Denver, Day 7
May. 25th, 2007 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bjarvisNo sleeping in this morning: we headed directly to the Hyatt Regency to begin setting up the table for DC Diamond Circulate, the IAGSDC's 2009 convention in Washington DC.
The current convention's registration table wasn't yet opened; instead, convention attendees were asking us about Denver registration, dance locations, lunch suggestions and the like. I did what I could to direct people in the right directions.
When dancing started, I tried my hand at a couple of C1 tips. I did relatively well, although we didn't have a very strong square. I quickly realized, however, that my heart wasn't really in dancing today so I soon returned to our registration table to represent our club.
During periodic breaks, I had a number of my own club badges updated. I had the "Advanced" tag replaced with "Challenge 1" and added "Caller" to my official DC Lambda Squares badge. I also had a bar with my name to my IAGSDC badge along with the Denver bar. I ordered similar badge enhancements for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kent4str's badge; cuyahogarvr had never been to a convention before so I ordered an IAGSDC badge for him as a surprise.
For the most part, our table was well received. Folks are genuinely interested in coming to DC although one person did bring up an issue related to the timing of our convention: it's the easter/passover weekend. While we're making arrangements for services for the observant, there's no denying that this is an important family time for many and so the dates preclude attending our convention. Still, that's the way it goes... Vancouver used the same dates in 2001 to great success. For every person who can't make it, I'm sure there's someone who can.
The grand march was a little disappointing. The herd of dancers were packed into the upstairs ballroom space for about 40 minutes, then sorted into clubs and ushered along the march path. The path in all its glory was simply down a hall, down the escalators to the next level and down the corridor to another dance hall. Big whoop. There we stood for the national anthems of Japan, Canada and the US, then the opening remarks by the convention chair, introduction of the calling staff and a speech by the mayor of Denver.
Once the speeches were done, the memorial panels were paraded through the hall. These are large canvass panels to which are affixed the name badges of dancers who have passed away over the years. As soon as the memorial portion was done, I headed for the door: my feet had had enough. I later learned I missed the convention group photo but I'll live with that.
We resumed staffing our convention table for the balance of the evening. We briefly considered sticking around for the bear hour --always great fun-- but we had skipped dinner and were feeling exhausted. After a quick bite, we returned to our hotel room for laundry, catching up on LJ and going to bed.
The current convention's registration table wasn't yet opened; instead, convention attendees were asking us about Denver registration, dance locations, lunch suggestions and the like. I did what I could to direct people in the right directions.
When dancing started, I tried my hand at a couple of C1 tips. I did relatively well, although we didn't have a very strong square. I quickly realized, however, that my heart wasn't really in dancing today so I soon returned to our registration table to represent our club.
During periodic breaks, I had a number of my own club badges updated. I had the "Advanced" tag replaced with "Challenge 1" and added "Caller" to my official DC Lambda Squares badge. I also had a bar with my name to my IAGSDC badge along with the Denver bar. I ordered similar badge enhancements for
kent4str's badge; cuyahogarvr had never been to a convention before so I ordered an IAGSDC badge for him as a surprise.For the most part, our table was well received. Folks are genuinely interested in coming to DC although one person did bring up an issue related to the timing of our convention: it's the easter/passover weekend. While we're making arrangements for services for the observant, there's no denying that this is an important family time for many and so the dates preclude attending our convention. Still, that's the way it goes... Vancouver used the same dates in 2001 to great success. For every person who can't make it, I'm sure there's someone who can.
The grand march was a little disappointing. The herd of dancers were packed into the upstairs ballroom space for about 40 minutes, then sorted into clubs and ushered along the march path. The path in all its glory was simply down a hall, down the escalators to the next level and down the corridor to another dance hall. Big whoop. There we stood for the national anthems of Japan, Canada and the US, then the opening remarks by the convention chair, introduction of the calling staff and a speech by the mayor of Denver.
Once the speeches were done, the memorial panels were paraded through the hall. These are large canvass panels to which are affixed the name badges of dancers who have passed away over the years. As soon as the memorial portion was done, I headed for the door: my feet had had enough. I later learned I missed the convention group photo but I'll live with that.
We resumed staffing our convention table for the balance of the evening. We briefly considered sticking around for the bear hour --always great fun-- but we had skipped dinner and were feeling exhausted. After a quick bite, we returned to our hotel room for laundry, catching up on LJ and going to bed.
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Date: 2007-05-27 06:08 am (UTC)I'd much rather have a convention at a smaller, suburban hotel, (Santa Clara, for instance) than screw around with the dates.
I'd also like to see reasonable hotel rates, but I don't think that is on the cards right now.
Oh, it's not so much making others clone the US holiday schedule, it's a matter of scheduling your event when the vast majority of the people attending it have time off. Vancouver seems to have no difficulty scheduling their primary fly-in on the weekend of American Thanksgiving, every year.
Maybe DC should have just been a random weekend in June, but Easter is too early and too sensitive for too many people. I'm not saying people should boycott 2009, but I am advocating for not having convention that early ever again. (And, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.)