Re: [802SEC] Final venue choices for our March 8-13, 2009Plenary Session for your review
John,
The good news is that after we start having non-North American
Plenary meetings we will be able to predict future attendance better.
We have lots of history with North American Plenary meetings so it is
easier to predict. Once we have done this a few times in non-North
American venues I am sure it will be easier to make those predictions.
Regards,
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: ***** IEEE 802 Executive Committee List *****
[mailto:STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG] On Behalf Of John Hawkins
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 1:43 PM
To: STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [802SEC] Final venue choices for our March 8-13,
2009Plenary Session for your review
That ability certainly exists. We have a healthy reserve at the moment,
and we have time to add to it if deemed necessary for the Rome session
(or any other one for that matter). Note that any session defict by
definition comes out of that reserve. Where else would it come from? So
the trick is being able to predict attendance. This was the case w/
London, and will be the case going forward. It's hard to predict how
many folks will show up, and how many rooms they will book.
john
-----Original Message-----
From: ***** IEEE 802 Executive Committee List *****
[mailto:STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG] On Behalf Of Bob O'Hara
(boohara)
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 3:14 PM
To: STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [802SEC] Final venue choices for our March 8-13,
2009Plenary Session for your review
Even with all the uncertainty about attendance and cost, I support going
to the Rome venue.
I would like to hear John Hawkins' thoughts on the ability to use a
growing reserve to partially offset the large meeting registration fee.
-Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: ***** IEEE 802 Executive Committee List *****
[mailto:STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG] On Behalf Of Rigsbee, Everett O
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 12:56 PM
To: STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [802SEC] Final venue choices for our March 8-13,
2009Plenary Session for your review
Hi Pat, Good questions:
1. No the price was, of course, in Euros so continued dollar
devaluation will only make it more expensive. The price in Euros was
170 single, 185 double + 10% VAT. All other prices were also in Euros
so they will follow the same course. We may need to put an adjustment
on the registration fee to compensate for further deterioration.
2. Yes, They have 40 good sized meeting rooms which should easily allow
for up to 1500 attendees and we can always use a partial theater setting
in the rear to cover an exceptional overflow. The price quoted was for
all of the meeting space so there would be no extra charge for meeting
space for additional attendees. That's good news because extra
attendees will have a positive budget impact to perhaps offset some
devaluation losses. But we don't want to count on those extra attendees
or we wind up losing money and incurring penalties to boot. There is
plenty of hotel rooms in the nearby vicinity so we can grab some more at
4 months out if a poll of the membership at the preceding plenary
indicates significantly higher than expected attendance. It's much,
much easier to go up in attendance than to go down, where the penalties
can be incredibly severe as we have seen.
3. We would only be contracting for a low percentage of needed rooms at
that rate (~51%) and we are only guaranteeing to use 70% of that number.
Further we can adjust those numbers at interim review periods as we
approach the dates of the session to protect against major attendee
level changes. So again I feel confident that we are doing all that we
can to reduce our exposure to losses. We may also consider having an
increased registration fee for those not staying at the 802-contracted
hotel since they are indirectly not paying their fair share of the cost
for the meeting spaces. Even a $200 surcharge would provide a
significant disincentive to try to beat the system and we would provide
a refund if we make or exceed our expected numbers.
So we have several options to adjust the parameters of the session to
ensure we come in where we need to be budget-wise but it is already
clear that it will be 2 to 3 times more expensive than your average NA
session as Bob Heile has predicted. If that is too much then we need to
revisit the fundamental question: "Is meeting budget more important
than meeting location ???" :-)
Thanx, Buzz
Dr. Everett O. (Buzz) Rigsbee
Boeing IT
PO Box 3707, M/S: 7M-FM
Seattle, WA 98124-2207
Ph: (425) 373-8960 Fx: (425) 865-7960
Cell: (425) 417-1022
everett.o.rigsbee@boeing.com
________________________________
From: Pat Thaler [mailto:pthaler@broadcom.com]
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 11:10 AM
To: Rigsbee, Everett O; STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: RE: [802SEC] Final venue choices for our March 8-13,
2009Plenary Session for your review
Hi Buzz,
I know it is a lot of work to put these together. I have a few
questions.
The prices you show for Rome are in dollars. Have they committed to
pricing in dollars or will price fluctuate with currency changes?
It looks like you are predicting low attendance in Rome. That is
probably a good conservative level to base pricing on but attendance at
an expensive venue often depends on what state projects are in.
* If we get more like usual attendance, can the venue handle it?
* Does the meeting room rental stay the same?
* I think we should set the registration fee lower than the cost
of the meeting since we have said we are building up money in our
treasury to handle extra expense of a non-NA venue. Can we do that but
set it high enough to cover the variable costs of additional attendees
so we don't lose more than we expect if more attendees show up?
What is our exposure to room nights? At $255 to 280, some attendees may
book at other hotels. There are plenty of 3 star places that come up on
the internet with much cheaper prices. Does $400,000 for meeting space
at least buffer us from extra charges if attendees bail to stay at a
hotel that costs $150 a night?
