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hplott

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  1. Convention Banquet Attire?

    in About the IPMS/USA National Convention

    Posted

    Put me down on the casual side. Like Mike Moore, I am on vacation at most Nationals so I prefer to be comfortable. Suits are reserved for church, funerals, job interviews, some weddings and business functions in my case. This time after working the convention up till a few minutes before the start of the banquet last thing I wanted was to put on a coat and tie! But, like Jodie said no hat at the dinner table(those undergoing cancer treatment not included). No host is going to impose something that will restrict attendance to the banquet as that does hurt the bottom line and whether some want to admit it or not, the convention is first and foremost a business and has to be treated as such from the financial perspective.

     

    The banquet is what helps make the convention affordable to put on.So in that case it is necessary. Food sales help offset the rental costs and this makes the large venues we require affordable to the society. Without the banquet you would probably see registration costs skyrocket. So while the banquet is not for everyone, supporting it does help keep the convention more viable cost wise.

  8. Omaha?

    in About the IPMS/USA National Convention

    Posted

    Eric:

    You have the city limits population for Columbia. The population for the metropolitan area is 737k just an FYI.

     

    By attempting to limit the Nats registration fee - by keeping it low, splitting out the Banquet, or other means - the funds available to spend on the logistics of the event will always be limited, which will restrict the choices of available venues. Especially if other events, like Web Conf & DrupalCon, can outspend IPMS to book the same facilities.

     

    So places like NYC, Boston, and Philly will probably remain out of reach.

     

    Looking at recent shows, none have taken place in major centers of population for a while. (I was going to try to find the number of people living within 100 miles of each venue, but no luck yet.)

     

    2001 Chicago, IL - 2.7 million

    2005 Atlanta, GA - 5 million

    2010 Phoenix, AZ - 4.4 million

    2011 Omaha, NE - 900K
    2012 Lake Buena Vista, FL - 10(?)
    2013 Loveland, CO - 71K
    2014 Hampton, VA - 137K
    2015 Columbus, OH - 835K
    2016 Columbia, SC - 133K

     

     

     

    $100 would still be cheap by other conference standards.

     

    Two examples from my work life...

    • Penn State Web Conference - two day event, 600ish attending - $550(ish) for early registration, $700 for regular. Plus $300 for a single workshop, $500 for both.
    • Drupal Con (another web conference) - 4 day event, 2500ish attending - generally runs $700 to $800 and tends to pick large cities (LA, Nawlins, Austin) where hotels, even with conference rate, run $200/night

    So this is what we're 'competing' with... so trying to get a decent (IPMS) rate, is gonna be kinda difficult, IMHO.

     

    Eric

     

    How is this relevant? Attendees of events like this have the tab picked up by their employer, or write it off as a business expense. Some people save for years to go to an IPMS National event.

     

    When was the last time the Nats were held in the NE....huge population centers(Boston, NYC, Philly, etc) with potential for lots of walk ins.

     

     

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