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Boston is our geographic and spiritual home; we think it's a nifty city and that fans would—from past evidence—enjoy themselves there. We also know—from experience and reports—that we can run a fine Worldcon, one that ALL fandom will be welcome at and one at which ALL fandom can enjoy themselves.
No, we are bidding in response to MCFI's desire to hold a Worldcon in Boston in 2004. We started thinking about this after BucCONeer. We started hotel negotiations in early 1999. These were firmed up enough so that in September 1999, we had formally committed to a bid. Because of other commitments (we were running World Fantasy Con that year), we withheld formal announcements until Arisia 2000 and Chattacon 2000.
The traditional Labor Day Weekend, September 2-6, 2004.
The Sheraton Boston, the Copley Marriott, and the Hynes Convention Center. The Sheraton is directly [you go through a door; just like a transit portal] connected to the Hynes. From the Marriott you walk about 350 yards (about 320 meters) through the enclosed, air-conditioned Prudential Mall open 24 hours a day, every day [past restaurants and book stores] to the Sheraton and Hynes—you don't have to go outside, or battle street traffic—no taxi-dodging or worrying about the weather.
We've currently BLOCKED 1800 rooms—a 900-room block1 in the Marriott, and a-900 room block2 in the Sheraton. There are many more rooms in these hotels. The blocks can easily be expanded if it becomes necessary.
Our room rates are $1293 flat (single to quad) at the Sheraton and $1294 flat (single to quad) in the Marriott, with a maximum of 5%/year inflation rate increases.
We have a complete corkage waiver for food and non-alcoholic beverages in the hotel sleeping rooms. The convention has no required "Food and Beverage" requirement to siphon off funds better used for the fans.
If you're on a really tight budget, there are a number of hostels, Ys, and guest houses within convenient walking distance.
If your tastes run to quiet, tasteful luxury, there are four world-class luxury hotels close to the Hynes.
You will have a choice.
This site is extremely compact and doesn't require long walks or cab/bus rides from the hotels to the convention center. Spend your time being at the convention, not in transit.
By the way, you'll make your reservations directly with the hotel of your choice—no dealing with housing bureaus.
1Out of 1147
No. For 1998, a professional organization approached a large number of Boston hotels. Strangely enough, the hotels preferred their real money early to our potential money later. Given that situation, MCFI studied alternatives and, because we felt we could not put on the kind of Worldcon fandom deserved with the remaining facilities, voted to postpone our bid to 2001.
For 2001, we were welcomed by the hotels and we considered three different sets of facilities within Boston. However, the hotels room rates and food & beverage guarantees (F&B) which they were getting from mundane conventions, were higher than fandom would accept. We were approached by both the Orange County [FL] Convention Center and the Swan & Dolphin hotels in Orlando, Florida, who had enjoyed MagiCon and wanted to see the Worldcon come back to that area. Because our 2001 bid had so much momentum and fervor on the part of the committee, we voted to switch to the Orlando site rather than fold the bid.
We already have signed contracts with both the Sheraton and Marriott that will automatically go into effect if we win the bid. These contracts lock in the room rates (see above for details) and other advantages for the convention. The time to negotiate is before the site selection—that's when you have the most leverage with the hotels.
A number of changes have taken place; let's look at them one at a time.
First, because the hotel rates were so high, Boston lost a number of conventions (not just the Worldcon). The hotels were getting high rates, but the city-owned Hynes Convention Center wasn't being used. This annoyed both the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So, they put pressure on the hotels to cut rates.
Second, a new convention center and new hotels are planned to be built. They won't be ready in time for us to use them in our bid, but their existence is putting pressure on the hotels near the Hynes to lower their rates to get conventions that might otherwise go to the new convention center in South Boston.
Third, management changed at the major hotels around the Hynes. They looked at income from recent Worldcons and decided that—yes, we do want a Worldcon in Boston...
You are hearing about what is called "rack rates." These are the rates charged to random mundanes who come in as individuals. Many professional conventions don't bother trying to get low room rates because corporations are paying the bills. We know that's not the case for most of us, so we've negotiated affordable rates for the fans.
