on-campus venue available to us that we are allowed to use 24-hour - University Policy. There is no off-campus venue available to us without charging $100+ general admission except possibly the Ramada, which the current Technicon administration refuses to consider. Moving to Roanoke would lose us VT funding and therefore again cause admission to skyrocket.

Please, for the love of god, tell me what the solution is!

[jazzfish]

I didn't expect twenty-four hour access. I /did/ expect 'til midnight or one, the kind of hours one gets with Squires.

except possibly the Ramada, which the current Technicon administration refuses to consider

Answered your own question, I believe.

[vond.livejournal.com]

Well, I should revise that and say "John and James" refuse to consider. I've raised all the fuss I can raise. Sorry.

[jazzfish]

I didn't mean to imply that you hadn't, or that you were happy about the state of affairs, and I'm sorry that I did.

It's hard not to feel like the problem isn't so much a lack of available space as it is pigheadedness on the part of specific members of Constaff, and it's too easy to generalize away from the "specific members of" part.

[vond.livejournal.com]

I appreciate it. It's killing me seeing so many things happen this year that generate so much ill-will towards "the con staff". I feel like by being involved in running this thing I'm "signing my name" to the event, and I feel awful when people mention the issues we're having, especially when I agree with most of the statements.

If I had known we were going to do things in this fashion this year, I'd have requested or possibly demanded that we change the name of the event, much like Rising Star did the first year they held the con at Bluefield State.

[jsciv.livejournal.com]

There was a point where the chair said on the staff list (paraphrased) that this was the way he was going to do things and that if the club disagreed strongly enough they could fire him. I'm too far removed from things to know if that was a time to do so or not, and I've said before that there are people with more invested than me who need to be stewards of the con, so in the end I'll just go and make the best of it. If I play more Race for the Galaxy and less World of Warcraft: the Board Game than I'd planned because of time limits on the school grounds, that's unfortunate, but I will at least be playing with some of the coolest folks I know, so that's something important to me. :)

[anterus.livejournal.com]

There was a point where the chair said on the staff list (paraphrased) that this was the way he was going to do things and that if the club disagreed strongly enough they could fire him.

Well, that's pretty much what he said. In part, because there's a point where leadership decisions actually need to be made, and waffling needs to stop. I distinctly remember telling John he should say something to that effect (if you don't like it, replace me) last fall or so. Unfortunately, while I'm not terribly thrilled with how things are going, I don't think there's anyone else who's able and willing (the latter of those being the real problem) to do a better job, so here we are.

I think that if people stop trying to compare this to past TCons (hard, I know, since it's being called, well, TCon), it'll go off much better. Yes, far, far, far from perfect, but there's still plenty of capacity for fun to be had.

[jazzfish]

I think that if people stop trying to compare this to past TCons (hard, I know, since it's being called, well, TCon), it'll go off much better.

Problem is, it was advertised as Technicon, but it sounds like it'll be more along the lines of I-fest^2. Saying "Judge it on its own merits!" to people who are interested in coming for specific things that aren't going to be there is kind of rude.

[anterus.livejournal.com]

I don't know what else we can offer you, then. We're doin' about the best we can with what we have to work with. The town's just not near so damned friendly to cons as it used to be.

Also, you could try to think of it as more of a retro TCon, before it moved off campus, since it was held on-campus for a number of years.

[ranchonmars.livejournal.com]

Why won't they consider the Ramada? Thanks to going to bat for it, though, Vond. I hope the lack of hotel doesn't doom things, but it very well might.

I also didn't realize there was VT funding that would be lost if the con moved to Roanoke. Oi.

(Edited for typos)

[vt-andros.livejournal.com]

Primarily because T-Con has had bad experiences with the Ramada -- it's a crappy hotel, and there's no convenient way to get students there who want to go. Plus negotiating with their manager was insanity-inducing -- meetings that were only supposed to take 30 minutes took 3 hours, and made people want to pull their hair out.

McBryde was, in John's opinion, making the best of a bad situation. And when you think about the fact that T-Con's job is to expose students to sci-fi in addition to providing a place for VTSFFC alumni to meet, it makes sense.

[ranchonmars.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I take a bit of umbrage to the idea that the con is just to expose students to scifi, and for VTSFFC alumni to meet. As neither, hearing that makes me feel like I matter less as a part of the Tcon community, but more than that, it makes me feel like Tcon is being seen as less than it is. I've always seen Tcon as another con that happens to be run by students, and as such is student- and alumni-friendly, but it's job was to be a con and do all the things cons do. The fact that it exposed the student community to scifi and let the VTSFFC alumni meet was part of it, but not the reason for its existence.

If the con staff *does* look at TCon as just a way to expose students to scifi and for the VTSFFC to meet, then it's going to wind up Inivisifest very soon. I don't think they do, though, which makes it all the more surprising that there was a hotel option that was discarded.

As far as the best of a bad situation, I guess it's how you look at the bad situation. Which is worse--dealing with the Ramada, or having attendance kneecapped? Attendance means money, money means Tcon 26. Location makes people happy or upset, and happy or upset determines reputation. Reputation helps determine attendance. And so on.

Maybe the Ramada really was the worst of the two; I wasn't there, so I don't know. I just know that the only reason I've heard for all the regulars not attending this year was the lack of a hotel site.

As for making it more convenient for students to go, that's a matter of who gets convenienced and who gets inconvenienced. Someone's going to get the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Either the students have to rent rooms or work out transportation, or the visitors have to commute and hope they can get a parking space within a quarter-mile of the con.

+1 Insightful

[jazzfish]

I have basically nothing to add to this, you've covered all the ground I could have wanted to.

One small nit: financially, they're so much better off having it in McBryde it isn't even close to funny, because the hotel is just that expensive. At least it was last time I was involved in Tcon, and that was at the Red Lion. I imagine they could have fifty people walk through the door at $10/person in McBryde and be in the black.

Re: +1 Insightful

[ranchonmars.livejournal.com]

If the Ramada simply wanted too much money, more than the con could recover from, I can completely understand that. Hotel rates in Blacksburg are getting insane, and moving into McBryde would be the best--only--choice they had then. Until tonight I thought that was the case, actually.

I imagine they could have fifty people walk through the door at $10/person in McBryde and be in the black.

That's definitely one silver lining. Hopefully they'll make enough off of admissions to keep the momentum going for Tcon 26.

[jazzfish]

it's a crappy hotel

Better than no hotel at all.

there's no convenient way to get students there who want to go

I can't really argue with this point.

negotiating with their manager was insanity-inducing

I'm sorry to hear that but it's not a reason to say "no ramada."

McBryde was, in John's opinion, making the best of a bad situation.

If he started from the position of "no ramada" then I can see where he's coming from. That don't make it right.

T-Con's job is to expose students to sci-fi in addition to providing a place for VTSFFC alumni to meet

What Kay said.