Message from Gaelcon! (reposted from igaming)

Nevyn

i all, sorry about the lateness, but my job is pretty time consuming.
Such is the love of theatre. Also, i apologise for any errors in this
statement. Thats my doing writing this at 6pm on a friday when I'm
being called to go to the pub.

In short, yes, Gaelcon 2009 will be held in a new venue - the D4
hotel, Ballsbridge.

Their website is www.d4hotels.ie.

I'll raise a couple of concerns here that people may have:

Why?

Clontarf was a distance out of town. The D4 is approximately 20
minutes walk from Stephens Green. When we decided to look at new
venues, the golden rule was City centre. Now, the D4 is not in the
city centre, but it is very close. There are buses, the place is
always swarming with taxis, the LUAS to Charlemont and Ranelagh is
walking distance and the DART stops nearby at Lansdowne road.

Also, while we had a history with Clontarf Castle, the price we were
paying was far more than the quality of service we recieved. Shopping
around, we have found a much more reasonable and pratical venue. At
the end of the day, Gaelcon gets no external funding and has to be
self-sufficient in its costs.

Parking?

Its pay parking on site. There is disc parking around, but this
should be free on Sunday and bank holiday monday. There is a special
deal in D4 for overnight parking.

What about the Womens Mini Marathon?

yes, it will run right outside the venue. This is a problem for car
drivers and some bus routes. Sadly, this is something out of our
control, as the Gardai will have checkpoints out as far as Rathgar.
The best transport to the venue is the DART. While we could have
picked a venue in the city centre, we chose the venue that was best
suited to a con and also the best value for money.

Accommodation?

The D4 has a number of rooms available, starting at €99 a night
(though there may be deals for booking, check on their site). There
are a number of hotels in the general vicinity of the D4. There aren't
many B&Bs or Hostels, these are mostly located in Dublin city centre.
However, there are several on or near Gardiner Street, which would put
you right next to Connolly station and a DART to Lansdowne road.

Food?

There are several bars on site, and the D4 has a coffee shop open 7am
- 6pm. Sadly, the legendary Coffee Dock with its 23 hour opening is
gone, but the bar will be serving food until 10pm each night.

Shopping?

There's a Tesco quickshop about 5 minutes walk up to Leeson Street.
There is also a Tesco on Baggot Street, on the way from Stephens
Green. There's a number of Centras and Spars in the general vicinity
also.

Transport?

As raised above, its about 20 mins walk from Stephens Green .

The distance is 1.8 km. For a quick comparison for people unfamiliar
with Dublin, its a little longer than the walk from UCC - Grand Parade
route (1.2 km) and about the same as Eyre Square to NUI Galway (1.9
km).

The Aircoach link from Dublin Airport stops at the front gate.

Lansdowne Road DART is 5 minutes walk away.

A Taxi rank is situated at the hotel entrance.




Any other concerns, please either reply here or contact me directly.
If anyone has any concerns regarding Gaelcon 2009, feel free to
contact me directly at Baz.Nugent@gmail.com, and I will either pass
your concerns on directly or try to respond to them myself. If you
could put "GAELCON CONCERN" in the subject, that'd make it a little
easier to spot and prioritise.

On a side point, if there is anyone having any difficulty contacting
anyone involved in Gaelcon, please contact me directly. I would much
rather you all knowing I'm here and responding to your concerns than
have you feel that we are unresponsive and disinterested.

Here's a link to the Google map route from Stephens Green:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Stephens+Green,+Republic+of+Ireland&daddr=D4+Hotel,+Ballsbridge&hl=en&geocode=%3BFcnILQMdeN-g_yHGr56Oc0vrOA&mra=ls&dirflg=w&sll=53.33741,-6.246925&sspn=0.011659,0.038624&ie=UTF8&ll=53.335409,-6.245856&spn=0.01166,0.038624&z=15


As I said above, any concerns, any issues, drop me a line.

- Baz Nugent

Gaelcon / IGA PRO.

http://www.gaelcon.com/
Seems the website is still busted atm, wonder if the email is too ?

kiffer

The "@gaelcon" email addresses are working...


info should go to the Con Director...
pro goes to the pro...
chris will get to me... (tested it this today)

There should be addresses that go straight to the RGP, Wargames and CCGs coordinators but I'm not sure if the email addresses have been changed from last years coordinators to this years committee.
So in the mean time anything it might be best if anything for these people went to info and pro... both of them.

Nevyn

kiffer wrote: »

The "@gaelcon" email addresses are working...


info should go to the Con Director...
pro goes to the pro...
chris will get to me... (tested it this today)

There should be addresses that go straight to the RGP, Wargames and CCGs coordinators but I'm not sure if the email addresses have been changed from last years coordinators to this years committee.
So in the mean time anything it might be best if anything for these people went to info and pro... both of them.

Excellent, thank you.

elbrop

Hm not sure how I feel about this. The last few Gaelcons have been absolutely top forum, by far the best cons of the year. Changing the venue hasn't proven the best thing in the past.

On the other hand the Castle did have a few flaws (such as over priced and not very good food) and was miles out of the way.

I guess change is sometimes necessary.

So, can anyone recommend any good B&B's nearby?

Nevyn

There are plenty in and around the city center, gardener st particularly.

I will be out to look at the new 'home' for this years Gealcon this Saturday
and will report back. Personally I welcome Gelacon being in a more central venue
with a lot more options.