The Hynes has 360,000 square feet of function space5; this does not include internal administrative areas, loading docks, corridors, storage areas, rest rooms, etc. We also have an additional 120,000 square feet of usable function space in the Sheraton and Marriott. There's more than sufficient space to provide programming, exhibits, etc. for all aspects of fandom.
It's important that the space be neither too small nor too big6. The first is obvious. The second can have bad consequences—a feeling of emptiness, difficulty in finding friends, excessive time spent in going between parts of the convention, and sore feet. With an overly large facility you run the risk of vast empty spaces or finding out that part has been rented to another group. Not only that, but space costs money. The more space you rent, the more money goes to the convention center rather than back to the fans for convention enjoyment.
We have a compact site. Spend your time at the convention—not going between buildings. Here's some comparative distances for Boston and Charlotte (it's taken from www.Switchboard.com and www.MapQuest.com):
| Boston Hotels & Distance to Convention Center | |
| * Boston Sheraton Hotel & Towers | contiguous7 |
| * Copley Marriott Hotel | ~0.2 (via air-conditioned connecting enclosed mall) |
| Charlotte Hotels & Distance to Convention Center | |
| * Hilton Charlotte & Towers | 0.16 mi. |
| * Omni Charlotte (was Radisson) | 0.32 mi. |
| * Marriott City Center | 0.33 mi. |
| * Holiday Inn City Center | 0.4 mi. |
| * Adams Mark Hotel | 0.57 mi. |
| * Four Points Hotel | 0.62 mi. |
Because our hotels are bigger and have significant function space, we'll be able to concentrate the convention, especially in the evenings. And because the convention center is open until at least 2am, a Boston Worldcon won't be split between a day facility and a night facility. If you enjoyed visiting the ConCourse with its informal exhibits and spacious seating by day, you'll be able to lounge there by night as well.
5Noreascon 3 used about 287,000 square feet; the remainder is available, if we want it.
It's comfortable and connected. Those of you who were at Noreascon 3 remember how pleasant the ConCourse was to walk through, visit, or just sit and talk. Because we have large hotels, we will have an evening "center" to the convention—fans won't have to scatter to distant hotels in the evening. Remember, the convention center was open late at Noreascon 3 and we'll keep it open until at least 2am in 2004.
We'll probably have a similar setup as Noreascon 3. The Art Show and Dealers' Room will be in the main traffic flow, not way off at the end of nowhere or on a different floor. At Charlotte, the Dealers' Room will have to be on a separate floor: it's the only place they can go. If you look at their floor plans, the Charlotte convention center has all the exhibit halls on one floor, and all the meeting space on the other. So unless they use their ballroom (35KSF, subdivideable) for exhibit space and put the hucksters there (and hold the Masquerade and Hugos elsewhere), then they'll have to put the hucksters on a different floor—and one that has only exhibit space—no programming.
As we said, the flow is easy and the distances are short. If you left something in your room, do you want to go next door to the hotel or do wait for a shuttle? Which will keep you away from the Worldcon more?
We (and many others) feel that we held a really fine Masquerade at Noreascon 3. We have the facilities again and additional experience to improve upon it. We'll be working closely with the costumers. Four of the committee members worked on the May 2000 Costume Con (CC2K) in Hartford to get more input. The closeness of the hotels (especially the contiguousness (is it contiguity?) of the Sheraton) means that costumers need not have to worry about getting to the Masquerade by long-distance walks, or trying to squeeze into a bus or taxi.
Lots—we're in a major city—and they are open over the weekend. There are restaurants in both hotels, the Prudential Mall, and all up and down Boylston Street (right outside the hotels and convention center) and vicinity. For example, the Mövenpick café in the Prudential Mall is immediately accessible from the back doorway of the Sheraton! Restaurant prices range from very cheap (remember, there are many students in this area) to expensive. Cuisine is global—but don't neglect our fish chowder. There are a number of restaurants in and near the Mall that are open at least until midnight; about 8 of them that stay open until 2am.
...and remember, most of our restaurants are open over the weekend and on Labor Day.
The Prudential Mall contains a large supermarket (open 7am Sunday through the week to midnight Saturday/Sunday), a full-service Post Office (8am-6pm, Monday-Friday, 8am to 2pm Saturday), 5 ATMs, and a bank.
