[GenCon 2006] booth chairs

[Paul Czege]

Last year's chair sponsorship program endowed us with twenty steel chairs, and saved us the non-trivial sum of money we'd have had to spend on renting cheap-ola chairs from the GenCon furniture vendor. Booth ninja emeritus Tom transported the chairs to the convention center, and then back to his residence in Schaumburg, Illinois (outside of Chicago), and has stored them for us. But it turns out that for job reasons, he won't be at GenCon this year. So what should be an ongoing asset, producing furniture cost savings every year, is at risk of not being so this year. And we need a solution. Options:

1. Someone steps up and takes ownership of storing and transporting the chairs, and works with Tom on the hand-off.

2. Folks travelling to GenCon from Milwaukee, Madison, and the Chicago area step up and volunteer to pick up some chairs from Tom on their way to the convention, and then keep them for us for next year. (Who could turn down the opportunity to have a set of Jared Sorensen, Clinton R. Nixon, Vincent Baker, and Luke Crane chairs on hand for his next poker party?)

3. A hybrid of the above, with either someone transporting all the chairs to GenCon, and then multiple individuals taking home several chairs each until next year, or multiple individuals picking up chairs from Tom, on their way to GenCon, and then a single person taking ownership of them until next year.

Let's work out the details.

Paul

[Luke]

This is a red alert, folks. We need those chairs. Please do what you can.

-L

[btrc]

I may have the transport capacity to get a few of them home after GenCon (a car trunk), but picking up any on the way there is not possible since I'm coming from the wrong direction. What are our various departure points for getting to GenCon? (mine is the DC area). I'm willing to chip in a share for a one-way U-haul rental if someone can dogleg over to where the chairs are to get them to GenCon, and then we each use what transport capacity we have to get them home after GenCon.

Along the lines of furniture, how are we set for shelves and whatnot? Is someone in charge of that, or is it on autopilot (i.e. nothing happening because of diffused responsibility).

Greg

[Blankshield]

I don't have a direct solution to the existing problem (the flying in from Canada part pretty much guarantees that), but may I suggest that, for down the road, a storage place near the convention center will significantly reduce the risk of this happening again?

10 minutes with Google got me this:

http://www.extraspace.com/StorageFacility.asp?state=IN&site=501678

About 2 miles from the convention center, a 3x7 is $21/month.  A 5x10 is $29/month.  How does $350 a year figure into the ongoing costs of furniture?

James

[Andrew Cooper]

These are just metal, folding chairs?  I can't get them to GenCon but I could store them throughout the year.  I'm planning on going to GenCon next year too so I could actually bring them then.  The issue you run into with me is that I'm not a publisher (yet), so if something comes up during the year I have less investment in actually going to the convention.  Thus things like conventions are the first things to go away should anything arise during the year.  Having said that, I'm also hoping to have my own game to sell next year, so maybe that won't be a problem at all.

Either way, I have a basement in which to store the chairs in a safe, dry place.  My plans are to be at the convention next year.  I can't get the chairs to the Con this year but I could transport them away from the Con.

[Paul Czege]

Andrew, thank you. Consider yourself our official solution for post-GenCon chair transport, storage, and 2007 chair delivery. Yes, they're steel folding chairs. No worries?

And I'm not sure it matters, but are you a booth ninja this year, or a regular four-day attendee?

Paul

[Andrew Cooper]

I am a GoD table custodian and regular 4 day attendee.  Next year I hope to be newbie Booth buyin person.

Steel folding chairs are no worry.  I was just making sure they were folding.  I couldn't fit 20 non-folding chairs in my van.

[Ron Edwards]

So we've got the "pack up chairs and store them for later" end of the problem covered.

What about the "get chairs and bring them" end? Like it or not, someone who's driving down from that area is going to have a rent a van, get the chairs to Tom, and show up at the con no later than 2:00 or 3:00 on Wednesday afternoon.

I don't think there will be any problem with primary sponsors helping to defray the cost of the van. But that's reimbursement, not organization or pre-paying.

Who's it going to be?

Best, Ron

[Andrew Cooper]

I just thought of this.  What time can I pick the chairs up on Sunday?  This could be an issue as one of my passengers on this trip has to drive all the way back to Savanna, Georgia on Sunday and we can leave too late (it's a 12 hour trip).  I don't know what time things start getting broken down, having never stayed past about 8am on Sunday before.

[Paul Czege]

Hey Andrew,

The exhibit hall closes at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, Indianapolis time, at which time they open the loading dock doors. The tear down of booths begins immediately. If you were already parked in the loading dock lot we could have the chairs out to you within minutes.

Does that work for you?

Paul

[Andrew Cooper]

Paul,

I'm not sure yet.  Give me a day or two to work on this. Rob (my friend sharing my ride) is in the military and cannot be back late, so I have to verify times and dates with him.  If it were just me, it'd be no problem.

[Keith Senkowski]

On Delivery:

I cannot store them for any length of time, but I can deliver.  My sister and I will swap cars (she has an SUV).  All I need is for the chairs to be delivered to my house prior to GenCon (I live in Wauconda, which is like 20 to 30 minutes from Shaumburg).

Keith

[Silent Tamatama]

Hey Keith

Tom here, the guy with the chairs.  I can bring the chairs to your location no problem.  I'll private message you for the details of when and where.  Thanks everybody for stepping up to help solve this problem, I was sweating it for a bit that me not coming to GenCon and bringing the chairs would be a big problem.

[Tim C Koppang]

I have a mini-van, and I can get to Schaumburg on my own. I can't store the chairs, but I can certainly pick up a healthy chunk of them on my way to the Con. Let me know.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi folks,

We have the biggest problem now solved, if Keith and Tim can privately confirm to Tom and Paul that they can bring the chairs to GenCon. All logistics should be handled among you guys.

What to do with the chairs afterwards remains an issue, but it's not as red-hot. Andrew, post here to let us know how your original proposal is looking. If my twitching antennae are picking up the right signals, I'm perceiving that a 4:30 pm departure from Indianapolis will be too late in the day for your friend to be delivered back to his military digs in time.

If that's the case, no harm done. Just let us know so more folks can speak up. At present, I don't see a problem with splitting the chairs up among the various Chicago-esque participants, as long as the room to transport them can be arranged. (I, for instance, can probably bring back a couple of them.)

Best, Ron