Northwest Majors '09 - Saturday, August 22nd- Landmark Convention Center, Tacoma, WA

Regional Matchmaking Northwest
1

General Info-

Official Title- Northwest Majors '09

Date- Saturday, August 22nd 2009

Time- 8:00AM Day of Registration, 9:00AM - 11:00PM Tournament

Location- Temple Theater Ballroom at the Landmark Convention Center, Tacoma, WA.

Room Pics- www.flickr.com/photos/pnwmajors
Venue Website- www.tacomaslandmark.com/Gallery/Theatre/theatre.html
Google Map

Floor Plan (Now in a size that won’t crash your computer :P) - http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/2676/templeballroomfloorplan.jpg

Games:
Street Fighter 4
Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
Guilty Gear: Accent Core Plus
BlazBlue
King of Fighter XII

GameClucks Smash Tournament:
Super Smash Bros. Melee Singles
Super Smash Bros. Melee Doubles
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Singles
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Doubles

Schedule

8:00am ? 9:00am: Registration
9:00am ? 12:00pm: BlazBlue, KOF XII

11:45am ? 12:00pm: 2nd Registration

12:00pm ? 2:30pm: Guilty Gear: Accent Core Plus, Super Turbo: HDR
2:30pm ? 4:00pm: First Finals

3:45pm ? 4:00pm: 3rd Registration

4:00pm ? 7:00pm: Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike

6:45pm ? 7:00pm: Final registration

7:00pm ? 9:30pm: Street Fighter IV
9:30pm ? 11:00pm: Second Finals

Website- www.NorthwestMajors.com

  • Thanks big thanks to Axel for being great and reserving the website!

Tournament Runners: Two people running brackets at minimum would be best.

Street Fighter 4- Jetay (Omne), Keith (DoughBoy), Paullee (MyNameIsPaullee),
Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike - Mackinzie, ?
Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix - Julian Blake, Keith (Doughboy)
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 - Keith (Doughboy), ?
Super Smash Bros Melee/Brawl - Chris (GameClucks)
Guilty Gear: Accent Core Plus - Vince (Sytha), ?
BlazBlue - Veteru, ?
King of Fighter XII- Julien (Zass) - Warning: Zass is a tournament Nazi. Be at your matches.

Commentary for Matches:

Street Fighter 4 - FrankdaDank, Mickey D
Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike -
Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix -
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 -
Super Smash Bros Melee/Brawl -
Guilty Gear: Accent Core Plus -
BlazBlue -
King of Fighter XII -

Budget Costs:

Venue = (Payed) $2,000 per day (no tax!) + refundable $500 damage deposit. Please do not light the carpets on fire.
(Thanks to Pablo for putting up the $500 downpayment so we could reserve the room. Without him it wouldn’t be happening.)

Table Rentals = $270. We will be renting 24 8-foot long tables from the venue. They will be setup and torn down for us the day before an after the event.

We are also renting 10 6-foot tables from a community center near my house for $25-$50 dollars that will be used for tournament organizing and check in.

Total = $2270

Announcements On Other Sites

Shoryuken Announcement Thread

GameClucks Smash Announcement on AllIsBrawl

Dustloop Announcement Thread

Facebook Event Page

SmashBoards Regional Announcment

Call for Smash Organizers and Systems

SmashBoards Tournament Announcment

AllIsBrawl Tournament Announcment

AllIsFighter Tournament Announcement

Blazblue Forums Tournament Announcement

Related Threads

Northwest Majors '08 Thread

2

Here is a list of places I’ve looked at so far. I put the ones I think could work at the top and the ones that probably won’t work on the bottom.

So as a reference, the place we were at last year cost 563 dollars. Without the discount through the club and the reduction of operator fees, it would have been 1,300 for 10 hours + taxaround 1,450.

So this year, we need a room that we can have for 2 days, and that can hold around 300 people.

