Stopped at the Great Dane. Took pictures. [link] Garden Patio is a little expensive: $500 per hour. Event room is only $275 (only!) per hour. Food and drinks are part of the $275.

Shannon was unavailable. I sent an e-mail that included the original proposal Katie (their real sales coordinator) sent me. Requested clarification as Katie set us up in Ballroom B, Shannon in the Blue Quill Ballroom. Are they the same thing or different rooms? Told her we really, really wanted the 21st. Requested reply phone or e-mail by tomorrow so I could let the Great Dane know for sure.

Now, I'm off to Green Bay. Taking computer. Hope my SiL has wireless. Otherwise, I'm dark until 9-10 tonight.

My favorite part is the pic of your dad at the end :)

Sail_Dad! Thank you for all the efforts Sail. Food and drink included in the $275 sounds workable. Do we have a guess of attendance?

Laura, last time I asked for a show of hands we had 25 folks who thought they could attend. As we know, at two months before the F2F that can change, but I wouldn't expect it to change drastically.

Update time:

Even though we had a smaller group than Shannon realized, there is no room available for the prom on the 21st. I told her we just couldn't do the 20th and would look to the Great Dane to host our prom.

Based on that, I told her to leave our room block in the Quality Inn. It's closer to the Great Dane than the Candlewood. I figure the less stumbling we have to do, the better. Same amenities as Candlewood, plus fresh towels daily and free breakfast.

In the meantime, I'll be calling Tim later to let him know we want to reserve something with them. Big question is, at the $500 price tag with a two hour minimum for the patio are we interested in reserving it for any amount of time? For one of the rooms, we could probably swing 4-5 hours easily. Oh, one thing to note--we can have our own music in the room. Can't on the patio, because half of it is still available to the public. Thoughts?

I say room, not patio since we'll want our own music. Have we done anything about an AV system for music? Full Compass is in Madison and I'm planning to have dinner with my sales rep while I'm in town, I may be able to swing a deal on the audio system if needed.

Definitely the room. Having our own music is essential! How will we get twirly Jilli and belly-dancing smonster otherwise?

ND, I'm the only local and have nothing for sound. If you could arrange loaner stuff for us, that would be awesome.

Okay, I'll work on that. I'm sure I can get something through my guy at Full Compass. Maybe he'll let me demo some new gear.

How will we get twirly Jilli and belly-dancing smonster otherwise?

Sadly you won't be getting your own swoopygoth this year. House O' Reason isn't going to be attending the F2F.