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Charlie and others who expressed interest in looking at smaller venues may find it interesting to know that your AAW did include smaller venues in the search for a 2018 site.
With Phil McDonald's permission I am posting a redacted version of Phil's recap of the 2018 search process. It is premature to announce the winner so I have cleverly disguised the first and second place sites with xxxxx and yyyyyy.
"This site selection process was a departure from our traditional approach. Pursuant to AAW Board discussions in June, and listening to recommendations for new strategies that were identified by an ad hoc symposium ‘idea group’ assembled last summer, two RFP specification documents were issued. One was targeted at cities with facilities commensurate of the size and scale we have customarily sought out, and the other was sent to smaller, tier 3 / tier 4 cities. This new process allowed us to study alternatives to our symposium space model and to evaluate more compact and intimate venues. The experience in Pittsburgh was one motivator for this dual search. The added cost and inconvenience of the downtown setting and the expansive scale posed by the convention center were major detractors identified in feedback from our attendees. The 2018 search also tested the premise that smaller cities and venues might help to reduce the cost of producing and the cost of attending the symposium without sacrificing the comprehensive scale and scope of offerings that sets our symposium apart from the regional symposia. The findings from the 2018 search were highly informative. Of the 18 cities contacted, 10 offered availability for our dates and submitted proposals. In addition to XXXXX and YYYYY, proposals were received from 3 smaller Pacific Northwest cities, Spokane, Bellevue and Tacoma. We also obtained proposals from cities in other time zones, primarily as contingencies but also to inform our future search efforts. While the proposals from Tacoma and Spokane were viable and extremely attractive, they were not appreciably any more affordable than XXXXX. Tacoma would have forced us to scale back our programming to unacceptable levels, and the venue posed logistical burdens that would have compromised attendees’ experiences. And Spokane’s location was a deterrent to convenient access by our members, and lacking in chapter resources needed to properly support the event."
With Phil McDonald's permission I am posting a redacted version of Phil's recap of the 2018 search process. It is premature to announce the winner so I have cleverly disguised the first and second place sites with xxxxx and yyyyyy.
"This site selection process was a departure from our traditional approach. Pursuant to AAW Board discussions in June, and listening to recommendations for new strategies that were identified by an ad hoc symposium ‘idea group’ assembled last summer, two RFP specification documents were issued. One was targeted at cities with facilities commensurate of the size and scale we have customarily sought out, and the other was sent to smaller, tier 3 / tier 4 cities. This new process allowed us to study alternatives to our symposium space model and to evaluate more compact and intimate venues. The experience in Pittsburgh was one motivator for this dual search. The added cost and inconvenience of the downtown setting and the expansive scale posed by the convention center were major detractors identified in feedback from our attendees. The 2018 search also tested the premise that smaller cities and venues might help to reduce the cost of producing and the cost of attending the symposium without sacrificing the comprehensive scale and scope of offerings that sets our symposium apart from the regional symposia. The findings from the 2018 search were highly informative. Of the 18 cities contacted, 10 offered availability for our dates and submitted proposals. In addition to XXXXX and YYYYY, proposals were received from 3 smaller Pacific Northwest cities, Spokane, Bellevue and Tacoma. We also obtained proposals from cities in other time zones, primarily as contingencies but also to inform our future search efforts. While the proposals from Tacoma and Spokane were viable and extremely attractive, they were not appreciably any more affordable than XXXXX. Tacoma would have forced us to scale back our programming to unacceptable levels, and the venue posed logistical burdens that would have compromised attendees’ experiences. And Spokane’s location was a deterrent to convenient access by our members, and lacking in chapter resources needed to properly support the event."
