Re: Advice re conference planning

[Nancy Forde <nforde@sfu.ca>]

Dear all,

Thank you for the very informative replies to my query regarding local sites for conferences of ~100 people.  Some of you emailed me individually while others replied to the list.  I thought I would summarize just a few of the comments, as well as making a suggestion to SFUFA.  (Does anyone on the SFUFA exec read this list?)

Comments:
Being downtown by the water is a great draw for international attendees, who rave about the beauty of the location.  SFU has a number of downtown facilities, with different attractions depending on the style and size of conference.  The Wosk Centre, for example, has a round-room setup that lends itself very well to discussions and brainstorming.  Complaints were voiced by many regarding the lack of discount for SFU faculty who wish to organize academic events at these locations, and at the relatively high costs (sometimes required) for A/V and technical support, and for being locked in to expensive catering requirements.

SFU Meeting & Events services can help with meetings and, although no-one explicitly mentioned it, perhaps having the meeting at an SFU facility gives access to the annual conference grants, which could help to offset the costs.

Hosting a meeting at a downtown hotel, which can offer both rooms for guests and meeting space, was perceived as easier and perhaps cheaper by many.

Cheaper alternatives, still local, include the Pinnacle Hotel in North Vancouver, SFU Surrey (which a couple of people spoke very highly of), and here on campus e.g. at IRMACS.

Further away options included Quest University in Squamish and Loon Lake Lodge, operated by UBC near Pitt Meadows.


Suggestion to SFUFA:  Can the administration be convinced to offer reduced rates for conference facilities for SFU faculty?  I found a thread on this topic from 2012, when Carla Grabner (then SFUFA President) had taken it up with the administration.  Did anything change as a result of these discussions?  There seems to be wide (though not universal) dissatisfaction with the current funding policies.  Even here at SFU Burnaby, I personally have experienced these challenges, as we had to pay to book rooms for seminars associated with our President's Dream Colloquium two years ago.  It seems like there would be better ways to achieve balanced books, which would allow SFU Faculty to better "Engage the World" at our local campuses, rather than fleeing to a more generic and certainly less SFU-specific location downtown in order to attract international researchers to our meetings.

Cheers,
Nancy


-- 
Nancy Forde
Associate Professor
Department of Physics
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Dr.
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6
--
nforde@sfu.ca
778-782-3161; 778-782-3592 (fax)
http://www.sfu.ca/fordelab