PrePAX Dinner- SOLD OUT

VisionOfClarity

As of now, this will be March 25th at Fire and Ice and the price will be $27.50 plus $2.50 service fee for the reg site. This price will cover dinner, nonalcoholic drink, tax and tip and alcoholic drinks will be available for purchase. This is easy to get to by public transit and you can walk here from the Hynes. It will also be easy to head to the barcrawl from this spot. Dinner will start at 7:30.

So thoughts, concerns, ideas?

Twitter- PPDEast
Email: PrePAXDinnerEast@gmail.com



Where you can buy tickets: http://prepaxdinnereast2010.eventbrite.com

benswimming

I would highly recommend fire and ice right in coplay plaza.

http://fire-ice.com/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=Boston,%20MA&category=boston

All you can eat buffet style, pick out ur own food, they cook it.

VisionOfClarity

I'm leaning towards that because there's a good chance we can make several reservations, pay upfront a fixed price and no one will have to sign a contract for a venue or anything like that. To be frank, no one really knows how popular this will be on the East Coast, we don't have to go big the first year and unless someone wants to take the reigns and rent a hotel ballroom in their name it's not going to happen. I also can't rightly ask anyone to do that unless they really, really want to because I'm not willing to take that kind of (legal) responsibility myself.

Usagi

You are a saint dear, let me know if I can help work the phones

atiari

If I was local, I'd look into it since I'm originally from the Boston area. However, the logistics of trying to determine a site, pay a deposit, and collect payment from people is a little much for someone not in the area. Best I can offer is some assistance in planning, and perhaps coordinating. Also, since I'm arriving on the 20th, I could potentially help with any sort of setup that needed to be done as well. Outside of that, I'm not really in a position to do much more.

However someone will likely have +3 attendees with me and my business partners if a PrePAX dinner does get formed.

ZeroHourHero

If you need help, and are offering a patch of floor to crash on, I'm willing to head up early to help you in any way I can. Just need the patch of floor until Thursday before PAX when check in is for my hotel

That is, if Im understanding this properly to take place right before PAX

Kiashien

I'm a boston Local. I second Fire and Ice- in my experience they have been mostly flexible, and reasonable about large groups.

Realistically, anywhere you go is going to run 30 dollars or so a person, 50 at most depending on liquor consumption. Do not feel like you are limited to hotels.

Fire and Ice is 25ish each, all you can eat, and does not include liquor.

I would estimate they would need a week notice or less.

Kiashien

Also, fire and ice is about a 10-15 walk from the most likely PAX hotels

VisionOfClarity

Planning for this definitely needs to be done before PAX arrivals begin. This way we can start spreading word and making adjustments based on how many people are signing up. I also don't want to risk waiting to long with a large group and ending up with nowhere to host us. Ideally, I'd like to have something in place in the next 3 weeks, get reg up in Feb and then make tweeks to the numbers with the venue about 2 wks out. This is partially why I leaning towards a restaurant so there will be little set up and break down we have to do (thanks for the offers though, but I want everyone to be able to relax and have fun). Also, with them it's a party reservation pretty much and there won't be contract signings and deposits, and if there is one it will likely be much smaller.


I just don't want to move forward with this without seeing how many people are into it because others I've met with are very into the PAX Prime dinner set up.

Arco

Yeah. Don't devote any more time and effort into planning things until you can gauge the interest. I didn't move forward with planning the Post-PAX festivities last year until well over 100 people expressed interest.

For the record, I can't attend. Train gets in too late for Pre-PAX festivities.

SkyGheNe

I'd like to meet a few forum faces over dinner - but I'm a vegetarian, so depending on the venue I'll be attending

dardor

What would be a tentative time for this? I'll be in Boston on Thursday, just not sure when on Thursday. Most likely late afternoon. But then with getting situated and maybe meeting with friends not going to PAX I may not be able to make this.

ZeroHourHero

For the record, my current plan has me flying in, and getting there around 10 AM

VisionOfClarity

It would be roughly 6pm to give the MMT time to end the bar crawl time to start.

Zuki

I'm interested. And if I'm interested, I'd probably bringing at least one other person from my hotel room along.

Fire and Ice has been pooh-poohed by some in the various dining discussion threads for being a bit overpriced and overcrowded, but I'll agree that it meets the 'buffet' style of dining and 'large group friendly' requirements.

I also expect the 'overcrowded' won't be a problem if we pack the tables with PAXites.

VisionOfClarity

The pluses for Fire & Ice were that we can definitely do Fire & Ice for $25 (dinner, nonalcoholic drink, tip), it's near the Hynes and people can have as much food as they want and make whatever they want, plus they can accommodate allergies on a grill in the back.

If this works out well this year, next year I'd consider my original idea of doing something at Kings.

