[WestCoastSVX]

As mentioned in the other Awards Weekend thread, I would like to get a few "proposals" together for potential locations to hold this event. In a couple of weeks I will put together a list to choose from (if we decide to do an Awards Weekend that is).

So now is the time to throw your idea into the hat. If you know of an interesting NW location that would be good for a January/February event, do a little research and post it here or email me.

Some things to consider:

Host hotel - to submit your idea it would be best if you already have a host hotel in mind, even better if you have contacted them to determine if there is a discount for a block of rooms (how many?) and prices. Cost will be a factor folks consider when choosing from these I'm sure so we'll need to post that. Other things to look for are of course a nice parking lot for our cars (and possible activities like maintenance demos), a meeting room, restaurant, etc.

Banquet - this even centers around the Awards Banquet so it goes without saying that somewhere in your proposal a good banquet location is detailed. Either at the hotel, or within walking distance (preferably). Good food, alcohol served, and most importantly our own private room to hold the awards ceremony in. Like the hotel, as much detail as you can provide, price, capacity, etc, probably best to contact this facility before your proposal as well.

Central location - probably somewhat central to the "active" NW members is best. Right now we have heavy concentrations of activity in the Puget Sound area and Portland area. All are welcome and encouraged to attend, but we want to make it easy for those we KNOW will show up to do so. It could be right in between Seattle and Portland to make a "fair" and equal distance between the two, or maybe close to Seattle with the thought that it is "close enough" to the die-hard Portland folks, and right there for the Seattle folks that want to go home each night to not pay for a hotel.

Interesting location - bonus points if the location is considered "interesting" or "scenic". If we are going to spend a whole weekend somewhere, it might be nice if there are some other things besides SVX to see or do in the area. The reality is most of our group would be happy to spend the whole weekend in a parking lot with the cars, but there may be some spouses/sig others who would appreciate it. The more interesting a place is, the farther away from being "central" it may be allowed to be. There's a balance there somewhere.

Deadline to have this information in by is September 14th. After that I will compile all the information together on a web page and ask everyone for input. Hopefully by the end of September we will know whether or not we will do this event at all, and if so, where it will be hosted and people can start making reservations.