OPEX 76 Request for bid submissions


For the past two years, urban explorers have met together at a spring/summer event known as the Office Products Expo, or OPEX, originally organized by the late Ninjalicious. The time for OPEX 76 is rapidly approaching, and we would love to hear from urban explorers or groups in any cities that are interesting in hosting it this year.

Please submit as much information as you would like with the bid-- the more the merrier-- but at least address the issues mentioned below in the “Criteria for Bid Proposals.”

Dates for previous OPEXs have ranged from early June to late July, and specific dates can be determined by the organizers of this year’s event. We’re looking for basically a weekend event—where explorers can arrive on a Thursday or Friday afternoon, meet each other, explore, and leave on a Sunday or Monday.

THE DEADLINE FOR SENDING IN BIDS IS APRIL 16th, so if you’re interested, please move fast! If you can have your city’s bid ready sooner, please go ahead and send it. If you are interested but absolutely need more time, please send us whatever partial bid you have along with a note and we will consider the possibility of extending the deadline.

When you’re ready with a bid, please email to jester@wraiths.org. The poobahs will announce the host city and dates by the end of April.

Sincerely,
the OPEX 76 Poobahs.

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CRITERIA FOR BID PROPOSALS:

LOCATIONS:
Actually going out and exploring places is of course the activity that brings us all together. There need to be enough locations to fill up a weekend and they need to either be big or numerous enough to handle 50+ explorers on any given night, either one location that can handle 50 people at once (ha!) or several locations that can absorb that many combined. Transportation is an important factor to note as well and if some or all locations are accessible only by car, that should be noted as it will impact transportation for attendees. It’s also important to have local UE people who know particular sites who are willing to lead trips. For the purposes of the bid, please suggest at least 5 places that could work as small or large group trips during the course of the weekend, and note if they are accessible by car only or by public transportation as well.


LODGING & TRANSPORTATION
For most OPEX attendees, cheap is good. What lodgings are available near to public transportation? Will local explorers offer couch space? Are hostels or camping available? Local university dorms can also be a source of convenient summer housing.

A significant portion of OPEX attendees fly in, and so public transportation is great. If public transportation is not available or adequate for some sites, what other possibilities are there? (i.e. Local explorers with cars, pricing on rental cars, etc.)


EVENT PLANNING/HOSTING
Who is going to plan and organize things? Past OPEXs have included seminars, workshops, games, tours, dinners, movie nights, etc. No one element of this is mandatory but it is clearly important to have event(s) that allow people to meet each other, talk, share information, and plan explorations. Please include some ideas as to what, where, and when for events. Most importantly, please indicate who has volunteered to organize or host particular events, and what venues are available. (This doesn't necessarily mean it has to be an officially-permitted space-- but, if you are proposing something like, say, a movie shown in an abandoned building, there definitely has to be someone who has committed to providing a projector and a generator and who will be responsible for getting them into the building.) Part of what has made previous events work is the active participation of a number of UE people in the host city, so we’d love to know that a group or an entire community is involved in hosting.