This information provides insight into board decisions during the most recent meetings. If you have questions that you would like to see addressed here, submit your questions to the Board at board@boardgamers.org or to the Convention Director at doncon99@toad.net. See also Tenth Seat 2007, Tenth Seat 2006, Tenth Seat 2005 and WBC FAQs.

Hotel Contract Extension | GM Breakfast | WBC Expands to Week | New Format Added | Feedback

The 2008 Fall Board Meeting, although lacking some of the fireworks of past sessions, has been a long, drawn out affair which has yet to adjourn as this is written in the wake of another successful year for the World Boardgaming Championships. Like most sessions, much was discussed but little was changed as the pros and cons of various subjects were aired yet again without sufficient movement to cause much change in how things will be conducted going forward into 2009. What follows is a brief glimpse into what was decided for our organization's coming year.

HOTEL CONTRACT EXTENSION: The single most significant development was the negotiation and signing of a 5-year extension of our contract with Lancaster Host extending our stay in Lancaster, PA through 2015. The site extension agreement consumed most, but by no means all, of our time. The dates (including the preceding weekend pre-cons) are:

• July 30 - August 7, 2011
• July 28 - August 5, 2012
• July 27 - August 4, 2013
• August 2 - August 10, 2014
• August 1 - August 9, 2015

The new contract includes another option to purchase tables to enhance Host's inventory sufficiently for our needs while increasing our meeting space commitment. Guest room price increases were kept below the current rate of inflation thus assuring the WBC of a stable site which is both affordable and large enough to accommodate our ever growing needs. After review of improvements made by the current ownership including this past year's addition of a state-of-the-art poolside pavilion, the Board felt that Lancaster Host represented the best combination of value and size for our needs in the Mid-Atlantic region.

GM BREAKFAST: Discussion soon turned to whether we should continue last year's GM Breakfast. The Board's reaction seemed to mirror that of the majority of the GMs whose support was lukewarm. Approximately a third of the GMs who had RSVPed in the affirmative failed to show, and amongst those who did attend, the reaction ran the gamut from enthusiasm to a preference for staying in bed. Consequently, the Board decided to skip the Breakfast in 2009 and revisit the possibility again in the future. Thus, events will commence daily at 9 AM in 2009.

WBC EXPANDS TO ONE WEEK + PRE-CONS: Next on the agenda was a discussion of the increasing number of people arriving early in the week, many accompany other family members attending pre-cons. This was causing a problem in that we had not budgeted sufficient space to accommodate "open gamers" before WBC actually started. It also caused friction with those early arrivals wanting to pick up their badges before they were effective. Simply contracting for more space to accommodate them was inconsistent with charging for pre-cons while open gamers used the space for free. Since Open Gaming consumes nearly as many resources as tournament play, it is unfair to charge one group and not the other—especially since doing so provides a financial disincentive to compete—which goes against our very raison d'etre.

Our solution was to extend WBC to a full week and devote the extra day to Open Gaming and the demos of the Sampler Showcase. An expanded BPA Game Library will be available for free checkout of games provided by publishers throughout the week. Extra space has now been budgeted for Open Gaming so that early arrivals cannot only be accommodated but encouraged. A few tournaments will take place on Monday but not enough to conflict with each other or the Auction on Tuesday. Only the ongoing weekend Pre-Cons may overlap the auction. The former Monday Pre-Cons will now be included free of charge to normal WBC admissions.

All of this has been funded by raising the cost of the Sustaining membership for early pre-registrants $10 to $70 - the same price those who have joined after Jan 1st have been paying anyway. This keeps the cost of WBC attendance to the same $10 per day we've always charged. Only the December members saw an increase of any kind and they were compensated by receiving a free WBC T-Shirt and full color yearbook—either of which would cost $10 or more if sold separately. Bottom line—these changes go beyond being revenue neutral and should reduce our annual operating surplus to near break even levels if attendance remains steady.

NEW FORMAT ADDED: Lastly, we again discussed the discontent of some of the multiple heat, four-player events with the standard tie-breaker policies. Roughly, the issue is that there are still some GMs who dislike the standardized tie-breakers. Although we feel that standard tiebreakers provide a significant aide to the public and make the convention as a whole easier to understand, we have decided to allow an exception for the HMW format. The new format is called HMW/G. The first tie-breaker remains Most Wins. Any subsequent tiebreakers must be specified by the GM. Tie-breakers must be specified in the events preview page and approved by BPA no later than Feb 28th and no tie-breaker can involve adding an additional, unscheduled (i.e. fourth) round of play. Quarter-Finals must be approved and scheduled by BPA no later than Feb 28th.

FEEDBACK: Lastly, all members are reminded that they can get the ear of the Board for any WBC-related topic simply by emailing the Convention Director at doncon99@toad.net, or any Board member for that matter. All reasonable requests are aired for the entire Board during our annual meeting.