The lack of a formal announcement of the Con confounds me.
I can't see how making a public statement like "The Con will be held this Fall - details and location to be announced," is all that tough, especially since it gives people the ability to start making summer vacation plans, or start saving pennies for a Fall trip.
And speaking as someone who's planned two Cons (for Warbirds, one in Dayton, and one in Pensacola) I feel minimally qualified to mention the following:
1. It really takes 5 or 6 months of planning, part time, to make a convention happen.
2. If you're holding it locally and can spend more than part-time hours on it, 3 months is about as close as you can make it. Add a few extra weeks for a June date, since lots of hotel ballrooms are booked for weddings.
3. It's now April 2. June is two months away. This makes the possibility of a June Con pretty unlikely. That said, they surprised me last year with a June Con with just 3 months notice, so it isn't totally impossible. However...
4. October is 6 months away. That's a really good length of time to make a Con happen without stressing too much or paying extra "hurry-up fees". With the lack of an announcement, this "feels" correct to me.
5. Having a Con local to the business means you can have all your employees get to the Con without flying them there and back, and you aren't FedExing a million things back and forth. This is BIG SAVINGS and reduces headaches.
6. Having a Con at a typical "Destination Site" is a big mistake, and here's why. Suppose you have a Con in Las Vegas. Not everyone gets to Las Vegas every day, so you can count on a large percentage of attendees spending lots of time gambling, drinking, seeing shows on the town, and generally not being in the convention room. If people aren't in the convention room, there's no point in having a Con to begin with. I'm not saying Dallas is boring, but there isn't generally a lot to do outside the Hotel, so folks stay in the hotel.
Anyway, here's hoping we get an announcement soon...
-Llama
