I have done some reviews of hotels in the past and since I am discussing my travel this week I might as well include where I stayed in my travel plans.  I had my nightmare of travel and this is the icing of that cake.  I have never bee to the Custom Hotel and had no expectations.  In addition to adding to the problems with my travel from the last post, I got off the plane at LAX and found the place where I was to pick up the shuttle.  The shuttle is sent after you call the front desk. I pulled out my paperwork and the domino effect being the norm that day, the last digit of the phone number of the hotel did not show up.  No problem I would call information and have the call patched through.  The only problem with that is the information people had no listing for the hotel in their system. "Excuse me", I said in disbelief.  I’m looking at their number I just don’t have the last digit.  You would think I could give them the number and I cold ask them to provide the last digit.  No luck there.

I finally found the website on my smart phone, something I would say all road warriors must have, and finally found the number.  To its credit however, providing a free hotel shuttle is a huge plus when I am staying at a hotel.  I first stay with those that provide this as a value add not requiring a cab ride from the airport is a money saver and a great perk.

I arrived at the hotel and while I waiting to check in I surveyed the land.  Not too bad a hotel for a room under $100.  They had a restaurant that served a pretty good chicken avocado and it was clean and fairly quiet.  The only issue I had was the decor.  I am a guy and decor means as much to me most of the time as curtains in the garage, I don’t really care.  The problem with this decor however, was black carpet, black walls, black ceiling and hardly any light.  It was like entering a lava cave I saw in Hawaii.  Spooky.  To add to the comedy of the issue was the vending machine selling Halloween masks.  No I am not kidding.

The room was nice, clean the bathroom was great ad the shower was sufficient.  I had a great room and I don’t want to detract from people staying here, but I am wondering why they had a flock of sheep in the lobby.  No, not a real living and breathing flock, but stuffed animal sheep.  The bizarre of this trip continues it seems.

Tags: Travel, Los Angeles, Custom Hotel, Conferences, Trade Shows, Hotels

I don’t want to turn this into a blog about crazy travel stories, as that is another blog for another place, but when I travel as much as I do it is part of what keeps me looking inside the convention centers, hotels, meeting venues and other places.  Part of that has to do quite a bit for travel and how I do it.  I had to get this story out as it seems that not even I cold make this up.

It began easily enough with the need to fly to Los Angeles to speak at an event to a group of people in my network.  This was the fifth time for this presentation to this type of group so it is a no brainer. That is until I have to get there.

I headed out with my usual time allotment to getting to the plane.  This usually means I am running late, but for some reason today was different.  Today I was early.  I was about 10 miles from my house on the way to DIA when I discovered the error of my thinking.  I did not have the boarding pass I worked so hard to get printed 24 hours in advance to give myself the early seating.  I quickly turned the car around knowing that I was now very late, which is okay because I am used to being late.  Back to the house and back to the airport.  I am officially late, as per usual.

Then thinking about being late and thinking about my presentation and going over in my head all the things I had to do caused my next adventure.  I missed the turn to the airport.  This is a toll road, there would be no turning around easily and getting back to the original turn.  I know this is an emergency I will use the emergency turn around in the median.  Yes, I am probably going to jail on top of being late.  I found the turn around, but in doing so it cause my laptop bags and most of its content to end up on the floor.

Then finally I found a parking spot in the shuttle parking because i am a frugal traveler.  I park in the cheapest place possible.  I would have to hope that there was not many stops for my shuttle. At this point there is problem of being very late, but I can manage.  Then I noticed that my bag that had dumped out all over the floor of the car, was sans my wallet.  Yes, I need to have the ID in the wallet to get through security, otherwise no bid deal I could somehow manage. I yelled to the bus driver to stop so I could ru back to the car to get my wallet.  He pleasantly obliged and sped off as soon as I got off making me have to wait for the next shuttle.  I headed back to the car, and bent down to grab my keys…yes, you guessed it right, the keys were now on their merry way to the terminal with the original shuttle.  I have not yet screamed but I was close.  I flagged down a supervisor that told me he would radio ahead and when the shuttle made its stop at the terminal he would ask the driver to search for my keys.  I could see the shuttle from where I was standing and knew it was a few miles to the terminal.  I guess having him stop for two minutes and having the supervisor run me over there in his air conditioned vehicle was asking too much. I waited. Then I waited some more, and then even more.  Soon (relative term at this point), I saw the shuttle we were looking for.  He pulled up sheepishly handing me my keys and sped off again, not waiting for me to get the wallet from my car.  I would have to wait for the next available shuttle.

