I've been telling fly-in and convention organizers for years that if you stage a good event at a reasonably pleasant venue, it doesn't have to be downtown in the host city.
One of the more satisfying West Coast A&C fly-ins I've attended was held a few years ago in a comparatively low-key and quiet area of Phoenix, in essentially a really nice motel with a conference center. It was cheap. Everything we needed was right there. It went quite well.
Vancouver held its A&C in Metrotown, in a far-from-downtown distant neighborhood served by SkyTrain. It was a big hit.
Pick someplace near a rail transit line and/or convenient to an airport, and I suspect you'll find much more reasonable rates than the downtown properties you're working with now.
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Date: 2007-02-09 04:02 pm (UTC)One of the more satisfying West Coast A&C fly-ins I've attended was held a few years ago in a comparatively low-key and quiet area of Phoenix, in essentially a really nice motel with a conference center. It was cheap. Everything we needed was right there. It went quite well.
Vancouver held its A&C in Metrotown, in a far-from-downtown distant neighborhood served by SkyTrain. It was a big hit.
Pick someplace near a rail transit line and/or convenient to an airport, and I suspect you'll find much more reasonable rates than the downtown properties you're working with now.