TAM 7 Forum Party Proposal

[TsarBomba]

The party formerly known as the Forum Party was great while it lasted. The suite was great, there was much fun and commiseration, and the liquor was flowing. All until security shut it down--much earlier than anybody (except the poor residents of the nearby rooms) wanted.

I think that the members of the forum might want to re-think the "party in the hotel suite" concept for TAM 7. After TAM 6 we had a post-TAM debate about this. I admit that I was in the "let Rebecca handle it, and keep it in a suite" camp. The hotel suite model has two major drawbacks: (1) It keeps getting shut down by security and (2) the noise generated must bug the hell out of the residents of the neighboring rooms (which is probably the reason for the security shut-downs at TAMs 5, 5.5, and 6).

My proposal is this: The forum elect a group of three volunteer members to act as a Forum Party Planning Committee. Once the Southpoint deal is totally finalized this committee can talk with the hotel and/or JREF to try to figure out a workable/feasable/affordable/reasonable proposal and then can post a message on the Forum indicating how much it is going to cost and then soliciting donations through Paypal, just like the Forum Net A Thon did this year.

If everyone likes this idea, and we have volunteers for the Committee, we can have an election by means of a thread poll or something similar.

Thus ends my proposal.

 

[Reed]

Though the hotel might require a cash bar and prohibit any of us from bringing our own bottles of liquor into the room, it'd be nice if we could at least bring in glasses of drinks poured elsewhere.

 

[TsarBomba]

Reed makes a very good point. This is why I think that a (very) small committee should be elected--to consider the toughts and concerns of all of the forum members and them develop the very best plan that they can for the forum members to approve or disapprove.

I think that the (so far hypothetical) committee should think "outside the box" and consider more than the concept of a suite or a hotel conference room and consider things like renting out the casino's bowling alley, reserving an entre bar, and the like. I, for one, would hate to be stuck with the paltry over-priced selection that a hotel catered open bar allows. I think that there are a lot of interesting possibilities to consider.

 

[saganite]

I've got no problems with kicking in cash for party donations, regardless of the venue. All I ask is that once the initial donation has been made, the liquor be free-flowing and unlimited.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

And from the bit you snipped, I was a bit resentful when Rebecca invocated the festivities by saying it was the Skepchick party. It was not, it was the Forum Party.

The suite was great...

It was awesome... for about 20-25 people who could keep their voices down.

All until security shut it down--much earlier than anybody expected.

Except for me. I was the first that I'm aware of apart from Hokulele to leave and I never asked her if her reason was the same "Eff this loud, hot, firetrap, I'm out of here before security kicks us out in an hour or so" as me, but I was the first refugee at the Garden Bar waiting for people to start showing up. I got to the suite about 9:10pm and was gone by 10:20pm ish. Honestly I'm surprised it lasted until 11:45ish.

I think that the members of the forum might want to re-think the "party in the hotel suite" concept for TAM 7.

You think?

(1) It keeps getting shut down by security and (2) the noise generated must bug the hell out of the residents of the neighboring rooms (which is probably the reason for the security shut-downs at TAMs 5, 5.5, and 6).

Point of order on both of these. Whose fault was that? The suite being too small and located where folks might want to go to bed by midnight or the fault of attendees for allowing the auto-catylitic noise increase to reach levels where the party could be heard half-way down a rather long and noise dampened hallway? The heat, overcrowding and fire hazard aspects were simply numbers vs. venue though.

I ranted about the overall fiasco of the whatever it was party Saturday night, but as one who contributed to the cost of the suite I'm sorry, but I'm a bit resentful of Rebecca right now for not being more of a controlling hostess as far as noise goes because I feel like I helped pay for a rather expensive suite that "we" only got to enjoy for 2+ hours while she and whichever other guests she selected to remain after security made the eviction got the enjoy the night in that expensive suite.

Simply put I'm with the committee recommendation and we need to get an appropriate venue that will allow for the time and noise inherent with 120-150 people partying until dawn.

 

[Phlebas]

I'm a bit resentful of Rebecca right now for not being more of a controlling hostess as far as noise goes

Not saying you're wrong, but what exactly could she have done? I was out in the hall myself when Rebecca came out and asked us all to come back in. I don't know that you can blame one person for people getting too drunk to use their inside voices.

I agree that we've outgrown the suite. The next option up is likely something like renting a standalone building like a house for the weekend, if something like that is possible. We have a number of Las Vegas-based forumites -- maybe they can come up with an idea.

