I am very pleased to announce that we will be taking SLCC to the Tampa Marriott Waterside the weekend of September 4th, 2008. We did have a very full discussion about the other options residents sent in and after considering overall costs, the location of the previous events, and facilities the choice was Tampa or Raleigh. We heard concerns of students saying it would be at the beginning of their school year but there weren’t any dates open earlier at either location.
We are in a pickle since we are to small for a convention center, and too large for a lot of hotels. Our main goal was to keep the event affordable and put ourselves in a position to offer the best experience possible. Your surveys have helped out a lot in telling us what you want and think needs improvement.
Big on our list this year is diversity in programming and we are working on a very cool plan to get you the residents more involved. please stay tuned and we will be releasing those details in the next few weeks. Expect the event tickets to cost about the same as last year - in the $185 - $200 range which will include both breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday. The hotel rooms will be about $30 less per night than Chicago.
Please do not ask us yet about tickets, sponsorships, or hotel room. We are working out those details out right now. Check back here weekly, as we get things solidified and contracted, we’ll post announcements.
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[...] SLCC announced today that the 2008 Second Life Community Convention will be held at the Tampa Marriott Waterside in Tampa, Florida during the weekend of September 4th. [...]
See you there.
[...] Tampa, Here Comes SLCC! I am very pleased to announce that we will be taking SLCC to the Tampa Marriott Waterside the weekend of September 4th. We did have a very full discussion about the other options residents sent in and after considering overall costs, the location of the previous events, and facilities the choice was Tampa or Raleigh. We heard concerns of students saying it is in the beginning of the school year but there was no open date earlier at either location. [...]
[...] no responses Today it was announced that SLCC 2008 will be September 4th, in Tampa, Florida, here’s the pos… [...]
Awesome! Can’t wait to see you all there.
I’m sooooo there.
Marked it on the calendar already.
Tampa is really cool and largely unappreciated by those who don’t know it.
September 4 is a Thursday, is the gathering starting on Thursday night or is it really starting the weekend of September 5?
Thanks!
Yes the event registration will begin Friday evening and the bulk of the event will take place Saturday through Sunday. I can only imagine there will be some parties on Friday night.
That’s really upsetting to me, I understand that they didn’t have any earlier dates; but still..the dates chosen pretty much ruin all the chances for any teenager to attend. I was really hoping that this was going to be a great year for TG attendance, I knew a lot of teens who were looking forward to attending for the first time.
*starts saving to somehow get there* Looking forward to heading into Stroker-town, er Tampa next September!
hi folks, Sounds good but there is a slight problem teens cant go then as school starts again.
I am very unimpressed with the choice of location and when it is to be held. I am sorry to see that leadership of the SLCC has learned very little from the 2007 SLCC. I find it sad that they also have now made it so that both teens and college students have almost no chance in attending. You have also removed a number of adults with families from being able to come as they can’t just plan for kids to stay with family or friends for weekend once school is in. I would have thought after the bandwidth nightmare in Chicago, that hotels don’t have the bandwidth to handle a group like this. Based on all the details you have released it seems like the choice was made because Stroker is there. Don’t expect to see me or a number of others I have talked to coming to Tampa. Add to the fact that most people will have be home on Sunday night. Most people will need to be out by 3PM at latest. I missed some of the stuff I wanted to see at SLCC this year, because to get home required I be at the airport at 3PM which meant leaving the hotel at 1:30PM to make sure we got there. So there will really only be a 1.5 day event.
I am sorry that you will not be there. We asked the community months ago to send in information on alternative locations and dates. We specifically asked for you the community to send us options that you have researched; price, space, availability. We did get in a few incomplete suggestions and followed them all up including Raleigh, Austin, Las Vegas, Boston. The reality is that of the suggestions received there were only a few that would allow us to charge our prices and has sufficient space to hold our event. There are countless facets to planning one of these events and we did look at the time of year and the fact is that a number of school systems started before August 24 2007 and we had a sell out. We also asked for local people to speak up regarding their willingness to help support SLCC on the ground the way Madame Maracas did in Chicago. The locations suggested did not have mid-summer open space at our price or with anyone local to help mange the event. We had an open discussion evaluating the two finalists and we are happy to make the notes public. We did not pick Tampa because of one person or sponsor, it was selected for space, price, service, local support, and availability. I invite you to select your favorite city and begin research for our 2009 event.
