And so are Newt Gingrich, DeeDee Myers, Ken Burns and Freakonomics author Steven D. Levitt.
Well, they’re not exactly coming to Comic-con, see. But they will be NEXT DOOR as part of the 2010 AHA Health Forum Leadership Summit which is being held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, July 22-24, or Thursday-Saturday of Comic-Con.
News that ANOTHER conference was being held at the Hyatt surfaced as Hoteloween participants this morning noted that the Hyatt wasn’t available on the con’s drop down menu. It seems that Hyatt has decided that hosting its very OWN event at the same time is the best way to keep the comic-con freaks at bay.
The Hyatt and the con have long had a contentious relationship. You can surely fill in your own gripe list of inattentive staff, hostile hotel workers and so on. Last year, it took an all-staff meeting with warnings to get workers to be nice to the Comic-Con people.
This time, however, the Hyatt it getting into the big leagues of denial and hubris. You can’t hold another big event at the same time as Comic-Con. It’s all-enveloping. The city of San Diego learned that a few years ago when they allowed a Padres homestand next door, with the predictable resultant gridlock, tension and stress.
The AHA conference covers, we’re told
Join senior executives from hundreds of the nation’s leading hospitals and health systems at this unique forum where health care leaders can discuss the issues that face their organizations and network to find the answers they need to be more successful.
In other words…HEALTH CARE! Yay, maybe we can add protesting teabaggers and sick people demanding coverage to the San Diego scrum! The event schedule is here with Al Gore’s key note scheduled for 1 pm on Thursday. Nothing else going on at that time! Maybe he can line up with the Twilight campers?
The site lists the following: “Education Tracks”
* Improving Care Coordination
* Delivering and Demonstrating Greater Value
* Strategies for Managing Greater Risk and Accountability
* Emerging Partnership Models
* Implementing and Leveraging the Electronic Health Record
* Transforming the Workplace and the Workforce
To which we’d add
* Campfire basics for tenting it by the Hilton
* Strategizing potty breaks while wearing a Stromtrooper outfit
* Avoiding eye-strain when a Slave Leia walks by
* Proper attire for getting into the SciFi party
* Implementing bail for when you get really mad and punch out a clueless security guard
Yep those AHA Risk Management execs are going to learn a WHOLE LOT about things they never expected to in July.
Oh my. I can only hope that hilarity will ensue.
This makes the hotel bar there even MORE of a destination spot.
Oh, hilarity will ensue. And, possibly, jailarity as well.
Ladies and gentlemen. It’s only March and we’ve already (potentially) acheived the most F’d up bar-con in San Diego history. Bravo.
Remember, one of Al’s daughters did write for Futurama. He’s not _completely_ out of place.
On the other hand… Tipper around cosplay sounds like trouble in the offing.
So… weren’t the hotels going to offer more meeting space to the Con as an incentive to keep the Con in San Diego?
Methinks they should add a “no competing conferences” rider to the possible agreement.
Of note:
Friday, July 23rd
8:30—10:15 am
Steven D. Levitt: Superfreakonomics
2:00—3:30 pm
Dee Dee Myers: Why Women Should Rule the World
Gala Reception
Friday, July 23
6:30 — 8:30 pm
Hyatt Pool Deck
Welcome to San Diego — the land of sun, sand and the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Tonight we bring the flavor of the Zoo to you. Take a walk on the wild side as the Hyatt pool deck is transformed with the sites and sounds of the animal kingdom. Join us for an evening of delicious food and refreshments, as you enjoy the company of colleagues, new friends, and other interesting creatures of nature. Amidst the live animal demonstrations you’re bound to have a wild time!
Perhaps PETA could hire some Furries to crash the party… Technically, they are “interesting creatures of nature”…
Yah know… I don’t blame the AHA for planning this… think of all the parties going on in Old Town that you can coattail. It’s like having a convention in N’Orleans during Mardi Gras!
Oh man… wouldn’t it be great if someone organized a protest with ZOMBIES?
Don’t forget, Newt Gingrich has been involved in writing an SF novel or two.
And, for what it’s worth, Gore’s reasonably cool if not fannish. Had the pleasure of having lunch with him and a small number of other Googlers a few years ago.
