On Mar 16, 2005, at 19:50, Janice Blair wrote:
I have been to all conventions, except Puerto Rico, since the one held in Ann Arbor. I have no recollection of staying at a 5 star hotel and some of them would be lucky to receive 3 stars!
$100 per night is sky-high for some of us, no matter how lousy the hotel really is. I agree with Weronika - and have been beating this same drum for years, like Cato and his Cartagina obsession - the lace get togethers ought to be set in (on?) a University campus environment; the last OIDFA, in Prague, was a *model* in that respect... And every city large enough to have a "convention-friendly" hotel is likely to have a U campus as well, so that's not an issue.
1) You have an option to share the - dorm - room (and are likely to share the bathroom with more than one person), or you can have a room to yourself if you're willing to pay extra. But, even if you share a *room*, you don't have to share a *bed* (something I personally dislike to the point of abhorrence; the more so, the older I grow) - the beds are singles, being aimed at students, not families.
2) You never run out of *proper* classroom space - something that happened both in Hasbrouck Heights and in Ithaca, where some people had to have classes in bedrooms or in "suites", which were not really suitable as classrooms. Even if there *are* enough "conference rooms" in a hotel to accomodate 35 separate courses (I counted the Denver ones), the needs for "quality light" of businessmen on the one hand and stitchers on the other are not likely to be the same. Classrooms, unlike "conference rooms" are likely to be both large and well lit.
3) Universities may not have ballrooms, but they do have large halls - they need them for "functions" (graduations, etc)
4) The U cafeteria food may be unimaginative and a tad heavy on the starches, but it offers *some* choice and is *still* cheaper than the "special of the day" at *any* hotel large enough to have its own restaurant. And, in US, at least, fast-food places if not actually *on* campus (some universities have "food courts" on campus) are within less then spitting distance - students migh riot, if deprived of theit pizza :)
There's but a *single* obstacle (as far as I've heard) to organising IOLI Conferences on U campuses: the elder membership (the majority of attendees) is disinclined to *walk* from one building to the next (bedroom-food-class sequence)... And some object to student fare vis food on the "been there, done that 40 yrs before, and don't want to do it again" principle (but you send your precious child into the same environment, without a second thought, no?). Unstated but understood is also the problem that some of the elder attendes would not *fit* in (on?) a single bed...
The OIDFA/Prague organisers did - IMO - a brilliant job of "marrying" the divergent needs of "have's" and "have not's"... They booked places in surrounding (and superiour <g>) *little* hotels for those who couldn't stomach the U hoi-polloi as their daily fare. Those hotels were all within a short taxi-ride (1-3 bus stops) from the campus and the "events". To be sure, it was a pain to collect them (and their complaints) on a trip day, but better than having them bitch abut low standards 24/7... And since all U meals were by choice, they could have theirs - better - elsewhere. Perfect.
When I attend IOLI (and other US) events, I try to stay at the hub. But I *do* resent -whether I'm flush or skint - having to spend a load of moolah (on top of a load of moolah spent on the air ticket), on hotel "do-dads" like environmentally-incorrect one-use shampoo bottles etc, only to be faced with having to work in a make-shift "classroom"...
Finding a hotel to have the convention
*Why* does it have to be a *hotel*???
Weronika, you will not be alone on Wednesday if you miss out on the trips. I plan on working on my lace that day
So do I. But, like Weronika, I'd prefer to be able to opt-out of a trip at one *end* of the event, not in the middle of it. With the trip in the middle, whether I take it or not, I still have to pay for the hotel room for that night...
We can walk to the Super Walmart to stock up on cheap food.
Their advertisements don't always live up to their delivery - you have to watch your step carefully.
Wonder if they sell cheap plonk as well.
Ours does. *Very* cheap... barely a step above denatured alcohol, at least in 1liter bottles. The gallons might offer something drinkable :)
Weronika, "plonk" is Brit for "cheap wine"
-- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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