Randy,
I have few things to say on your comments.
First, you came to us after the SLCC and gave us two weeks to do the job of a professional events company. I don’t mind the idea of doing a little of the leg work as to cities to be held in, but I am not a professional in this field.
Second, why did you wait until after the fact to start planning for where it was to be held next year. You should have already had people looking long before this year. A lot of events like ours, you know where the following years event will be held before going to the current years event. By waiting til after Chicago, it meant less openings for a time frame which would work better for a lot of people.
Third, I would being willing to help if it was in my city, but it isn’t. My city currently does not have the air travel support or IT support at its convention center to handle a group like ours. It is getting better, but will be at least 3 to 4 years down the road.
Guess you have not heard of the 7 P’s.
Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
I know you may not like what I am saying, but I watched how messed up Chicago was and how the folks running it seemed to be at times more interested in making it buddy buddy with the Lindens and with those who have made a lot of money in SL and less into running the SLCC and making sure it went well. A lot folks didn’t know meals were included. Promises as to making sure that special diet issues were going to be covered, were not. Internet access was terrible. I understand you got a large refund on that, but you are choosing to go right back into a hotel which based on their website doesn’t seem to be anymore ready for the internet demand than the Hilton was. I watched members of TFU, walk around with drunk. I was even very rudely told by a member of the TFU board to leave a room where a public event was going on, because there was to be a private event in 15 minutes. The person was rude from the moment they opened their mouth, it was not like we had been asked politely first.
I guess at this point I am just seeing this is being handled the same way it was in Chicago was handled.
Randy, just so you know, I overall have no issues with you or many other members of TFU or how hard the job is to try to please a lot of people at one time, but I just see this as an extension of how most of us who were in Chicago were treated. As baggage, not as a group who should have a say in the future of SLCC. If we were not someone famous in SL or one of the “plank holders” as the US Navy calls the first crew aboard a ship, we were nothing.
You have many good points. Chicago was a clustercfuck. It was organized in 8 months - less time than it takes to make a baby. I came into SLCC as the Director with a city pre-picked and expectations pre-set and I had to work within them. You are right we should have been planning 2008 before 2007 SLCC happened, HOWEVER the team and I were busy trying to hold 2007 together so there would be hopes of having a 2008. The Monday after Chicago we initiated our search for 2008, and yes we only gave a few weeks for discovery, and yes we moved rapidly in site selection, and yes we did ask for some solid information in suggested location alternatives. We had to – people needed and deserved answers quickly.
Honest truth, anyone can ask a hotel if they have space for 800, big meeting rooms, and if they have open space in September or October of 2008. I did, and got 4 answers from 4 places in less than a week. We did have some great proposals, but they were convention center based and would have sent ticket prices into the $550 - $600 range. Austin convention center would have cost us $30,000 - $40,000 per day just for floor space, we paid $8,000 total in Chicago and will pay less than that in Tampa.
We do pay attention to the needs of sponsors because our sponsorship last year covered 45% of the total cost, and that does not include the Ball by the way. Fact is Linden Lab does not care where we have SLCC, and neither does ESC OR Rivers, or Millions. You should also know that now that we have a location for 2008 we are actively looking for 2009 space!
We are also making some very big changes as to HOW the content of the event is created. The details will be forthcoming but you are not baggage, you are the reason we work so hard at this. We are asking the community to design and produce 3/5 of the event content. Not Sponsors, Not TFU, residents! I’m sure someone will call us lazy for asking you all to contribute. We know we can’t win. If we do it all ourselves we are in bed with the presenters, if we let residents do it we are lazy for not creating great content.