However, the politician you really want for Comic-Con is Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy. Major Batman fan who did voice work for an episode of BTAS, was an extra (as a hostage) in Dark Knight, and has done intros for various Archives and the like. Again, had the pleasure of chatting with him a bit at a Google function, mostly about Batman.
I hope I can buy Ken Burns a drink after the Con. Or Al Gore.
You thought traffic out front along Hardor Drive was bad before…wait until you mix security in with both of these events those few days. Wed arrival at the airport and the cab battles will be IN-sane.
Wow is this a monumentally bad idea. The Padres game thing was bad enough, but this is sheer idiocy. Hope the Health Convention organizers are preparing a lawsuit to get their money back.
Al Gore wouldn’t be out of place at Comic Con. He has ridden the mighty moon worm, you know.
Two benefits…
It might snow in SD, keeping the rampant smell of BO at bay.
The quality of the call girls working San Diego this year will be at a Beverly Hills level.
Wonder how WIZARD and REED, INC will react to this brazen
escalation of the CON WARS by CCI? How dare does SDCC have Gore and the rest be nearby the Convention Center…
I’ll wait for news to see whether WW: NY or NYCC lands Sarah Palin to appear next door to their conventions.
Looks like the zombiewalk is definitely making a pass or two in front of the Hyatt this year.
This sounds awesome. I can’t wait for this clash of civilizations.
Can we reserve a hotel here, then go to SDCC instead?
Tried to do that but it looks like there’s no space left.
Wait, wait, wait…keep the SDCC crowd *out* of the Hyatt bar?
That am unpossible.
Though if you’re looking for a whiskey sour, go elsewhere.
I wonder if they considered the fact that there will be a heavy Secret Service presence all over the marina at the same time that 150,000 nerds arrive carrying replica prop weaponry. This could be the end of the 501st.
So you’re saying Al Gore, DeeDee Myers and Ken Burns are among “those with no social conscience” according to your previous post.
“Yep those AHA Risk Management execs are going to learn a WHOLE LOT about things they never expected to in July.”
-LOL!!
Holey Crap!! Another event at the same place/time?!?! O.O
WHAT are they thinking? O.o
Security will be crazy, madness will ensue…although it would be cool if the Futurama crew attends and Gore decides to drop by! ;D
Hmm…
I faked it and registered in their hotel through the AHA hotel registration to get the deal. I wonder if I will get in? It didn’t ask for anything other than the standard reservation
Brilliant. Of all the years I decide NOT to go to SDCC.
This almost makes me want to change my mind.
ROTFLMAO. You gotta be kidding me. Please.
The Beat has been reporting for years that medical conventions are the big breadwinner for the San Diego convention hotels and this may offer some proof.
Oh, and I don’t think former vice presidents require huge security entourages…
What makes this funnier? There may still be a cosplay Hyatt picket this year…
I did a little Googling about this AHA Health Forum Leadership Summit and a few things strike me as interesting:
Since at least 2007, this summit has always been held close to the same late-July dates of Comic Con.
In 2007 and 2008, this summit was held in San Diego, and it will be again in 2010 and 2011. (2009 they set up in San Francisco.)
In 2007, the two shows didn’t seem to really overlap (SDCC: 7/26-7/29; AHA: 7/22-7/24)
In 2008, though, the two shows did overlap: (SDCC: 7/24-7/27; AHA: 7/24-7/26)
In 2008 (as in 2007, and again in 2010) this AHA summit was held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego.
So I guess my questions/observations are:
(1) Did any 2008 Hyatt-staying Comic-Con-goer notice anything about the AHA show happening at the same place at the same time? Any anecdotes about how the one show may have affected the other?
(2) So, if the Hyatt was evidently able to be an official hotel for both Comic-Con and this AHA summit when they happened simultaneously in 2008, anyone care to speculate as to what may be different this time around? Seems like fine fodder for baseless (but fun) speculation.
(3) In 2011, this AHA Leadership Summit is scheduled for 7/21 to 7/23, in San Diego, at the Machester Grand Hyatt. So…what’re the Comic-Con’s 2011 dates?
