In article <CABcZeBPGyykdDLYHViaBQA4b+icJruOsJm9HwW6ppXEco7nS5A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> you write: >Thanks for making this point. I totally agree that where we have the >meetings influences participation. >This is why I explicitly mentioned Yokohama. Even when we meet in Asia >(which is presumably the >most favorable environment for Asian participation) we still generally get >below 1/3 Asian attendance, >and if we also meet other places, the overall numbers are going to be lower. The numbers show that when we meet in Japan, a lot more people from Japan attend. Other than that there is no obvious pattern. I will be interested to see what the numbers are for Bangkok because Thailand is the first place we've met for a while (maybe ever) that doesn't need a visa in advance for people from China or India or Russia or Brazil as well as for the usual visa-free countries. And for another comment: > Second, continent is not a very good proxy for travel pain, both > because Asia is so large (for instance, the shortest Tokyo to > Singapore route is 7:25 out and 7:10 back (on JAL) and the shortest > Tokyo - Honolulu route (ANA) is 7:20/8:10, so not really much > different at all) and because flight connections are such a big > contributor ( for instance, SFO-BKK is almost 20 hours, whereas > SFO-NRT is 11). > Well, as it happens Singapore is not _on_ the Asian continent, so > perhaps this isn't a shock. Good point, but of course, Montreal is not on the North American continent and London is not on the European continent. For anyone else unfamiliar with geography, the causeway from Singapore to Malaysia is 1056 metres, while the Jacques Cartier bridge between Montreal and Longueil is 3425 metres. The Chunnel is about 50 km. I have always found Singapore a great place to meet once you get there, but even though its airport is a major international hub, no matter what route you take it is a very long way from North America or Europe. R's, John
