This is the Convergence 14 Bid Proposal Do***ent Version 1.0
Originally Posted March 31, 2007. Please re-post where applicable.
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What Is Convergence?
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Convergence is the annual alt.gothic news group convention that
squishes together hundreds of net.goths from around the globe into a
single city for a weekend of socializing, booze, music, special events
and sweet debauchery.
Convergence 14 Bid Proposal Requirements
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The core planning and decision making member****p of a Convergence
committee should consist of at least 50% alt.gothic.* net.goths or
net.goths who have attended at least one Convergence in the last 2
years, although it is preferred that ALL members of your committee
have attended at least one past Convergence. These numbers do not
include and are not relevant to the volunteer and paid staff who
assist in actually presenting the event on its scheduled days.
In your Convergence Bid Proposal you should introduce yourself and
your Bid Committee, list what you believe would be the benefits of
holding the next Convergence in your home city and outline what your
tentative plans are for Convergence 14.
Your audience and potential attendees are your friends and families
from the alt.gothic.* news groups, related mailing lists and other
forms of electronic communities that now fall under the 'net.goth'
umbrella. The themes, locations and activities are up to your
committee's creativity and resources. We are trusting you to design an
affordable, accessible and highly social event for us to attend.
As long as your committee keeps its core audience in mind with
realistic goals and strives to maintain a high degree of organization
and professionalism, you can expect great success in planning and
executing Convergence 14, should the vote be in your favour.
To have your proposal included on this year's ballot, you MUST
register for web space on altgothic.com as noted below, submit your
proposal via email to Siobhán (convergence AT virulent DOT org) and
await receipt that your proposal has been accepted. Starting on April
14 2007, you must cross post your proposal to alt.gothic,
alt.gothic.fa****on and alt.gothic.convergence during the proposal
nomination period.
Posting to weblogs, regional mailing lists and other resources is
permitted but not required. If you do not know what alt.gothic is or
how to access it, you are not eligible to host a Convergence.
Convergence 14 Bid Proposal Web Sites
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Proposal web sites MUST be hosted on altgothic.com. No exceptions.
Each Bid Committee will be allotted 10MB of disk space, CGI-bin access
and a single FTP login account with 24 hour access.
To receive your altgothic.com web account, you must send Siobhán
(convergence AT virulent DOT org) the following information as soon as
possible:
*Your full contact information (name, address, phone number, etc).
*Your Bid Proposal Committee information (city/state/country).
Convergence 14 Bid Proposal Submission Period
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Convergence 14 Bid Proposals must be submitted to Siobhán (convergence
AT virulent DOT org) for inclusion on the ballot, as well as to
register for alt.gothic web space, BEGINNING at 0:00EST on April 1
2007, and ENDING 0:00EST on April 14 2007. Any proposals submitted
after that time will NOT be included on this year's ballot.
Upon confirmation from Siobhán that your proposal has been accepted,
you must then post your proposal to the alt.gothic.* news groups
BEGINNING at 0:00 EST on April 14 2007. You may post and update the
proposals as often as you wish until 0:00 EST May 4 2007, at which
time the submission period ENDS.
To submit your Bid Proposal for inclusion on the Convergence 14
ballot, you must email the following information to Siobhán
(convergence AT virulent DOT org) during Bid Proposal Submission
Period:
* Text version of your Bid Proposal as it will be posted to the
alt.gothic.* news groups.
*A tentative working budget. Obviously, there is no way to provide
absolute numbers so far in advance; an overview with forecasts is all
that is required. Bid Proposals without some form of a working budget
will be ineligible for ballot placement. IT IS NOT REQUIRED TO POST
THIS BUDGET IN PUBLIC, although Bid Proposal Committees may do so at
their own discretion.
Convergence 14 Bid Proposal Public Discussion and Debate Period
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The discussion period, in which the public will debate endlessly every
little detail about every proposal, will begin with the start of the
submission period on April 14 2007 and end on May 4 2007. The proposal
sites with be blocked at this time. Debates take place primarily on
the alt.gothic.* news groups, afterglow mailing list and the
agc_afterglow LiveJournal group.
Live IRC question and answer sessions with each proposal committee may
also be scheduled. Positive discussions are highly encouraged. Taking
advantage of the op****tunity to find out what your audience wants will
help you prepare a winning bid..
Convergence 14 Voting
The voting period will begin at 0:00 EST on May 5 2007 and will end at
24:00 EST on May 13 2007. Only registered voters will be allowed to
vote, using security keys which will be emailed to them prior to the
start of the actual vote.
Convergence 14 Scheduling
While it is impossible to please everyone with regards to the perfect
weekend to hold Convergence 14, we do suggest avoiding conflicts with
other large scale music events like Projektfest, Whitby Gothic
Festival and the like.
Some Best Practices (Advice from past committees)
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Listing specific musical acts, venues or other information in your
proposals which can change drastically over the next 9 to 12 months is
strongly discouraged.
Keep your committees small. A core committee of 4 people or less is
far more efficient and likely to succeed than larger committees. This
cannot be stressed enough. History has proven time and time again that
large committees do not work well.
Maintain regular open communication within your committee, volunteers,
hired help, venues, venders, DJs, bands and with your audience of
potential attendees.
Nominating one person to speak on behalf of your committee is strongly
encouraged. It is a practice which can spare your audience from a lot
of confusion and your committee from a lot of embarrassment.
Limit your live band rosters. Live bands are nice but not essential.
The primary focus of Convergence is the people of alt.gothic. Events
should be people oriented and inclusive, relaxed, inexpensive and
above all FUN.
Plan Convergence like a big party that you would love to attend. It
sounds cheesy, but it's a simple and winning philosophy.
Avoid the "race mentality" at all costs. Convergence is not a
popularity contest, nor a one-upman****p festival.
Be prepared to work your butt off. Convergence is not easy. You will
lose sleep.
Extended Resources for Bid Proposal Committees
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A growing library of text do***ents written by the past Convergence
Committee members who now act as advisors will be available to all Bid
Proposal Committee members, as well as specific contacts in all areas
of Convergence planning. These members have volunteered their time and
expertise to remain highly available to assist all of you in
constructing the best Bid Proposals and eventually the best
Convergence events possible. Browse www.altgothic.com for more
information.
It cannot be emphasized enough the im****tance of consulting with past
Convergence committees members, myself, and the plethora of web and
Usenet based diaries of past events to get a solid perspective on what
works and what does not.
Questions and Contact
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If you have any questions about past Convergences or the C14 voting
process, feel free to either post to alt.gothic.convergence or email
Siobhán via the virulent.org address. Links to reference resources are
also be available at http://www.altgothic.com
All official correspondence will carry the [C14 vote] subject tag and
a do***ent ID, date and version number.
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