2014 Con Planning Update

[adonnchaid]

We are working on the website upgrades, but just for fun, we broke the entire webhost today. Yay, us! So, we wanted to let you know that having made a decision to move the convention from our old home at the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach, we are exploring new locations, and that the next convention will probably take place in Los Angeles County. Obviously, this is not the easiest solution for your Santa Barbara-based convention committee, but hopefully it will make for easier access to both folks who are LA-based, and to those of you who fly in from remote. We hope to have the hotel contract confirmed in the next 2 weeks, and we will be thrilled to let you in on the news.

In the mean time we thought it would be fun to let you in on the feedback we got from last year's attendees, which we are using to guide our hotel selection and convention-planning process. Below are the questions we asked, and the responses, in order of number of votes received.

What hotel features are most important to you?
Free wireless Internet
: 25
Affordable sleeping rooms: 21
Function space close together: 20
Walking distance to shops/restaurants: 15
Free parking: 10
Onsite Restaurant: 7
Close to Airport: 5
Close to ocean
: 2

What con features are most important to you?
Three tracks of programming (general, fandom-specific, tech/alt): 33
Parties/food functions (Thurs PM treats, Friday AM continental breakfast, Friday PM appetizers, Sunday breakfast buffet): 22
Con suite with snacks & soda provided: 22
Songvids on DVD: 12
Dealer room: 8
Art show & auction: 7
Songvids by Download: 5
Songvids on Flash: 5

What other income sources to sustain the convention do you think would be most successful?
Auction items (art/vids/stories) to Escapade bottom line: 33
Swap table proceeds to convention: 19
Donations to convention throughout the year (prizes for donation): 18
Amazon affiliate program on website
: 13
Sell Escapade swag
: 12
Option to pay extra for your registration (at the attendee's choice): 9
Auction which fandoms/pairings go on the program books: 6

What is most important to you about Escapade?
Seeing my friends
: 30
Attending panels: 21
Talking about my existing fandom(s): 19
Meeting new people: 15
Talking about meta/fandom-wide issue: 13
Watching the vid show: 13
Getting exposed to new fandoms: 3