I don't know about the other cities, but I can't get concrete prices without a date.

I don't know about the other cities, but I can't get concrete prices without a date.

Right, that was why I thought maybe it would be easier to pick cities first. I mean, price wise they should be roughly comparable, right? The main reason we sometimes vote date first is when weather in different regions will come into play, which doesn't apply with our current options. Since no one has spoken up to take the lead in Providence or Baltimore, should we vote NYC vs. Philly based on basic pimpage and then narrow down dates from there? Otherwise availability at one location will rule out potential weekends at another, which is a problem if the city without the limitations were to win.

Depends on what you mean by comparable. For my pimp, there is about a $30 range on basic rooms and no way to discuss what deals we might be able to cut on hospitality suite and/or ballroom space without a date.

If that's the case in the other cities, we may need a date first for reasons besides weather.

Okay. Never mind. I was just trying to help.

ETA: I think I put together a combo city/date initial interest survey last year. Let me dig that up and see if it might be useful.

I'm thinking the New Jersey side of NY is probably going to be around the same pricing as Philly.

But I won't be able to take part in any discussions while I am away. I know I've said that before, and I am sorry to repeat myself, but I really am nervous about volunteering to help and then leaving the country...

By the way, I can't recall from previous years, but I vaguely recall that voting is weighted by who really thinks s/he can make it, right? Or am I misremembering?

My thoughts: If it's between NY and Philadelphia, there are probably very few people who would be able to make it to one but not the other on any given date. It's not like some other times when we've been picking between cities that were really far apart. So voting for date first will give us the best idea of when to have it so that the most people can be there. If it turns out that the date we pick is one that has conflicts in one city, then we can go to the other city. It's better than picking a city first and then realizing that our choices are an expensive weekend when a lot of people can make it and a cheap weekend when everybody already has plans.

Here we go--this is an initial interest survey that we can use purely to gather some data: Click here to take survey

We can use the results to decide what we want to do next, whether an official date or city vote. Sound okay?

My biggest problems with the dates is that even as far north as New York, there's potential for ungodly heat (and worse, ungodly humidity). I like to be able to walk around a place I haven't been (or in the case of Baltimore or NYC a place I haven't been for while) without wanting to kill myself due to heat overload.

Okay. We can do Nova Scotia.