Prezcon

I had an excellent time at Conncon last year but the Maryland Guys are heading south. This spring we'll be going to Virginia rather than New England.

We're heading to Prezcon . Prezcon is Feb 22 - 26th down in Charlottesville Virginia.

Drop me a line if you're going.

I'm hoping to go for a couple of days this year. It'll be play-by-ear as my wife will resume traveling for work around that time, so I can't go to to C'ville if she's going to be in, say, Haiti or Pakistan for 2 weeks...

I'll be there from Tuesday late night thru Sunday.

Fuck that noise, you guys are grown up as fuck and can totally afford to do both. Depending on my situation I'm gonna try to make it down but I dunno if I can swing it without a sponsor.

Wow, its a 7 hr drive from NYC. I would love to consider it, but man that is a haul.

Considering this, as wife will be on holiday in Nepal with grlfriends and school is on liberation day holiday. Lets see how much cash is left after I've paid next semesters fees for my wife's daughter....

Don't be a wimp flimflam..

For Charlottesville, I presume it's best to fly into DC??

Don't know about overseas, buy from NH it was no more expesive to fly into Charlottesvile direct that DC, which has expensive airports and then you need to get from DC to Charlottesville.

One caveat, the convention hotel usually sells out, so decide soon if you can.

Dulles (DC) is going to be your choice if you're coming in from overseas. About two hours drive after that.

Someday I'll attend a gaming convention where the hotel is big enough to hold the attendees. I'm not holding my breath, but someday.

S.

Looking at the flyer ( www.prezcon.com/flyers/flyer.pdf )- can I get the visitor pass for a day of open gaming (not any event) or would I need a day pass?

I have heard about this, and I'm only a few hours from C-ville. I may go, usually out there for the wineries. Don't suppose it'd be a bad trip to go out to play a bunch of games.

Sagrilarus wrote: Dulles (DC) is going to be your choice if you're coming in from overseas. About two hours drive after that.

Someday I'll attend a gaming convention where the hotel is big enough to hold the attendees. I'm not holding my breath, but someday.

S.

I just took a quick peek at Kayak.com and flying into Dulles was WAY cheaper than Charlottesville. Weird, as it was the same cost for either, but I was only flying domestic.

As far as cons where hotels hold all the attendees, I don't think PrezCon has nearly the same issues as say WBC - and part of it may be hype on the part of the organizer, who as I understand it is pretty insistent on attendees staying there ( he doesn't mention any other hotels in his newsletter or website and frowns upon alternative lodging options being mentioned ) . Hell just look at the fact there is space at the hotel 2 months out whereas WBC sold out a year in advance. But once a con gets past a certain size, offsite lodging is a fact of life - GenCon, Origins, WBC being prime examples. WBC is probably the one that sticks in people's craw the most. But how many hotels can hold 1800 attendees AND be cheap enough for gamers on the East Coast? My guess is not many.

Yea, but WBC is in Lancaster, not downtown Philly, for fuck's sake. The Amish aren't THAT big a draw for the rates that hotel charges.

No, but the hotel has a captive audience - hell if I ran the place I'd up the rates a tad given that it sells out a year in advance. I think they've found a useful market niche - relatively cheap large function facility. I've been there for the precon weekend most years and it is just as crowded or even MORE so then as it is during WBC. Historicon moved to a place near Valley Forge and I don't think it was any cheaper. Originally they tried going to downtown Baltimore and that turned into a disaster. To boot, the hotel they ended up in Valley Forge apparently is going away and being turned into a casino, so they have to move again.

Look, I am by no means defending the shithole that is the Lancaster Host. But when you add up all the needs that WBC has with regards to venue, there doesn't seem to be that much choice.

Consider those needs:

Price. Yeah I know there are cheaper hotels out there, but how many have meeting facilities for 1800 people?? As it is, people bitch about the price. And in this economy, WBC has shown steady growth ever since it moved to Lancaster. A move that when first announced, was prophesized to hurt attendance. Sure there are nicer hotels out there - but they are going to cost. The Host is actually one of the cheaper hotels out there as far as convention hotels go. And don't knock free parking. That's $10 a day in a lot of big city hotels or even more.

Location. Yeah I know Lancaster is far from airports. But the closer you are to a major airport, the more expensive it will be. The old venue kept jacking up the price, and we are running out of space anyway. No way in hell Cunt Valley could hold that many people. Back there, open gaming space, a huge draw now, was pretty non existent.

Geography. Greenwood is reluctant to move out of the Mid Atlantic area. Both because he lives there and running WBC is a full time gig, but because any drastic move could result in either a large drop off in attendees, or maybe a trade off, where some new people can attend because it's closer, but some old timers might not. And he's afraid of impacting the GM pool. A large falling out of GMs is worrisome to him.

The hotel has to have enough tables and of the right type. Sound silly? The BPA actually had to BUY tables, since they use so many and most hotels have tons of round tables, great for banquets but they suck for many games.

The current contract with the Host runs another 3-4 years. I do think there is enough groundswell that they'll look a little harder at new venues, as there has been growing disatisfaction with various hotel issues. But I don't get the sense that there is a lot of alternatives given all the above parameters and what I've heard in talking to a couple insiders.

Prezcon has been a resounding no for me since the "Werewolf Fun" of 2008.

Plus it's too much of a haul from NY and it is almost ALWAYS snowing on the ride back.

daveroswell wrote: Prezcon has been a resounding no for me since the "Werewolf Fun" of 2008.

Plus it's too much of a haul from NY and it is almost ALWAYS snowing on the ride back.

Do tell the Werewolf story.