As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

The First Annual Post-PAX Party Dinner. THANK YOU ALL FOR AN AMAZING PARTY!

1121315171820

Posts

  • dalitubadalituba Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco, how late we can stay at the facility?

    I see from the OP that closing time after 11pm would be dependant on whether or not our drink purchases were justifying the place staying open, but what is the maximum this could be pushed to.

    dalituba on
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Correct. We have a three hour window, bought and paid for. If we want to stay later than that, we have to spend 25% of the food/drink minimum per hour. Per person, that works out to $8.75 per hour.

    Three hours is a decent chunk of time, so I honestly don't know how things are going to look after that. I'll probably get on the microphone and ask the room if they're willing to all buy drinks and keep the place open. Who knows?

    As far as the absolute latest we can be there, I'll have to ask Lindsay. :) E-mail sent.

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Just sent messages to all those who expressed interest in the dinner but never registered. It was 30 people total. If we get half of those, that's leaves 11 tickets. Let's see what happens!

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • bookofnerdsbookofnerds Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    GO! GO! GO! GO!

    bookofnerds on
  • CronusCronus Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco wrote: »
    Just sent messages to all those who expressed interest in the dinner but never registered. It was 30 people total. If we get half of those, that's leaves 11 tickets. Let's see what happens!

    Awesome. Now we just need to do a Jay and Bob thing and find these people who don't register and get them here one way or another. :twisted:

    Cronus on
    camo_sig.png
    "Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    By the way, we sold 9 tickets yesterday (Monday). That's almost 1/4 of all the RSVP tickets in one day. Let's keep it going and get this fucking big room!!

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • CronusCronus Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco wrote: »
    By the way, we sold 9 tickets yesterday (Monday). That's almost 1/4 of all the RSVP tickets in one day. Let's keep it going and get this fucking big room!!

    Aww, but then we won't need to drag anyone to this awesome party against their will. :(

    Cronus on
    camo_sig.png
    "Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
  • DaveRHDaveRH Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    just to provide some feedback...

    My party of three was pretty excited about this, but ultimately we decided not to go mainly because of the shared food thing. I would've been okay buying a $30 ticket and getting there with $30 of credit to spend on food...but we don't really like a lot of the food choices that the group has picked (we're just weird) so we're not so keen on spending $30 for food we mostly won't eat.

    DaveRH on
  • WormdundeeWormdundee Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    DaveRH wrote: »
    just to provide some feedback...

    My party of three was pretty excited about this, but ultimately we decided not to go mainly because of the shared food thing. I would've been okay buying a $30 ticket and getting there with $30 of credit to spend on food...but we don't really like a lot of the food choices that the group has picked (we're just weird) so we're not so keen on spending $30 for food we mostly won't eat.

    Totally understandable, but it's just the way that these sorts of things work. Hopefully you'll be able to do it next year :D

    Wormdundee on
  • DaveRHDaveRH Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    To be honest, I think the restaurant is being silly, (read the whole thread after my post).

    Someone wants to bring in 100 people on a Sunday evening (a definite slow time for the hospitality industry) and are guaranteeing that they will spend $35ish dollars each (and I'm sure in some cases much more)... and they are telling you it'd be too inconvenient for them to make gift cards for everyone.

    If I was organizing, I would have told her that we'd find another venue in that case, and I bet her tune would have changed quickly.

    DaveRH on
  • MoreGreaseMoreGrease Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco wrote: »
    Correct. We have a three hour window, bought and paid for. If we want to stay later than that, we have to spend 25% of the food/drink minimum per hour. Per person, that works out to $8.75 per hour.

    So, someone remind me, what are we getting for the initial money down? I assume the private room, the use of the entertainment systems, and the buffet of appetizers and entrees that voted for, whereas drinks are on a pay-as-you-go basis. Or is the whole thing paid for, including drinks, as long as we keep the place open? Or, and I do hope not, given the entrance fee, do we have to buy our own dinner as well?

    MoreGrease on
    Steam and PSN: FreelancePolice
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Everyone is getting:

    1) Admission to the party.
    2) Use of everything that's in the room - pool table(s), projectors with our consoles attached, etc.
    3) The all-you-can-eat appetizer buffet, which includes 3 appetizers, 3 platters, coffee, tea, soda, water, etc.
    4) ... for 3 hours.

    Alcoholic and/or special drinks are pay-as-you-go for the entire night, as is anything else that isn't on the buffet.

