Organizing Committee. FNAL: Bob Bernstein (co-Chair), Pushpa Bhat, Patrick Fox, Andrew Norman, Peter Shanahan, Joseph Zennamo. UMN: Tony Gherghetta, Ken Heller, Marvin Marshak (co-Chair), Greg Pawloski, Ron Poling, Roger Rusack, Nadja Strobbe
Venue: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis East Bank Campus
Cost: $395.8K (registration: $495 pp)
Additional apples-to-apples questions
Coffee break prices for 1000 people for 10 days: $250,000.
Banquet and reception cost per person, assuming 500 people. How would that number change if we went up or down by 250 people?
reception and poster session included in the registration fee ($495 before subsidy). Pulling it out, $7500 for 250, $13,750 for 500, and $20,000 for 750 people.
banquet price is fixed for 250 to 750 people at $75/person, no matter the size.
Questions to the organizers
add bullet points with confusions and draft questions. We will collate and ask the organizers
Pro
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Centrally located geographically (equally easy access from east and west coast)
No car needed - 20 min by light rail to the campus
Previous site: proven to work extremely well
Cheap!
Family friendly camps and an on-site rec center.
Weather is sunny and not too hot in the summer
Con
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Site for 2013: is this a pro or a con? Do people like to sample different spots? or go with what worked?
I see the fact that it is the previous site as a con, which makes the exercise seem very Fermilab-centric.
Space for your comments - especially what issues are most important to you (include name)
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Mike K:
Pros: Pretty easy to get to by plane and a good connection to the airport. Staying in downtown is now more viable than during the 2013 meeting (gives a greater choice of hotels). Another good place for weather. The main hall used for plenary sessions at the 2013 meeting was great. The 2013 meeting worked reasonably well, though I recall a fair amount of walking across a long bridge.
Cons: I think the repeated site is a con (I know where I'd go for a repeated site). In 2013 I recall some of the meeting rooms being too small (including a smallish auditorium in Tate(?) that required overflow rooms for at least one important session).
(Prisca) Clarification on Fermilab's contribution: Originally FNAL considered putting in a bid for a site in Chicago, but later decided that it would be better to put resources toward a University bid. So Bob Bernstein and Marvin Marshak put together the UMN proposal. FNAL is quite happy to help out whichever bid is successful - its just a few scientists at FNAL that are stepping up to the plate to help out the local organizing committee - whomever is chosen.
(Tom Diehl (FNAL)) Least expensive. Probably get the highest participation, even from non-Fermi people.
(Roger Rusack - Minnesota) Least expensive. very convenient train to and from airport to the site (30 min) and to downtown St Paul (30 Mins) and Minneapolis (10 min). Direct flights to Minneapolis from both Japan and Europe.
(Prisca) Quick response to Mike K: If you look at the proposal you see that the entire conference is on the East Bank campus now (no walking across the bridge unless you want to for the fun of it). The old Tate Physics is completely refurbished and there is a new Physics Nanotechnology Building, right across the street from the new Recreation and Wellness which has camps for kids and guest passes for adults. A lot of construction since 2013.