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The Apolyton Convention of 2006.
Thanks to the heroic efforts of Mark and Dan, as well as the many legions of assistants, moderators, map-developers, scenario designers, interviewers, and a whole host of volunteers, the Apolyton Civilization Site has made it through seven years, an eternity for a fan supported site. Many of us have developed friendships here, a lot of us have taken the effort to meet one on one, some have met in small groups of 4-12. However it is time to do more...
I am offering to arrange and lead a 2-3 day meeting of Apolytoners to Hunt Valley, MD in the summer of 2006. Hunt Valley is north of Baltimore, but more importantly it is the home of Firaxis Games, Sid Meier, Big Huge Games, and Brian Reynolds. The meeting will be centered around meeting both Sid Meier and/or Brian Reynolds (possibly in a large Q&A session), maybe others in the industry and, hopefully, a tour of either company.
However, I want to make clear: this is not an open convention/trade show, but a meeting of Apolytoners: we don't need to have this Civilization-oriented (we could have it in, say, an amusement park), but form readily follows function in this case, so why not make it Civ related?
If people are receptive to the idea, we will need to pull together on a few things over the next year, the most important setting up the meeting/Q&A session with Sid Meier and friends. Their participation is crucial to a successful convention/meeting, and I think that not only can they do it, I even bet they will feel a little honored if we took the effort to go meet them. I’ll be glad to lead the discussions about a time/date, but I would like for them to receive a heads up from a name they know before I go off and just cold call/email Maryland. Again: Sid’s and/or Brian’s involvement is crucial to making this a successful meeting!
We absolutely must have Mark and/or Dan come down and to ensure this I will set up a fund to defray their travel expenses. At the very least, we should scrounge up enough to pay for Mark’s plane ticket and Dan’s gas/plane ticket, but I’d also like to help them with their rooms as well.
The year-long gap makes it far easier for us to coordinate our schedules regardless of current situation. Baltimore/DC is centrally located to many of us and it is a national transportation hub, so it will be easy to get there either domestically or internationally. I understand that many of us are in school and plan on being in school next summer, but again, you're getting a year to prepare: unless it's finals, you can work it out with your professor(s) to do the work early. Same thing goes with those of us with careers, same thing goes for the perpetually broke, same thing goes for everybody: You’ve got a year – figure out what you need to do to get here, and get here. I really hope we can get our **** together and pull this off – it would be great to have 50, 100+ people come together for a 3 day party.
Which brings up an important point: this isn’t going to be cheap (another reason I’m thinking a year to prepare is appropriate.) I haven’t done any shopping, but I would expect that to participate you should expect to lay out a minimum of $600 (and more like $800) for hotel (our biggest variable cost – this could be from $40/night-$150/night depending upon our group rate), travel (~$200), food (~$150), beer ($50-300?), Apolyton merchandise (we’ll all have to have a cap or T-shirt from the store), donations, possible fees and other expenses. My advice? Start saving now. Even you high schoolers have a year to work over mom and dad – I’ll be glad to talk to them if you want.
We should discuss whether families are included or not – personally, I can go either way but I prefer us Apolytoners only, as wives and kids put a serious damper on the drinking and partying that is so crucial to successful parties, er, meetings. I have some other ideas that we’ll talk about later (if this gets rolling that is), but way too many to go into this post.
We won’t have to spend all our time dealing with Civilization if we don't want – since we’ll meet in the Baltimore/DC area, we can take a day to go to the Smithsonian or the Orioles/Nationals, or drive to Philly to get a cheesesteak and check out Speer's crib. I’m really excited – this could be a freaking blast!! 
Lastly, I have started a Google group, Apolyton Meeting 2006, where all discussion about the convention will take place – unless The Powers decide to open a forum here, in which case I’ll close the Google group and we’ll discuss the convention there. To join the Google group PM me so I can send you an invitation.
Comments, suggestions, “where do I sign up?”
I am offering to arrange and lead a 2-3 day meeting of Apolytoners to Hunt Valley, MD in the summer of 2006. Hunt Valley is north of Baltimore, but more importantly it is the home of Firaxis Games, Sid Meier, Big Huge Games, and Brian Reynolds. The meeting will be centered around meeting both Sid Meier and/or Brian Reynolds (possibly in a large Q&A session), maybe others in the industry and, hopefully, a tour of either company.
However, I want to make clear: this is not an open convention/trade show, but a meeting of Apolytoners: we don't need to have this Civilization-oriented (we could have it in, say, an amusement park), but form readily follows function in this case, so why not make it Civ related?
If people are receptive to the idea, we will need to pull together on a few things over the next year, the most important setting up the meeting/Q&A session with Sid Meier and friends. Their participation is crucial to a successful convention/meeting, and I think that not only can they do it, I even bet they will feel a little honored if we took the effort to go meet them. I’ll be glad to lead the discussions about a time/date, but I would like for them to receive a heads up from a name they know before I go off and just cold call/email Maryland. Again: Sid’s and/or Brian’s involvement is crucial to making this a successful meeting!
We absolutely must have Mark and/or Dan come down and to ensure this I will set up a fund to defray their travel expenses. At the very least, we should scrounge up enough to pay for Mark’s plane ticket and Dan’s gas/plane ticket, but I’d also like to help them with their rooms as well.
The year-long gap makes it far easier for us to coordinate our schedules regardless of current situation. Baltimore/DC is centrally located to many of us and it is a national transportation hub, so it will be easy to get there either domestically or internationally. I understand that many of us are in school and plan on being in school next summer, but again, you're getting a year to prepare: unless it's finals, you can work it out with your professor(s) to do the work early. Same thing goes with those of us with careers, same thing goes for the perpetually broke, same thing goes for everybody: You’ve got a year – figure out what you need to do to get here, and get here. I really hope we can get our **** together and pull this off – it would be great to have 50, 100+ people come together for a 3 day party.
Which brings up an important point: this isn’t going to be cheap (another reason I’m thinking a year to prepare is appropriate.) I haven’t done any shopping, but I would expect that to participate you should expect to lay out a minimum of $600 (and more like $800) for hotel (our biggest variable cost – this could be from $40/night-$150/night depending upon our group rate), travel (~$200), food (~$150), beer ($50-300?), Apolyton merchandise (we’ll all have to have a cap or T-shirt from the store), donations, possible fees and other expenses. My advice? Start saving now. Even you high schoolers have a year to work over mom and dad – I’ll be glad to talk to them if you want.
We should discuss whether families are included or not – personally, I can go either way but I prefer us Apolytoners only, as wives and kids put a serious damper on the drinking and partying that is so crucial to successful parties, er, meetings. I have some other ideas that we’ll talk about later (if this gets rolling that is), but way too many to go into this post.
We won’t have to spend all our time dealing with Civilization if we don't want – since we’ll meet in the Baltimore/DC area, we can take a day to go to the Smithsonian or the Orioles/Nationals, or drive to Philly to get a cheesesteak and check out Speer's crib. I’m really excited – this could be a freaking blast!!
Lastly, I have started a Google group, Apolyton Meeting 2006, where all discussion about the convention will take place – unless The Powers decide to open a forum here, in which case I’ll close the Google group and we’ll discuss the convention there. To join the Google group PM me so I can send you an invitation.
Comments, suggestions, “where do I sign up?”
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