I'd like to try to schedule one of the smaller new-city events I referenced for Nashville for the West Coast, if we can. (schedule's tight, though). Where are you?
The current idea (though it's a new idea and subject to much change) on the new-city events is to go into a new city with a quite scaled-down event. Focus on sharing and our core content (involvement) without the huge exhibit hall and probably for a shorter time frame. If something like that went well, it would be a great jump-start to a larger event the following year.
Thanks for the sneak peek. So glad to hear that you will be in Philadelphia. Last year, only two of our executive board went- this year, all five of us will definitely be there.
I fully understand why you do not want to grow these wonderful shows too quickly, but those of us on the west coast would love to have access to the wealth of information these conventions have to share. The 2003 convention out here was canceled, was it due to lack of interest or are there just not all that many of us out this way?
Keep up the great work and I look forward to coming to a show one of these days.
Not 100% finalized yet, but we do have a working schedule for 2004 conferences.
Thanks to everyone who offered insight on the forum and via email.
1. Dallas. One-day. Tuesday, April 6.
Holiday Inn DFW North. Irving.
2. Chicago. Two-day. Monday and Tuesday, April 19-20
Holiday Inn O'Hare. Rosemont, IL
3. Boston. Two-day. Friday and Saturday, April 30-May1.
Sheraton Tara, Framingham, MA
4. Philadelphia. One-day. Thursday, May 13
Adam's Mark, Philadelphia.
(Also hoping to set-up a smaller, new-city sharing event in Nashville. Kind of a PTO Conference without all the bells and whistles.)
Lots more info to come. Folks loved our 2003 events, and next year's will be even better. We've learned so much.
Tim
(And -- in advance -- trust me when I tell you that we'd love to be in every city. We will be, when we know we can make each event great. These events take an unbelievable amount of work and manpower to put on, and I'd rather grow them carefully (ensuring quality) than grow too quickly and put on a bad event.)