Suffice it to say I was the last guy on the plane which was too bad as I worked very hard to get that early on pass.  It became moot and I got to sit at the back of the plane between two linebackers and in front of a screaming toddler.  I thought myself lucky for making the flight although late, right up and until the man next to me said, "flying makes me sick sometimes."  No you could not have ended this any better.

Tags: Travel, Conferences, DIA, Denver, Road Warrior

I am headed to a couple of cities this week with Houston on the first stop and then rounding out the week with a presentation at an event in Los Angeles.  I have been used to the travel schedule and working my way in and out of airports.  To me it has become second nature to go through the security checkpoints and sitting on a flight taking notes, doing expense reports and in fact even typing blog posts.  My daughter on the other hand is not so used to the idea of "travel".

I had to first explain the idea of falling from the sky at 5,000 fee or 35,000 feet.  It doesn’t really matter once you hit earth from either elevation.  I think she is still wrapping her head around that concept.  So much for the laws of physics.  It is her birthday which is why she gets a chance to travel on a quick overnight and a short time with her grandmother in Houston. 

I love travel and I get a chance to see a number of different places.  It looks as tough my year will end somewhere like it began with a trip to Las Vegas.  I am also looking forward to getting back to Hawaii.  I will be headed there in November and this time I have no choice but to include my wife on the trip. I wonder if she too will grasp the idea of what happens when you careen into the earth from either 5,000 feet or 35,000 feet.  Let’s hope I never have to try the theory.

Tags: Travel, Houston, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Conferences, Conventions, Trade Shows

I was at a recent conference in Seattle called "Gnomedex" a technology and conference for geeky technical types.  No I am not considered one of those but I enjoy hanging out with those that make me smarter and this was no exception.  I learned quite a bit of information just sitting and listening to the speakers and talking to people in the hallway.  One of these smarter than I types was Scott Porad.  Scott is the CTO of the popular websites I Can Has Cheezburger?  (the picture here I made at their site) and Failblog.org.  Scott wrote a recent post recapping his own experience at Gnomedex and it was revealing about how we as attendees perceive the value of the face-to-face meetings.  The highlights I would like to talk about are Scott’s perception of meetings:

In my view, there are two reasons to attend an industry conference, regardless of industry:

1. To gain some practical skills or information.  For example, attending a training or sales conference.
2. To develop relationships with industry peers.

And finally he finishes with:

I’ve come to understand in a more personal way the age-old axiom that “it’s not what you know, but who you know”.  At a certain point, business is not a meritocracy–there are lots of smart people with good ideas.  It’s the relationships you have, and the ability to enlist others to support you, that separates the good ideas from the successful ideas.

Most companies don’t encourage their employees to attend industry conferences.  I would encourage you to make an effort to do so, even if you have to pay your own way.  The connections made at events like Gnomedex are worth every penny of the price of admission.

This goes a long way to telling me what some industry professionals are saying when they decide to go to an event and what they are getting out of that event which we need to pay most attention to from a return on investment standpoint.  It is about the relationships made at events.  I have been following Scott for a little while in social networks and reading his blog.  I have not had the connection until we were able to shake hands and actually meet.  This is the biggest return on my investment for being in Seattle and the time and place most of us discount in the long run.  I on the other hand need to garner these relationships and i will continue to attend conferences until they come up with a better way to meet, shake hands, and say hello to a new friend.

Tags: Scott Porad, Conferences, Gnomedex, Seattle, Travel, Conference Costs

I was just thinking that I am getting into the busy part of my “season” with the trade shows and conventions I attend, and then I realized that I have been busy since this time last year.  That mens that I really did not have a down time or a slow time.  It began with a trip to Las Vegas last year in November, and now I am planning the same trip in October and not a month went by that I didn’t attend an event or convention, conference or trade show.

Is your industry seasonal?  I have friends that have a convention they work on that is scheduled every other year.  They work 18 months for one show and then the net show is not for another 2 years.  That is a long a drawn out process for a convention, but when it is as big as these are it makes sense.  I on the other hand am covering more than one industry and my industry is multiple industry events.  I will be in Los Angeles coming up shortly to speak at an event, followed quickly by Houston, and then back to Las Vegas. The good part is I get to see a number of facilities.  The bad news is, I get to see a number of facilities. Let me know about your industry.  Does it have a season?

