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We just wrapped up a pretty great meetup , and I’m still basking in the glow of getting all that fab time with the attending wikiHowians in person. To allow plenty of time to plan for another good one next year, we’re getting the ball rolling now, and I could use your help.

As many of you know first-hand, at meetups, we spend a lot of time in the “wikiHaus” itself, so getting a casual but comfy hotel (or alternative accommodation options) that fits our vibe and needs is really important to us. I’ll be digging into some location and lodging investigations soon, but if anyone is interested in putting forth suggestions, it’d be great to have input - please submit your “nominations” for accommodations so I can dig into those, too!

Some parameters to keep in mind: 

  • We’re shooting for somewhere in the US that’d be suitable for one of the first three weekends in May 2018 (Friday-Sunday May 4-6, May 11-13, or May 18-20). 
  • We’re not only limited to hotels. Guest houses, rentals, hostels, etc., could work for us as well.
  • Being in the midwest this year was actually super neat, since so many people could come out who live in that central area. We’re still open to spots further east or west, too, though, so if you have a great hotel and good city in mind (ideally with a mid-size airport that’s easy for folks to get to from anywhere), feel free to submit it! 

Oh, and I know some of you submitted ideas last year, too - I’ll try to dig those up and take a look, but since our needs evolve each year, if there was a great one you think still fits, please do resubmit it.

Here’s the form to submit any suggestions!

We’re not set on a specific city at this stage, but here are some ideas we’ve thrown around so far. The ones with question marks are ones I still have to look into airport options for, since I don’t know if they’re harder to get to… I’ll look into that, and you’re welcome to let me know if you think it’d be a harder location for you to travel to, too!

  • Salt Lake City
  • Las Vegas
  • Minneapolis 
  • Nashville
  • Kansas City
  • Houston
  • Dallas
  • Chicago
  • Cincinnati
  • Cleveland
  • Indianapolis?
  • Austin?
  • San Antonio?
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Could always try New Orleans? It’s where I live.

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I hate to bring this up without any suggestions (yet, at least), but all of those weekends mentioned land around national AP tests for 2018, with one being right in the middle of them. I don’t know about IB tests because I’m not sure if that schedule is up yet, but we do have teens attending these meetups, some of who take AP or IB classes. Are these dates the only options in terms of the planning side of things? Speaking from my personal experience from this year, having to fly out after taking an AP test is really stressful and draining.

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@Galactic-Radiance - We heard you when you brought this up and did look at other options, but this is really the time that works best for meetups because it’s between the bad weather (think: travel delays!) and the summer (when hotels/attractions are often very packed/booked and people have other trips planned). 

The number of teens attending are fairly small, and that’s probably even more so for AP exam takers. But I looked up AP exams, and there are only a handful of exams that fall on that last day of each week, so hopefully the number of folks affected will be small, and if they can’t make it next year, there’s always the year after. Unfortunately, any date we pick through the year holds conflicts for some people, so there’s never a real win-win across the board, but that’s how it goes with a group event!

We’re also thinking we’ll be focusing the meetup next year on Friday-Sunday, rather than including the Thursday, so that everyone is there pretty much over the same time frame. With that in mind, we’ll likely push the State of the Wiki talk to Saturday. That’ll mean that even late arrivals on Friday won’t miss it, which will hopefully help if anyone does have to come later in the day because of Friday conflicts:slight_smile:

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@Anna , you made such an amazing job organising a wonderful Meet Up in St Louis as there would have been so many things for you to take into account. I cannot comment on the cities you’ve suggested, I’m sure wherever and whenever it is decided it will be amazing.  

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How about Denver? (DEN) ? Great city in the mountains. DOn’t know about too much of the lodging side of things.

Glad we’re bringing the State of Talk to a Saturdday after my “bump” in my schedule this year that caused me to arrive super-late (airport woes as we discussed). 

I thank you also for adding Chicago to the list. That was the other city I got thinking about. 

I keep hoping that New York City (and/or it’s surrounding areas north or southwest) would make the cut. Even the Hudson Valley would be essential for me (about 100 miles north - travel distance by train and from one of three airports (JFK, LGA, or even SWF) I could even help you out with Hudson Valley stuff if that’s what could help you…tons of bed and breakfasts up here that would fit, just gotta have your mind open to that type of stuff too (with Hudson Valley stuff, there’s always the addition for the ALB airport in Albany about a 1+1/2 (driving) distance to the North…

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@Byankno1 We’ve definitely considered Denver, but I know the airport is quite a ways out - whenever I’ve visited, the drive to where I’m going seemed pretty significant! That being said, if you have venue suggestions there, definitely feel free to submit them and I’ll do some more digging! The real kicker in the end will be the actual lodging choices, so if you want to pull for any particular cities, it’s a good time to do some venue research and share your thoughts in the form:slight_smile:

Hah, I’m going to take the same track @Krystle has in the past here and vote no on planning a meetup in a big city like New York! Big city event planning craziness aside, I’m not sure it actually fits the vibe for our crew and kind of event that well, with all the hustle and bustle of the big apple. The outer areas sound like they might be over that 30-minute drive from the airport  (an airport that works for most people without too many connections, so mid-size and up) that we’re shooting for, but if you have specific hotel suggestions that would work in the parameters, do feel free to submit those, too, and I can take a look!

Glad the Saturday schedule would work better for you - will keep that in mind as we consider that shift! 

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*Cough Cough*Should do an Australian/New Zealand/Asia.

