August 20, 2008
by Steve Woodruff
NOTE: This event is postponed. A more complete update will be posted shortly.
Some of us bloggers have been talking about putting together a Mystic, CT meetup in October, mainly for Northeast and New England folks (MA/CT/NY/NJ/Eastern PA). I don’t know about you, but all this on-line interaction with folks who don’t live all that far away makes me really want to get together and socialize!
This would not be as elaborate an event as spring’s Blogger Social ’08 in NYC, but it would be somewhat more involved than a casual evening meeting, so that means some planning. Logistics. Arrangements. You know the drill. Here’s the outline of a plan for a Friday evening/Saturday “Mystic Meetup“:
Location: Mystic, CT (easy access by car from all points; on the Amtrak train line also.
Dates: October 17, 18
Schedule:
– Friday night: informal hangout time together at hotel, with hors d’oeurves and open bar. 7:30 ’til whenever.
– Saturday morning: breakfast buffet, followed by morning brainstorming session, probably taking off from the theme of Breaking out of the Bubble (with due credit to our very own Alan “Tangerine Toad” Wolk). This would be an informal, high-energy facilitated discussion, undoubtedly live-Twittered like all such blogger events are nowadays!
– Saturday lunch
– Saturday afternoon – either planned group activity or open small group/individual activities (or both!)
So, it’s a combo social meetup and creativity session. I’m thinking we’d want to keep the event limited to perhaps 40-50 people (plus significant others if applicable). We’d also spend some of Saturday morning introducing ourselves and our work to each other in a fun and creative way.
Costs:
This could be an issue for some folks. Some might wish to come, but not stay in a hotel. Others may only be able to come for Saturday. Here’s a tentative outline of costs:
Hotel room rates look like they’ll be between $150-200/night, including tax (single or double occupancy).
Based on preliminary numbers from the hotels I’ve approached, cost of the total Fri-Sat event (meeting room, food, drink, etc.) looks to be about $200-225/person, give or take. I’m seeking to nail down ALL the details over the next week or so, but that’s the ballpark. Significant others who joined us for the Fri evening reception could be added on at probably about $75-ish. If a socializing blogger were to attend only for Saturday, best guess would be about $50.
Of course, you may want to stay in Mystic longer (it will be fall foliage season), break into smaller groups for dinner Saturday evening, or whatever. There’s a lot to do in that area! Perhaps some non-Northeast bloggers would want to join in and combine it with a New England foliage tour…
** Here’s what I’m asking you to do:**
This kind of event requires some planning, including contracting with hotels, etc. – and a team of motivated bloggers will gladly work together on this to make it happen. However, we need a pretty firm idea right now of how many people would be up for this event before proceeding into serious event planning mode. So – if you think you’d like to be part of it, please add a Comment to this post in the following fashion:
Indicate your interest by a YES!, Probably, or Maybe
Indicate your likely social caffeine package with a Venti (hotel and full Fri/Sat event), Grande (Fri/Sat but no hotel), or Tall (Sat only)
Just add your 2 words in a Comment and that will help us gauge next steps with hotels, etc. And please do so this week – we’d like to make a go/no-go decision ASAP, and that will be based on the level of interest we all have in getting together this fall. Thanks! (put any questions you may have in the comments also, and they’ll be answered promptly).

P.S. – please forward this to other bloggers you think might be interested so that they can be included…
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