Tek7 (Legacy)
CGA & ToJ President
Greetings, all. With the recent delays involving the Christian Gamers Alliance convention, I thought I'd take a minute out and explain the details of the situation.
When we first announced the convention, more than twice a as many people said they would attend as registered. We have had to develop contingency plans but have hesitated to cancel the convention entirely.
Due to low registration numbers, we will no longer be using the Holiday Inn Select as our hotel. All those who attend the convention and do not live in Tulsa or its outlying areas will need to reserve their own accomodations. We personally recommend the Baymont Inn because of its proximity to Celebration Station, where our meetings, if the convention is not cancelled, will be held.
I say "if" because Celebration Station requires that we bring in at least twenty (20) attendees and only sixteen have registered. Of those sixteen, two have e-mailed to say that they will be unable to attend--one being Vanaze, our original choice for worship leader. This brings us down to fourteen, which means that there are two days for six more people to register and all twenty to pay using Paypal.
Cost to attend the convention will be $104 (the four extra dollars go toward covering Paypal fees), payable via Paypal to convention@cgalliance.org and due Tuesday, May 25. This does NOT include renting a hotel room. All those who will need a hotel room will need to arrange their own reservations.
If twenty people have not registered and paid to attend the convention by the morning of Wednesday, May 26, we will be forced to cancel the convention altogether.
If you pay the $104 to attend the convention and it is cancelled, I will refund your money. Please note that Paypal regulates refunds; consult the Paypal Help section for details regarding refund policies.
Also, those who planned to travel to Tulsa for the weekend may still do so and help plan a "fallback" event. If we do cancel the convention, I, personally, will likely not attend the "fallback" event for its full duration.
I understand this news is frustrating to those who plan to attend. I admit that the process itself has been, overall, very frustrating. I have had little support from the community, even after posting repeated "help wanted" threads and advertising the convention at several churches, businesses, and web sites. Whether or not we host a convention this year, I will likely not be involved in planning future conventions. I have had to juggle planning this convention, searching for a job, travelling to Springfield to see my girlfriend and soon-to-be fiancee, maintaining some semblance of a social life, managing the day-to-day tasks for both the Christian Gamers Alliance and Tribe of Judah, and considering the course of my life for the next few years. If there is to be a 2005 Christian Gamers Alliance Convention, it will be planned entirely by other community members.
Please know that I still hope we can hold a convention this year, if only a small one and if only to help Rizz, who is flying from England to Tulsa, Oklahoma, meet other CGA community members. I am not saying whether or not we will cancel; I am only posting the conditions for continuing with our current plan.
Please also know that I write these words after weeks of frustration. I still love the Christian Gamers Alliance and its member-groups and affiliates. I still believe in its vision and I still believe that it was right to plan this convention when we started.
I ask everyone to pray that God's will be done and that, if it is His will, those He wishes to help this convention become reality heed His voice.
When we first announced the convention, more than twice a as many people said they would attend as registered. We have had to develop contingency plans but have hesitated to cancel the convention entirely.
Due to low registration numbers, we will no longer be using the Holiday Inn Select as our hotel. All those who attend the convention and do not live in Tulsa or its outlying areas will need to reserve their own accomodations. We personally recommend the Baymont Inn because of its proximity to Celebration Station, where our meetings, if the convention is not cancelled, will be held.
I say "if" because Celebration Station requires that we bring in at least twenty (20) attendees and only sixteen have registered. Of those sixteen, two have e-mailed to say that they will be unable to attend--one being Vanaze, our original choice for worship leader. This brings us down to fourteen, which means that there are two days for six more people to register and all twenty to pay using Paypal.
Cost to attend the convention will be $104 (the four extra dollars go toward covering Paypal fees), payable via Paypal to convention@cgalliance.org and due Tuesday, May 25. This does NOT include renting a hotel room. All those who will need a hotel room will need to arrange their own reservations.
If twenty people have not registered and paid to attend the convention by the morning of Wednesday, May 26, we will be forced to cancel the convention altogether.
If you pay the $104 to attend the convention and it is cancelled, I will refund your money. Please note that Paypal regulates refunds; consult the Paypal Help section for details regarding refund policies.
Also, those who planned to travel to Tulsa for the weekend may still do so and help plan a "fallback" event. If we do cancel the convention, I, personally, will likely not attend the "fallback" event for its full duration.
I understand this news is frustrating to those who plan to attend. I admit that the process itself has been, overall, very frustrating. I have had little support from the community, even after posting repeated "help wanted" threads and advertising the convention at several churches, businesses, and web sites. Whether or not we host a convention this year, I will likely not be involved in planning future conventions. I have had to juggle planning this convention, searching for a job, travelling to Springfield to see my girlfriend and soon-to-be fiancee, maintaining some semblance of a social life, managing the day-to-day tasks for both the Christian Gamers Alliance and Tribe of Judah, and considering the course of my life for the next few years. If there is to be a 2005 Christian Gamers Alliance Convention, it will be planned entirely by other community members.
Please know that I still hope we can hold a convention this year, if only a small one and if only to help Rizz, who is flying from England to Tulsa, Oklahoma, meet other CGA community members. I am not saying whether or not we will cancel; I am only posting the conditions for continuing with our current plan.
Please also know that I write these words after weeks of frustration. I still love the Christian Gamers Alliance and its member-groups and affiliates. I still believe in its vision and I still believe that it was right to plan this convention when we started.
I ask everyone to pray that God's will be done and that, if it is His will, those He wishes to help this convention become reality heed His voice.