What we need-

Capacity - 300-500 people
Reservation- 2 days, 12 hours
Date- Some weekend in June or July

Best Seattle Venue Search Site- http://www.banquetevent.com/event/category.asp?viewall=1&r=1&c=22
This site is really incredible. The majority of venues listed are in Seattle, although some are a few miles out in nearby cities.

Places That Could Work

  • Seattle Center, Fischer Pavilion

  • Westin Hotel, Grand Ballroom

  • Seattle Center, San Juan Room

Places That Probably Won’t Work

  • Seattle Center, Exhibition Hall

Places That Won’t Work

  • Key Arena

  • Sheraton Hotel, Grand Ballroom

  • Seattle Center, McCaw Hall Grand Lobby

Other Venues-

The Jerry M. Brockey Center, South Seattle Community College- Looks really nice from the small photos.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=250

The EdgeWater Hotel- Room is amazing. Might as well call.
http://www.edgewaterhotel.com/edgewater_photosMeetings.aspx

The Hilton, Seattle- Has a dance floor for up to 350 people.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=772

Gameworks- Apparently they move a lot of their stuff out for events. I have no idea where?
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=573

Grand Hyatt, Seattle-
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=698

King Oscar Hotel and Convention Center- In Tacoma but not sure where. http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=301

Waterfront Marriot Hotel- Seems like they are more focused on banquets but I don’t think they would turn down business.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=328

Mercer View Community Center- This place looks amazing. I would assume relatively cheap with Community Center, but having worked at one, I know they can be assholes.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=393

Palace Ballroom- Looks feasible enough to check.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=264

Sodo Park by Urban Feast- Space looks great, and they provide special rates for non-profits. I have a feeling that we don’t technically fit that description, but no one is looking to make a profit off this as of right now, so we may as well ask.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=721

Spirit of Washington Event Center- Holy Crap. This place looks amazing. This could be an incredible venue.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=170

Tacoma’s Landmark Convention Center- I’ve been to a number of events here, and its an amazing venue. I think they may have gone out of business just recently however?
Room Rental Price Range: $295 to $1,250 That is amazing, so I hope their still open.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=7

W Seattle- Right in the heart of Seattle. Probably pretty expensive.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=300

World Trade Center, Seattle- Might be a little small, but looks great. Might as well check.
http://www.banquetevent.com/event/resume.asp?c=22&r=1&resumeID=287

Best Western Executive Inn- Likely to Small of Venue
http://www.bestwesternwashington.com/hotels/best-western-executive-inn/

3

Wow, three thousand dollars? Can’t we just use an elementary school gym or something?

4

I suggest robbing a bank instead!

Also, aren’t there like smaller-ish community centers scattered around that are much cheaper to rent? I can’t think of one at the moment but I’ve definitely been to a few.

5

why, just so they can vandalize our shit and get off my being minors?

6

Too put it in perspective, a 2 day event at the room we used previously without discounts would cost over 3,000 dollars. We can’t use that room again for the major because it would be too small. I am also no longer an operator, so no $300 discount.

$100 per hour x 10 hours = $1,000

  • $300 dollar operator fee
  • 15% surcharge
    = $1,450 for one day in the old room.

I was the operator because I worked there last year, which saved $300, and it was put on through the club, which saved $500. We also went 2 hours over, which wasn’t billed because I know the people, so add an extra $500 to total cost of a 2 day event, and you can see how even the room we used was possibly very expensive.

For a 12 hour event, our numbers came out like this

$50 x 10 hrs = $500
+15% surcharge
= roughly $560

Don’t have the paper work on me, but thats only off by a few dollars.

7

i work at the best wester executive inn in downtown seattle. theres lots of parking, a restaraunt, and i do believe they can host lots of people. (i work in teh kitchen and we’ve had banquets for 300+ people). i dont know what the rules are about events lasting past midnight since there has to be a worker to monitor it… but sice i work there, i dont wanna be liable… unless theyre paying me lol.

http://www.bestwesternwashington.com/hotels/best-western-executive-inn/

im good friends with the AGM there too hahaha

8

What about space at the convention center?

