IAGSDC Convention Drama

[bjarvis]

I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more of a reaction to the Times Squares' withdrawal of their 2015 convention bid.

When they presented their bid earlier this year for consideration at the Atlanta convention in July, I thought their proposed registration rates and hotel room rates were astronomical. At the delegates meeting, I argued as a non-voting delegate for the GCA against the bid since I was certain the high costs would effectively kill our caller school traditionally held in the three days prior to the convention. The bid did pass: there was no competing bid and when talking to other delegates, I heard frequently they felt they had no choice but to agree to it.

Despite the heated discussion at the time, I hoped some aggressive negotiations with the hotel or perhaps a move from the Central Park area of Manhattan to cheaper non-central location in the greater New York City area might happen. From the statements I've read from the convention team, they looked at all their options and decided they couldn't pull it off. They did the honorable and proper thing by withdrawing their bid as soon as they came to their realization, and I applaud their good judgment as well as thank them for their hard work and diligence getting this far in the process.

Since there were no competing bid for 2015, the IAGSDC has many options. Perhaps they will re-open up the bidding process anew or maybe nudge clubs who were making preparations for 2016 bids to work a little faster to fill in the 2015 gap. They could either chose to appoint a club for 2015 or delay until the Vancouver convention in 2012 to let the delegates vote on a package. I'm sure the executive officers have been burning up the Internet and telephone lines to examine all options and make the best informed decision.

Comments

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

It's great to have everything under a single roof, but I think the IAGSDC membership has painted itself into a corner with criteria necessitating high registration and room rates in most cities. It's become a vicious cycle: only the relatively wealthy can afford afford to attend a convention so only the relatively wealthy write requirements and vote on bids the rest can't begin to afford.

If my club were bidding again, I'd submit a redux bid using a suburban hotel, dropping the grand march and registration gifts, keep the meals to less than $40/plate for the banquet (usually $60+) and $20 for the brunch (usually $50+) and no refreshments for the delegate meetings (usually $25+), and doing anything else I could to hammer the registration price down to a target of only $150. It wouldn't meet the bid requirements, but I'd like the delegates to voice their rationalization for increasingly expensive events.

[omero-hassan.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of everyone staying in the same hotel (at least most everyone) -- I like the sense of community it provides, which is one of the things I like most about convention. We could have done that here; indeed, we would have taken over the area's biggest hotel (turns out the Indian casino hotels are nowhere near as big as I thought they were). But we'd've been dancing in another location -- which is what was done for the '92 convention, and successfully from what I hear, but I'd be nervous about the cost of renting that much space in the convention center and, just from my own perspective, I think it is probably more desirable to be able to go to one's room and back to dancing quickly, without trekking the equivalent of a couple city blocks. I mean, it wouldn't be the end of the world, and you raise an important point about what this event is.