Asilomar Redux 2003
Background

Elna Tymes

Asilomar, the Place

To understand the motivation for a return to Asilomar, you have to know something about the place itself. As many of the attendees at Asilomar Redux remarked, "The main thing is being there."

Asilomar is a California State Conference Ground that abuts Pacific Grove, a little town nestled between Monterey and Carmel. Completely self-contained and separate from its surrounding communities, it is a refuge, a retreat, and an enclave unto itself. The grounds are left in as natural a state as possible, and deer, foxes, and raccoons roam around relatively unconcerned about the people in their midst. All meals are served in the dining hall. Once you're in Asilomar, the rest of the world disappears until you're ready to rejoin it. Asilomar is a haven for the soul.

History of the Asilomar Gathering

The Mensa Gathering at Asilomar was the original Mensa RG, founded and run by Monterey Mensans in 1965. It continued for 36 years, until 2001, when an accumulation of unfortunate behavior on the part of attendees over time, a change in Asilomar's management, and unwise business tactics by the organizing commitee resulted in Asilomar management's inviting us to take our business elsewhere. The following year, Robin Holland pulled off the superhuman feat of holding Son of Asilomar at The Cliffs in Morro Beach. However, in 2003 there weren't enough preregistrations in time to meet The Cliff's early payment requirements, and the second Son of Asilomar was cancelled.

The Birth of Asilomar Redux

Resigned to no Asilomar-type event over Labor Day weekend, I plodded on with work and grad school. One warm Sunday in mid-July, rather than spending the day inside reading the mounds of studies for the week's assigned reading, I took the papers and went to the ocean. There, after all, I could at least have something pretty to look at when I came up for air. During one break, I realized that I might be able to get a room for myself and a friend at Asilomar over Labor Day weekend, so I picked up my cell phone and called.

Did they have a room over that weekend? Why, yes, the reservations person said.

Oh really! What if I were to bring, say, ten friends. Were there still rooms? As a matter of fact, there were.

Really! What about, oh, 20 rooms? Yes, they could handle that.

Put my name on them, I said. I'll call you tomorrow about the contract.

That night I called some friends to ask about whom to invite. I had already decided that, being an experiment, this event would be by invitation only (to exclude potential troublemakers), small, and relaxed. That way mistakes would be minimal and people would be more likely to forgive little problems. My friends helped me assemble a list of about 100 people who might be invited, and a very short list of people who would not be invited.

The next day I called Asilomar again, and, after assuring them that this event was in no way connected with Mensa, we negotiated what became a total of 23 rooms, one conference room, and a hospitality package. Then I sent out email to the names on my list, making it clear that this was a private event, by invitation only, and asking invitees please not to talk about it to anyone else without my permission. The official event title was "Friends of Elna," my name was on the contract, and I paid the deposit.

Reservations started coming in immediately. I formed a committee of the first three people to volunteer, but handled registration and liaison with Asilomar management myself. Subsequently, I added two more to the committee, but assignments were clear and relatively simple. All the committee "meetings" were held by email.

One of Asilomar's policies requires that it provide all food and beverages on its grounds. This is a lot more expensive than bringing your own, and was a definite factor in cost considerations. However, after much deliberation, the committee decided to agree to the policy without argument. We did, after all, want to come back, and the food and beverage issue had the makings of a deal-killer. But it meant that my initial calculation of $25 for a registration fee needed to be doubled. I sent out another email to my invitation list, explaining why we needed more money, and everyone accepted without a single complaint.

In mid-August, I took off on a previously scheduled two-week vacation, leaving matters in the hands of the person I'd designated as my backup, Other than one issue that needed some attention, he had little to do while I was gone. When I returned, two days before the event, I found everything in order except for some expected last-minute preparations.

Saturday, August 30, Asilomar Redux 2003 began.

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