9

You guys try any of the hotel ballrooms/banquet halls at some of the casinos in the area?

10

For what its worth, MLG had an event at the Sheraton ballroom a few years ago, and that worked out really well.

Of course they probably had a shit ton more money too though.

11

That could come in handy. If you want to add the information from the site to this page that would be cool, otherwise I can do it later. Lots of free time with the snow.

I had a meeting scheduled with the guy who was supposed to be our sales rep for the center, but he called me up 2 hours before and told me there were no rooms available to meet our requirements. I am pretty sure he was just trying to blow me off, and I messed up because I let him. He sent late reply emails and I was forced to call him to get replys. He had a real lack of enthusiam like I was bothering him, and called me 2 hours before a meeting with information he should have had 4 days earlier. He might be busy, but if he is he should give our event to someone else. “No” should never be your first answer in customer service.

So I am going to go back and try again.

They probably did have a shit ton more money, but we can look into options like sponsors to help with the cost. It won’t do anything if we go to sponsors and say that we need money, but don’t have a reason why. I think the Sheraton looks great too.

12

Seattle Parks & Recreation

List of Facilities, prices are at the bottom.

Large gyms cost $25 an hour for athletic use, $100 for non-athletic use. I don’t suppose we could convince them that a tournament of this sort should count as ‘athletic?’

Large rooms (1,500 sqft. +) = $45/hr.
Medium rooms (400-1500) = $35/hr.

…Unless we’re “Class A” (Non-Commercial Use, for the general public, scheduled during operating hours. No admission fee, vendor fee and/or donation is requested or received.) Maybe? Might be iffy, since attendance is (presumably) free, but tourney entrance would be paid.

Class A = $5/hr. Wow. Probably not happening, but still.

13

I don’t think 1500 square feet is gonna cut it for 300 people >.>

Might check how much Quest Field costs? I know there were some Magic pre-release events there, it wasn’t really too bad of a venue. I can ask my mom about some of this too… she books all type events for her company so maybe she can get a hook up or something.

http://www.qwestfield.com/eventBooking/eventCenter.aspx

Probably not gonna be cheap, but won’t know til you call >.>

14

Giving up on calling around to places today. Monday will be a snow day too, but at least it won’t be the end of the week where peopel are ducking out early.

15

That’s a problem for those under 21 without parental support.

To me, Quest field is a PRIME location with the concourse level being what I would think a perfect size as long as price doesn’t heed our attempts. I wish we could get this cause I have family very close by in Bellevue and could just easily make a 10 min drive to get to Quest lol!

16

When I went to WCG a couple years ago the Quest field’s exhibition center was massive, but I doubt it’s in our price range. It wouldn’t hurt to see, though.

17

Brent, how big was that hall we had for the first NWM? If I look around I want to know what ball park square footage to aim for.

thanks

18

Here?s the specs for Walker Ames, Kane Hall ? http://www.css.washington.edu/KNE_225

It was 68’ x 36’ in open space, not counting the unused rooms on both ends. So our last venue was 2,448 square feet, and we fit just right with about 120 registered attendees going in and out throughout the day, and a few spectators.

I think we should go for triple or quadruple that space. 10,000 square feet is a lot, but I think we could do plenty with it.

Here?s another space to look into.

The WaMu Theater

  • They have no information on their rooms other than saying how great they are, so I guess I will have to call. In the running for most useless website.

Website- http://wamutheater.com/groups.php

19

Washington State Convention Center
Susan Newcomb
206.694.5111

wsctc.com

Also check http://www.banquetevent.com/

Thanks mom!

20

Thanks Dan, that link is great! It took me to this

http://www.banquetevent.com/event/category.asp?viewall=1&r=1&c=22

which is exactly what I’ve been looking for!

I have been talking to a guy at the WSCTC who wasn’t being very helpful. I’m going to give him another chance by calling him back and being more assertive, but if he is still difficult to work with, I’ll let him know we want to work with someone else and give Susan a call.