So as an aspiring SMOF I have some insight into the economics of holding meetings. We're big. We want well connected central venues vs shipping everyone out miles and miles away. We want a week vs a weekend. We need 8 tracks in big rooms of 100-200 people. That wouldn't fit in a lot of hotels in the area. Some places like Asilomar could accommodate but see miles and miles away and also pricy. We have hotel catering that's expensive and unavoidable. All of this is going to make those contracts expensive. It's gotten harder and harder for even smaller conventions in the bay. Affordable cities tend to have inconvenient flights: because they aren't as big, and because the ones with flights have more meetings that come to them. There is rarely a free lunch, other than holding it in Chicago in the wintertime or Texas in the summer. Sincerely, Watson Ladd
