Telephone call with Jim Lockhart today. Posting to steering only so as
to not bother Michael Skidmore (who I think will be an asset
ultimately). Most information already known on aga-conheads list, but
repeating it for the record here:
They went to three Oakland hotels a week ago (Jim and Michael Skidmore).
Jack London Inn was in a nice area, but the place was pretty run-down
and needed work. Jim says: "I wouldn't stay there". End of story!
The Marriott was located downtown, nice hotel old-style marble and all
that. Huge convention center. Lots of space. Rooms quoted at $105 per
night (occupancy unknown). Banquet and Meeting room rental unknown,
comped if $5000 in meals purchased. Banquet price unknown.
The Park Plaza http://www.parkplazaoakland.com is right near the
airport, has a 24x7 shuttle to the airport and BART. Jim saw at least
three vans. The meeting/banquet facilities have two large rooms. The
California room measures up to 29x70' (2030 sq ft), holds 300 people
according to the website. One wall has windows looking out -- will need
to be sure they can be blackened! A second room, "Monterey" is about
60% of that size, located nearby (I think across the hall based on the
map I'm looking at right now). Would make a nice vendor room/overflow,
but has a couple of posts in the middle that make it difficult to use as
a theater room.
The Park Plaza is not as upscale as the Marriott, but it's got 180
rooms, a pool, coffee-shop-style restaurant & bar. Jim says:
"Comfortable place -- we'd probably have the run of it". It's
surrounded by office space.
Banquets quoted at $30, rooms at $99 (occupancy unknown). $1500 worth
of banquet/catering will get us the rental space for free. They are
willing to negotiate. And they can hook up a hose to fill tanks in the
banquet room.
Michael Skidmore is majorly onboard working on this bid. He is very
active, belonging to all the regional aquarium societies, "like the
cichlid one". He's also helping with the advertising and making sure
the committee heads are here. Bill Harada is also helping on
advertising -- he's the guy who did that website revamp last week. Jim
says there are lots of members interested.
Gomberg is noticably quiet now. Jim sez: "I think he's sitting back
thinking we're all going to fall flat on our faces and then he can rush
in and save everything."
Jim asked what they'd need for a preliminary bid. I told him the hotel
prelims were very important, so he's doing the right homework. We also
need the list of committee heads so we know there's a dedicated team
that's going to stick with it. Also any field trip ideas (he was a bit
surprised -- I reiterated we don't HAVE to have field trips, people are
quite good at organizing things on their own), and speaker ideas. He
was a little skittish about posting speaker names, because the last time
he did something like that it ended up on APC. I commiserated, having
recently seen 13 people sign up for our forum that doesn't exist yet,
and suggested he could e-mail this to the board privately.
I reiterated that having the hotel worked out is the most important part.
From there on out it's just a matter of staying on things, advertising,
and following through. He's going to put something together in the next
week (away this weekend), and post to conheads.
OK, so my personal thoughts:
They are going in the right direction now. They found three difference
price ranges & are converging on what is going to work for their budget.
Marriott feels like DC all over again...like we'd be running our credit
line to the max making that deal. Loads of stress and negotiating.
I like the Park Plaza. It sounds really doable. Take a peek at their
website. It looks like a nice place. They can be negotiated (I just
checked online and I can get a room for next month at $99. Also, what
happens if we bring in $3000 worth of banquets?). But even if we are too
burned out to negotiate, we're not going to be sitting on the edge of
our chairs if only 50 people show up. That would certainly make me, at
least, "feel good". :)
- Erik