Samuel L. Jackson just walked away from our hospitality suite.

That's freaking hilarious. I'm going to mentally insert him into all my memories of that weekend.

I'm going to mentally insert him into all my memories of that weekend.

"Hey, Sam! It's time for the OMWF singalong!"

"Mace Windu does NOT singalong, motherfucker!"

I t heart Tep!

I'm going to mentally insert him into all my memories of that weekend.

Who are you, George fucking Lucas?

Kristin, I'm sorry I wasn't around to make your party, but I'm glad it was good! Now I'm just going to have to meet you on my trip to the West Coast!

Debet, I have a meeting on Thursday morning with Sheila Fonseca of Holiday Inn. And I'm musing on a few things, which I'd love some general clarification on.

My thinking is that we get more general "how much things are going to cost" and "what will we get/have access to" information for the city vote, rather than the full breakdown, so we have more of an aggregate view of the city, rather than pinning all our (or someone [not you. Random someone. Kristin] pinning all their) hopes on a specific proposal, which may not end up panning out.

I don't think I'm following this. In re the proposal not panning out, speaking just for me, if I post it up with numbers, there's no chance of it not panning out, should that be the choice opted for in a vote: that's a guarantee the given hotel makes. So I don't understand the idea behind vague-versus-specific, in the proposal. The whole purpose of the proposals I'm asking the hotels to provide is to be as down to the penny specific about costs and access as is humanly possible ahead of time.

Basically, if I post up three proposals just before the vote, with numbers attached, those numbers are locked down. I'll have the numbers given by the hotel itself. So, the "what we have access to" and "how much things cost" will be right there, and I'm assuming they'll be right there for all three cities.

Also, the three cities in this particular mix at the moment - SF, Seattle, Vegas - aren't unknown quantities. SF and Seattle, at least, not only have a nice chunk of b.org people populating them and the surrounding areas, they're both cities that have seen b.org visitors in either a trickle or a steady stream for a good long time. They're familiar. Vegas is different - the costs there vary hugely, depending on where you stay. But for Seattle and SF, not really.

So, please ma'am, could you clarify what you're looking for before the city vote?

And, when are we looking at doing the city vote, anyway? With one firm hotel proposal in hand and two more in discussion, I'm wondering when we actually do the vote. Surely, that was the reason we began this ten months before the actual do?

Please to clarify.

Seconding Deb's request for clarification. Honestly, I'm not quite sure what we're deciding on in absence of the specific hotel/hosp options available. I mean, they're not the only things that will count in favor of one city over another, but surely they're a big part of it?

I think I have to agree with Deb and brenda. Choosing a city is largely dependent on what sort of cash will need to be spent on the hotel, plus travel to that city.

The more we know about each city, the better-informed decision we can make. So I say, get the hotel information for each city locked down before we vote which city. We can research travel to each city ourselves and do the math. Expenses have to be a consideration for at least some of us, and I imagine a lot of us. And while tourist stuff to do will be considered as a factor, the hotel packages in each city is likely a larger factor in the city-vote.

If we get solid quotes on what a hotel can or will provide for "this" number of people, "this" number, or "that" number, for two or three hotels in each city, it will help us narrow down what we can afford, and the features we want vs. the features we really can't do without. Once we have those in hand, that information will help us choose the city.

Does that make sense? Or am I coming at this completely backward?

When do we want to have a vote? I know I need to get to work on Seattle info, but it tends to get pushed behind all the more immediate stuff on my to-do list in the absence of a deadline.

My thinking is that we get more general "how much things are going to cost" and "what will we get/have access to" information for the city vote, rather than the full breakdown

I don't understand how we would get "how much are things going to cost" information without getting proposals from hotels. That's the biggest expense, so we need to know it.