How about an ATS Convention?

I was thinking, it would be cool if there was organised an Above Top Secret Convention. It could go for a few days where everybody could meet in person, have a few conferences on ATS subjects, have a few live debates, some chess comps, and just general socialising.

I know it may be a bit far fetched or expensive, but I'd make the effort to go if I had enough notice. I wouldn�t mind visiting America.

What are some thoughts?

I think its a great idea. I would like to visit New York as well.

I think William should host it and pay our airfares...

We've tossed this around before...

General concensus was an idea to organize a few different locations (like one in the SE US, one in England, one in the NW US, one in Austrailia, and one in China, and maybe some other sites...), then we'd also have webcams... That way, we could personally meet those able to attend, and then communicate with those at the other convention locations...

Only problem is money and organization...

I'd make the effort to go to one in the SE US...there are few of us in FL, GA, etc. Even if it was just an informal meeting...would be fun... Better yet, if we actually met at another convention that falls into "our kind of people"...like a sci-fi one. I'll personally be at Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA next year... I try to make it each year, but couldn't last year....

hey i put forth some effort into this idea as well if we could get one in some of the western states like arizona or california would like to meet some peaple from ats

Man that woul be cool. Since I live in California we need one over here somewhere.

Do you know what sux? none of these conventions are ever near me. They are always thousands of miles away or way out in the Nevada desert. Its a great idea. But yes it would be VERY expenisve.And if you look we have thousands of members. So we would need a pretty damn big building. Itd be pretty kewl to see everybody in person.

I dought that many people would come though.

Stations

Lesson # 1:

Use the ATS Search button to find all previous work on the ATS Convention. A useful starting point is the thread "ATS Convention 2004". The site owners considered 2006 might be a reasonable lead time to get something decent organised.


Lesson #2:

Conventions, to be carried off well, are a humongous amount of work. In my personal experience hiring a successful event manager is the minimum prerequisite to producing a satisfactory convention of any scale. Voluntary efforts are valuable but they don't deliver.

Now, off the high-horse...

* There have already been a number of interesting, and worthwhile, small regional meetings of ATS members sharing views. I enjoyed the one I attended.

* The majority of new members (only in my observation) are not affluent people with unlimited disposable income. The tone of many recently joining members is that of late adolescent/early adulthood explorers discovering new information about the world they live in. They have high expectations, but a low experiential base on which to achieve concrete outputs. I want to be proven completely wrong on that. In a nutshell, they don't have money to travel to a Convention.

* Based on all my observations since I floated the idea of a 2004 Convention, I really believe any peak event is better left to a formal planning committee. There will be a huge amount of water under the bridge between now and 2006, both in ATS developments and in some of the real world material that we post about. I think 2006 is the time that we could look forward to a decently planned and well orchestrated Convention.

* I don't know if ThomasCrowne and dragonrider (the most popular choices for host and grill chef in the Convention Poll earlier this year) are willing or able any longer to do what it takes to have it happen in 2004....

Ok, I will throw out an idea. Walt Disney World in Orlando has the best convention centers in the state. All the ATS members could plan a Disney vacation and attend the ATS Convention at the same time !!
disneymeetings.disney.go.com...

We could discover the truth behind the conspiracy of Walt Disney's cryo-genically frozen body under the "It's A Small World Ride" (Which always gives me the creeps...)

I can see this happening sometime around May-July. What do you think?

DISCLAIMER
No, I don't work for Disney.
Yes, I do live in Florida, so I'm biased on location.
I will help coordinate this if enough people respond positively.


[Edited on 12-3-2003 by darklanser]

Are you kidding me?..haha...well.. I am. We would probably start a riot and all get arrested...or another scenario would be that we would be at each other's throats because of some of the harsh words and debating. And some of you people....sheeeesh...I would never want to meet....you scare me...hehe.

We could discover the truth behind the conspiracy of Walt Disney's cryo-genically frozen body under the "It's A Small World Ride" (Which always gives me the creeps...)

Just so you know, this is just an urban legend...and is false.

Anyhoo...Orlando would be a good choice for me (I'm in FL), and it's far cheaper than New York, and also tons of stuff to do there...as Disney isn't the only theme park there...or interesting place to visit.

MA made some good points....and yes, I'd definitely reference the other threads on this....knew of them, so I should've pointed there as well....my bad....

I just looked up the dates for DragonCon in GA for 2004. It's in the first week of Sept. For those who don't know, it's a pretty big convention, spanning about 4 days, with celebrities in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genre, rpg gaming, comics, UFOs (I even met and spoke with quite a few researchers last time), and loads more... So, if anyone from ATS wants to go and meet up...I'll be there then