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Idea for Next MAGFest: OCR Brunchfest (this time with SPACE!)


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This will get buried for sure but since everyone right now is riding high off of the end of this MAG and starting to think about travel plans for next MAG, it would be best to bring it up now. For the last couple of years, we've been doing an impromptu brunch post-MAG on the Sunday that it ends. We've done it at Busboys and Poets for a while, and each year it has gotten harder and harder to fit everyone and coordinate it. I didn't even get a chance to go this year but I'm pretty sure we would have occupied nearly half the entire restaurant if we were all there at the same time. And its a hassle getting individual checks and waiting a very long time for food and... yeah, there's a lot of problems that crop up once the group reaches critical capacity.

I swear the amount of OCR folk that showed up doubled this year. So, with that in mind, I am working with a few people to arrange for a REAL post-MAG OCR brunch in the area near National Harbor next year.

We would likely need RSVP and a small amount of money to go towards catering and rental space costs (hopefully nothing more than $5 or $10) but here's all the info I have right now:

* Currently looking at renting hall space at the American Legion hall in Temple Hills, which is about 10 minutes away from the Gaylord by car.

* We would be getting food catered in, and accommodating accordingly as best we can to folks with various dietary restrictions. Banquet-style with big tables :-D

* We would be requesting space for people to securely keep their luggage, so that folks who have flights that afternoon and evening can go straight to the airport from the brunch if the times work out.

* Video game and musical entertainment would definitely be provided. :razz: BY members of the community, FOR members of the community.

* Space would likely be available starting at around noon on Sunday and probably going into early evening (depends on rental rate cost).

Benefits:

* Nobody's house gets crashed or overwhelmed or has to turn people away due to not having any more room (yes, I am speaking from past experience, though this year nothing really happened and it was all quite manageable).

* Nobody needs to cook, nobody needs to clean!

* Nobody has to wait up to an hour or two or three to get fed.

* Tables and seating aren't limited and nobody has to do astronomical calculations to divide the check and account for tipping.

* VIDEO GAMES!

* MUSIC!

* VIDEO GAME MUSIC!

* Good place to go to bum around while waiting for travel home to begin.

* We can get a for-real nobody-left-out picture of as many attending members of OCR as possible.

* The world-record for OCR group hug. (probably).

* The OCR guitar (which all posted OC ReMixers can sign) can finally get some new love on it.

* Flood the place with our tears as everyone says their goodbyes.

All that being said, I definitely need to gauge interest to see who would want to come. Bringing it up now so people can also see if they can arrange their travel plans to allow them to go to this. Also any other good ideas like this I would love to hear.

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The only issues I can think of that may arise are the logistics of travel plus possibilities of lots of luggage from check-out (which we already deal with, but may be compounded by more people coming) and how to deal with people who have Sunday flights and will have those travel/luggage logistics. I do think both will be solveable and that its a great idea!

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I think having an official time and place set up well in advance is a great idea. I'm really sad that I missed brunch this year because my flight was too early. Maybe MAGFest 13 brunch can be set for noon or 1 so we can go right after hotel checkout at 11?

Also, is this place near Reagan airport? Since a ton of people would be going to DCA immediately following brunch, I'd vote for somewhere close to that.

I suppose transportation to and from brunch in general might be an issue we should discuss.

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Is there any place like this around Arlington or Alexandria? It does have a drawback of being farther from the two most popular airports to fly out of, Reagan National and Dulles.

Otherwise, I'm game with this.

Being 10 minutes from the Gaylord itself is a much better idea because most folks already plan for transportation to/from the airport. The closer to the gaylord the easier it is for people to head there right after checkout time. If, like, 100 OCR folks come its much easier to run rides on a ten minute interval than a 20-40 minute interval.

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Being 10 minutes from the Gaylord itself is a much better idea because most folks already plan for transportation to/from the airport. The closer to the gaylord the easier it is for people to head there right after checkout time. If, like, 100 OCR folks come its much easier to run rides on a ten minute interval than a 20-40 minute interval.

Well, rather than do that...and this may be a ridiculously stupid suggestion...could we possibly rent out a conference room or banquet hall at the Gaylord itself?

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Well, rather than do that...and this may be a ridiculously stupid suggestion...could we possibly rent out a conference room or banquet hall at the Gaylord itself?