I have a MA degree in Event Production and am diligent in getting this event produced in a more professional way. Chicago had some of my influence but I was still tied by prior decisions and expectations. This year we have an amazingly dedicated board and a much more professional attitude towards SLCC. We are treating it like a business and user experience is out main focus - right behind staying solvent. Our promise is that we are doing our best to organizing an event that will feed you 4 good meals, will have DS3 Wifi with simultaneous access for 400+, 5 tracks of presenters with two days of content, in a city with average airfare at $275 when we checked, at a hotel with rooms of double occupancy not over $160 before tax, and at an admission price in the $185 - $215 range. You can travel to, enter, eat, party, and return home for about 75% the cost of a single ticket to a number of other virtual world / community conferences. We are producing REDICOULUSLY HIGH VALUE!
Finally I address your point about being spoken to out of turn. I am so sorry. That is not acceptable in any situation and I personally apologize. It is not the kind of attitude I promote within the TFU or any of our volunteers. Your comments are fair and I appreciate you having the salt to speak your mind. I respect that.
I figure by then, mp3s of the discussion tracks of SLCC2007 will be posted, right?
I am really pleased that you chose Tampa for 2008. I am biased because I live in the Tampa area. But living here, and having been to conferences of all types all over the country, gives me some perspective. Tampa is a wonderful location with fantastic weather in September (barring the extraordinarily rare tropical store or hurricane). It’s relatively affordable, and there a lot of fun things to do in and around the Tampa area. From Ybor city, to Busch Gardens, to the beaches and Orlando just a short drive away.
I am a bit disappointed in the timing. It will be a shame to loose college students and other’s that cannot be away with kids in School.
Please let us know about opportunities for sponsorship and for volunteering as soon as possible Randy.
Florida in early September — ick. The weather will be too hot and humid, and there is a distinct risk of not being able to get there at all because it will be the middle of hurricane season.
Oh well.. I suppose that if the budget cooperates, I’ll be there anyway. If the storms let me.
[...] already fairly committed to attending next year’s Second Life Community Convention, which will be in Tampa, Florida, over the weekend of September 4th. This is likely to be one of [...]
I have to admit I was a bit unsure of Florida in September since me and heat do not get along so I did some digging.
The average high temp for Tampa in August is 90°F the average for September is 89°F.
The average low temp for Tampa in August is 75°F and 74°F in September.
Average rainfall for August is almost 8 inches. For September it is almost 7inches.
Hurricane season starts June 1st and goes until November 30th.
While most of the major storms in Florida do happen betwen August and October they are mostly tropical depressions. This past August at SLCC2007 Chicago saw very bad storms, flooding, power outages, airport delays out the arse and we still went and spent the weekend hanging out with friends, meeting new friends and wondering how much we had to drink the night before.
Just looking at those two facts alone and the time line from when the last two SLCC’s have been compared to SLCC2008 there is not that big of a difference in the weather.
Well put Stormy! Another thing to consider is that by moving the convention around a bit geographically, it gives more folks a chance of attending SLCC at least once, and no matter when and where the gathering is held, there will be issues for someone, so the risk gets spread out a bit this way.
Those temperatures you listed as averages are actually a little cooler than it ended up being in Chicago this year, and as in Chicago everything is pretty much in one, big, air-conditioned building, so what the weather is outside is mostly incidental once one arrives at the venue.
[...] 19 11 2007 It was recently announced that the SLCC 2008 will be taking place in Tampa, Florida on the weekend of September 4th at Tampa Marriott [...]
Bring it on out to Tucson! Weather is less hot then, floorspace cheap and the hotels will fall all over themselves to give you room!
May run into a few monsoon storms, but those are only in the afternoons and are localized.
You need help planning? Contact me, that was my RL job for too many years.
SunShine
“please stay tuned and we will be releasing those details in the next few weeks.”
I would think the next few weeks has passed at this time…..
Is there any update?
