On Behalf of My Good Buddy, Clif

[billroper]

Clif is getting ready to run another of his annual Tcl/Tk conferences in the Rutgers area in New Jersey. He's looking for a suitable hotel for a conference of 50-100 people. This sounds a lot like a filkcon to me. :)

Anyone able to help him out? Here's what he had to say elsewhere:

Next year's Tcl/Tk Conference will be held in central New Jersey, near Rutgers.

The guy who volunteered has worked the conference with me for a couple of years, but this is is first try and finding a hotel, and he needs some help.

He's got the list from the Chamber of Commerce, but my experience is that for a small techie (or SF) con, the hotels that put themselves on that list tend to be the bigger and more expensive ones.

Do we have any contacts in that area that might be able to help him find the kind of place where we'd put a relaxacon, rather than a WindyCon?

Comments

[pheltzer.livejournal.com]

Sadly there has been so much construction in that area in the last 10 years all my knowledge is probably woefully out of date. If he runs into a complete brick wall I still have some friends in that part of NJ who might be able to give a more eyes on perspective.

[madfilkentist]

By Rutgers, do you mean the New Brunswick campus? The last Contata was at a hotel in Secaucus, maybe 10 miles north of there. Someone from that area must remember the exact hotel; I can't at the moment.

Hotel in Rutgers Area

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

2 summers ago, when my youngest sister-in-law got married at Rutgers after graduating from there, Alan and I stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott in nearby Somerset.

(It wasn't as enchanting as the Auburn Hills, MI, one that I fell in love with because it had an actual _enclosed_ courtyard, but that's a-side the point. Also a-side the point is that we stayed at the Somerset hotel to avoid staying at the MacMansion of my eldest sister-in-law, which we had learned the Thanksgiving before came complete with haughty condescension and snippy attitude.)

Anyway, the Courtyard chain, and, I think I remember, this one also, has 2 medium-sized function rooms. Is that too few for Clif's event?

[hms42]

Bill - Do you want me to pass along the question to the Contata concom who is looking for a hotel for 2008?

Currently the plans do not have it back at the same location as 2005.

I can definately recommend AGAINST where Eclecticon was held. (Near Newark Airport, I think thats within a few miles of where the contata 2005 was held.)

A place to look at might be where Chiller Theatre uses in that area too... (I can find out which hotel it is.) Also, Lunacon 2005 was held there. It might work.

Harold

[billroper]

Please do pass it along. Thanks!

[hms42]

Chiller Theatre site.

http://www.chillertheatre.com/

Any ideas on tentative dates?? I think I saw that the Contata 2008 hotel search is happening in a few weeks and I MIGHT be able to get some info to share back.

Harold

Update to conference reqs

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for any suggestions.

The Tcl programmers are a bit like SF fen (with the usual techie/fan
overlap), and the conference has a fairly sercon feel.

What we need in a hotel is 2 or 3 small conference rooms that can hold
10-20 folks in classroom seating, and one larger room that can hold 50-75
in classroom seating. The needs don't overlap, so a single large room that
splits into two or three smaller rooms will work.

The attendees are a mix of folks paying their own way, who want it to be
cheap, and folks on the corporate dime who want something nice. As a rule,
Hiltons and Hyatts are out of our price range. Something like a Best Western, or an independent that caters to the wedding reception crowd
rather than the business crowd is good for us. Something that normally
books weekends and has Mon-Thur (our days) open is perfect.

Thanks again, Bill, and anyone with suggestions.

I'll keep an eye on the jrnl.