Official A2K Gathering in Chicago, May 7th, 2006!

PayPal does charge a fee, but it's okay with me.

The $500 deposit is non-refundable and needs to come from a single source. They will apply the balance to 1 or 2 cards at the completion of the event but they have no mechanism in place to act as host/sponsor of an event and collect money from the participants.

The cancellation policy is 50% of the event minimum if cancelled prior to 60 days of the event or the full event minimum if cancelled within 60 days. In other words, don't cancel.

The event minimums are the food and beverage minimum for the given space/day/time. The quotes we have for midday excluding tax/tip are:

Founders Room (max 40): $1250 ($31.25 pp +tax/tip if 40 people)
Founders Room plus adjacent dining room (max 90) $2800 ($31.11 pp +t/t if 90)
Outdoor seating (max 75) $3000 ($40.00 pp +t/t if 75)

The two entree choice menu plus beverages will easily cover the food and beverage minimum as long as we have close to the maximum number of people for the area.

We really need to have a better handle on how many people are coming before we commit to a particular space. If we are only at 25 people then we don't want the Founders Room and would need to get a quote for space in the dining room.

Hopefully it will be quite a while before they give us a 48hour notice for a deposit. In the meantime I can keep looking for something that will let us make a reservation for "pick a number" in mid April without a deposit. It's probably easier to pull off for lunch than dinner.

J_B, Thank you for all your effort on our behalf. I think a good point to start is to get committments by name and number soon. Otherwise, that 48 hour reservation is gonna be missed.

Count me for "1." c.i.

Thanks for your work!

But:



Does this mean that you think of changing the date?

"2".

Since we can't change our responses to the poll as we get more certain of what we'll do, I hereby volunteer to post the confirmation status of each contributor to this thread on a weekly basis. That should help us keep track of things.

Got it, sorry

Well, if we are less than 25 and just go to the dining room, we order as regular diners, don't we? Realjohnboy nicely offered to act as banker several pages ago, and no one responded to him. Perhaps a table banker, where as many as possible pay cash.

If you are less than 25 then you aren't an 'event' and don't need a deposit. Taking a count of how many are coming is a good idea regardless.

Well, I'm coming.

Do I understand correctly that the Founder's Room, if we reserve it, is $1250 no matter what? As in, $35+ tip if we have 40 people, $125 + tip if we have 10?

The count is very important now; we need committments.

I don't think we can reasonably expect commitments at this point, not commitments to plan on. I think it's more reasonable to choose a venue that has a lot of flexibility built-in, as we talked about from the beginning -- and not sure if Millennium Park Grille is it.

Sublime, did you say at some point that you had a room available in your condo/ apartment? It's sounding good to me to have a baseline backup plan (as in, maybe not ideal but workable and definite and especially CHEAP) while we try to come up with something that fits the many criteria we're going for.

Exactly!



Not necessarily, ci. We probably have some time before they get another request for the space and in the meantime I can try to find alternatives that are more flexible. If people can commit now great, and if we know we're close to 40 then we can take the Founders Room when pushed. Otherwise knowing approximately how many people we have can give us a good estimate for the dining room.

I'm sure it's too soon for many people to commit. This might not turn out to be the best choice of locations because of the upfront commitment they require. I'll keep looking. There are hundreds of restaurants in Chicago. We'll keep the MP Grill in our back pocket but maybe Soz and I can both look for some alternative ideas.

Sounds just right, J_B, good thinking.

I agree. (And will be looking -- I'm a bit giddy because I've been researching my own upcoming trip and found that if we schedule it right [and IF WE GO] we can go to the big three that I wanted to go to -- Brookfield Zoo, Shedd, and Field Museum -- all free!!)

With the free hotel room and free gas (we're driving, and E.G. gets reimbursed for going to a conference), we might spend less ON vacation than if we stayed home!

That'd be cool.

Anyway, point is, I'm deep in Chicago arcana and will keep eyes open.

Oh good..

I volunteer to be on the oversight committee!

... and if you're interested in the Art Institute I can bring three guests in free with me anytime as I'm a member.

Since I'm already there on Thursday, may I ask for being one guest at the tryout?

just found this. the bears would like to come but it's not in the cards.