Is it too late to chime in with a vote for Providence? Because I love Providence. And, err, live 45 minutes from it. Which means there are good odds I'll actually show up. Not that I'm adverse to Philadelphia. I had very nice vegan soul food there. But Providence has affordable sushi that the Californians in the group will actually not turn up their noses at. IJS.

Also, many awesome bars. I know what you people want.

We might actually be able to swing by Providence if it's June 26-27 - we're planning to be on Cape Cod the week before that. It would be my first F2F! With small cute people! But y'all better decide soon since I am tracking plane tickets an need to buy!

I'm going to try to call about the three best Philly hotels today, for that weekend. Do I give them a range of rooms we'd need? Say ... 20-25? I have no idea.

I'm not sure what I'm asking for wrt to prom, either.

Amy, do you have a copy of the RFP? It includes the parameters for Prom.

I would say 20 rooms is safe. I wouldn't go beyond that given the poll numbers.

wrt to prom, you need to find out what space they have for a reunion room on Saturday night. Important questions include what the room will cost (this is often offset by what we buy for food/beverage), how much an open bar is per hour, what the food options are, if they have a sound system, etc. We also need to know If we can schedule prom 9-1 ish given how much noise we will make or if they close at midnight.

Crap, I forgot the RFP. I do have that. Thanks!

I think I might submit the RFP to a few other hotels, quickly. One of the initial ones is apparently completely non-smoking now, and also only has one bus into Center City, and no other type of public transportation. It's actually across the Schuykill, too, so walking is not really option.

I'm not sure how long this will take, but I'll do my best.

Hey, guys, someone else needs to take over contacting the Philly hotels. Amy can't do it right now, and she is too nice to say so, so I am saying it for her.

makes resolve face towards Fulton, NY.

I've got it.

Also, while I'm poking my head in here, I'd like to propose that we standardize this F2F procedure. There's a lot of info about each F2F floating around that isn't easily or readily accessible, the terms of our rentals/RFP isn't always clear (or the reasoning isn't always clear), and this process always causes a lot of angst every year.

We are an institution at this point - we should have an institutional memory for our annual gathering.

Of course, I am proposing this, but I am in no way currently equipped to a) spearhead the proposal wording and b) lead the most-likely inevitable discussion/committee formation.

I know the timing might seem off - like we should finish hammering out this F2F first - but I actually think this is the best time. I know from experience that planning a F2F will burn a body out, and the last thing I wanted to talk about post-F2F was another one. I think the best time to codify our procedure is as we're going through it.

So. What say all y'all?