*Cough Cough*

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Hah, @ItsPugle , I’ll refer to you to previous threads and discussions on that one:slight_smile:

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Chicago sounds like it would make a really appealing host city. Never been there before myself, and I know we just had a meetup in the Midwest, but between the airport access, number of things to see, and boutique hotels that could accommodate our group, I’m a big fan of that suggestion:slight_smile:

Other places we could possibly consider…Atlanta? San Diego? Phoenix? I’ve also pondered about someplace more low-key, but equally charming, like Savannah, GA? Or New Orleans as someone suggested above. Not sure logistically how practical these cities could be though, but still worth a mention.

I’ll do a little research when I have some time and submit a few suggestions on the form! 

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Rad, thanks @Jordan - you always have such good travel suggestions! 

I was looking up some Chicago stuff earlier, since I’m tempted by the idea myself… it looks to me like most of the places we might want to stay (downtown etc) would be kind of far from the airport, which might be kind of a pain. Half an hour or less is sort of ideal in terms of getting everyone there in a shuttle in good time without hassle. But if you (or anyone) have ideas for venues in other neighborhoods in the Chicago area that could be cool to stay in, a bit closer to the airport than downtown, please do submit them!

We’re def down for low-key and charming spots, and the other ideas you mentioned, too, if we can find good locations there. I actually prefer the idea of a mid-size, lowkey city to the big ones, in many ways - as long as the airport is close enough and a good one for most people to get to in a flight or two. No idea about Savannah’s options in that regard, but it’s worth looking into!

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How about Miami? I don’t recommend Cleveland by the way (living right by it, it’s not that spectacular). I would think we could do early May? Late May holds finals, testing, projects and all that stress so it would be a problem.

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@ChocolateFan1 We’ll likely end up picking the date based on availability at our ideal location, since pretty much every weekend is going to have some kind of conflict for someone out there. But if all else ends up being equal, we’ll shoot for the weekend where the lodging is available and the fewest number of people have issues attending. I just can’t make per-person promises, though, or we’d never set a date:slight_smile:Heh, I think everyone probably feels that way about their home city, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be neat for the rest of us! We spend most of the time in the venue anyway, so if there were a good lodging fit, that’d make all the difference, regardless of city. We were in Florida for a meetup a few years back, but if you have a good lodging suggestion that fits the parameters in Miami, I’m definitely still game to look into it!

14

I reckon we should really try somewhere in Australia, like Brisbane or Melbourne, or maybe Auckland in New Zealand. Brisbane has a lot of hotels with comfy rooms and apartments, as well as does Melbourne. Just a though, cause I’m going with the idea of @ItsPugle .

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Mhm - The Sheraton in the city is quite cosy and comfortable, and it has shuttles that go to and from the Airport. Plus, it’s pretty much in the middle of everywhere; Quite easy to catch transport.

But as Anna said, it’d be hard to justify a meetup in the Australia/New Zealand area. Not a large amount of active wikiHowians are Australian, and for people from the States who wish to attend, it’s rather hefty to purchase tickets. That being said, it’s expensive for Australians and New Zealands to fly to the US as well, so I guess all the Australian/New Zealands wikiHowians will just have to go through and admit that we won’t be attending a wikiMeetup anytime soon (Unless you win a lottery).

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Yeah that’s true. I ain’t making enough money to travel overseas (of course, if we win a lottery).

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We’ve had folks come to North American meetups from far overseas - New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, Europe, etc. I do sympathize that it’s harder as a minor, but we’ve had plenty of US wikiHowians have to wait until they turn 18 to attend a meetup, too. Hang in there, and if nothing else, it may work out once you’re an independent traveler:slight_smile:

I’d like to steer this thread from becoming too derailed from the point, though, so if you have any other questions about Australia or anything unrelated to the specifics of next year, please email me.

For those people just joining the discussion now, here are the parameters we’re talking about for next year:

  • We’re shooting for somewhere in the US that’d be suitable for one of the first three weekends in May 2018 (Friday-Sunday May 4-6, May 11-13, or May 18-20). 
  • We’re not only limited to hotels. Guest houses, rentals, hostels, etc., could work for us as well.
  • Being in the midwest this year was actually super neat, since so many people could come out who live in that central area. We’re still open to spots further east or west, too, though, so if you have a great hotel and good city in mind (ideally with a mid-size airport that’s easy for folks to get to from anywhere), feel free to submit it! 

If you have suggestions for a good venue within those, please do submit it to the form (and feel free to share general ideas here, along with those submissions)! I’ve been doing some digging around the options in various cities, too, and am excited to et stuck into more research:slight_smile:

18

Hartford or Philadelphia? I’m a sucker for the north east and would love to see us get up there (I think it’s been a while, excluding Montreal?)

19

Oh, and it’s pretty small, but Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is a place I’ve always wanted to go personally!

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Hey @Anna , I could vouch for Hartford. I can get there rather easily myself with an hour drive away from me. However, the nearest airport is rather tiny at Bradley Airport just north of Hartford. No airports in or near Hartford. Bradley has some big names, but not the entire slieu of names that we normally expect to see. 

I can also see Philadelphia I’ve been there. It’s a great place, but prices and craziness of one-way streets that aren’t marked is a problem. Lots of walking. Great “Duck Tours” here. I"ve been on one in 2007, and they really are fun - although their prices are a tad bit more expensive but it’s made up for in quality and quantity. 

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Was just in West Virginia myself this past July but we ended up leaving due to not enough stuff that was up my alley - if you aren’t there to experience the outdoors, there’s little chance of me coming there again. There’s a Civil War battlefield (I believe) in Harpers Ferry but theres no airport close enough to it. I know there’s a tiny one in Southwest WV in Charleston and tinier ones even smaller than that nearby.