RE: Conferences in the early 21st Century

["Anita Lewis" <anital -at- threerivers-cams -dot- com>]

I can tell you from experience in conference planning and attending that
many of these types of conferences and their locations are planned three
to five years in advance.  I know where one higher ed conference my
company attends is going to be for the next three years.  Also, a lot of
people use the conference as a "vacation" and bring spouses, etc.
  
Anita Lewis
Project Manager
Three Rivers Systems, Inc.



I think it'd make more sense, at least while the
economy is still struggling, to have the conference in
a less glamorous location. The hotel would be less
(for hall rental AND guest rooms), thus the entry to
the conference could be dropped lower, and you know,
maybe more people would go...

Or do you try to go to conferences to sight-see?
Personally, I'm there to learn and shmooze. As long as
there is at least a diner and a town bar, I'm good for
food and after-hour entertainment.

I certainly don't need to hear the pound of the surf
as I'm trying to listen to Shlomo Perets talk, or see
blue sky married with aquamarine sea as I walk from
session to session. Those, in my book, are fancy icing
on a fancy cake, and we're in a Twinkie and Devil Dog
slump.

Just my opinion. Am I off-base? Would it make sense to
hold these in cheaper locations? What do you think?

=====
Goober Writer
(because life is too short to be inept)