Will Al Gore join any protests if the hotel ownership. Will DeeDee Myers just be at the bar the whole time? If a prominent comic artist gets in another big fight at that bar like last year, will there now be a doctor in the house to tend to his wounds quicker?
There’s one possibility that no one here seems to have thought of yet: Obama is a comic book fan. And the AHA conference will be running next door.
You don’t suppose that Bill Willingham and Chuck Dixon will have to be cleared by the Secret Service to go to the Con this year?
— Rob
I remember in the ’90s the republican Nat’l Convention moving in the day the Con shut down–using the old con facilities–I think it was the year Bob Dole ran?
@Tommy: Those are interesting questions and good points. My question in return is: was President Gore the keynote speaker or otherewise a guest speaker at the 2008 AHA conference that was concurrent with Comic-Con? If not, it makes your questions moot.
— Rob
A good question Wildkarde, they don’t seem to have any proof requirements at sign-up. I’d hope they wouldn’t press you for it at check-in, but the stories I’ve heard of the staff don’t make them out to be the best.
“@Tommy: Those are interesting questions and good points. My question in return is: was President Gore the keynote speaker or otherewise a guest speaker at the 2008 AHA conference that was concurrent with Comic-Con? If not, it makes your questions moot.”
I suspect that this is exactly right. I can’t find in my websurfing a list of who the speakers were at earlier AHA conferences, though they always talk about offering “recognized keynote speakers.” It’s possible that the roster of speakers is so much better than in years past so that they require more hotel rooms & resources this year to accomodate higher-profile speakers and whatever increased number of attendees will come to hear them speak…
BTW…
President Gore?
Well, yeah — Al was democratically elected president, he got the clear majority of the votes, even in Florida, no matter the fact of the criminally partisan Supreme Court and its contempt for process. It’s not as if the war criminals that merely occupied the oval office for the eight years of Gore’s term were ever acting either in the nation’s best interests or according to what the people actually wanted. If only Spain and the ICC would hurry up, get a spine and actually arrest those bozos . . .
Also, FTR, while I missed last year’s Comic-Con, I did go in 2008 and was only vaguely aware of the AHA conference — And, mind you, I’m anal-retentive. I know. Shocker. So I suppose that if it does turn out that someone of Gore’s stature — President or Veep, or a Ghandi/Mother Theresa/other icon of peace/charity — attended AHA in 2008, then there aren’t any additional concerns. But as it stands, my level of concern is around Orange or so. I always stay at a hotel in Hotel Circle and have been in many an insanely packed Trolley at the end of the day as it is, so I’m kinda paranoid about the traffic and transit issues.
Speaking of Hotel Circle and transit/traffic issues: When I booked my room via Priceline on Tuesday, ahead of Hoteloween, I did research on the Bus Schedule. Due to the budget cuts, the MTS has cut Sundays from the bus route that includes Hotel Circle. Those of us that don’t do rental cars are more than a wee bit screwed for that day if the transit system doesn’t either reinstate the Sunday schedule by then or doesn’t at least run a special shuttle bus between Fashion Valley and Old Town. SOMEthing so that we can get to the Trolley station on our direction of the route.
— Rob
Former Vice Presidents get protection from the Secret Service until six months after their term ends (the Secretary of Homeland Security can extend the protection time).
That doesn’t mean that he may not have hired his own private security but it most likely won’t be the secret service.
Al Gore and the AHA decide to take over the Hyatt in Downtown San Diego… DURING Comic-Con leaving many comic fans angry at the fewer hotel spaces available during the event. Hiro and Jared of the Con-Goers infiltrate the scene…
http://digg.com/comics_animation/Al_Gore_Invades_on_San_Diego_Comic_Con_Con_Goers
I say, send the army of Joker Nurses to the health care conference!
Why so serious! About health care.
I just came across this…Didn’t Al Gore get dressed up as the Easter Bunny or something..? Will he dress up for this ? (tee hee)
(Note I said TEE hee and not TEA hee)
hahaha yeah I hope Clinton goes with Hilary and he leaves every one at the Hyatt down…in order for him to to seee some comic-con booty