I looked into that. Its a sad thing to say that the most affordable event hall in the area that would suit our needs is catered by Wolfgang-motherfucking-Puck. I would say we could do one IN the convention center except with the capacity of magfest this year, I'm pretty sure they're going to rent every room there next year (which I'm pretty sure they also did this year). Also, getting away from the gaylord means that you actually can keep it pretty much OCR-only and not have random people coming in and crashing the party, taking the food without paying, etc etc. Not that this is some kind of exclusivity thing but I really would like to keep it just OCR and OCR-related peoples (and their plus ones or whatever).

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Being 10 minutes from the Gaylord itself is a much better idea because most folks already plan for transportation to/from the airport. The closer to the gaylord the easier it is for people to head there right after checkout time. If, like, 100 OCR folks come its much easier to run rides on a ten minute interval than a 20-40 minute interval.

I have found that that is not necessarily the case over the years - if anyone planned for transportation to the airport, it usually is if they're already intending on missing the brunch. Otherwise, people usually request rides from the brunch to the airport. This year happened to have an unusual low, but usually it is almost all those flying out who ask for rides to the airport from brunch or from hanging out after.

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OCRFest would be great. MAGFest is basically a bunch of people checking into a hotel, then hanging out with each other, listening to music, playing games. There's no reason we couldn't do that outside of MAGFest. The only difference between OCRFest and MAGFest is that we have to pay an absurd amount of money just to get a badge for MAGFest. Not to mention there's like 13,000 extra people.

If you all wanna check into the Holiday Inn in Weirton, WV sometime we could make OCRFest a reality. We also have a Super 8, and more~!

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OCRFest would be great. MAGFest is basically a bunch of people checking into a hotel, then hanging out with each other, listening to music, playing games. There's no reason we couldn't do that outside of MAGFest. The only difference between OCRFest and MAGFest is that we have to pay an absurd amount of money just to get a badge for MAGFest. Not to mention there's like 13,000 extra people.

If you all wanna check into the Holiday Inn in Weirton, WV sometime we could make OCRFest a reality. We also have a Super 8, and more~!

If you're talking about a 1-2 day meetup, my understanding is that those already happen now and then. Usually hosted at an extremely generous person's house or around another convention.

If you're talking about a convention, that means dealing with PR, finding bands, organizing games, etc. You'd end up with a price of entry similar to MAG. It'd probably be much easier to find another convention we're all interested in.

Really, MAG is one of the cheapest conventions I'm familiar with. I'm a little surprised they haven't increased badge cost. Supporter+ badges have probably mitigated the need for this.

Event planning is a lot of work that I'm sure none of us want to do (especially for free).

edit:

on-topic

OCR brunch is an awesome idea and I hope it happens.

Edited by Newt
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OverClocked University could be the single performing band of OCRFest. Boom, done.

OCRFest isn't going to happen. MAGFest already fills that niche. A bunch of people checking into a crap hotel for a weekend with nothing to do besides hang out with each other isn't enough of a draw to get people from all over the country and across the ocean to come together. MAGFest has live performances, panels, vendors, and a massive amount of games to play. There are things to do at MAGFest with all of your friends.

Like newt said, meetups already happen, usually at someone's house or in a city somewhere. But those are informal social gatherings, not organized festivals with rented out floorspace.

OCR isn't going to organize it's own multi-day festival. It's a massive amount of work and a massive amount of money, and MAGFest already does it extremely well and still somehow manages to charge a comparatively low rate.

In any case, let's get back on topic, i.e. the post-MAG brunch.

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^^ay mane, I can talk to ma homie Donald Trump to see if he can help us organize a festival. :tomatoface:

For real though, I like the brunch idea. Haven't actually ever been to MAG so I don't have a firsthand experience with some of those past problems, but I can dig what L99 is saying. Seems easy, efficient, a no-brainer.

here's to hoping I can make it this time! :-D

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^^ay mane, I can talk to ma homie Donald Trump to see if he can help us organize a festival. :tomatoface:

For real though, I like the brunch idea. Haven't actually ever been to MAG so I don't have a firsthand experience with some of those past problems, but I can dig what L99 is saying. Seems easy, efficient, a no-brainer.

here's to hoping I can make it this time! :-D

you really should go

we could do that TWEWY rap LIVE :tomatoface:

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