I'm uncomfortable with anything beyond walking distance from the hotel.

I'd echo this, as the idea of depending on the amount of cat-herding it would take to get 40-60 Buffistas into a small number of limos leaving at a set time is the sort of thing that wakes me with cold sweat in the middle of the night. Individual cab travel in an unfamiliar city with time pressure can take a bite out of an evening's fun, too.

Some of the Posting Board Parties in L.A. used an outside venue about 3 or 4 blocks from the host hotel, and that seemed to work out pretty well. It was near enough that the walk wasn't onerous, and enough people walked in groups afterwards that those who enjoyed themselves a little too much had watchful eyes nearby and help available if needed.

Since I have (or had) no idea that the intergalactic thing was from a song, I thought people were spouting gibberish to get me off-track from daring to suggest a change to The Way Things Are Done.

Lordy no. If I were trying to distract you, instead you'd be hearing "Over there! Fairy penguins!"

You bet, Perkins

So, ranked voting seems to be the preferred method for this so far, if I'm reading right. I hadn't thought about it for dates, but, yeah, why not.

Perkins did post to the effect that she was concerned about numbers, and I suggested doing a headcount survey before locking in to hotel rooms, but the momentum of the conversation didn't fall that way. No big, just the way it goes sometimes depending on who's around at the time you throw out a suggestion.

Same thing happened when I made my ranking suggestion in September before the vote. There was no reaction so I dropped it.

I'm uncomfortable with anything beyond walking distance from the hotel.

I'd add only that people will want to leave at different times, so coordinating rides back to the hotel could be very difficult. And some people will be trying to navigate a city they don't know in the dark -- which means one wrong/missed turn could cause people to end up in a Very Wrong Neighborhood.

sits in the Go team ranking! corner

Should we add something to the Definitely, Might, Might Not, Definitely Couldn't ranking to the effect of Might, But Only If I Can Stay With A Localista and Definitely, But I Live Here And I'll Just Sleep At Home? Which might give the people pulling together proposals a better handle not just on a rough head count, but on how many of that possible head count will actually be at the hotel.

ND, good clear post - thanks, bro. FTR, I said at the time that NO was not on my list, that I wouldn't be going, and that was all for me. I really try to stay out of the "if we'd do it THIS way" or "if we'd only done it THAT way" conversations, because there are only so much hours in the day. I'm mentioning it now because, and only because, I'm officially in this one, gathering data.

And like you, I'd infinitely prefer a centralised hotel, with everything else taken care of; like you, I like five-star hotels. But the reality of the situation - specifically, the list of must-haves, when combined with the income issues of many of the attendees - is prohibitive. This leads me to explore as many cost-cutting possibilities as I can find, while still offering up a potential good time: find an entire small hotel and renting it for four days, for instance, could concievably be done as a flat fee, without penalties, and any extra money donated could be used to help those who'd like to come but are finding money scarce.

So, I'm-a cut through the hows and whats and whatevers to what, for me (me! MEEEE!) is the core of doing my bit of this particular job: assembling as many possibilities for the Bay Area pitch as possible.

Making it clear, right now: I aint got no hurt feelings, and I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, either. I'll bold this, complying with Debet's request: Any request for information as to preferences in hotel, food, area, cost or anything else is precisely that: a request for information. Okay? Hopefully, that's clear to everyone. I'm in the info-gathering mode, so that if I approach five possible hotels, I know what the various options are.

Hopefully, I'm being clear about this. It's possible I'm not - I just got up.

I think ranking preferences might help the discussion. I also agree that picking a F2F site walking distance from the hotel is good, though I don't hate the limo plan.

Also, deb, I have one question: what happens if you're in the middle of a relapse come F2F time? It's great that you're willing to take so much on to yourself, but if we plan for you to cook and then you can't for whatever reason, Plan B becomes very important.

(Though Plan B could probably be a trip to Trader Joe's, and we'd all happily much on cheese and crackers. Still, it seems worth asking.)

Lyra, it's a good point and one I'd already considered (the exacerbation issue, that is). But the very last thing it would affect would be the food prep - my entire object would be ease and low cost.

Trudy made the point about why not go out for dinner first, and I sat here nodding; my own take is that official catering at the event is going to drive up the cost. But two chafing dishes full of chicken and pasta for hot food, a tray of stuffed mushrooms and two vast bowls of different salad, are going to run about a hundred dollars maximum, based on 50 people. Two bucks per person - since I already have the equipment, retired caterer, and therefore there's no rental cost involved - is a lot better than $15 to $20 per person at a local restaurant. Hell, it's cheaper tham MacD's.

I'd choose the food prep for quick and easy.

As one of the many whose attendance depends on the overall cost, I really, really appreciate all of the efforts to keep our costs low. Although when I win the lottery, I'm totally renting out a five-star hotel for us. Possibly in Greece or Italy.

Also, I'm down with having prom in an offsite location, but I think it would have to be within walking/easy-wheelchair-transport distance to the hotel, for all the reasons already given. I loved being able to change costumes at the DC F2F, and/or just escape to the solitude of my room for a few minutes. Also, having the prom in the hospitality suite meant that we could hang out there until all hours, and I don't know how likely it is that we could book another space for prom with the caveat that some of us may stick around until 4 or 5 in the morning. (It may in fact be very likely--I don't know.)