    If we want to stay past 3 hours, we need to spend about $300/hr on extra food/drink.

    As far as Dave's comments... it's not just that it was inconvenient for them to make us the cards. It's logistically extremely difficult to serve 100 people 100 different things at the same time. There's a reason places like this do catering menus with fixed options or buffets for extremely large groups; it's the only way to serve that many people at once. Taking 100 regular dinner orders all at once, each one of them different, would basically make the kitchen explode. They have to deal with an entire restaurant which will be extremely busy even on a Sunday (thanks to the 75,000+ extra people in the area who are all on vacation) in addition to our group. I don't think Lindsay was just trying to strong arm me into more money when she said that my idea was a logistical nightmare. I didn't consider things from the kitchen side, and I believe her.

    Also, I honestly didn't threaten to take my business elsewhere because the group was very keen on the Taphouse. I'm (voluntarily) in charge of this thing, but ultimately I'm beholden to you guys. The Taphouse gained a lot of momentum very quickly, even when I said that it would probably be expensive. That hasn't really slowed us down, at least not visibly. And almost everyone was and continues to be very excited about it, so I'm trying to make it work.

    Also, look at the pictures of where we're having our party. Look at the restaurant's menu and website. This is clearly an upscale establishment. Could we have gone somewhere far cheaper? Maybe. But people were very excited about the Taphouse and I feel that the price of the ticket is both proportional to the quality and quantity of goods and services that we're receiving, and comparable to similar events (we're $2.50 more than the Pre-PAX Dinner).

    And just so everyone knows, here's what Lindsay at the Taphouse has done for us so far:

    Waived the personal bartender fee ($100)
    Waived the audio/video fee ($150)
    Knocked $1.50 off of the stated price of the appetizer buffet (so it's $23.50 each instead of $25)
    Knocked $50 off of the food/beverage minimum
    Allowed us to pay a flat charge for "tax" on alcohol, instead of having me pay all the tax at the end of the night for all the drinks that everyone in the group gets.

    I think that demonstrates that she's being a pretty reasonable person. Maybe I'm wrong, and they do that with everyone just to make it seem like they're fair and flexible. Maybe they're fucking me royally and I could have gotten a much better deal elsewhere for a similar venue. But I don't really think so.

    Looking at the pictures of the establishment, hearing PAXers talk about it from years past, and reading the reviews on the Internet, I get the impression that this is a pretty decent place. Having talked to Lindsay on a daily basis for the past 2-3 months, I get the impression that we're being treated fairly.

    All of that being said, we still need 24 people!

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • RiusRius Globex CEO Nobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco, I think you've done an excellent job and I think this party is going to be a blast. And I've said that before =)

    Rius on
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Scratch that, 22 people! ;)

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • DaveRHDaveRH Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Was just stating my particular groups reasons for not attending, we're not registered, so please don't use my comments as an influence on the plans.

    My wife comes from the food service industry, and while yes it would be difficult to serve 100 people in a room, it wouldn't make the kitchen explode.

    Anywho, looks like your down to needing 22 people....I'm sure you'll be able to fill it out!

    DaveRH on
  • Hi I'm Vee!Hi I'm Vee! Formerly VH; She/Her; Is an E X P E R I E N C E Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco wrote: »
    As far as Dave's comments... it's not just that it was inconvenient for them to make us the cards. It's logistically extremely difficult to serve 100 people 100 different things at the same time. There's a reason places like this do catering menus with fixed options or buffets for extremely large groups; it's the only way to serve that many people at once. Taking 100 regular dinner orders all at once, each one of them different, would basically make the kitchen explode. They have to deal with an entire restaurant which will be extremely busy even on a Sunday (thanks to the 75,000+ extra people in the area who are all on vacation) in addition to our group. I don't think Lindsay was just trying to strong arm me into more money when she said that my idea was a logistical nightmare. I didn't consider things from the kitchen side, and I believe her.
    Speaking as someone who previously worked in the restaurant business for several years (Argument From Authority lol!) I can confirm that this is 100% true. Obviously, a restaurant like the Taphouse takes significantly more than 100 orders over the course of a night (and Sundays are only moderately less busy than Fridays and Saturdays, in my experience), but taking 100 orders within the space of half an hour or so would indeed make the kitchen explode. Not to mention, people are going to be coming in at different times, so it would make it hell on the servers trying to make sure everybody gets their order in, and then trying to figure out who had which order, especially if people do stuff like "can I get rice instead of mashed potatoes?"

