[addlepated]

The ARGFest in Vancouver was pretty poorly attended, IIRC. And the furthest south a Fest has been since 2003 has been - Chicago? SF? Not sure which is southerer. Heck, even KC would be a nice centralish location.

[SirQuady]

imbri wrote:

I'm still bringing up my same tired issue with Toronto (and Canada as a whole)... Passports.

How is that different than the issues that it being in the US has dealt to us Canadians? You know, passports, border crossings, increased travel costs, etc.

(Yes, i know there's theoretically more American Unfictionites than Canadians, but you guys have had, what...7 ARGfests now? 8? Shouldn't we get our chance?)

Plus, if we lock it in early (so talking about it now is very helpful), those Americans who don't have passports have time to get them.

We might not have hard numbers at the moment for hotel costs and what-have-you, but we have multiple people in both Toronto and southern Ontario to work that out. There's a number of ARG creation teams and companies in the area (easy to grab speakers from them, if we wish). There's numerous attractions and hang-out places around the city. Public transit is cheap compared to many big cities and super-accessible. The issue of some preceding years, where the Canadian dollar was high enough to make travel costs for the Americans painful aren't really an issue at the moment. I'm sure there's other plus sides i'm forgetting that my fellow Ontario-ans can help me fill in.

[addlepated]

I would totally be up for planning an Austin fest. Hell, my hubby was so enthusiastic after this year's fest that he's all up for planning one, too (Elan's magical Rock Band drum set is covered in fairy dust, is what I think). But yeah, we totally can't do it in July - at least not with a FestQuest. People would melt. It's been 100+ for over 30 days this year so far and sane people don't go outdoors unless they have to.

FestQuest in the lake? Maybe. But perhaps something like either Columbus Day in October or adjacent to SXSWi in March would be a saner choice, weather-wise.

[labfly]

or New Orleans or a smaller city like Savannah, GA

[October]

ARGFest in the South

I am not opposed to ARGFest Texas or to formulating a proposal; however, I will just remind everyone how miserable FestQuest would be outdoors in Texas in July. >_> If no one minds the heat, though - Texas ARGers, let's have a chat.

[konamouse]

Not that I have any pull or push in the vicinity, but we've been in the north east three times now - I would like to suggest some folks in the SOUTH belly up to the bar and use some southern charm to submit their city for the next ARGFest.

[imbri]

thebruce wrote:

I'm still pushing strongly for Toronto...

I'm still bringing up my same tired issue with Toronto (and Canada as a whole)...

Passports.

Only about 1/4 of Americans have them (and of those, how many are lost or expired?). We can take the "screw em" attitude or we can try to be as easy & accessible as possible. My preference (not nec. that of the entire planning committee) is, obviously, to go with ease & accessibility. So, I would suggest that if/when you put together a bid for Toronto (or anywhere outside the US), you show how the benefits of having it in Canada are greater than the cost of the passport issue.

[SpaceBass]

Following on Giskard's comment, the Directing Committee is working on a Request for Proposals which will outline all of our requirements, information, and local staffing we would need for potential locations to be considered. The request should be issued in mid-August and will be open to anyone who wants to take a shot at having ARGFest 2010 in their favorite city.

[Varin]

Pixiestix wrote:

I second this push....

I'll third it! I'm also willing to help out the planning committee in any way I can. Unfortunately, I'm not in a location that is ARGfest worthy, so it would be remote help

[Giskard]

I would like to post a serious response in this thread as well as my previous lighthearted one, all the more so because I saw questions about voting on a location for next year on Twitter.

We are past the point where we can just pick any city and go there, if we want to keep doing ARGFest in the same way we did for the past three years. The process of scouting for hotels, checking out their available services and trying to match them with our needs and wishes, finding and/or negotiating the right price, etc. etc. took months.

Then the next stage is coordinating with the hotel about rooms, conference space, A/V services, food, group rates and everything that is guaranteed to go wrong over the course of a few months when planning for such an event.

So just to make it clear, we will not be having a vote for next year's location. We are really very much open to suggestions though, but if you really want to "push" a certain location, you better bring something to the table (like hard numbers / hotels that fit our needs) to have it weigh in...

[October]

I'd totally love a Canadian ARGFest, too.

[Pixiestix]

thebruce wrote:

I'm still pushing strongly for Toronto...

I second this push....

[thebruce]

I'm still pushing strongly for Toronto...

[DavFlamerock]

October wrote:

ARGFest Maine?

/me really likes THIS idea

[October]

ARGFest Hawaii.

Except, of course, 2010 has to be East Coast or Central, so maybe... ARGFest Maine?