Welcome to the 65th annual OA Birthday Party! We’re glad that you’re joining us in the celebration of the founding of Overeaters Anonymous in 1960. We couldn’t do this without you – Together We Get Better!
Please read through the list of frequently asked questions about the Birthday Party, the hotel and surrounding area, and the VFairs mobile app.
If you don’t find your questions answered below, please send an email to the Birthday Party Registration Chair at bdpregistration@oalaig.org.
Most of the events and sessions for the OA Birthday Party will take place on the Second Level. You can either take the elevator from the Lobby Level or walk up the grand staircase located in the back of the lobby’s seating area and in front of reception. The registration window will be across the West Foyer. There will be signs placed throughout the Lobby and Second Levels to guide your way.
You can use the VFairs app to view the event schedule and floor plan at any time. Tap on “Program” on the Home screen to access the schedule and “Event Floor Plan” to find the locations of where you’d like to go. There will also be digital signs outside of the meeting rooms with a list of scheduled events taking place in each room. Poster-sized signs will also help guide your way.
Meals will be available for purchase up until January 15th, 2025. You can purchase them when you register or contact the Birthday Party Registration Chair if you’d like to add meals to your existing registration.
No. There will be separate seating for those who would like to hear the meal speaker and not purchase the meals themselves. Speakers will start about 45 minutes after the meal’s start time.
No. Please email the Birthday Party Programming Committee if you’d like to be included as an available sponsor. For all those who are looking for a sponsor, join us and attend the “Sponsor Meet and Greet” sessions.
You can tap on “Event Floor Plan” in the VFairs app to see the hotel’s meeting room layout. There will also be printed programs with maps for all attendees to take.
Yes. All Star Media will be on hand to set up the recordings for all speaker, panel, workshop, and marathon meeting sessions. Recordings will be available for purchase at the OA Birthday Party and then available online for purchase thereafter. The All Star Media table will be set up near the Boutique.
No. They will be available for purchase. Attendees can purchase the whole event or individual sessions of their choosing. All Star Media will be set up across from the Registration window and can accept major credit cards for purchasing recordings.
For day guests, parking validations will be available at the Registration window. The parking fee will be $15/day. Please pick one up before leaving for the day.
Hotel guests will have the parking fees applied to their hotel bill. The parking fee will be $20/night for overnight guests.
There will be many prizes to be won. Attendees can buy tickets and place them into bags in front of each prize. If you’re interested in specific prizes, place more tickets in those bags. Good luck!
The Grand prize will be a bigger-ticketed item and ticket prices are higher than for the other prizes. Each type of ticket will be a different color. Make sure you place the correct color tickets in front of the correctly matching items!
The prize drawings will take place during the Closing Ceremony on Sunday. At this time, the drawings will be held and winners announced for each prize including the Grand prize.
It takes an army of volunteers to pull off the OA Birthday Party and we can certainly use your help! Be on the lookout for an email and announcement on VFairs for a link where you can sign up to be of service. There will be a list of open slots with types of service, days and times.
The LAX Hilton has a free shuttle that runs 24 hours a day. It may take 25-40 minutes for a shuttle to make a full loop around the 7 terminals at LAX and to the hotel. When exiting the airport (baggage claim level), look for the red pylons where hotel and private parking shuttles pick up passengers.
For day guests, the discounted parking rate is $15/day. For overnight hotel guests, the discounted rate is $20/day. Only the hotel guest parking has “in and out” privileges meaning you can go in and out of the parking lot as often as you’d like, but understand the garage does fill up. Day guests will need to pay another $15 should they exit and return during the day (i.e., to go out to a meal)
The hotel has 2 restaurants (Andiamo and The Café), a bar that serves food and a Grab-and-Go café (The Bistro). Note that there will be a large influx of people, especially on Saturday.
You can also bring your own food and eat in the lobby or Hospitality room. Note: there will be a shared refrigerator in the Hospitality Room. All food left in the fridge should be clearly labeled. There will be hundreds of attendees so there is no guarantee that there will be room in the fridge.
Also, The Bistro has a microwave available for hotel and non-hotel guests. Please be mindful of others that may be waiting to use the microwave.
Another option is to eat at a restaurant at a nearby hotel, of which there are a few within walking distance. If you have access to a car, there are more dining options.
Yes. There are restaurants within walking distance and even more if you have a car. For more information, tap on “Event Resources” and then on any of the dining related documents.
For non-hotel guests, there will be a shared refrigerator in the Hospitality Room. All food left in the fridge should be clearly labeled. There will be hundreds of attendees so there is no guarantee that there will be room in the fridge.
Hotel guests have the option of reserving a mini fridge for their room for an additional $25. If you have a medical reason for the fridge, there is no extra charge. Be sure to reserve your fridge in advance as the hotel has a very limited number available.
There is a microwave in The Bistro on the Lobby Level. If you use it, please be patient and mindful of others who may be waiting to use it as well.
VFairs is the event app that allows you to connect with other fellows via private messages and chat rooms. A Program schedule and capabilities to design your own schedule by selecting sessions you’d like to attend will be added at the beginning of December. The app can be downloaded to your smartphone (compatible with both Apple and Android phones) from the Apple Store and/or Google Play. Instructions were sent to the email in which you registered with.
Think of the app as a central hub. You can find and message another attendee; participate in a chat room of your interest; save selections from the Program Schedule to create your custom itinerary and stay up to date with announcements that will be made throughout the weekend of the event.
You should have received an email with instructions on downloading the app. All that’s needed is the email address in which you registered with. Enter that and click on “Sign In”. A Welcome screen will be displayed after a few seconds. Click the “x” (close) button at the top right and you’ll see your Home screen.
Tap the “Message Boards” icon on the Home screen and then on “Chatrooms”. If you want to see and join a chatroom, tap on “Join”. There are over a dozen different chatrooms. Tap on one (or more) to join. The chat operates like a Zoom chat. Type in a message and press the icon to “send”.
Tap on “People” to see who’s online at the same time as you.
All messages that you write, and that others write to you will be shown under the “Messages” tab.
Tap on “Attendees”. Either scroll down, type in a keyword in the Search bar or use the Filters screen to find who you’re looking for. Click on the chat icon to the right of the designated person’s name to start a chat thread. As mentioned before, all messages will be stored in the “Messages” tab in the “Message Board” section.
Yes, tap on “Menu” at the bottom right. You’ll see your name and an icon to the left of it. Click on the icon and you’ll get 2 choices on where to add a photo from – Camera or Gallery. Select one and follow instructions on-screen.
Tap on Attendees and either 1) scroll through the list until you find the person you’re looking for, 2) enter a name (or keyword) in the search bar towards the top, and/or 3) tap the funnel icon at the top right to open the Filters pane. You can enter values to filter / limit your search. When you find someone, you can tap on the person’s name to get more information.
All announcements will be pushed as notifications in the app. To read or reread those, either tap on the “Announcements” icon from the Home screen or tap the bell (notification) icon at the very top right of the app. This will display a list of past announcements. That way, you won’t miss anything!
If you don’t find your questions answered above, please send an email to the Birthday Party Registration Chair at bdpregistration@oalaig.org.