Awesome. I look forward to seeing you all in my neck of the woods. As far as heat and humidity, I did not know weather conditions effected the ballroom at a hotel so significantly. Now, if we went..*gasp* OUTSIDE.. that may be another issue. I have lived here in Tampa around 20 years.. I am not worried about hurricanes. Looong time til September.
I’M TOTALLY PSYCHED TO DO ANOTHER SLCC ART EXHIBITION.. IT WILL BE MORE INCLUSIVE, MORE SPONSORED, MORE PROMINENT, AND MORE PUBLICIZED! OOOGA BOOOGA!!
I was excited to hear that the next SLCC will be in Tampa. I don’t get the opportunity to travel often so this is a wonderful opportunity for me to attend. I’ve lived in the bay area for the past 17 years and despite the hurricane season’s reputation, it’s a great place to live! I’ve just begun to get involved and grow in SL and welcome the opportunity to meet others into SL. Hearing that there will be an Art Exhibit really get’s me psyched too! I’m really looking forward to seeing the SLCC Art Exhibition and perhaps meet some fellow artists exploring the possibilities SL presents for it’s art community. Hope to see you there!
i can’t believe i haven’t been to this site since before this announcement was made.
glad to see it will be in Tampa, bummer about the timing though. from what i’ve read, it looks like we may get better options for 2009, since planning will be done much earlier.
on a side note.. do you have someone to design nametags for this year already? if not, i’d love to do it again.
i was supposed to be on a mailing list, but somehow that didn’t work out right and i haven’t seen anything in my email at all. so, i’m a bit behind on all of this.
congrats on setting the location so early! and i can’t wait to see everyone again!
Cybin we are not using the group list quite yet. We will start real soon as we get all of the roles for the volunteers organized and set up. We appreciate your enthusiasm and know that you will give so much to the event!
I’m looking forward to seeing you all coming down here, pack your shorts, bathing suits and suntan lotion! When will you all start taking apps for volunteers?
aha.. right on. i just hope i have an email in that list somewhere.. lol.
either way.. you’re right, i’m looking forward to doing all that i can.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am a resident of the Orlando area and am looking so very much in attending the 2008 SLCC. Thank goodness I have friends in Tampa, I can shack up with them while attending. One of the many clubs I plan on going to while attending is The Castle, maybe we can get a group tohether to head there sometime.
I just can not wait to get together with other SL’ers, I feel like I am the only one who is so passionate about SL.
Oh, volunteering, I would love to assist if you need help.
Just let me know; send me a notecard (Davina Glitter)
The heat is not that bad, plus most things you will be doing is probably inside. In case you feel the heat will be an issue, make sure you were light, thin, loose clothing but it can get chilly in the AC so might want to wear layers so you can remove an item if you get hot. Drink pletny of fluids, use an umbrella to shade yourself, sun screen A+B type, have sun glasses and a misting bottle to spray yourself if you need added cooling. Do not leave RL animals or people in the car unattended while visiting Florida in the Summer/early Fall. oh well, just chat with me and we can talk more.
oh sweet.. Davina, i just looked up the website for The Castle (http://www.castle-ybor.com/).. looks freakin’ awesome!
i’m sure there will be a decent gaggle of SLers who’ll want to go there on one (or more) of the nights we’re there.
Hoooooo!!! Cant wait to see you all there!
Also wondering about the discount that was mentioned in Chicago for the attendees for the 08 Convention, will patiently await the feedback….is it September yet?
Oh guys, I’m waaaay excited about the SLCC this year. Being a Tampa resident, I can assure you guys that there is LOTS to do. Plus, the Marriott is located in the downtown area which is very close to lots of good dining and Ybor City which is basically our club district (you can just hop on the trolley in front of the hotel and it will take you straight there!).
Also, someone mentioned The Castle. I go there practically every Thursday night and it is definiltey one of the best clubs in Tampa. Every night has a different theme, though, so make sure you know what you’re getting into. Can’t wait to see everyone! (This will be my first appearance.)
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Hi, how can I register for the convention? I don’t see a link on this website. Thanks!