[Forge Midwest 2007] Official thread, Part 1 of 2

[Matt Snyder]

Hi folks, here's a quick non-update.

The date, as I've said, is indeed officially April 20-22.

Right now, work is kicking me in the ass so hard I barely see my wife and kids. So, I haven't had time to call hotels. I could use some help!

Here is a web page with the hotels I'm looking at:

http://www.rosemont.com/hotels/index_hotels.php

And this different one gives an estimate of room prices:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g36630-Rosemont_Illinois-Hotels.html

Those prices are actually represented too high in most cases. When I get room rental quotes, they almost always are less than those on the page immediately above.

I have already contacted the Holiday Inn Select. I have attempted to contact about 3 others, but can't yet get through to pricing.


Here's what I'm shooting for:

1) Meeting room rental Saturday, April 21 from 9 a.m. up through at least 12 midnight. And Sunday, April 22 from 10 a.m. through 2 p.m. (possibly later). We probably want 2 different rooms, possibly 3 (it starts to get expensive at that point). Last year, just about 50 people showed up. I expect a similar, slightly higher number around 50-60. Conceivably, it could be higher.

2) Room rates that do not exceed $200 per night. I'm attempting to keep it affordable for as many people as possible.

3) Refreshments supplied as an afternoon snack. We did this last year. It wasn't perfect, but it was nice. Some hotels REQUIRE this (which sucks, as they also require minimum spends).

4) Details on any special rules, etc. For example, food ok or not?

5) They always ask about reserving a block of rooms. SOME REQUIRE A BLOCK OF 10-12 TO BE ABLE TO RENT THE MEETING SPACE! Find out about that one!

I tell them I can really only guess at the number of rooms, and that my guess is around 6 rooms. This is almost NEVER enough rooms to earn a discount rate. That's fine, so long as we can still get meeting space.

6) They always ask out of "curiousity" what kind of group we are. I explain we're a casual social group, that we play games, and have a loose association as book publishers. I suspect they're fishing for information on whether we're going to cause a problem (drinking alcohol or something, maybe, I dunno).

So! If anyone wants to take a stab at calling a hotel or two, please give it a shot. I wont' be able to until at least next week. They usually keep normal office hours.

The only other problem is that they will want to reserve the space, and so on. And, it'll get confusing who the go-to person is, whose credit cards reserves, and so on. I'll take on any of that responsibility, I just need help identifying the information and getting the RFPs.

IMPORTANT: RFP stands for Request for Proposal. So, they have a "sales" office who handles meetings, and they'll send you a quote, aka an RFP. This sounds more scary than it is. They usually deal with corporate meeting type stuff, especially around O'Hare.

So, call, give 'em information, get an RFP, and send it to me at matt (dot) snyder (at) meredith (dot) com (that's not my usual addy -- it's my work addy).

If I don't hear from anyone, I'll get to it eventually. I thought it worth a shot to save us all some time in preparation.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya Matt,

My wife is looking into this for us.  Right now, she has narrowed them down to the Embassy Suites and Double Tree from the link you posted.  Those are the ones she likes the best (which means that anyone else working on this should keep on working).  She's waiting to hear back from them on a few things.  I'll post when she gets more information.  Is there any further guidance on rooms, rates, and locations you'd like me to pass on to her?  Any preferences?

Peace,

-Troy

[Matt Snyder]

Troy, that's an amazing help! I really appreciate you and your wife doing this. THANKS.

I don't have anything to add, really. I'm a fan of Embassy Suites hotels overall. People have to realize we're trading better location for higher expense, however!

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Troy, that's an amazing help! I really appreciate you and your wife doing this. THANKS.

I don't have anything to add, really. I'm a fan of Embassy Suites hotels overall. People have to realize we're trading better location for higher expense, however!

If the added expense is too much, we'll keep looking.  I'll give you any info I can as soon as we get it.

Peace,

-Troy

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Troy,

I'm gonna pull some Executive Action here and suggest that you and your wife go right ahead and make arrangements with the hotel. Time is getting way too short for us to let it lag much longer. If you're uncomfortable, just send me an email with the website or whatever information you've got already and I'll take it from there.

Best, Ron

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

We can reserve the room (if you mean meeting room) no problem.  But everyone will be in charge of reserving their own room (for sleeping), right?  We told them we would need at least 6-7 (sleeping) rooms.  Let me know if we need to do anything else.

Peace,

-Troy

[Ron Edwards]

That's right, Troy. People will have to make their own reservations for sleeping. But yeah, we need that meeting room. You might want to double-check with Matt about the precise days needed.

Best, Ron

[Matt Snyder]

What Ron said. Troy, you're on target completely.

[TJ]

So...has the final location been decided and reserved?

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

So...has the final location been decided and reserved?

Yes, we will be at the Double Tree O'hare in Rosemont.  We will have the meeting room on Saturday and Sunday.  I figure Matt will make an official sigh up thread soon.

Peace,

-Troy

[drozdal]

Matt, thanx for all the hard worl you've put into organizing this monster.

I'll see you there.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Anyone know what the weather will be like?

Peace,

-Troy

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

April can be tricky. I'd guess somewhere between 50 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and down to maybe 30 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit at night. In Celsius that would be 10 C to 34 C in the day and -2 C to 10C at night. With a decent chance for rain. However, Winter or Summer can decide to rear their head.

[Troy_Costisick]

How many of you booking rooms are mentioning you are with Forge Midwest Gathering?  There are a few rooms left at a slight discount for those who say they are. 

Peace,

-Troy

[Blankshield]

Oops. :/

I booked online, so nope.  I did the 'pay now for $10/night off' net thing.