ZeroHourHero

Just consider me a Maybe for now, I wont know if Im even going to PAX until after I talk to my unit.

They want to send me to Admin school, but havent given me a date yet, and if it doesnt work with PAX East, I'll have to go to Prime instead.

niq24601

Isn't there a bar/restaurant/pub somewhere that does Rock Band nights , and some guys from Harmonix show up from time to time? Any chance we could look into taking over some/all of that place for the night?

... here we go. The story's old, but I know as late as last fall they had Rock Band on their calendar:
http://www.rivergodsonline.com/bostonglobe.htm

VisionOfClarity

PrePAX Dinner will be ending before the bar crawl starts. That bar is also not near the Hynes so it would have to end earlier so people can make the crawl. I don't want people thinking they have to eat and run to make the crawl or people having to hit the crawl late.

Atlus Parker

I'm down for Fire & Ice. I'm still hammering out details for the crawl but I'm shooting for fewer bars than the last one so I'll probably start it around 9pm or so.

arsonisfun

Atlus Parker wrote: »

I'm down for Fire & Ice. I'm still hammering out details for the crawl but I'm shooting for fewer bars than the last one so I'll probably start it around 9pm or so.

What's your bar list looking like so far?

DustinMMOMFG

Myself and two other members of MMOMFG's staff are interested in joining in the festivities. Looking forward to further details on the dinner/bar crawl. Thanks for coordinating this!

-Dustin

ZeroHourHero

Its official: I'll be there, talked to higher up and I dont go to Admin School until April 5th, on a side note, it happens to be 1 hour from boston, so I'm probably just going to lounge about until the 4th and the mosey over to the base.

VisionOfClarity

Atlus Parker wrote: »

I'm down for Fire & Ice. I'm still hammering out details for the crawl but I'm shooting for fewer bars than the last one so I'll probably start it around 9pm or so.

Perfect, this gives people time to digest dinner, change into their Pokemon outfits and hit the bar crawl without rushing from dinner.

Also, I'm totally down with a trial bar crawl run as a future meetup.

Uncleangry

I'm interested in meeting up with some PAX folks regardless of the venue. Fire & Ice sounds good (never been there myself), but I'm open to other submissions if it helps others dietary/budgeting needs.

philbertde

I'm not sure if the timing will work out (I have to work Thursday downtown), but I'd definitely like to be kept informed about this. As to venue, thumbs up for Fire and Ice, it's big enough to deal with crowds and the way its set up with walking around and waiting at the grill will certainly give people a chance to get to know each other.

mentok1982

I am interested in Fire and Ice.
I am also interested in helping you in any way I can. I am willing to show up early and I will check names
off the list/collect tickets at the door.

Contact Arco, Electric Turtle and Astyonix for references.

Moe Fwacky

Um, I don't think this method of dinnering will require a list or ticket collection.

LTAcosta

I probably will not be joining for this. I pretty strongly dislike Fire & Ice... and unless you rent out like the whole top story, it's going to be a pain to have people meet up here to eat... The food here isn't too terrible, but the hype is definitely higher than the actual taste... I have just never felt like it's worth it. Also, when this place gets crowded, and if we set an event here then it will be, it takes a long time to get your food. Yes, it's buffet style, but then you have to wait in line for your food to cook, and it can take a while when there's 20+ people in front of you, let alone 100 or more...(And we thought the wait at the last pre pax dinner was long). I guess I just dont think this place is a good idea for a community event... You should find somewhere that can begin preparing the food and everything ahead of time, so we can basically start eating when we get there...

mentok1982

LTAcosta wrote: »

I probably will not be joining for this.

What if I imprison you within my hollowed out chest cavity and force you to attend the event?
Perhaps you could grab some chicken through the iron bars and then use the chicken bone to pick the lock.

I bet you didn't think about that scenario did you!


I am not sure what caused me to think about it to be honest...

VisionOfClarity

LTAcosta wrote: »

I probably will not be joining for this. I pretty strongly dislike Fire & Ice... and unless you rent out like the whole top story, it's going to be a pain to have people meet up here to eat... The food here isn't too terrible, but the hype is definitely higher than the actual taste... I have just never felt like it's worth it. Also, when this place gets crowded, and if we set an event here then it will be, it takes a long time to get your food. Yes, it's buffet style, but then you have to wait in line for your food to cook, and it can take a while when there's 20+ people in front of you, let alone 100 or more...(And we thought the wait at the last pre pax dinner was long). I guess I just dont think this place is a good idea for a community event... You should find somewhere that can begin preparing the food and everything ahead of time, so we can basically start eating when we get there...

