Greetings, everyone! There has been some talk of folks being uneasy about the lack of an IWPS 2012 update from the host city at WOWPS. Many of the important final details for this years IWPS won’t be falling into place until April. However, we have had a significant amount of people express a desire for an update, and we are happy to oblige. Here’s where we stand now.
1. We are currently putting the final touches on a funding proposal for the city of Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission, whose sole purpose is to fund events which bring in outside visitors to the city. The proposal covers print ads, television, billboards, and various other advertisements, as well as the cost of our finals venue. We enter this proposal at the end of this month, and we will find out how much of it we receive in May.
2. Our proposed finals venue is The Fayetteville Town Center, a large convention hall directly across from what we hope will be the host hotel. This venue is controlled by the previously mentioned Advertising and Promotions Commission, which means we may be able to get the venue for free. Because the venue is, in essence, a large empty room with a sound system, we will be setting aside a certain amount of money for the purpose of building or renting a stage to meet our exact specifications. We are also in the process of securing a back-up venue, the Verizon Ballroom at the University of Arkansas.
3. We have had a meeting with the mayor of Fayetteville, Lioneld Jordan. He is aware of our event, and has pledged his full support to it.
4. We have narrowed the possible dates down to two: The first or third weekend of October. We would very much like to have the first week, as there are a number of events taking place that week that we have already planned cross-promotions with. This includes the Seedling Film Festival, an independent film festival, and First Thursday Fayetteville, and art walk which happens just outside of our finals venue and host hotel. This is also the week following Bikes, Blues and Barbecue, the Fayetteville motorcycle rally which is second in size only to Sturgis; this would be a huge source of visibility for our ads.
5. We are in contact with our ideal host hotel, which is located in the town square. It’s only a few blocks from all of our competitions venues and our day and night event locations, and directly across the street from our ideal finals venue.
6. Our facebook page, facebook.com/IWPS2012 , went up the day after WOWPS. In the coming months we will be using that page to interact with poets and have public questions on certain things, such which open mics folks would like to see. Our full website is also functional, and will be unveiled shortly after we finalize our dates.
We look forward to seeing you all in Fayetteville in October. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to direct them to
IWPS2012@gmail.com , to the facebook page, or to us directly.
Heather Polly, Host City Chair
Houston Hughes, Host City Co-Chair, PR and Advertising
Doug Shields, Host City Co-Chair, Volunteer and Personnel Coordinator
