Hi all!

For this year's SimuCon, we were wondering how receptive everyone would be to changing locations. We've traditionally held SimuCon in St Louis, but in the past we had other unofficial conventions in other cities throughout the year, including VegasCon - which was held regularly up until a few years ago.

Hence, to shake things up a bit, we were looking into changing this year's location to Las Vegas. The format would be same as before – you could donate through Indiegogo for a badge and other goodies – or you could simply show up as you please! We'll aim for the same room fees for single King or two Doubles as we had last year at the Chalet – around $100/night on the weekends.

The time frame would be the same – some weekend in August – which is also what we need to pin down. I’ve created a survey to gauge everyone's interest – if everyone wants to stay in St Louis, that's fine too! :) At the very least, we can pin down a weekend to go on.

If you could take the time to fill out this short survey, this will help us out so much. I'll get back to everyone in a couple weeks with the results and the plan going forward!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/N6R2J2F

Thanks,

--Zythica

If you're open to really shaking things up, I know that the Costco flier for the month of March included four-nights adults-only food & likker incuded (quote "unlimited meals, snacks, and premium domestic and international beverages") in Jamaica for $899/person, travel between 1-May-2016 and 13-Aug-2016.

Since I usually wind up spending a thousand bucks even before I get to "food", this is, like a bargain. :)

(Down side, of course, is you have to buy before 28-Mar-2016.)

.

Or possibly just keep that on the radar for a future year.

Hey, I said to keep an open mind for future years. :)

But I suspect we as a group could more than get our money's worth from any of the "all inclusive" joints....

(HELLO MY NAME IS RETSER AND I LIKE TO PARTY(IN VEGAS))

-Retser-
Quest Guru
Icemule Guru
Halfling Guru

If at all possible, can we avoid scheduling on the same dates as:

August 8th - 14th, 2016(76th Annual Sturgis Rally)

I know hanging out with a bunch of gemstoners would be fun........This is Sturgis we are talking about though.

>(HELLO MY NAME IS RETSER AND I LIKE TO PARTY(IN VEGAS))

It's a little hard to understand you, Rester. Is that a Lisp?

Cheap flight to an easy airport vs. St. Louis. I couldn't drive like I did, but hotel prices would be reasonable. There might be more extra curricular activities at the casinos and the strip. It might be a larger attended convention, but might be tricky keeping folks in the same room with all the distraction of activities open to us. It's worth a shot for sure. As it's in August baby #2 may not stop me from attending, likely, but not entirely.

I'm always down for Vegas!

>I'm guessing most people who go to simucon live in Midwest/west USA? trying to understand why the treatment for vegas when that place sucks compared to areas with more to do like Hawaii, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Grand Cayman Islands, etc.

Whether it is St. Louis or Vegas... I am there, because I love this crazy crew and apparently I'll follow them to the ends of the earth.

... but it's also important to try to maintain a certain level of economic and logistical accessibility for people. Flights to Vegas are cheap. Flights to Honolulu are not. A long weekend in St. Louis or in Vegas is a very different kind of trip than an island vacation that may or may not require a passport. Ultimately, Simucon is a 4 day party with some awesome people. That's what it's always been about - not the setting. I think the second we turn it into a jaunt down to Grand Cayman... it becomes something else, and a lot of people who have been there every single year... won't be anymore.

I'd rather a shoddy hotel conference room in Missouri if it means everybody can come. I'll take my island vacation on my own time.

(And as an aside... on the topic of 'having things to do' - if we do end up in Vegas, I hope there's a degree of activity planning that encourages people to do things together and not go fragment off into 20 different directions.)

Signed,
Raelee and her Strings

>Speaking to Zyllah, Alyias says, "See? Raelee knows all."

"activity planning that encourages people to do things together" -- Raelee

Now, you know you're always welcome to join in on the strip club ventures....

>Now, you know you're always welcome to join in on the strip club ventures....

Wow. Robert may have just convinced me to attend my first Simucon. :)

--David

"At a moment like this, I can't help but wonder, 'What would Jimmy Buffett do?'"

I see a lot of pro-Vegas and I'm not sure if that's representative or no one wants to be THAT person.

So.... I did go to Simucon last year. Great fun! I had been planning to return this year but it's fairly unlikely if it moves to Vegas.

It's far away from New England, the flights (as priced today) are much more expensive, and the distractions seem likely to reduce the cohesive feel of the event.

Someone said this in the thread:
>>Ultimately, Simucon is a 4 day party with some awesome people. That's what it's always been about - not the setting.

I always thought that St. Louis was sort of inconvenient in a fair way - at least it was central. But if the venue were changed, my preference would be a move to a mid-west airport hub city, like Chicago or Dallas.

---

Life is short, so tell someone today that you love them. But shout it loudly in Faendryl, because life is also terrifying and confusing.

If it's in Vegas, we need con-only game of Dragonbones.

I was there last year as well and had a great time. I agree with Katiesa in that I'd like to see it someplace more central and an airport hub (or within driving distance like St Louis is).
I probably wouldn't go if it were in Vegas.

Regwen

---

A silver glow surrounds Regwen briefly.

Lheren says, "The Lord of Night has heard you, it seems."

It's getting close.

SGM Sleken