    Serving a party of 100 people as if they were regular diners at the restaurant is a huge clusterfuck. At all of the restaurants I worked at, if we had a party bigger than, say, 20-25, we'd give them a smaller menu to choose from, and even that could wreak havoc in the kitchen if we were especially busy that night.

    God, just thinking about being a server on a night when a 100-person party comes in and tries to order off the regular menu gives me shivers. Even if I'm not the one taking care of the party, it would back up the kitchen so that everybody else's food in the restaurant would be late too.

    Hi I'm Vee! on
    vRyue2p.png
  • Hi I'm Vee!Hi I'm Vee! Formerly VH; She/Her; Is an E X P E R I E N C E Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Oh man, conflicting arguments from authority, NOW WHAT SHOULD YOU BELIEVE??

    Hi I'm Vee! on
    vRyue2p.png
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    And as far as the appetizer selections go: that is unfortunate, Dave. I completely understand why that would sour someone on coming. Honestly, there probably is a better way of choosing the appetizers to create a menu that would be more universally appealing. But I felt that letting the party choose the options would be the fairest to them, and I built in the vegetarian caveat because vegetarianism is popular on the west coast and to give the buffet some guaranteed variety.

    I might come up with something better next year, or we might go somewhere else next year depending on how things go. But I do apologize for that. If the ticket price is too high or you just don't like the food, that's probably going to mean that you aren't coming. That is very unfortunate and I do apologize.

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Sorry for the frequent double-posting:

    If we sell a ticket per day, average, we'll have 96 people by September 3rd.

    Yesterday we sold 9 tickets.

    We've sold 2 today.

    Optimistic? I am, actually.

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • MoreGreaseMoreGrease Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Holy crap at that huge post on the last page Arco. You've done an amazing job, and I had no idea how obliging the Taphouse was being. Three cheers for the lot of you, and here's hoping we keep up the same rate of sales.


    Any word on what consoles are being brought?

    MoreGrease on
    Steam and PSN: FreelancePolice
  • Raiden333Raiden333 Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I'm still bringing my 360 + games, but if we want some Rock Band someone else will have to bring instruments.

    Raiden333 on
    There was a steam sig here. It's gone now.
  • MaradineMaradine Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    The Taphouse is Hallowed Ground for many members of the Black. Perhaps we'll cross paths. :mrgreen:

    Maradine on
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Maradine wrote: »
    The Taphouse is Hallowed Ground for many members of the Black. Perhaps we'll cross paths. :mrgreen:

    Egads!

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • DragondevonDragondevon Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    well i myself founf only about 8% of the menu appealing but i am always willing to try omething new and worse case scenario i just pick off whatever i dont want, im paying for a good time and some food. again great job arco cant wait (well sort of it means pax is over when this happens but still fun)

    Dragondevon on
    "The times are duanting, its perilous to walk out your front door anymore. The enemy is everywhere, hidden in technology, smiling faces, and laziness. Though, we are not given the luxury to give up. We are the last bastion of hope for our species. We are HUMANS!!!!RAAAAAR"-Devon
    "Dude, I think he's a zombie."
    "No he's not, he's dead."
    "But he's still walking around."
    "Which makes him one of the walking dead."
    "Exactly."
    "So, he's dead."
    "No, that makes him a zombie."

    "You sound like WALL-E having sex with a Speak and Spell"
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    20 tickets sold for the Billiards Lounge. 20 tickets left. I think we're going to do it, guys.

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • h2oboyh2oboy Registered User new member
    edited August 2009
    I would like to come by and so would another PAX. We might even have a third in tow, but as I have not job at the present, I am afraid I cannot register. Will non-ticket holders be able to attend?

    h2oboy on
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    h2oboy wrote: »
    I would like to come by and so would another PAX. We might even have a third in tow, but as I have not job at the present, I am afraid I cannot register. Will non-ticket holders be able to attend?

    Unfortunately, the answer is no. We have a maximum capacity for the room, and we're all splitting the cost. I hate to turn people away, but being that everybody is splitting the expense, everyone has to contribute. :)

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • parabolaparabola Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco wrote: »
    20 tickets sold for the Billiards Lounge. 20 tickets left. I think we're going to do it, guys.

