[Chicago] Chicago Digest, Vol 16, Issue 10

[Ted Pollari]

On Dec 7, 2006, at 10:25 PM, Andrew Harrington wrote:

> The killer on Loyola's lakeshore campus as a venue for Pycon is
> housing.  We might get facilities in the beginning of march vacation
> week, but there is (or at least used to be) one small hostel down the
> street, and other than that no housing nearby.
>
> Is it worth even looking for a cheap facilities price at Loyola if
> people need a major commute on the Red Line to get to housing?
>
> Loyola also has a campus downtown at the Watertower, but I do not  
> think
> we have rooms big enough there, and then you have plenty of  
> housing, but
> *way* expensive.
>
> Andy

Well, Loyola is in Chicago, right on an L line -- if we can get it as  
the main venue at a price that works, we can block rooms in one or  
two hotels somewhere else (if we want) or people can find their own  
hotel, wherever they like.  This is essentially what PyCon did the  
whole time it was in DC (see http://wiki.python.org/moin/PyConDC2005/ 
Accommodation )  Moreover, if PyCon comes to Chicago, a certain  
number of people will be coming because it's Chicago and will want to  
stay somewhere else or see some other part of the city -- much more  
so than a suburban location (such as the current location Addison TX  
or the Schaumburg or Naperville options here)

I'm not necessarily saying that this is what we should do but I'm  
saying it's not a deal breaker for PyCon from what I can see.

I guess, having experienced both DC and TX PyCons, I do actually  
prefer having the hotel and conference space together -- it  
facilitated meeting other Python minded people and working on  
anything/everything as late as we wanted without it feeling too out  
of place or odd.

-ted