I'm keeping it simple for the first year. I'm not willing to sign a contract with a venue and then put down a deposit for internet strangers my first year. I'm also capping the reservation and if it gets too full making a second seating reservation an hour later and if that gets too full then maybe an earlier sitting at 5 but we'll see. I'm not really concerned about capping the number of attendees lower than PAX Prime PPD if I need to.

mentok1982 wrote: »

I am interested in Fire and Ice.
I am also interested in helping you in any way I can. I am willing to show up early and I will check names
off the list/collect tickets at the door.

Contact Arco, Electric Turtle and Astyonix for references.

What I plan on doing right now is having people sign up and then take cash at the door to ensure everyone has it (I don't want anyone getting screwed into covering someone or a multi credit card fiasco) so some help in that regard will likely be appreciated.

mentok1982

You had me at "take cash at the door".

I am pretty good at taking cash... and at standing near doors... and then running through the doors with the cash.

VisionOfClarity

Cash at the door seems to be the easiest way to do it since I'm hoping to set this up in such a way we don't need to put down a deposit or only a small one.

dardor

Eesh, I'd rather pay by credit card. Keeping cash expenses at a minimum to ensure I have enough for PAX itself is a priority for me.

Arco

Have you spoken to anyone at Fire & Ice about this?

VisionOfClarity

I'm calling Fire & Ice when they open today, I wanted to wait til the poll got to at least 15 interested before I made a reservation for twice that.

If people prefer to prepay with a credit card I can set that up, in which case it will be entirely prepaid (for everybody, cash at door would be only for walkups if we can accommodate them). If anyone else would rather this let me know and I'll change that.

VisionOfClarity

SkyGheNe wrote: »

I'd like to meet a few forum faces over dinner - but I'm a vegetarian, so depending on the venue I'll be attending

I totally missed this post. You can eat vegetarian here very easily and you can request your food be cooked on a separate grill in the back instead of with the meat up front.

Arco

Honestly, it's not going to be 30 people. If anything it will be 50, and I would guess it would be more. These forums really start to pick up steam in the months and weeks right before PAX. It's pretty slow right now. I think ET told me once that the Pre-PAX Dinner usually gets more than 200 people, and that's not surprising. We had about 125 for the Post-PAX Party Dinner last year, and it was our first year. So be prepared for more people than you're thinking about right now, even if it's the first year for PAX East.

Make sure you ask if Fire & Ice has an events coordinator or something similar, and if not, talk to a manager. Don't just make a reservation at the desk and move on. A lot of big restaurants have someone around just to schedule, coordinate, and plan large events, because large events are often complicated and expensive. Most places don't let 50+ people come in and treat it the same way as they do a check for 4 people; there are different gratuity rates, fees, deposits, different menus, etc. For the PPPD last year, Lindsay at the Taphouse was AMAZING. I was on the phone with her almost every day for a good 2-3 months planning that party, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without her.

Ask if they're equipped to handle large groups, 50+. How about 100+? Ask if they've done group events that large before, and how they did it. Ask if the wait in line is going to be long with that many people all putting food on the grill at once. Ask how many meals they can accommodate on the grill at one time. Ask if there's any kind of deposit required for group events. Ask what they charge for gratuity. Ask if there are any special fees that can be associated with a group event, such as audio/video fees, bartender fees, a fee for using the banquet room, etc.

Lastly, figure out how much all of this is going to cost, boil it down to a per person price, and sell tickets. Taking cash at the door is a very bad idea. It leaves way too much to chance and it's going to be a madhouse attempting to organize and make change for that many people. Ultimately if something goes wrong with the cash, you're responsible since you're the one planning all this. Selling tickets in advance is good for a lot of reasons: people can pay by credit card, you have a definite head count, and you can give them a check before the night even starts and say, "we're square." That way there's no question about who owes who. It's all settled. You can also refund people's money if the interest just isn't what you thought it was going to be; but honestly, that probably won't happen.

If you want to cap the dinner at 50 people, that's fine. Figure out how much the food, drink, gratuity, and any associated fees are total for 50 people and divide by 50, then sell tickets for that amount. If there's a huge amount of interest after it's full up at 50 people, make sure the price doesn't change for 75 or 100 people and open up ticket sales again.

Kitteh

Arco wrote: »

If you want to cap the dinner at 50 people, that's fine. Figure out how much the food, drink, gratuity, and any associated fees are total for 50 people and divide by 50, then sell tickets for that amount. If there's a huge amount of interest after it's full up at 50 people, make sure the price doesn't change for 75 or 100 people and open up ticket sales again.

I totally agree that there should be some sort of list/sign up sheet. These dinners can fill up and get out of hand very quickly if not properly organized.

baelion

i'm down for this. i fly in on 24th and it would be great to actually meet some people before PAX.

cos, you know, i know literally no one.

ZeroHourHero

Clarity, my plans now have me arriving Monday March the 22nd, so I'll be in town to provide assistance.