EC2005 Planning Phase 2

[Monolith]

Lets begin working on Phase 2 using what we have so far from Phase 1.

Location:
Toronto and New York City seemed to be the top picks for locations. A couple people have gathered some information on Toronto, but still nobody has seemed to have collected anything for New York City. So while NYC is fading out of the picture, I have spoken with Ducky and she has been busy collecting information on Boston, so we will probably have two locations to choose from. Once Ducky is finished putting together details for Boston, and the information collected for Toronto is also put together, then we should be good to make a final decision on the city.

Month:
Overall, early August seems to be the best time for most people, so I guess that's what we'll be shooting for.

Days:
Here's where I have something new for you. Since we know we're going for early August, I'd like to try to pin down the exact days people want. I wrote up a quick poll for people to take so we can try to find the best match for that.

<center><div style="font-size: 42pt; font-weight: bold;"><blink>&rarr;</blink> <a href="http://jazz.madskills.org/ec2005/date_poll.pl">Date Poll</a> <blink>&larr;</blink></div></center>
So everyone thinking they might come, take that poll. If you don't understand it, I'll try to explain it a little better. My personal recommendation for the prefered dates (in case you don't really care or have anything in mind for that) is something like from the 4th to the 7th. That way both week days and weekend are included.

Activities:
I think we have the gereal idea, but now we have to wait till we finalize the city.

<small>[edit: made the date poll link more obvious, hint hint]</small>

[MaGoo]

This should probably be stickied..

Anyhoo, I'm still rooting for Toronto.

[Ducky]

Do you want my Boston stuff here, in the community El Jay, or...?

[Monolith]

<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/community/jj2/6790.html">A link to your post in the community LJ</a> might be good. Or you could copy it here as well for the lazy people.

Axie's comment containing some info on Toronto can be found <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/community/jj2/5721.html">here</a>.

I'd like to thank them both because now we have something to look at. :P

Comment in case there's something you'd like to know for either city, and hopefully someone can find the answer. Or if you find more details that you think might be important, post those too.

[Ducky]

Comment in case there's something you'd like to know....Or if you find more details that you think might be important, post those too.

Cough.

Input = clap. (clap = good)

[Monolith]

Why is there such a severe lack of input on this? We should get the final location chosen within a month from now so we can start making real plans. I was talking to iCeD earlier, and mentioned to him that instead of just making a plain poll, we would use the results of the group's discussion to determine the final location. That way we can do a better job at figuring out what we need to know and come to an agreement rather than just having a silent majority. So anybody who's interested should be <em>posting</em> what they think about the locations and stuff.

For me, I don't know which location I prefer right now. A big factor in my decision is where the people I most want to meet will be able to go, and right now that kind of seems split up.

[MaGoo]

I think that this topic should get some more attention in #jj2. So far I don't see much.

[iCeD]

I generally still side with Toronto, on account of two reasons: It's cheaper and it's Canada.

Although I would not be entirely opposed to Boston, Toronto's atmosphere and what it has available are in general more appealing. The drawback is some people that could come to Boston cannot come to Toronto, but the same applies to the other way around.

Now let's hope some more discussion on this starts popping up.

[MaGoo]

It IS cheaper, and we cannot forget the fact that we have a few people in the community living in Toronto already.

[Monolith]

...ok, well it looks like the location is going to be Toronto.

MaGoo: rooting for Toronto
Ducky: probably hoping for Boston, but can accept Toronto
Monolith: unsure, but can accept Toronto
iCeD: siding with Toronto
VeggieMan: Toronto or not at all
Noveh: unsure about either, although Boston might be better


Look, here's the data side-by-side for you:

<table border=1><tr><th></th><th>Boston</th><th>Toronto</th></tr><tr><td>Lodging</td><td>Several options
Around $100 per room per night</td><td>Something like $90-$200 USD per room per night</td></tr><tr><td>Transportation</td><td>Boston subway system: $1.25 for one trip, $7.50 for a 1-day pass, $18.00 for a 3-day pass, $35.00 for a 7-day pass
Busses: about $1 per trip</td><td>TTC: $2.50 CAD or $2.05 USD per trip, $8.00 CAD or $6.58 USD per day for single or group pass, $41.25 CAD or 33.91 USD for a GTA weekly pass</td></tr><tr><td>Entertainment</td><td>Traditional touristy stuff: Museum of Fine Arts, Fleet Center, Aquarium, Faneuil Hall
Possibly concerts
Back Bay area is a nice place to walk through with shops, restaurants, and clubs
The Prudential Building, Copley Square, the Library, Kenmore Gardens, and there's a pretty exciting night-crawler scene</td><td>Arcades: Playdium, Orbit
Tourist Traps: CN Tower, Winter Garden
Shopping: Downtown, Kensington, Queen, Eaton Centre
Amusement Parks: Canada’s Wonderland
Bars, clubs, concerts probably</td></tr><tr><td>Web Links</td><td>http://www.boston.com </td><td>http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/visitors/index.htm
http://www.toronto.com/
http://www.ttc.ca
http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/default.htm </td></tr></table>

I'd say if there's no change in opinion about the location by like next Monday (April 4th), then we might as well go with Toronto.

[DarkJazz23]

Funny but I'm not really interested yet, I'm to young for these things you see.