W91 USENIX in retrospect

[Ed Gould]

Brad Templeton:
>Well, for unknown reasons the Marriott was willing to let me cater my
>own suite during USENIX. ...

>Usenix folk are interested in neat new technology, nice toys, and
>interesting and tasty things to eat and drink.   They have little
>concern for fancy service, bartenders in tuxedos and armies of waiters.

This is all true, but just doesn't make it onto the list of
important criteria for choosing a site for a USENIX Conference.

The primary considerations are space availability and cost.  The
multi-thousand dollar "bribe" that Brad suggested IBM might be
willing to pay to self-cater their suite just doesn't go very far
towards defraying the $10,000 - $25,000 it takes to rent a meting
room large enough to hold our sessions for a week.  Or the further
expense for rooms for tutorials, BOFs, the terminal room, parallel
sessions, etc.  If the hotel has sufficient facilities on site,
then the meeting rooms are typically included in the package:  If we
book enough sleeping rooms, the rest of the space comes for free.
If the hotel doesn't have the space, then we have to rent it elsewhere.

On the whole, Judy DesHarnais, our Conference Coordinator, does a
wonderful job of balancing our needs and desires against the not
always sympathetic positions of the people who manage the facilities.

(speaking for myself)

-- 
Ed Gould                    mt Xinu, 2560 Ninth St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
ed at mtxinu.COM		    +1 415 644 0146

"I'll fight them as a woman, not a lady.  I'll fight them as an engineer."