RE: Conferences in costly locations--thoughts?

[Ellen LEBELLE <elebelle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello all,

You can fly into West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale on most airlines. Even
Southwest serves PBI. The taxi fare from the PBI airport is about $25. It's
a pre-set fare from the airport. 

I'm very sorry that I will not be able to attend this conference as it is
just down the street from my mother's apartment and I could've stayed with
her.
There is a motel, north on A-1-A, about a five-minute walk from the Carlton:
Palm Beach Ocean Front Inn 
3550 S. Ocean Blvd.
Palm Beach, Florida United States 33480
866-601-9330

They've changed the name & management recently and jacked up the prices (I
stayed there in February with my family.)
I don't know what their prices are like for the off-season, in October.

Let me recommend a great breakfast place - the Dunes - just on the beach
behind the parking lot across the street from Ritz-Carlton, going north.
They also serve lunch and dinner, but I think their breakfast is best. You
certainly won't need any lunch if you have breakfast there!

If you walk on the beach going south from the hotel, you'l see some of the
fantastic homes of Manalapan. Walking on the beach is really pleasant early
in the morning. I guess most of the turtles will have hatched, so you won't
see many little yellow flags marking the nests.

You can fly into West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale. The taxi fare from the
PBI airport is about $25-$30.

The Ritz-Carlton is fairly isolated. There's a tiny, useless shopping center
across the street. If the theater season has started, you might check out
the Florida Stage Theater there. And there's an ice-cream parlor. Or you can
take a longer walk, cross the bridge into Lantana - still not much to do.

The real night-life is in downtown West Palm Beach on Clematis St. And
there's City Place, the new shopping center.

Have a good time!
Ellen Lebelle
 

| -----Original Message-----
| From: Sarah O'Keefe [mailto:okeefe@scriptorium.com]
| Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 11:04 PM
| To: framers@frameusers.com; framers@omsys.com
| Subject: Re: Conferences in costly locations--thoughts?
| 
| 
| In fairness, Dov didn't say "within walking distance." He 
| said "in the 
| general area." I'd compare "off-site hotel plus rental car" 
| to "conference 
| hotel, no rental car".
| 
| Anyway, I think conference organizers are pretty much in a 
| no-win position:
| 
| * Pick somewhere inexpensive, and you get complaints about 
| lack of things 
| to do and see.
| * Pick a nice resort, and you get complaints about expenses.
| 
| We haven't even addressed some of the other considerations, such as:
| 
| * Shops, restaurants, and attractions within walking distance 
| of the hotel 
| or not. (Rental car or not? Stuck exclusively with hotel 
| services or not?)
| * Airport connections and service (Total travel time?) (I mostly fly 
| American, and they don't serve Palm Beach. I'll be flying 
| into Miami and 
| driving from there. I'm sure PBI would have no trouble with a 
| private jet, 
| though, so that's a plus for all private-jet-owning framers.)
| * Weather. (DEFINITELY a winner there.)
| * Dates (conflicts with national holidays, vacation times, other 
| conferences, and numerous other things)
| * Location relative to attendees' location
| 
| I'm sure I'm not even scratching the surface.
| 
| Sarah
| 
| PS I'll be there. I'm presenting, and we're planning to have 
| a booth at the 
| trade show. I *am* planning to extend this trip into a 
| mini-vacation. Hope 
| to see lots of you there.
| 
| At 02:16 PM 8/27/2003 -0600, you wrote:
| >That is not necessarily true. The Ritz-Carlton sits out on 
| this sandbar 
| >all by itself from what I can tell. I have spoken with the 
| Palm Beach 
| >Tourism folks and they say that there are no other hotel 
| facilities within 
| >walking distance.  A cab ride to the closest one may fail to 
| offset the 
| >savings on the room. I opted to share a room with two other 
| people at a 
| >Fairfield hotel several miles away. One of my roommates was able to 
| >convince her company to rent a car for her, so we have transport.
| >
| >When my airfare, meals, registration, post-conference workshop fees, 
| >hotel, car rental, and sundries are added up, the conference 
| will end up 
| >costing me over $3500. That doesn't even take into consideration the 
| >amount of billable hours I lose while attending the 
| conference. But I have 
| >been planning to attend this conference for two years. I 
| know it will be 
| >worth it.
| >
| >Carol
| >
| >At 12:18 PM 8/27/2003 -0700, you wrote:
| >>Why don't you simply chose a less pricey hotel for your 
| room while at
| >>the conference? There are plenty of sub-$100-a-night places within
| >>the general area.
| >
| >
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| Sarah O'Keefe           okeefe@scriptorium.com
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