Portrait Society of America in Washingtion
 

Hi all,

I received a postcard about the PSOA event this year and it is to be in Washington DC. Of course, the other information is coming in the fall. But I was curious if anyone knows which Hotel in which it is to be held? The Reston ? Or where? And, are any of you going to attend? I have wanted to go for awhile now and a couple of my friends and I hope to be there? About entries, I am not sure I will be although I keep waiting for that perfect one to enter.

Any info about this particular event would be greatly appreciated and if any of you who have attended this event before could give any pointers about schedules, seating, any inside information to make it less intimidating to the novice attendee. Thanks in advance. :D

Are you talking about the "Portrait Society of America" conference in April? If so, it is on the 24-27 April 2003 at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, VA. I will be there, will you?

If you are talking about the "American Society of Portrait Artists" I have been to their site at www.asopa.com and from what I can see, they haven't posted anything yet.

Barring unforeseen events, I plan to be there. ASOPA will not be having an event this year.

Yes Denise, I am talking about the Portrait Society of America conference in Reston. Sorry about my mix up. Yes I am hoping to be there with 2 other artists. I was wondering if anyone has already reserved rooms or is that necessary this early? I had always heard that they go very quickly. I am a member of the Portrait Society and I assume you do not need to enter a portrait in order to reserve rooms at the Hyatt, only be a member to get the members' pricing. Right?

Have you been to one of their conferences before? It is usually quite large so I do not know if or how anywone ever finds others in order to meet them.

Thanks. ;)

I have reserved my room already. You do not have to enter a portrait, just to be signed up for the conference in order to get the reduced rate.

I have never been there before and am looking forward to it. It would be nice if we scheduled a supper somewhere, on one of the nights, and anybody from the forum who is interested could join in. What do you think?

Thanks Denise,

I am getting ready to reserve my room also. Do you mind sharing the phone # or site where I can do the same? I suppose I could just call the hotel.

Yes, I think to be able to get together sometime while we are there would be great. Maybe if one of the Forum members has been there before and could organize it - the location to meet within the time schedule, etc. We will not be getting our schedule of events about event until later this fall.

Keep in touch by e-mail if you wish in the event we need to carry on from here with the plans.

My reservations were made directly with the hotel by calling 1-800-233-1234. Don't forget to mention that you are there for the conference to get the "special" rate of 124$/night.

I'll email you when we get closer to the date to make sure that you are still available.

I agree that it would be nice to have a little input from a member who has been there before.

Denise and Patt,

Last year, I reserved a room in the restaurant for all SOG members to have a dinner. I sent out emails to everyone who was interested and made reservations ahead. Because the group was fairly large, we were given a good, but more limited menu. But, there was no way otherwise that all of us would have been able to sit together. I've been to that hotel 4 times.

Anyway, the dinner was wonderful and I wondered why I hadn't done it every year. So, I've decided to make it a tradition.

Great Idea! Thanks once again for all your support. :) I'll be looking forward to meeting you.

Patt,

I've gone to each of the Portrait Society conferences and I feel it has been well worth my time and expense. We've been to the Hyatt Regency in Reston in the past and it is a wonderful hotel for a conference. They do book up so I also recommend you make your reservations now if you haven't already.

I have a couple of practical suggestions. One is to wear comfortable clothes as we do a lot of sitting and it can be a long day, albeit a good day. Another suggestion is to plan on spending extra money on art supplies. There is a vendor's room, and some of them have some good "show specials" that you may want to purchase.

Regarding meeting people, so many of the attendees are very friendly and it is usually pretty easy to join in conversations or find people to have meals with. I also enjoyed the dinner that Cynthia pulled together when we were in Philadelphia. It was fun meeting some of the people who are part of this Forum.

Hope some of this helps.

Mary