Captain Oblivious :: Bloggers Annual Lotusphere Dinner

Yes, the acronym is BALD. What?!? It's accurate, isn't it? heh

Seriously, I was thinking about this event the other day. In case you've been living in a parallel universe, for the past few years the Lotus blogging community has gotten together for dinner before the Turtle's annual ESPN pre-party on the Saturday night before Lotusphere officially starts. It's all Duffbert's fault. He was sitting at the brew pub on the Boardwalk having dinner when Bruce Elgort, Julian Robichaux and I walked up and - seeing 3 empty chairs - promptly invited ourselves to join him. Several other bloggers wound up stumbling across us, since the brew pub is on the way to the ESPN club. The next year, we actually did it on purpose and invited people ahead of time. And we've done it ever since (this is the 4th, right guys?).

It's always a blast. But there's one problem. It's gotten too big. Last year, there were probably 50 people over the course of the night, and the staff at the brew pub was getting more than a little bit annoyed with us. See, whoever gets in first grabs a table outside, and as the rest of the crowd arrives, people just steal chairs and tables as needed. The only problem with that is, there are people waiting in line to try and eat dinner at the brew pub while we're stealing tables and chairs. So after a few hours last year, the management finally stepped in and told us to stop adding more people. A reasonable request, really.

So I think we need a different location. We want: a place on campus (preferably on the boardwalk somewhere, but anywhere in the Epcot hotels could work) that can handle anywhere from 25-75 people, serves (decent) beer, and has or can be provided with food. It occurs to me that one of the hospitality suites would work, but I don't know how one goes about setting that up or what the costs are. I don't know of any restaurants that would fit the bill. I suppose the poolside bar would, if it were staffed at that hour (it isn't, is it?) and if it had food. I suppose ESPN itself *sort* of fits, but the reference to food is a bit of a stretch...

Does anyone have any brilliant ideas? Or do you all think I'm nuts, and we should just keep torturing the staff at the brew pub*.

*I know it has a name, but I can never remember it.

Comments

1 - Unfortunately I was unable to make it last year as I didn't arrive in Orlando untill early Sunday morning but this year I'm back with a vengence. For me meeting up with fellow bloggers is more important than the actual venue so the ESPN bar would suit me just fine. It's NFL playoff season for crying out loud!!

An alternative, although it would be a hassle, would be to move the meeting off campus.

What if we found out how many people would attend before hand and contacted the brew pub and/or ESPN before hand?

Posted by Mikkel Heisterberg At 04:30:18 AM On 10/12/2006 | - Website - |

2 - I think that's what I was mulling over today... I guess we could ASK them to set aside one of the outdoor sections for us... :)

Posted by Duffbert At 04:37:21 PM On 10/12/2006 | - Website - |

3 - The "on campus" requirement makes it tough. Years ago, I used to organize a get together for people on the lnotes-l mailing list. We did it off campus, at the Fireworks Factory (near Pleasure Island). Some people drove, some people took the Disney buses. The follks at Fireworks Factory were really nice about it. We reserved in advance, and told them that it was just going to be drinks and dessert, not full meals. One year they gave us an area upstairs, that was closed off to other diners. We had more than 20 people that year. Not too bad, particularly given that the community was not as tight as the bloggers have become, but on campus would have been much better.

For Penumbra Group dinners, we've gone off campus every year but one. Fulton's, which is also in the same area near Pleasure Island, has been very nice -- reserving us a dining room. It's quite costly, though. We got a room in the Swan once. That was probably in 1997. I think we had to go through the Lotusphere organizers to get the room released, because they have everything on hold. The problem with going through the hotels, though, is that everything is quite expensive -- and they want committment to minimums, too.

Posted by Richard Schwartz At 04:23:14 AM On 10/13/2006 | - Website - |

4 - I've posted at http://www.joelitton.net/A559B2/home.nsf/d6plinks/6UJL39 ...Big River (where we were last year) does not have the same requirements as ESPN and other venues regarding a room charge. Rob, I'll email separately to you / Tom / Bruce and we can discuss.

Posted by Joe Litton At 09:05:14 AM On 10/13/2006 | - Website - |

5 - Having crashed Turtle's party for many years now, I usually eat at ESPN, but the food leaving something to be desired. I think you guys could get a deal at the Disney Yacht Club Galley http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/dining/diningDetail?id=YachtClubGalleyDiningPage if you wanted. The price isn't bad, it's across from the Boardwalk and the food is good.

Posted by Todd Carpenter At 11:58:47 AM On 10/13/2006 | - Website - |

6 - * sob *

Posted by Ben Poole At 03:13:37 PM On 10/14/2006 | - Website - |

7 - So it's hopeless, then, Ben? Well, we'll have a beer in your honor. Heck, we'll have several. We'll toast DominoWiki, and I guarantee everyone there will know what we're talking about...

Posted by Captain O At 08:39:01 AM On 10/15/2006 | - Website - |

8 - I'm really going to miss Ben.

Anyway, while I think the idea of the Yacht Club Gallery has some merit, I wonder what would happen if we simply contacted Big River ahead of time and told them to expect a large (50?) group for dinner?

It seems not an unreasonable request. I think the problem Big River had with us is that they simply weren't prepared for the volume of people (and the associtated beer and food orders) over and above their reqular crowd that showed up last year.

-Devin.

Posted by Devin Olson At 05:25:33 AM On 11/08/2006 | - Website - |

9 - very good site

Posted by SchÃ¶nheitsoperation Tschechien At 09:48:13 AM On 12/04/2006 | - Website - |

10 - Greetings:

I am not new to blogging, but, new to having my own BLOG - please let me know when and where this will take place - would enjoy meeting you all in person.

Cheers!
The Unofficial Poster Child For Lotus Notes and Domino

Posted by The Unofficial Poster Child For Lotus Notes and Domino At 02:20:14 AM On 01/10/2007 | - Website - |