It was dangerously hot, though. If the cops hadn't shown up, I think it's possible paramedics would have.

 

[Dunstan]

At TAM3 (and 4, too?), didn't the Stardust give us a conference-room suite on the ground floor, away from hotel rooms, where we could bring our own booze and party away without noise worries? Admittedly, the forum party was a smaller event back then.

 

[RemieV]

My proposal is this: The forum elect a group of three volunteer members to act as a Forum Party Planning Committee. Once the Southpoint deal is totally finalized this committee can talk with the hotel and/or JREF to try to figure out a workable/feasable/affordable/reasonable proposal and then can post a message on the Forum indicating how much it is going to cost and then soliciting donations through Paypal, just like the Forum Net A Thon did this year.

If everyone likes this idea, and we have volunteers for the Committee, we can have an election by means of a thread poll or something similar.

Thus ends my proposal.

The Forum Party is actually not an official JREF event - so there would be nothing the JREF could do to help negotiate a deal (although there are some "unless"es, which I'll get to).

Since there are often noise complaints and cops being called, it isn't a very good idea for the JREF to host the party if it is in someone's room. However...

As for the Southpoint idea, if the party was officially hosted by the JREF and a reception room was reserved, no one would be permitted to bring in alcohol of their own. The contracts for these events state that all alcohol and food must go through the hotel's Food and Beverage Department.

If you reserve a reception room on your own, you will still have to go through the Food and Beverage Department. And drinks will cost about $4 each. And again, no outside liquor.

If you are interested in doing this and work out a plan that involves the JREF in some way, please write me at alison@randi.org as we are already talking to the individuals at Southpoint and should start making plans.

Thanks!

~Remie

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

Not saying you're wrong, but what exactly could she have done? I was out in the hall myself when Rebecca came out and asked us all to come back in. I don't know that you can blame one person for people getting too drunk to use their inside voices.

That was more of a pet peeve about money I donated to a forum/TAM thingie going horribly awry almost immediately that it was about Rebecca (apart from the Skepchick's party vis Forum party comment) not being able to keep 30 or 70 or 150 people from not autocatylitically from getting louder and louder as more people showed up. On the flip side, apart from Sunday night when some folks were blocking the route the waitresses took, our presence in the Garden bar wasn't just tolerated but welcomed since it appears that we were such good tippers that despite taking over an entire area, the bartenders were glad to have use back night after night.

At TAM3 (and 4, too?), didn't the Stardust give us a conference-room suite on the ground floor, away from hotel rooms, where we could bring our own booze and party away without noise worries? Admittedly, the forum party was a smaller event back then.

Speaking from my TAM 3 experience... yes. The courtesy room was away from the rooms where people wanted to sleep so we could be loud and play music until 4am. If future TAM venues don't have such a room availible we need to find someplace that can accomodate 130-150 people and the noise that will result from such a gathering.

 

[Phlebas]

That was more of a pet peeve about money I donated to a forum/TAM thingie going horribly awry almost immediately that it was about Rebecca (apart from the Skepchick's party vis Forum party comment) not being able to keep 30 or 70 or 150 people from not autocatylitically from getting louder and louder as more people showed up.

Gotcha.

And thanks for the word "autocatalytically" -- I'm totally dropping that in conversation from now on

And I agree with you about the Garden Bar. You could almost see their eyes light up when they saw our name tags heading in. Being a generally well-behaved and generous bunch will open lots of doors.

At the rate TAM is growing, we'll be in the 1100-1200 range for TAM 7. Unless we start getting exclusive about who can come, we simply have to abandon the old model.

And I confess I was calling it the Skepchick party, but that was only to help tweak Claus' nose

 

[Reed]

And drinks will cost about $4 each. And again, no outside liquor.

Bummer about not being able to bring anything in, but if drinks are that cheap and they'll serve until 4am, then it seems like a good compromise.

(And one can always return to his room to re-fill a hip flask. )

 

[TsarBomba]

The Forum Party is actually not an official JREF event - so there would be nothing the JREF could do to help negotiate a deal (although there are some "unless"es, which I'll get to).

Since there are often noise complaints and cops being called, it isn't a very good idea for the JREF to host the party if it is in someone's room. However...

As for the Southpoint idea, if the party was officially hosted by the JREF and a reception room was reserved, no one would be permitted to bring in alcohol of their own. The contracts for these events state that all alcohol and food must go through the hotel's Food and Beverage Department.

