Ripper Conference 2009: London

[anna]

What???I was waiting for a further announcement about tickets...now theyr'e all gone!...and I also thought a hundred seats were available.

I'm soooo mad....I've been looking forward to meeting everyone.

I don't even need a bloomin hotel room....I'm just a short hop over from the East End....which makes it all even more bloomin annoying.


Soooooooooooo......it's definitely gonna have to be a "fringe festival"!!!!

Bring it on!!!! :yes.

A 'Fringe Festival'? Will there be mullets as well?? I'm not far away either. I'm sure everyone would love to see me there...

[Sam Flynn]

I missed the boat with this one, but I'm only 35 mins away so I'll see you all in the pub afterwards for drinks and punch-ups and stuff. First round's on Gareth!

You're on, Ben! No reason why we can't have a Whitechapel "Fringe Festival" going on at the same time

[Supe]

This was posted on January 6 of this year:

Dear all,

First of all, thanks to everyone for your patience with regard to an official reply to your posts about the UK conference, and thanks to Monty for alerting me to the fact that Ally is after my blood.

Since the 2003 conference in Liverpool we have held the conference at a hotel in the Britannia chain, and because of this have been successful in persuading each venue to keep their costs at the 2003 rate as that of 2003 (although the hotel in Wolverhampton was slightly higher due to food costs).

However, on contacting all the Britannia hotels 8 months ago we were informed that they would have to charge their full rate due to the uncertain financial climate. Since then we have been looked at numerous hotels, each time finding that the cost is far too high to pass on to our delegates - it would mean an extra £100 per person for a full conference, assuming we retained an attendance of 100+.

We decided to wait until the January rates were announced before making a final decision, but we are sad to report that this year we will be unable to stage a full conference on the scale of previous years.

Don't fret just yet; we are working on a scaled-down version of the conference, which we hope to announce by the end of January. This event will still take place in October of this year. Still top quality and top fun, but more wallet-friendly.

In future, if you have any questions regarding the conference please email me direct at adamwood55@yahoo.co.uk until an official announcement is made.

Best wishes
Adam

It would certainly seem that everyone was forewarned about the difficulties this year. Moreover, it would seem the blame resides with England's hoteliers who, with tourism down and facing a glut of empty rooms couldn't see the advantages to having 120 rooms guaranteed for a weekend.

Don.

[Ben]

I missed the boat with this one, but I'm only 35 mins away so I'll see you all in the pub afterwards for drinks and punch-ups and stuff. First round's on Gareth!

All the best,
Ben

[Ally]

Believe it or not, Phil, I actually agree with you on that one. Politics are a steaming turd, but the reason many people chose not to go has nothing to do with "politics". If you don't like someone, why would you pay money to go to their birthday party no matter how many clowns and elephants and jugglers they have? My reason for not going to the conference last year was the same as my reason for not helping organize it last year and it didn't really matter who organized it, I probably would not have been able to go. But I also agree with you that the main person organizing it didn't deserve to be penalized and that does appear to be what happened. But I think the fact that the main organizer wasn't really a known name and the other was, was a definite factor. And I am not saying that was everyone's reason. Just many that I spoke to. I am sure many could not attend for strictly financial reasons.

However, I do think it is a shame if the low turn out for the American conference influenced expectations for a low turn out for this conference, since absolutely none of the negatives of the knoxville conference were present in this one. No expensive hotel package, historically accurate location, etc.

[George Hutchinson]

Hi Philip

You were obviously one of the lucky 65!!

Coral

Hi Coral

Erm... were you actually reading the Conference news from the outset? No, I'm not one of the 65 attendees. I'm a speaker, hence why I started my post with the rider I was aware I was making this statement from the other side of the fence. Still, I believe all this ground has now been covered.

Ally, if, as you say, people were not going to Knoxville for 'other' reasons, that would be a great shame, seeing as the person you're clearly alluding to was not the main organiser and it happened to be an amazing weekend with some super talks. Sometimes Ripperology politics is a big steaming turd.

PHILIP

[Sam Flynn]

But like I said, because of the move to San Diego, I cannot commit until mid-May. You'll get my reservation, and I'll get my place in line, then.

I sincerely hope that the line will end up with a few gaps for you, Ally, and others, Jon. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[jmenges]

Well, I would have gone. And with Gareth, Robert McLaughlin, Mike Covell and possibly Ally in attendance, the ingredients are there for a great podcast.

But like I said, because of the move to San Diego, I cannot commit until mid-May. You'll get my reservation, and I'll get my place in line, then.

JM

[Ally]

My guess, and my guess only, is that they didn't figure that many people would want to attend ( a miscalculation) and based on that, they decided to hold it in the East End for ambiance. If this had been the Knoxville conference, the place they picked would have been enough twice over, but it's not.

[jmenges]

were largely waived by it being held in London and everyone able to make their own accommodations and that a large number of people would have attended, so it is unfortunate this wasn't anticipated.

Several people know that I was planning on attending, but I am moving across the country (a move pushed forward to make it easier to attend the conference) and so needed to wait for the dust to settle before I made a commitment. But now it appears, since the 65 spots sold out in 24 hours, as though I won't make it to London.

JM

[Tom_Wescott]

I figured that, just wondered why they'd contract with such a small place.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Ally]

They've probably contracted with the place that it is being held and they can't renege on the contract. The place only holds so many people, probably 75 being the max.

[Tom_Wescott]

Is there a reason they don't want to accomodate more peeps? Doesn't make good sense money wise to turn people away from a conference.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Monty]

Ally,

Good point. I am going to get some big hairy man to beat him with a truncheon.

Ooh, pick me...pick me !

I know that there is a standby list for those who wish to be considered should someone pull out. However Im not aware of the cut off date.

Hopefully Adam or Andy will clarify that soon.

Monty