Almost convention time

Over the last few weeks, I've found myself worrying about some of my local BookCrossing friends.  The annual anniversary BookCrossing convention is being held here in the DC area next month, and my friends on the planning committee have spend a lot of time over the last couple of years organizing the event.  Last year's convention, held in Amsterdam, had over 200 people registered (the actual attendance was lower, because of the travel issues caused by the volcano in Iceland).  The last of these conventions held in the US was in 2007 in Charleston, so the planners expected that there would be a great deal of interest from the US BookCrossers who might not have been able to travel overseas for the three conventions since then.  So when they budgeted for 200 people, it seemed reasonable.

Unfortunately, we currently only have 88 people registered for the convention, with only two weeks left before they have to close registrations.  As a result, the convention is in serious debt (currently, they have collected less than 45% of the funds they need to break even).  The planning committee has tried to increase registrations by offering options to sign up for single days and are even volunteering to have their hair dyed a variety of colors if people donate enough money.  So far, these efforts have not had a very big impact.  I've been trying to promote the convention and the various fundraising efforts on Facebook, but it doesn't seem like my efforts are making any difference.  It has been frustrating, and I'm worried that my friends are going to be left owing a significant amount of money that they are going to need to pay out of their own pockets.

With the convention only 35 days away, the organizers have been working to make sure that the planned activities will run as smoothly as possible.  A couple of weeks ago, a number of the local BookCrossers (myself included) met in DC to do a trial run of the Literary Museum Hopper event.  It was fun and seemed to work pretty well, though we did make some suggestions that will hopefully make it even better for the convention.  I volunteered to lead a walking tour of Old Town Alexandria for the convention, and we have a trial run of that tour scheduled for Sunday.  I've done my research, compiled a list of sights to include and planned a route.  My notes are all typed, and I've printed maps for the participants, so I think I'm ready to go.  I really have no way to judge how long my tour will take.  I hope it isn't either too long or too short.  I also hope I have enough information to keep it interesting (and I would be really pleased if I have at least something that the locals on the trial run didn't already know).  We'll see how it goes...I'm hoping that I won't need to make any major changes.

I'm going to end with a shameless plug:  Please check out the information about the convention, and if it looks like something you might enjoy, PLEASE register and join us.  You do not need to be a member of BookCrossing, and while the BookCrossers in attendance will be doing their BookCrossing thing, leaving books for others to find, many of the activities available should be of general interest and fun for anyone.  If you have any questions, you can post it in the comments and I'll try to get an answer for you.