If you reserve a reception room on your own, you will still have to go through the Food and Beverage Department. And drinks will cost about $4 each. And again, no outside liquor.

If you are interested in doing this and work out a plan that involves the JREF in some way, please write me at alison@randi.org as we are already talking to the individuals at Southpoint and should start making plans.

Thanks!

~Remie

Remie makes some very valid points, which is why I think that we need to have a committee elected/selected to look at all the options and then figure out the best one for the group. There may be other options than just renting out a conference room (I certainly hope so!).

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

As far as "negotiating a deal" goes, how much latitude does the law allow a hotel/casino in Vegas? My guess, is that there is no hope of them legally being able to rent a room and allow outside alcohol. (Nice excuse for them, too)

Of course, Vegas is different from other jurisdictions in a lot of ways.

 

[TsarBomba]

Point of order on both of these. Whose fault was that? The suite being too small and located where folks might want to go to bed by midnight or the fault of attendees for allowing the auto-catylitic noise increase to reach levels where the party could be heard half-way down a rather long and noise dampened hallway? The heat, overcrowding and fire hazard aspects were simply numbers vs. venue though.

I ranted about the overall fiasco of the whatever it was party Saturday night, but as one who contributed to the cost of the suite I'm sorry, but I'm a bit resentful of Rebecca right now for not being more of a controlling hostess as far as noise goes because I feel like I helped pay for a rather expensive suite that "we" only got to enjoy for 2+ hours while she and whichever other guests she selected to remain after security made the eviction got the enjoy the night in that expensive suite.

Simply put I'm with the committee recommendation and we need to get an appropriate venue that will allow for the time and noise inherent with 120-150 people partying until dawn.

This afternoon I got an email from Rebecca (which I assume was sent to everyone who donated to the party fund) setting forth what happened from her perspective and offering to give money back to people who feel agrieved. I would post the email here, but since Rebecca is banned I don't know if posting it would violate forum rules, so I won't. I think that Rebecca has shown a lot of class with her position, and I for one will not be asking her to give me my money back. All of us who donated should have known that there were inherent risks in getting value for money when we as a group spend it on a suite for a party that has been broken up by security before--caveat emptor. Rebecca put her self on the line to orgainize a party. If the room had been damaged, it would have been she that was on the line for the cost (at least as far as the hotel was concerned). I don't think that blaming Rebecca is fair.

At any rate, I suggest that any people that have complaints about the Forum Party volunteer to serve on my proposed committee.

P.S. If you have not received a copy of Rebecca's email, and you want it, PM me with your email and I will send it to you.

 

[ottle]

Sorry, I meant to post this post in this thread, not the other one:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=3800216#post3800216

Just my thoughts on why the wheels fell off the proverbial bus...

 

[TsarBomba]

Sorry, I meant to post this post in this thread, not the other one:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=3800216#post3800216

Just my thoughts on why the wheels fell off the proverbial bus...

After reading Ottle's clear and cogent post, I for one think that Ottle would be an excellent choice to head up the Forum Party Committee (if indeed there will be such a thing), so I hereby nominate Ottle to be in charge. Of course, I might have just gotten Ottle really mad at me for this suggestion.

 

[ottle]

After reading Ottle's clear and cogent post, I for one think that Ottle would be an excellent choice to head up the Forum Party Committee (if indeed there will be such a thing), so I hereby nominate Ottle to be in charge. Of course, I might have just gotten Ottle really mad at me for this suggestion.

Thanks for the vote of confidence but no thanks I helped with the last 2 parties coordination and couldn't find anything. I think fresh eyes are in order.

I'd be happy to talk through what I did find out though and give pointers on what we've done in the past.

 

[Reed]

After reading Ottle's clear and cogent post, I for one think that Ottle would be an excellent choice to head up the Forum Party Committee

I for one think that Ottle Rich Orman would be an excellent choice to head up the Forum Party Committee.

 

[Crystal]

The next option up is likely something like renting a standalone building like a house for the weekend, if something like that is possible. We have a number of Las Vegas-based forumites -- maybe they can come up with an idea.

I very much like this idea. Potential challenges are shuttling people and cost, but these can be overcome with creativity. Craigslist may be another place to search for such venues?

 

[grayman]

I hereby pledge $100.00 toward the bar tab. Perhaps we can make this a moderately priced, if not free, bar yet.

Odd thing is, I don't drink alcohol. Guess this is evidence of how much I love you guys.