I'm relieved, in a way, that it was just CONvergence tainting things because that means you can still enjoy other cons. I can understand your relief. Yay, relief!
Several years ago or more I realized that CONvergence just didn't really work for me. To enjoy the con, I'd need a room in the con hotel which means an outlay of quite a lot of money for membership & hotel room. And, of course, actually managing to get a room reserved in the con hotel (which has become increasingly difficult). And I'd need a room I could actually get to/from. And the thing is, at least the years I did go, there wasn't enough programming or other events that I found interesting to make it worth my while. (Part of needing a room would be for some of the reasons you mention, to deal with the crowds, I'd need to have a place I could hole up from time to time).
Last year I liked the look of more of the programming than I have in the past, but realized that there was no way I could realistically commute to the con to check it out (and that was before I heard tales of the really long registration lines). Having to show up super early to get parking and stay all day wouldn't work for me to do a casual drop in for an afternoon and evening or whatever.
Their size issue is a huge problem, IMHO. But apparently the con still works for some people as it is . . . I'm just not one of them and an increasing number of people I know seem to have reached their limit with it and have stopped going (or are stopping this year). I think if they want to stay in the space they're in they should cap the membership. Or else if they want to stay this size or continue to grow they should move downtown where they have larger hotels closer together. And a lot more parking available nearby. If overflow hotels were needed, they'd be a walk down a skyway rather than a shuttle away. But it's not my con and not my problem, though I do sometimes wish I could go to some of it.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2014-05-10 01:41 am (UTC)Several years ago or more I realized that CONvergence just didn't really work for me. To enjoy the con, I'd need a room in the con hotel which means an outlay of quite a lot of money for membership & hotel room. And, of course, actually managing to get a room reserved in the con hotel (which has become increasingly difficult). And I'd need a room I could actually get to/from. And the thing is, at least the years I did go, there wasn't enough programming or other events that I found interesting to make it worth my while. (Part of needing a room would be for some of the reasons you mention, to deal with the crowds, I'd need to have a place I could hole up from time to time).
Last year I liked the look of more of the programming than I have in the past, but realized that there was no way I could realistically commute to the con to check it out (and that was before I heard tales of the really long registration lines). Having to show up super early to get parking and stay all day wouldn't work for me to do a casual drop in for an afternoon and evening or whatever.
Their size issue is a huge problem, IMHO. But apparently the con still works for some people as it is . . . I'm just not one of them and an increasing number of people I know seem to have reached their limit with it and have stopped going (or are stopping this year). I think if they want to stay in the space they're in they should cap the membership. Or else if they want to stay this size or continue to grow they should move downtown where they have larger hotels closer together. And a lot more parking available nearby. If overflow hotels were needed, they'd be a walk down a skyway rather than a shuttle away. But it's not my con and not my problem, though I do sometimes wish I could go to some of it.