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Purple Dave wrote:
> For myself, I'm not sure why anyone would want to go to Portland in
> February and hang out in 50 degree or lower temperatures when they could be
> hanging out in sunny SoCal. I also don't think the idea of a roving major con
> is going to fly very well. I expect what will happen is that people will stop
> travelling to it unless it's closer to where they live, and what you'll
> basically end up with is a staggered series of isolated mini-cons that show up
> every couple of years and don't have a lot of cross-attendance. There was even
> a lot of apprehension about how well GenCon would fare after moving two states
> away on a semi-permanent basis (there's been talk of Milwaukee trying to woo
> them back, but I think the glut of available hotel space will be enough to keep
> them where they are for quite a few years to come). You lose the ability to
> atract world-of-mouth visitors at each location if they end up having to wait
> 3-4 years to go to an event that their friends were talking about last year.
> Worse yet, every new place you bounce around to is just one more year before you
> even start to see any of the first batch of WoM visitors (those that still
> remember wanting to go, at least).
Who cares what the weather is? Well, at least so long as it isn't
weather that makes travel hard. Portland in February is really not so
bad.
Roving conventions actually do quite well. True, their attendance varies
very much depending on who is putting them on and where they are held.
They actually can help spark more interest in cons since people try them
out when they are local, and then get so psyched that they travel to
subsequent ones. It is a way to bring a convention to an area that
doesn't have the energy to put on a convention every year. Some
extremely successefull roving conventions I'm personally aware of (and
some of the reasons attendance fluctuates):
Worldcon - the premiere world science fiction convention (that awards
the Hugos). This convention not only roves around the US, but
periodically roves the world. From the attendance numbers I have seen,
it is much smaller when it's outside the US, and is huge when it's in
Boston (which has one of the longest running regional SF conventions,
one that they had to do things to scare people away from because it was
becomming as large as Worldcon). Attendance 1500-7000 in recent years.
National Speleological Society Convention - the annual meeting of the
NSS (caving scientific, exploration, and fun society). This convention
in the right region (one with lots of caves) has attracted better than
10% of the society's membership. Attendance 500-2500 or so.
Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly - this annual
meeting of the UUA does quite well, despite travelling to various parts
of the country. This year, held in Boston, home of the UUA, and in the
densest concentration of UUs in the country, attracted something like 5%
of the denomination's membership. I think attendance ranges from 2000 or
so up to 7500.
Opus - annual meeting of the Continental Unitarian Universalist Young
Adult Network. This generally small event roves around the US and
Canada. It's attendance is relatively consistent no matter where it is
located. I submit this one as proof that even a small event can travell
and be successeful. Attendance about 100 in recent years.
Frank
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