No comment - laugh. I have been trying my hardest to tolerate my heartbreak. Right at the start of the telecast Ken Sutcliffe did a short intro by the fence in front of Bletchys Blues. My granddaughter and son in law were standing right beside him in blue wigs and jerseys waving flags - do these people have no pride - I used to be so proud of her too - laugh - it was Jasmine who was my helper at the last AAIC - ill just have to break her heart in a couple of weeks.
At the end of the day everyone, it is hard to organise a conference in Sydney (or anywhere else for that matter) if the organiser/s live in the Gold Coast/Brisbane area .
Mark I recon you do it in Brissy or Gold Coast again - simple, lovely weather that time of year too. Accomodation of all types and costs everywhere etc Flights are cheap in Australia and it is a National conference after all, what do people expect, it can't be everywhere. As you say it will be cheaper registration too.
It will logistically be much easier for you to manage if you live in the same city. International guests will be perfectly used to going where the conference is regardless.
I am moving back to Canberra in the coming months anyway but I am very happy to fly to Brisbane.
Mike
Very well said indeed, ok I live in Brissy so I am biased but I think it worked so well on the Gold Coast.
My only drama with the coast is I wasn't happy with accommodation rates. Those who booked separate to the conf rate actually paid less. They only get one chance to screw me. I like the chance for attendees to chose their own level of accommodation as well. I mean the casino is a short walk over the bride and there are 5 star places at Southbank ranging down to the Melbourne Hotel down the road (you could pitch a tent in mugsrave park over the road - sry all queenslanders know how un pc that is)
Our professional association (scientists/pathologists) rotates annual scientific meetings up and down the east coast through Brissy/Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne. Almost without fail the Gold Coast is the most popular venue for attendance numbers.
Still, good to give other states a go at it from time to time. Trouble is you don't have luxury of handing off organistion to those in the NSW/VIC really Mark, as Mike said.
I am getting overwhelming requests for it to be on the coast, here and by email. If it ends up here you will pay similar conference fees to last time. I will get quotes from some other hotels but. It is obviously much easier for me if we have it here.
I am thinking about tying it into QLD Astrfest - they run from one weekend to the next now. If we have this on the first weekend anyone from interstate could continue on to Astrofest - the second weekend is the big one. It may even encourage some first timers to Astrofest. Tony Surma you out there? Do you like the idea? It would be like Queensland astronomy week. It would be better than having them 2 or 3 weeks apart again which may discourage people from attending both.
I won't commit for a week or two but early July I will decide to give the internationals time to organize. I suppose it is not a secret that FLI are on board again and several other large camera, scope and accessory manufacturers will probably be there - bigger and better.
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