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Necss 2010

NECSS was great! It was good to meet so many friends there.

My only complaint is the venue. I heard others complaining about the venue too, so maybe next year they'll move to someplace with access and socializing space. If they want to live up to the "Northeast" in the name, they'll have to find a hotel near a major highway with free parking.
 
SkepticScott said:
NECSS was great! It was good to meet so many friends there.

My only complaint is the venue. I heard others complaining about the venue too, so maybe next year they'll move to someplace with access and socializing space. If they want to live up to the "Northeast" in the name, they'll have to find a hotel near a major highway with free parking.
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I don't mind the venue. It's a nice auditorium, but there is a lack of common space for socializing between talks.

If they move it out of the city, they'll lose me.
 
SkepticScott said:
NECSS was great! It was good to meet so many friends there.

My only complaint is the venue. I heard others complaining about the venue too, so maybe next year they'll move to someplace with access and socializing space. If they want to live up to the "Northeast" in the name, they'll have to find a hotel near a major highway with free parking.
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No such thing as free parking at any Manhattan hotel, even in outer boros not so easy (and a conference in any of the outer boros is not as sexy as one in Manhattan).

It is called Northeast less for the location than for the fact that it organized by both the NYC & NE skeptics groups.
 
Kochanski said:
No such thing as free parking at any Manhattan hotel, even in outer boros not so easy (and a conference in any of the outer boros is not as sexy as one in Manhattan).

It is called Northeast less for the location than for the fact that it organized by both the NYC & NE skeptics groups.
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There are also no major highways in Manhattan.

Michael was mentioning that they are trying to have it elsewhere next year. Not sure if that means outside NYC though.
 
I was, indeed, a nice auditorium - for watching a performance of some sort.

It's not exactly condusive to the "conference" format, especially a day long one. There are no "socializing" areas, no food or drink allowed, no tables for note-taking, etc., etc.
 
I'm glad everyone seemed to enjoy themselves (despite a few complications...always par for the course, I'm afraid).

Finding a venue that is more conducive to socializing will be our highest priority for next year's conference, second only to securing great speakers and keeping registration affordable.

The location will be NYC (and always will be, as long as I have a say in things :) ).

Mike
 
Schedule the volcanoes for a different time next year.

While I like the venue for visibility, I agree that no socializing space is a problem. To me the bigger problem is that it is just about at capacity. If we want the conference to grow, there is no choice but to move.

I would also suggest more space for volunteers to help with check-in. The line took quite a while to process in and the entire conference started rather late. Shaving time off of items like the science-based medicine panel is not an ideal solution.

CT
 
CriticalThanking said:
I would also suggest more space for volunteers to help with check-in. The line took quite a while to process in and the entire conference started rather late.
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London had the same problem. If you can't open the venue earlier, I would suggest mailing tickets before hand. You can do it all at once, if it makes things easier. Announce that all tickets will be mailed on April 1st. If you do not receive them by April 10th, call and we will have duplicates at the door. In a crowd of 300-400 people, that really should only happen to about 2-3 people. At most.
 
SkepticScott said:
My only complaint is the venue. I heard others complaining about the venue too, so maybe next year they'll move to someplace with access and socializing space.
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It was with last year's NECSS too. Many people don't care for that venue.


The Central Scrutinizer said:
If they move it out of the city, they'll lose me.
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So that's a plus. :)

Kochanski said:
It is called Northeast less for the location than for the fact that it organized by both the NYC & NE skeptics groups.
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Well, some of them anyway.

Reager said:
Finding a venue that is more conducive to socializing will be our highest priority for next year's conference, second only to securing great speakers and keeping registration affordable.

The location will be NYC (and always will be, as long as I have a say in things :) ).

Mike
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It's nice to hear that a new venue will be looked for. I am disappointed that the location will ALWAYS be NYC. Boston would be nice, and probably cheaper.
 
Sc00ter said:
It was with last year's NECSS too. Many people don't care for that venue.
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Enough care for it to sell out 2 years running. :)

Sc00ter said:
It's nice to hear that a new venue will be looked for. I am disappointed that the location will ALWAYS be NYC. Boston would be nice, and probably cheaper.
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I will amend my previous observation that they will lose me if it moves outside of NYC. That was in response to a comment about a place with lots of free parking near an interstate. What I meant was they will lose me if it is moved to a Holiday Inn with an attached Applebee's at offramp #11 on Interstate 99. In other words - in the middle of nowhere. I'd be fine with Boston or any other large city, as long as it in near a subway stop, or within walking distance of downtown hotels.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Enough care for it to sell out 2 years running. :)
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I would bet that, if TAM stayed at either the Riviera or the Flamingo, it would still get about the same sized attendence. I suspect only a small number of people, if any, would refuse to go, no matter which hotel it was in.

One can not care for the venue, at all, but put up with it, if the benefits of going outweigh the "costs" of the place.


I think NECSS demonstrates this: Lot of dislike for the venue, a lot of love for the basic conference, itself.
 
Wowbagger said:
One can not care for the venue, at all, but put up with it, if the benefits of going outweigh the "costs" of the place.


I think NECSS demonstrates this: Lot of dislike for the venue, a lot of love for the basic conference, itself.
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Exactly. Very well put.
 
Of course, what I said before does NOT mean we shouldn't improve the venue. The long-term success of a conference depends on its reputation. And, the quality of the venue is one such way to improve and maintain reputation.
 
Wowbagger said:
Of course, what I said before does NOT mean we shouldn't improve the venue. The long-term success of a conference depends on its reputation. And, the quality of the venue is one such way to improve and maintain reputation.
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Also, even if you increase total number, you may end up with churn rather than getting a lot of veterans coming back.
 
Kochanski said:
and a conference in any of the outer boros is not as sexy as one in Manhattan
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I disagree; I think a conference in a major city is inconvenient in the extreme, therefore not sexy.
The Central Scrutinizer said:
I'd be fine with Boston or any other large city, as long as it in near a subway stop, or within walking distance of downtown hotels.
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I'd be fine with such a location, as long as I don't have to pay for parking or take public transportation to get there. If you have it elsewhere, it'll be cheaper for the attendees and you also have the advantage of being able to drive to many places to have lunch, you're not limited to the one place next door.

It takes a special event to get me into a city. NECSS is far above the line, so there's no question of not going. If NECSS won't move, perhaps they could have free validated parking? I went to a debate in Boston with Christopher Hitchens last month, they had free parking, and it was only about 15 minutes from a highway.
 
SkepticScott said:
I'd be fine with such a location, as long as I don't have to pay for parking or take public transportation to get there.
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This pretty much rules out any big city. Which means now we're stuck at the Holiday Inn with the attached Applebee's at exit 11 in the burbs.

SkepticScott said:
If you have it elsewhere, it'll be cheaper for the attendees and you also have the advantage of being able to drive to many places to have lunch, you're not limited to the one place next door.
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Except now you're in the burbs, and the places to drive for lunch are nothing but fast food and dull chains - like Friday's, Chili's, Applebee's etc.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
This pretty much rules out any big city. Which means now we're stuck at the Holiday Inn with the attached Applebee's at exit 11 in the burbs.



Except now you're in the burbs, and the places to drive for lunch are nothing but fast food and dull chains - like Friday's, Chili's, Applebee's etc.
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You could go with a medium sized city. Manchester, NH for example has a couple fairly good sized conference centers, is usually cheaper to fly to than boston, has free parking, a good "strip" with plenty of good restaraunts.

It's not a big city, but you're not in the middle of nowhere either.
 
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