Re: IUG West AND East?

[Alma Garcia <almag@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Having driven down to IUG this past weekend, I would like to thank all 
those of you who offered you experience and knowledge at the sessions, 
in the hallways, and at the lunch tables.  This was the third IUG I 
attended and do look forward to this exchange of ideas.

I have found that when I attend IUG, I'm in the hotel most of the time 
and don't really have time to get to know the city hosting the 
conference.  Often I need to get back right away and don't have extra 
time for sightseeing. I do however, find that if the conference location 
is within driving distance I tend to drive in each day and miss out on 
some of the events.

My vote is for keeping the group together, even if it is a large one. 
This does give us greater bargaining power in negotiating cost 
associated with the conference.   And if there should never be another 
conference on the West coast, I'll survive.  After living in Oakland for 
over 40 years, there are still may beautiful and wonderful places to 
explore and visit!

Alma

Richard Blood wrote:
> I think that it would be a mistake to split the IUG annual meeting into 
> East Coast and West Coast. The cost of hotels depends more on the size 
> of the city than whether it is on the East Coast or West Coast. The cost 
> of airline travel is NOT a linear function depending on distance 
> traveled. Often, because of airline competition, the cost of flying to 
> major hub cities on the two coasts is cheaper or almost as cheap as 
> flying to a city that is on "your" coast--especially if you opt for an 
> intermediate stop (since coast-to-coast non-stop flights tend to be more 
> expensive).
> 
> As for the meeting on the West Coast, can't we go to San Francisco even 
> though it costs a little more for hotel rooms? My intent is not to 
> offend anyone, but let's face it: meeting in places like San Jose, Santa 
> Clara, and Oakland (there's no there there) are not very 
> exciting--especially when compared to The City--the heart of the Golden 
> West. Meeting in San Francisco would still allow people to avail 
> themselves of cheaper flights into and out of the Oakland Airport, since 
> there is a BART train station at the Oakland airport that takes you 
> inexpensively to downtown San Francisco in about 40 minutes.
> 
> Yes, I live in San Francisco (you can probably tell that from my e-mail 
> address), but I'm not too biased. I hope I've not offended East Bay and 
> South Bay folks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 11:02 AM 4/30/2003 -0700, you wrote:
> 
>> I know it's much further from the East Coast to the West Coast than the
>> other way around :-)
>>
>> Seriously, add up your total bill for the conference, including travel,
>> hotel, meals, the conference itself, and miscellaneous. Assume your
>> air tickets were purchased well in advance.
>>
>> Now what if the conference were closer? How much would you save on air
>> travel? What percentage of your total cost would be saved? Not much?
>>
>> Now assume a conference half as large, with fewer economies of scale for
>> meeting rooms, hotel rooms, etc. So some fees would be higher.
>>
>> Seems to me like false economy.
>>
>> Besides, you wouldn't get as many vendors there at both shows...
>>
>> Regards,
>> ....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.
>>
>> personal e-mail: ras@xxxxxxxxxx
>>  company e-mail: rsi@xxxxxxxxxx
>>           voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
>>             fax: (US) 503-624-0760
>>             web: http://www.anzio.com
>>
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> 
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-- 
Alma García			Library Systems Administrator
Mills College Library		510-430-2021	
5000 MacArthur Blvd.		510-430-3155 fax
Oakland, CA  94613