Receptions outside the hotel (Was: W91 USENIX in retrospect)

[Robert J. Granvin]

>>|For Example, I have heard the suggestion that the USENIX
>>|"get-together" should be held outside the conference hotel.
>>
>>1) The reception should only be held outside the Hotel, when there is a
>>real interesting or nifty place near by, that makes it worth while to
>>move 2,000 people several miles and spend the $$$.
>>[...]
>
>As someone who was involved, but is not at present, my feeling 
>is that in the event that there is an interesting excursion 
>possible (like the Exploratorium), USENIX should take advantage.

Logistics, planning, and the importance of such excursions are all 
important factors that need to be considered.

Several years ago I attended a week-long conference in Phoenix.  The
conference began on a Monday, and ended relatively early on Saturday.
Most people arrived the Sunday before, and either left the next Saturday,
or in most cases, the next Sunday.

The conference had similar organization... The first few days were 
relatively detailed long-term sessions.  The remainder of the conference
was smaller activities and the major event (the conference was also a 
national election thingamajig) on Friday.  Saturday was a final wrap-up.

What this conference did, however, was declare that one day during the
week was a "no-session" day.  Several events were going on to make it
worthwhile to stay, but they organized a number of all-day excursions.
For a very minimal cost, you could choose the one of your choice.  They
also planned a smaller number of shorter excursions for the Saturday
wrap-up day.  The last day runs included the shorter excursions where
you might need to make multiple trips (such as to a museum that allows
crowds of a limited size only.)

This approach worked very well for this conference, since by mid-week,
a good "break" was well appreciated.  It may not work well for other
conferences, or for Usenix where time seems to be precious (not to 
mention the bottom line on my American Express bill... oof! :-).

All it needs is a bit of creative planning, provided that the interest
level is high, and the extra cost created is not prohibitive.

Personally, since I'm making all the effort to go someplace I probably
wouldn't go on my own, I wouldn't mind getting a chance to poke around...

>The difference between practice and theory in practice is always
>greater than the difference between practice and theory in theory. 

Robert J. Granvin                           E/Mail: rjg at umnstat.stat.umn.edu
User Services Specialist                    AT&T:   +1 612 625 9224
School of Statistics
University of Minnesota