Re: COMMON Conference locations.

My opinion is that we need to be out of convention centers.  NOLA is just
fine, but when you have to use the convention center, it sucks.  You could
use the Marriott and the Sheraton (right across the street from each
other), and have the whole conference there.  People like to go back to
their rooms during the day, and the convention center is typically too far.

Exceptions:  San Antonio and Indianapolis where the proximity is very
close.  Minneapolis is also good, but in October 2001 we used the wrong
hotel.  The Hyatt is the close hotel, not the Hilton.

Our last bout in Orlando was a rip off, because you were a captive of the
hotel at very expensive prices.  Also the people at the Gaylord Palms had
an attitude problem.  The upcoming Orlando in the Marriott World Center
looks OK, but will I have to rent a car to escape the hotel priced food?

Anaheim is OK, if you get rid of the convention center.  Do it between the
Hilton and the Marriott, which are right across the street from each other.

Chicago at the Hyatt Regency was nice, but the union situation made it
untenable.

Toronto and the convention center work, if you stay at the wrong hotel.

San Diego and the convention center work, but don't believe the convention
center as to the proximity of the hotels.  The CC will tell you that all
the hotels are equidistant, and this is a bald faced lie.

Al

Al Barsa, Jr.
Barsa Consulting Group, LLC

400>390

"i" comes before "p", "x" and "z"
e gads

Our system's had more names than Elizabeth Taylor!

914-251-1234
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<snip>
So, anyway, now that COMMON attendance is down, I wonder if it would be
possible to have COMMON in an interesting location. Orlando and Anaheim
have to be two of the blandest cities around. NOLA is always
interesting, but it's old hat. Miami may be interesting though.
</snip>

OK, this is a question that the COMMON board and many of the rest of us
have been struggling with.

Definition:  Destination City:  A city that has several thousand hotel
rooms within reasonable walking distance of a massive convention center,
IE:  Las Vegas, Orlando, New Orleans, San Francisco, Boston, New York,
Chicago etc..  These cities have a significant draw, but are expensive to
stay in.

We now have come to an attendance level at COMMON where many cities outside
of the "Destination Cities" criteria that has been used in the past to
determine where to go is no longer valid.  We don't need as many meeting
rooms and hotel rooms as we used to, so cities like (duck and run)
Milwaukee, WI, Grand Rapids, MI, and many others can now support COMMON
where once before they could not.  Even the NAACP is in Milwaukee this
week.

So, the question is:  Where should we look to put the conferences in the
near future?  The contracts for the convention centers do not run out as
far as they used to, so there is some flexibility in planning.

Please speak up.  Contact me privately if you do not want to use the list.

BTW:  if you are a COMMON member, and have not yet voted in the COMMON
board election, please do so.  The end of the voting is tomorrow.
There are five candidates for the board: myself, Larry Bolhuis, Beverly
Russell,  Bruce Collins, and Leo Lefebvre.  Please vote for three.

Jim Oberholtzer

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