[Chicago] My visit to the conference hotel

[Ted Pollari]

On Mar 1, 2008, at 1:56 PM, skip at pobox.com wrote:

>      She said the Village's
>      parking garage is right next to the hotel and is $11/day.  That  
> might
>      well be an option for us locals who drive.

Excellent find, Skip!  We should probably add this to the hotel info


> She confirmed that it's
>      about a five-minute walk from the Rosemont Blue Line stop.  We  
> can
>      probably cajole them into having their shuttle buses swing by  
> there on
>      their way to O'Hare.  We may need that option given the sort of  
> winter
>      we've had so far in Chicago!

The hotel's webpage states that trips to or from the blue line are  
possible, all you need to do is call/ask.  Are you thinking we should  
ask for regular service there on the mornings of the conference (i.e.  
the peak times people'd want the ride from the blue line)?

>
>    * Marcia indicated that they originally bid on the conference  
> expecting
>      about 600 people.  According to the t-shirt page we have around  
> 900
>      total registrations at this point, so while they appear to have  
> the
>      capacity to handle our conference, things will be a bit  
> different than
>      either they or we expected.

Then they took extremely poor notes -- I recall discussions with them  
during the initial site visit (Carl and Larry from CTE were there with  
me) and 600 people was our *minimum* estimate when we were discussing  
this with the hotel management, including the catering folks.  We made  
it clear that we expected more than that number, possibly up to 900 or  
more.  They were enthusiastic and confident that they could handle it.
>
>
> Overall I think we will be fine.  The food isn't four-star, but it's  
> not
> rubber chicken either.

Thanks -- I appreciate the leg-work on your part to check all this out.

-Ted