[photo via peasap]

I am just now actually sitting on the tarmac here in Salt Lake City wondering why I didn’t pay closer attention to a minor little detail like the dates and schedule for an upcoming event. I am heading to Seattle to attend a conference that was listed as taking place September 20-22, 2009.  Without looking at the schedule or the events that were going to take place those three days I quickly booked a flight for the evening before the event and for a flight out on the last night during the evening.  I looked as I was sitting to get on the plane in Denver at the schedule to see what was the opening sessions in the morning to plan ahead.  To my dismay, the events on the 20th begin at 7:00 p.m. with a Pre-event party.  I don’t mind a party at all believe me, but to advertise that your event is going to be a three day event is somewhat misleading if your only planned activity is a part the night before the event.

Make sure your dates are easy to see and easy to understand.  This is important when attendees are booking for travel, when they are making plans to be at your planned convention or trade show.  It is also just as important when speakers and others are making their schedules for your event.  In my case, I won’t miss any time and will only be out the fee of having to stay a night in a hotel which I would have not had, if I had only paid closer attention to details.  I get to blame the organizers for this since I cold not possibly be the one at fault.

Photo via Irargerich

Tags: Conventions, Trade Show Dates

I have been following along with a large amount of buzz about the CEA show in Las Vegas in 2010.  It seems that everyone is clamoring to be the main source of breaking news as to whether Apple will have a presence and whether Steve Jobs will be speaking at the event.  I spoke about MacWorld back in December and its own woes.  First it was reported that Steve Jobs would be involved which then was rebuffed and now a correction has been issued by the Wall Street Journal:

Correction: It is not clear whether Apple will attend the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. This post previously stated that Apple would attend.

I am not much concerned with the reporter getting the conversation at dinner wrong as much as how crazy it was when people thought Apple was going to be a part of CEA.  For one company to make that much of a splash in the headlines, you would think they would have more of presence at trade shows or conventions than they do at present.  I find it interesting that their statement has always been, that trade shows don’t help them marketing.  I will be at CES in January most likely and I suppose I might even take my Mac laptop. Nope, that is not even going to make the 11 o’clock news.

Tags: Apple, CES 2010, CEA, Las Vegas, Conventions, Trade Shows

I was reading a short report put together by Trade Show Week about the state of the visitors to Las Vegas in the month of May:

According to the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority Executive Summary, convention attendance continued to decline in May in Las Vegas, with 341,846 attendees, compared with 509,482 attendees in the same time period last year, a 32.9-percent decrease. The number of conventions and meetings held in May also fell again to 1,643 from 2,208 last May, a 25.6-percent decrease.

I know that Las Vegas will weather the storm but I was just thinking about all of us having 25% less.  I can say that I would be feeling the decrease pretty hard.  The slide is continuing, but I am also hearing about people that are using some of the conventions and trade shows as networking events to find more jobs, to find more customers. They are going back to the basics and what has worked for them in the past.  They are planning on attending events that are upcoming to see if they can change their luck.  Something I am sure Las Vegas has heard before.

Tags: Trade Show Week, Las Vegas, Nevada, Conventions, Trade Shows, Meeting, Industry Events

I have been working with someone to help plan an event that will take place this fall.  The event itself is going to be very nice since the event is going to take place in Hawaii.  I have been to Hawaii last month on an unrelated trip but I was able to get out there and see the lay of the land or perhaps the lay of the islands.  One of the things we are working on for this event is to have it work with many other partners all wanting to be able to have their own communities register from their own social networks.  This will make it necessary to use an online registration service and one of those services was suggested was Eventbrite.  I am thinking I need something more in house but this seems to be a decent option.  Are you a registration aficionado?  What is your favorite?  Can you help me with my event?

Tags: event registration, event planning, registration, eventbrite

I have been on this travel kick this year and I am not normally a huge traveler.  I seem to have been to just about every corner of the United States Map from Miami to New York, to Hawaii and to Seattle.  I look ahead to my schedule and I will be in Chicago and Houston and other cities in the near future.  One thing that most all of my travels have brought me this summer is a new found love of some of the better hotels and services.  These hotels are some the best in the world, and then again I have been in some not so great hotels.  I will be talking more about these as I begin to recap some of my experiences.  One of the things you must do when planning an event or conference or convention be mindful that the hotel where the attendees are staying is probably one of the more important decisions you should consider when thinking about where you hold your event.  When getting a proposal from an event location and their staff make sure you ask questions about nearby hotels and facilities.  I have had some events that turned out bad not because the event itself was bad but because the accommodations where I was staying made the experience bad.

Tags: Hotels, Accomodations, Event Planning, Convention Planning, Conference Planning, Travel