I have had further discussions with reps from the Red Lion about WCW. You will remember that the weekend we chose with them was April 13. On that weekend they want $92 a night for guest rooms. On the weekend of April 27 they will drop the rate to $89. The rep has previously indicated that these could be river view rooms and I assume that would still be the case.

On either date they would drop the charge for using the meeting rooms if we meet a minimum food & beverage charge, amounting to $50 per person, assuming 25 people. That, of course, amounts to $25 per day for each one of the 25, or a total amount of $1250. This is considerable less than they originally asked for, which was about $67 per person over the two days. I think we can work this such that the meals could be spread over Friday and Saturday or, alternatively, two meals on Saturday.

One reason they are willing to come down in price on 4/27 is that we could not get into the meeting rooms for set up until about 6-7 pm.

The alternative would be the Clarion on May 5 weekend with room rates at $80.

There are a couple of reasons I'd like to use the Red Lion. First, it's a much nicer hotel. Second, it is the hotel we'll use for the convention in 2013 and being there for WCW will give all of us a feel for it, especially Brian and myself. Third, May 5 weekend is getting a bit close to the convention and I want to avoid any bad feeling about "competing with the convention", even though I don't think it is really a factor. Any bad feelings, however, could cost us attendees in 2013.

May 13 weekend has become a bit of a problem for me. Without knowing that it was a potential date for WCW, my wife, Beth, made a commitment for us on the coast. I am doing my best not to rile her about WCW because she's already a bit annoyed at me for taking it on.

I really need input on this. Please reply, either here or to me by email directly, at barry.cooper at mac dot com.

Barry

While I have to agree about the date of the show being better in April, I don't know how many people are going to go for spending more for staying at a hotel. I know I would rather save my money for spending it on fish at the Auction. We risk people not staying for the auction or spending more at the auctions if rates are higher for staying at the Hotel. People are already strapped for funds as it is (I know I am).

Just putting that out there. I understand the Convention conflict is something to consider.

The WCW is a smaller show with less people thus I think having it at the Clarion is a better idea. However, I would agree that having the Convention at the Red Lion the following year is a good idea since it's a larger crowd.

I much prefer the April date, and the Red Lion sounds good to me, rather than the Clarion, aka, 'the old same place.' I don't think the price will make that much difference - airfare is the challenge, and frankly, WCW is largely supported by people flying/driving in, other than the core NWK folks we don't get many locals showing up. Plus, what choice is there for killi show locally?

So, I'd say, go for the Red Lion at the $90. Can you clarify exactly what the food request and committment is, your post is a little confusing - is it that we're obligated to run a banquet now? We haven't done a hotel banquet for the WCW before, have we? Or are you talking about AKA 2013?

Also, does this mean the "Limo rides to pet shops" feature won't occur as P@rick dropped out? I still think organizing something to the Wet Spot and elsewhere will be well received, plus our dinner out at a brewpub.

The previous comments pertain to WCW, not the convention.

What my message means is that if we are to get the meeting rooms without charge at the Red Lion we would have to commit to $1250 in food and beverage. That would entail probably two dinners or perhaps a plated lunch and a plated dinner. I don't think we could get to $1250 with just a banquet. You are right that we have not had a banquet at a WCW before. This is a different situation where we are trying to make a commitment to a certain amount of f&b.

The alternative is to commit to pay for the meeting rooms. There is a risk in that in that if we don't get enough attendees and, in particular, a good auction we would lose money.

I have been thinking about the possibility of the April 27 weekend. I think it would be very problematical not to be able to get started on setup until after 7 pm Friday, with the issue of getting water into the tanks, etc. in time to tank show fish. Also, Bill Stone cannot attend that weekend and I'd like for him to be able to come.

I will see if I can push down the charge a bit for the meeting rooms without a food commitment. Finally, understand that the hotel charge on April 13 for guest rooms will be $92.

The other thing I have to determine is how easy it is to get water into the rooms that we are being offered. They are not the same rooms as we are using for the convention in 2013 and I have not personally seen them.

Barry

Here is a further update.

I indicated in my last post that I would ask what the minimum cost of renting the meeting space would be without any food & beverage minimum. The lowest I can get is $976, total, including the 22% standard service fee.

The alternative is to offer a dinner in the hotel restaurant on the Saturday evening. I would hope that people would help out by signing up for that but let's say we bring in only $900, just as an example, paid by members attending the dinner. The club would then be obligated to pay the difference between that and the $1250 f&b minimum, in that example, $350. That's a lot less than $976 for the meeting rooms. Nobody would be obliged to take the dinner but, as I said, I hope enough would to minimize the amount the club has to pay as the difference. The way I would organize this would be to ask members to pay for the dinner when they register, then the club would be responsible for paying the hotel for the f&b charge.

Guest rooms on the weekend of April 13 would be $92 but remember that most people share, bringing it to $46 per person per night, which is not too bad.

For other meals, there are fast food places near the hotel that you could use, or you could again use hotel facilities.

Thus, I favor the plan outlined above, namely that we host WCW on the weekend of April 13, that the club would collect registration fees and dinner fees, from members willing to participate in the dinner, when they sign up and the club would be responsible for paying the hotel the f&b charge. That is the likely least expensive option for the club.

Comments are welcome, please!

Barry Cooper

Thanks for the clarification. 13 April weekend with a banquet Saturday night seems reasonable to me, though as you point out, risky since we've not done the banquet before and folks are used to heading out to brewpubs, etc. We should definitely have a banquet speaker, too, something exotic and unusual to get them to come to the banquet. Especially as anything spent on the banquet defers from the cost of the rooms. Also we should have a rare fish raffle after the banquet, more incentive that way. We should be plugging the banquet to our friends that are planning on attending in order to defray expenses.

Will we have a 'happy hour' suite included in the rooms?

-Matt

Thanks for the clarification Barry.

After getting this information then yes I would agree with Matt and you. We should do WCW on April 13th, this seems much more reasonable. I think we should still try to do all the activities we did in the past, if possible.

One of the main reasons I want to go with April 13 weekend is to avoid accusations that we are competing with the convention, which would surely be voiced by some if we chose May 5. We don't want to generate ill will towards our own convention in 2013. Using April 13, a little earlier than usual could be argued to be avoiding the convention time as much as possible.

I am not sure we can pull off a banquet speaker. In fact, I avoided the term banquet, preferring to see this as a social dinner amongst a group of friends. I will provide some information about a possible menu at a later date.

So far as speakers I have confirmed Jouke van der Zee, from Holland who would talk on killifish of the Congo. He may give that as a two parter or do a second talk on a different subject. I've also confirmed Dario Valenzano, who will give a talk on the work they are doing with N. furzeri, using it for aging research. The talk given by his assistant Sabrina this year was very interesting and he could reprise that aspect for those who missed it, adding in something about the research itself. In essence, that amounts to three talks. I want to try to find someone local for the fourth for economy reasons. If nobody better surfaces I could do one of my video based collecting talks. I think this would be a good mix of hobbyist and "scientific" talks.

So, I am leaning heavily toward April 13 weekend at the Red Lion. Unless something dramatic surfaces I will visit the hotel on Jan 6, when I will be in the Portland area. I will probably sign an agreement at that time.

There are two other reasons for using the Red Lion. That weekend suits Jouke better. It's not certain he could come on the May 5 weekend. And, Brian and I can get a good feel for how we are going to do things for the convention.

Barry

Barry

April 13 sounds good to me. I agree that we should do it then at the Red Lion.