    Only 16 days left though. I can imagine us getting 97 or something. :(

    parabola on
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    If we get 97 or something, we're getting the bigger room. :)

    I've been considering adding a "donation" style ticket to the event page. Eventbrite allows me to do that. How would you guys feel about it? I certainly don't want anyone to feel pressured to donate anything above the ticket price. The dinner is already expensive enough. But then again, when we're this close to getting the big room, people might be willing or even eager to chip in a little extra to make sure we get there.

    What do you think?

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • parabolaparabola Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Oh I thought it was 100 or nothing...

    Personally I'm pretty committed to what i've already put down.

    parabola on
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Well, all the Taphouse is concerned with is the food/beverage minimum. If we're 3 people short of 100, that means that we have to spend $105 extra to make up the difference. I don't like risks, but I would be okay with trusting 97 people to spend $105 on drinks. :)

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • parabolaparabola Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Well how many Canadians are going?

    parabola on
  • DragondevonDragondevon Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    sorry im being to lazy to look at the back posts but are you still sending the tickets out or are we meeting up or something? again sorry for saying something that might already be up.

    Dragondevon on
    "The times are duanting, its perilous to walk out your front door anymore. The enemy is everywhere, hidden in technology, smiling faces, and laziness. Though, we are not given the luxury to give up. We are the last bastion of hope for our species. We are HUMANS!!!!RAAAAAR"-Devon
    "Dude, I think he's a zombie."
    "No he's not, he's dead."
    "But he's still walking around."
    "Which makes him one of the walking dead."
    "Exactly."
    "So, he's dead."
    "No, that makes him a zombie."

    "You sound like WALL-E having sex with a Speak and Spell"
  • TNTrooperTNTrooper Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco wrote: »
    I've been considering adding a "donation" style ticket to the event page. Eventbrite allows me to do that. How would you guys feel about it? I certainly don't want anyone to feel pressured to donate anything above the ticket price. The dinner is already expensive enough. But then again, when we're this close to getting the big room, people might be willing or even eager to chip in a little extra to make sure we get there.

    What do you think?

    If we are close enough to the point we are getting the larger room then my donation would be in me ordering vast amounts of alcoholic beverages and a steak.

    If we are not close enough to getting the larger room then I would just try to come up with the cash to buy a ticket for a friend or whoever is willing to buy me some drinks at the dinner.

    TNTrooper on
    steam_sig.png
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    sorry im being to lazy to look at the back posts but are you still sending the tickets out or are we meeting up or something? again sorry for saying something that might already be up.

    No paper tickets or anything like that, but sometime during PAX we'll need to meet up so I can give everybody their "party packets" with the bracelets, raffle tickets, etc. in them.

    I'll be setting aside a few hours on Friday and Saturday evening expressly for this purpose, so people can swing by and grab them. I'll also be on Twitter, Loopt, etc. during the expo if anyone wants to hit me up.

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • DragondevonDragondevon Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    ok cool, unfortunetly i wont have phone servise so no communication there. but it would be nice to have a palce to meet up and grab it.

    Dragondevon on
    "The times are duanting, its perilous to walk out your front door anymore. The enemy is everywhere, hidden in technology, smiling faces, and laziness. Though, we are not given the luxury to give up. We are the last bastion of hope for our species. We are HUMANS!!!!RAAAAAR"-Devon
    "Dude, I think he's a zombie."
    "No he's not, he's dead."
    "But he's still walking around."
    "Which makes him one of the walking dead."
    "Exactly."
    "So, he's dead."
    "No, that makes him a zombie."

    "You sound like WALL-E having sex with a Speak and Spell"
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Yeah. I'll publish my hotel room and phone number to the PPPD Twitter account once we get to PAX, and maybe I'll set aside an hour or so on Friday and Saturday to hanging out in one of the portable lounge areas or something for people to come by. Shouldn't be too much of a problem.

    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • bookofnerdsbookofnerds Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco wrote: »
    Yeah. I'll publish my hotel room and phone number to the PPPD Twitter account once we get to PAX, and maybe I'll set aside an hour or so on Friday and Saturday to hanging out in one of the portable lounge areas or something for people to come by. Shouldn't be too much of a problem.

    What's the twitter account? Sorry if it's been already mentioned.

    bookofnerds on
  • ArcoArco Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Arco on
    Like this, not like the gas station.
    Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
    Satellite Theater for life!
  • tektek meh... WARegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    16 tickets remain!

    tek on
This discussion has been closed.