Noreascon Four

Boskone Tries Out One of Our Hotels

Boskone 40 returned to Boston over the President's day weekend (14-16 Feb 2003) at the Sheraton Boston hotel, one of Noreascon 4's two main hotels.

Reviews of the new location have been very positive:

"I was *very* impressed with Star Market. I went in expecting something like a 7-11 and found a full scale grocery store complete with an entire aisle of personal care items more commonly found at a drug store. And something called "Mini Whoopie Pies" in the bakery — I wish I'd picked them up just for the novelty and curiosity value.
"On the more gourmet front, there's a food shop in the basement of the Marché Mövenpick. They had tropical banana curd, and coffee curd, too. And a single bottle of Hard Cola (5% cola-flavored malt beverage product), which I did buy.

"If you get the idea that I *love* Boskone being downtown, you'd be right."
— Geri Sullivan

"Getting dinner Saturday night was 'Let's walk out and grab whomever we see strolling by to join us.' .... I'm suggesting to most of the conrunners I know that they go to Boskone and see why the hassles of a downtown hotel are worth it."
— Erik Olson

"For those of us whose ancestors are from New England, a meal at Legal Sea Foods is like making the hajj. The lobster roll at Boston Chowda in the food court was more than worth the walk, too."
— Alex von Thorn

Storming Brains, Noreascon Style

On Saturday, February 1st, Noreascon 4 held an open brainstorming meeting at the home of Chairman Deb Geisler (and the 28 wild turkey tenants).

We discussed sponsorships, commercial exhibits, and how to educate our members about the 1953 Retrospective Hugos. About twenty people attended.

We talked over policies for accepting outside sponsorship of convention activities, including everything from cool film studio offerings to special ways for local businesses and remote fannish organizations to get involved.

Another issue was how to get interesting outside exhibits, including making connections with the local museums, NASA, and the MIT media and computer labs.

Finally, we talked over our ideas to enhance fannish awareness of the material which will be the subject of the 2004 Retro Hugo awards, including pre-nomination publications, material in our Progress Reports, and harnessing the "power of the Web."

Our brainstorming sessions are open to anyone with an interest in the topic. The next one will look at all of that lovely space we have in the Hynes Convention Center and the Sheraton Boston.