Boston is a very lived-in city. We don't roll up the sidewalks when the day ends or the weekend comes. All day, every day, from morning through evening and into the early hours of the morning, you'll find people out and about, enjoying the city's attractions, entertainment, and restaurants. When you can tear yourself away from the convention, you can be one of them. For example, the DUKW tour of the city and river departs from just outside the Mall.
The work is miles away from the convention—on the other side of downtown Boston. The Ted Williams tunnel to the airport is already open; the roads connecting it to the MassPike (I-90) are scheduled for 2001. Boston's airport (Logan) is very close to our facilities.
If you're interested, follow the progress of the construction at www.bigdig.com. By the way, the first asymmetrical suspension bridge in North America is being build over the Charles River to take I-93 from the North End to Charlestown. It is going to be beautiful—both in an esthetic sense and in terms of engineering.
If you're in Boston before or after the Worldcon, you might want to see the fascinating exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science (easily reached using the MBTA, no transfers necessary). It shows all the details of designing and constructing one of the largest civil engineering projects in American history.
At this time of year there are delightful breezes from the ocean adding a tang of sea salt to the air.
First, it isn't our Worldcon; we believe that the Worldcon belongs to all fandom—the Worldcon committee holds it in trust. We'll have all the items you expect a Worldcon to have, including, but not limited to—panels, talks, demonstrations, art show, hucksters, masquerade, Hugos, exhibits, events you haven't thought of and events we haven't thought of yet (but you might have ideas that we could use). We have always welcomed input.
For example, there will be a balanced Dealers' Room so that fans of all aspects of science fiction and fantasy will find items of interest. The size of the room and the number of dealers will be appropriate for the number of people attending the convention. If there are too many dealers, few of them will have adequate sales.
Boston in 2004 actively supports the DUFF and TAFF programs designed to bring fannish groups across the world together -- plus we have some fan fund winners on our committee. We fully intend to continue in the tradition of honoring the fan fund winners.
We have not determined what our rates will be, but those who vote in the site-selection will get the best rate. Intergalactic Friends who vote will get an automatic conversion to attending membership.
Right now, WE are Massachusetts Convention Fandom, Inc. (MCFI). This is the group that's bidding for Boston in 2004. The majority of us live in the Boston area (surprise!) but we also have members in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
These are the people who will set the philosophy and vision of the convention. They will fill many—but certainly not all—of the upper managerial positions. There will be many people who are not committee members working on and helping to manage the convention.
No, it is still too early to be making appointments. We will keep track of what you volunteered for and will appoint the best person we can for each job. The only jobs that are currently set are our officers: Deb Geisler, chair; Ted Atwood, treasurer; and Ann Broomhead, secretary.
Deb Geisler—Deb is a Midwesterner who emigrated to Boston to teach at Suffolk University where she is Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director in the Department of Communication & Journalism. Deb chaired the successful Boskone 36 (1999) and has been active in other fannish activities in the area.
During Noreascon 3 in 1989, we created the Worldcon Pass-Along Funds practice where groups which had run worldcons would "pass along" some of their funds to future worldcons. MCFI is deeply committed to this practice, and we agree that if we are selected to run the 62nd Worldcon, we will once more participate in the Pass-Along Funds program.
Check our website www.boston2004.org
Email your questions or submit your suggestions to info@noreascon.org
There will also be mailings to Presupporters (available for $12) and Intergalactic Friends (available for $75).
In 2001 we'll be at many conventions around the world up to and including the voting at Philadelphia. Some places you find us are Arisia, Chattacon, Confusion, Vericon, Boskone, ConCave, Potlatch, Stellarcon, Lunacon, Corflu, Norwescon, Minicon, Eastercon, DeepSouthCon, ConQuesT, Libertycon, Balticon, Baycon, Midwestcon, Westercon, Readercon. That's 15 states plus England. We may turn up elsewhere—be alert8.
MCFI
Purveyors of Fine Worldcons to Fandom
Post Office Box 1010
Framingham, MA 01701
U. S. A.
www.boston2004.org
