All right! GenCon 2019 season officially begins!
I didn't even notice the board refresh at first because they didn't change the style like they did with the 2017 to 2018 refresh.
Sweet!
Woo hoo!!! Let the games begin.......
Ok now we are going to get into what for me feels like a fast time of the year. Its November, it'll be Thanksgiving before we know it, Black Friday, Christmas, New Year's and then badge registration and housing. The next 3 months will fly by. We can finally start to look ahead, all the major cons are done for the year. Lets hope for a wonderful 2019!
I had a strange dream last night that there was some sort of Winter version of GenCon that I was attending. It was a smaller affair and as such did not draw as many attendees; most people did not feel it was worth traveling for a Lite version of GenCon. I was thinking this in the dream and thinking how I only attended because I was local. This dream likely happened because of the recent web board refresh for 2019, and because the thoughts of the general public in the dream reflect my personal views on the real GenCon.
Still looking forward to GenCon 2019, but it will probably be my last since I have tentative plans to move out of Indianapolis in October of next year.
Do we have an over/under yet for the first "Gen Con is too big for Indy, and should move to city 'x'" thread yet? :D
Has anyone considered Chicago?
Fresno, California!
Has anyone considered Gen Con moving to...
*Takes deep breath*
Boston, Providence, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Richmond, Charlotte, Columbia, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Tucson, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver, Salt Lake City, Boise, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, or Las Vegas?
I mean just a thought?
Gen Con 2019: August 1 - 4, 2019Gen Con 2020: July 30 - August 2, 2020Gen Con 2021: August 5-8, 2021Gen Con 2022: August 4-7, 2022
Dates are already set for Indianapolis.
Maybe after that if Indianapolis doesn't offer the same incentives to stay there.
What will be the big topic this year? en Con is too big, so we have to move it to make it smaller. Indy doesn't have enough transportation, X city is better. There is not enough Downtown Hotel space, X city is better. Indy is too crowded, X city is better.
Transportation usually starts before the housing goes up, once that happens the "not enough hotel space" usually takes over until event registration, then it's "we can't go because we didn't get tickets to X event" and that goes until about a month before the Con.
We go through this every year, the idea of moving Gen Con from Indy. It got more intense following the Indiana state legislature passing anti-LGBT legislation. Chicago has a bigger convention center but hotel costs are outrageous. Las Vegas would be good because they have conventions all the time and reasonable hotel costs, and the hotels wouldn't gouge Gen Con attendees like Indy does. However, it is a long way from most people. Indy is within a days drive of half the U.S. population. Orlando might be good, but again not centrally located. Indy is a compromise and I can understand Gen Con LLC wanting to keep it there. My personal preference would be Vegas. It would be good if Gen Con didn't take all of the downtown hotel space so you could reserve for the next year the day after Gen Con. Regardless we are stuck with Indy until the contract runs out.
I think we will be in Indy for a LONG...long time. Unless something drastic changes, I believe we are past the most likely time they would have moved. The fact they've extended twice since the Anti-LGBTQ policies were pushed tells me that they are happy with Indy. Obviously I could be wrong, and clearly no one is going to confirm or deny this, but to me I'd say it's safe to say we're gonna be here for the long haul. It's been extending yearly and I see no end in sight for that.
BTW we are through 2023 now.
(*ducks*)
;)
I've just started to look at the downtown map to get my priorities in order for the housing portal, and this was my reaction: "Hotel, hotel, hotel... more hotels... more hotels... good God, Indy is PERFECT for Gen Con."
GenCon is where it belongs.
If Gen Con eventually moves, it moves. (Think Ivan in Rocky IV) I will follow the convention!
The only other thing I will add to the mix (because, really, this thread has been hashed and rehashed so very, very many times!), is that Indy is not a direct flight for a whole lot of people. Sure, you can get a flight from Seattle or Houston, but they generally make at least one stopover.