Regards,
Pat
-----Original Message-----
From: ***** IEEE 802 Executive Committee List *****
[mailto:STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG] On Behalf Of Rigsbee, Everett O
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 10:23 PM
To: STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [802SEC] Final venue choices for our March 8-13, 2009
Plenary Session for your review
Steve, We offered 3 choices for non-North American venues for the March
8-13, 2009 timeslot.
Geneva @ITU (#1 preference) unfortunately declined to complete a deal
with us for lack of enough meeting space during that time window. We
also need ITU sponsorship for that to work. We have been told that they
would gladly consider hosting us for our March 2011 session.
Park Marriott Rome (#2 preference) has made us a fair offer based on
their current pricing and has the rooms and meeting space available, but
it IS an expensive alternative.
The Hilton London Metropole also made an expensive offer but received
such a low vote total on the preference poll that we did not pursue that
option further.
We already have contracted deals for the other slots for 2009 and 2010,
so March 2011 is our first next choice for a nNA venue, and we will hope
to offer Geneva for that slot as soon as we have an official invitation
through the ITU.
Meanwhile may I remind you that Bob Heile is primarily responsible for
our nNA choices, and frankly I'm a bit tired of offering nNA venues that
we have warned time and again WILL BE MORE EXPENSIVE than their NA
alternatives only to hear a chorus of complaints that they are too
expensive. If you really want to do nNA plenaries, you have to be
willing to pay the going rate. If we really can't afford to do these,
then let's stop kidding ourselves that we want to do them. With the
diminishing dollar the going rate get worse every year and we get
further away, not closer. Just hoping to get NA deals at nNA venues is
a waste of time. It's time to put our money where our mouth is, or
change our story.
I don't mean to dump on you, Steve, but I've got a very large investment
of my own personal time in chasing this nNA fantasy with little more
than a passel of complaints to show for my efforts. If you don't like
the choices you are getting, please talk to Bob Heile. And if anyone
thinks they can find better choices for IEEE-802 Plenaries, they are all
too welcome to step-up and show us.
{end of Rant}
Thanx, Buzz
Dr. Everett O. (Buzz) Rigsbee
Boeing IT
PO Box 3707, M/S: 7M-FM
Seattle, WA 98124-2207
Ph: (425) 373-8960 Fx: (425) 865-7960
Cell: (425) 417-1022
everett.o.rigsbee@boeing.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Shellhammer, Steve [mailto:sshellha@QUALCOMM.COM]
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 11:07 AM
To: STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [802SEC] Final venue choices for our March 8-13, 2009
Plenary Session for your review
Buzz,
Carl brings up an interesting point. Is this meeting intended
to be the non-North America plenary? If we end up picking Vancouver for
March do we schedule a non-North America plenary in July 2009?
Regards,
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: ***** IEEE 802 Executive Committee List *****
[mailto:STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG] On Behalf Of Carl R. Stevenson
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 12:55 PM
To: STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [802SEC] Final venue choices for our March 8-13, 2009
Plenary Session for your review
Buzz,
Speaking for myself, I vote for the Rome location.
We've done Vancouver 2 or 3 times and while it's easier via-wise for
some of
our attendees than the US, it's still a North American venue and I think
that the EC should reject it in favor of the Rome location. (I am
disappointed that several Asian venues apparently didn't work out.)
As a member of the EC and the SA Board of Governors, I don't believe
that
Vancouver truly meets our stated policy goals of "walking the walk" as
an
international SDO by holding 802 plenaries in non-North American venues.
Other groups in the SA do ... Why is it so difficult for us?
Having the "choice" between an (we know they are more expensive) EU (or
Asian) venue vs. Vancouver doesn't seem like a fair question when taken
in
the context of our policy goal. It puts us in the position of "choose
the
more expensive one and meet the goal or choose the cheaper one and
ignore/abandon the goal."
I am finding this situation increasingly unacceptable. If you have any
immediate feedback, please e-mail me directly.
Regards,
Carl
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-stds-802-sec@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
> [mailto:owner-stds-802-sec@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG] On Behalf Of
> Rigsbee, Everett O
> Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 12:03 PM
> To: stds-802-sec@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
> Cc: 802info@IEEE.ORG; dawns@facetoface-events.com
> Subject: [802SEC] Final venue choices for our March 8-13,
> 2009 Plenary Session for your review
>
>
>
> Colleagues, Please see the attached summary of our final venue
> choices for March 2009. Please share the information with
> your respective Working Groups during your interim sessions
> and give us your and/or your WG response on preferences. We
> need to close on this choice very shortly now or we will lose
> the options. We still have an option for Geneva for March
> 2011 that we can pursue.
>
>
>
> Thanx again for your cooperation and support. :-)
>
>
>
> Thanx, Buzz
> Dr. Everett O. (Buzz) Rigsbee
> Boeing IT
> PO Box 3707, M/S: 7M-FM
> Seattle, WA 98124-2207
> Ph: (425) 373-8960 Fx: (425) 865-7960
> Cell: (425) 417-1022
> everett.o.rigsbee@boeing.com
>
>
>
>
> ----------
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