Mike K:
Pros: Likely mild weather. Cheaper city, especially outside of downtown. Probably the most centrally located for our community (by car 8hrs from Boston, 7hrs from Chicago). That offsets the lower number of flights (shorter flights, some can drive). Nice downtown. Big hotel presumably offers enough space (I remember space being cramped, with overflow rooms, for some of the sessions at the last meeting).
Cons: I don't love that it's in a big hotel. Seems like you get a bit gouged & held captive. I'd almost certainly choose to stay a small distance away or maybe move halfway through. I'm surprised the dorm plan is not better developed.
Mixed: Dorms up by CMU or Pitt have the benefit that it's a nice area of town with more open space and cheaper/better restaurants. It's viable to stay up there and commute in via bus or Uber.
Bob B: I don't understand $95k for coffee breaks. We looked up the costs and sent Prisca a typical menu. With inflation and tax we estimated ($10.19 now, 8% tax, 2% inflation, round up a little) $12.50/person/break. 10 days*2 breaks/day*$12.50/break = $250/person vs. what I think is meant as $95.60/person, or $25/person/day vs $9.56/person/day. In any case it's a ratio of 95K/250K. Maybe their estimate is just coffee? One break per day? We should find out. I also looked in the proposal and “conference food” is $261K (not $95K) but then they talk about an optional continental breakfast and teas and a light snack being available. I don't think we're doing muffins-to-muffins here.
(Prisca) Hi Bob - take a look at the new file which clearly states coffee breaks… yes, it is a little muffins to bread, but you can see where it comes from .
(Bob B) OK, so I think what they're saying is you pay $15 for an optional continental breakfast, that is also your morning coffee, and then they have a just-coffee coffee break in the afternoon. Is that how you read it? That makes sense for the $95K: it's one coffee break in the afternoon, you want more than that (your AM coffee if for example you don't want their continental breakfast) you pay for it. That's fine, but do you remember APS April in Savannah on that island? They did much the same, the one place to get coffee had a line so long it was untenable – there are talks and meetings after all – and Kate Kirby took a lot of abuse. But I want to get the facts straight.
(Bob B) I worry about this plan. What's going to happen after a plenary break and coffee was only served at the optional breakfast? Everyone can't run to the Starbucks. On the other hand with no food at coffee breaks and one coffee break per day I'll have to lose less weight when I get back and I'll be marginally less frantic. Could the Committee ask for a two coffee break estimate? And then discuss whether they want muffins/juice/whatever at the breaks or not? And yeah, Fermilab will be totally happy to work with whoever if they want us to, thanks for clarifying that.
(Bob B) Mike, I do not want to spend a long time commuting from the dorm to the conference site. Then you can't get back to your room in the middle of the day, and then you have to have their continental breakfast, etc., and I've already said what I thought about the coffee breaks not being realistic. Wash and Minn and VT are campuses with everything in one place. The questions that went out asked about the dorms so we'll have data. I would like them to be 10-15 min away tops and you can walk there, so you don't get crowds waiting for the bus. And I am not crazy about Uber. Then think about the logistics of dorm→site→dorm. How many people do they expect to be in dorms? Can they then load them up in a city and schlep them to the conference site and back? If we get 1000 people how many can stay in their dorms? Say 400 actual physicists – are we supposed to get on eight-ten buses twice a day in a city? This proposal is set up for people to stay in shared rooms in the hotel.