Report of the Vice President Meetings
March 3, 2003
Submitted by James M. Lyneis
Bob Eberlein (2002
Palermo) and Roberta Spencer (2003 New York City) will provide separate
reports.
2004 Oxford
The site selected for 2004 is Keble College in Oxford, July 25-29. The situation with Keble will be different from past conferences in that meetings, meals, and rooms will be sold as a package for the entire conference duration (Sunday night through Thursday afternoon). The conference center format is similar to the Atlanta conference, except that Keble does not take room reservations or “sell” rooms on an individual night basis. While there is some provision for day-delegates who might stay at a local hotel, we expect that the vast majority of attendees will stay at Keble (note that the availability of local hotels is extremely limited during the summer). Consequently, we will charge an all-inclusive registration fee (includes room for 4 nights, all meals for 4 days, and cover of conference costs). There is no possibility for shorter stays at Keble, but we will set a day-delegate rate for those who wish to and can find local accommodation.
The registration fees needed to cover costs and generate a $25,000 surplus under different assumptions regarding attendance, whether or not we have to pay VAT, and whether or not we have a banquet and reception are given below:[1]
|
|
Attendance |
|
|
|
300 |
340 |
|
No
VAT |
$ 1,150 |
$ 1,100 |
|
No
VAT, include Banquet & Reception |
$ 1,200 |
$ 1,150 |
|
VAT,
Banquet & Reception |
$ 1,325 |
$ 1,275 |
VAT (at 17.5%) is not charged to educational conferences, but we need to fill out paperwork and get official approval; we are also looking to sponsorship by London Business School as a means of assuring an educational tie.
By the end of March we need to sign a contract, pay a significant deposit (approximately $16,000), and commit to a guaranteed minimum number of rooms. Keble has 350 bedrooms with a capacity of 375-390 people. We must commit to at least 300 rooms to guarantee exclusive use of the facility. Assuming that most people traveling to a conference would spend 4 nights, the $1150-$1200 cost figure is comparable to past conference costs (see attached Participant Cost Comparison).
Finally, the charge for non-delegate spouse will be $300 (4 nights, breakfasts and dinners). There are only 40 such rooms available at Keble.
2005 North America
We have proposals from Alaska (Henry Cole Conference Chair, Program chair tbd); and Las Vegas (Krys Stave Conference Chair, Andy Ford Program Chair). Consensus from those that responded to the email survey (a small number) was Alaska as the preferred site if we could have the conference at a reasonable cost. However, there was also considerable discussion about establishing fixed conference sites with 2005 being the first year for a rotation among them (see fixed site discussion in separate section below).
The original Alaska proposal was based on an expensive downtown hotel and did not seem feasible for many Society members. A revised proposal with the University of Alaska as the site for meetings and for rooms is much more reasonable although the rooms are dorm rooms (suites with shared baths and one bed). However, there is a nearby hotel for those wishing more traditional lodging. In either case, the meeting rooms are a 7-10 minute walk from the residences and we will therefore need to arrange some transportation. A preliminary budget (we are still in discussion with Univ. of Alaska) has been developed and cost comparison numbers are included in the attached “Participant Cost Comparison” sheet. The “Alaska U” column is priced for a conference at the University and rooms at the University; “Alaska U/H” for conference at the University staying a local hotel; and “Alaska H” for the original downtown Anchorage hotel proposal. The costs for the University-based conference are very reasonable and I understand that the University people seem pleasant and reasonable to work with.
We have also priced out a conference at the Las Vegas site based on information provided on the hotels web site. The proposed venue is a new 3-story hotel on 27 acres and looks very pleasant from the web-site pictures. Participant costs at this venue are also very reasonable. Rooms are inexpensive, but the costs of meeting rooms are high. Nevertheless, the package cost is lower than that for recent conferences. With airfare included, participant costs for Las Vegas or Alaska seem comparable.
Recommendation: Alaska, if we are in agreement with the local host regarding responsibilities of the Home Office and responsibilities of the local host (Las Vegas, along with Portland and Mexico, are candidates for future conferences). As for dates, we have been asked to avoid 11-15 July 2005 as it competes with IFORS conference in Hawaii. If we go for Las Vegas, June would be preferred because of the high July temperatures.
2006
We had a strong expression of interest from Markus Schwaninger in Switzerland but this was withdrawn last week because the university will be under construction during the proposed times. Other venues which have been mentioned include Egypt and Japan, but we had deferred these given our preference for a European site. We need to discuss and resolve the Society’s preference for conference venue rotation before soliciting proposals for 2006 and beyond.
Program Chair Debate
At the meeting in Palermo, the Policy Council decided to end the practice of having the president elect be the program chair, effective with the 2005 conference. The rationale for this was that the program and conference chairs need to work closely together, and therefore should be close in terms of geography, friendship, working habits, etc. Subsequent to that decision, George Richardson in particular has argued for the value of having someone that has been selected to be President as the Program Chair and asked the Policy Council to revisit the decision.
If I can summarize George’s arguments:
Fixed Sites Debate
A further proposal
was made by George Richardson to rotate the Conference among three fixed sites
in order to reduce the home office workload, cost, and risks of future
conferences. It was proposed that sites
in or near Boston, London, and a US West Coast city be selected.
There was
significant email exchange pro and con for this proposal, with no clear
consensus. A brief summary follows:
Advantages of
Rotating Fixed Sites:
Advantages of Current
System:
In addition to
rotating among 3 fixed sites, two other options were proposed:
[1] These figures assume an exchange rate of 1.55, which is the average over the last 5 years. We are committing to Keble for a cost in Pounds Sterling, and therefore are at risk for any exchange rate variations once we set the conference fee in dollars.