Toronto or bust
You know, one thing about this economy is that, with everyone looking to reduce their travel costs and airlines shrinking their offerings, it’s not impossible to get there from here, but it can take a while if you want to get there economically. Since airfares were weirdly high from Boston to Toronto, to get a doable fare I ended up taking about seven hours to get to ASAE and The Center’s Annual Meeting in this lovely Canadian city, a trip that only actually requires an hour and a half or so of air time. Oh well, I always wanted to spend some quality time at the Newark airport.
Note about spending too much time in an airport: After a while, I started to notice myself really craving things that in hour one I didn’t care about at all. Like a watch I noticed while killing some time in the Swatch store. I don’t need a new watch. I don’t want a new watch. It would never occur to me to even think about getting a new watch. But by hour three, I was becoming obsessed with a cute little number. Fortunately, I managed to make myself walk away, but it was a close call.
Toronto is as pretty as I remembered it (it’s been a few years since my last visit here). The weather is similar to what it was in Boston, minus some of the oppressive humidity. The streets are clean, the people nice, the tourists touristing like they’d get a new Swatch for everything they checked off their must-do lists (OK, so I’m still a little obsessive over the watch thing).
Should I admit this? Oh, might as well…I’m not staying in the ASAE block. Due to the high air costs, I had to save somewhere, so I looked outside the block. The price was right at the Strathcona Hotel, and it didn’t look scary from the Web site. It is, in fact, pretty nice so far. My room isn’t huge, but it’s clean and nice, and the front desk guy is a sweetheart, very helpful when I had problems connecting to the Internet. I’m still having problems–I can’t connect from my room for some unknown reason, though I can get online elsewhere in the hotel. So, I’m typing this sitting on the floor in the hallway just outside my room. Hope my neighbors don’t mind!
I’m contemplating trying to find out where the cool kids are hanging tonight. Or maybe I’ll just go to bed early (what a concept!) so I’m ready to roll in high gear for the opening session in the morning.
One more note: When I was going through customs, the LCD displays saying what the various lines were for had a welcome message for ASAE attendees. So when she asked me what I was here for, I said for the ASAE conference. When I said I was just here until Tuesday, she chastised me for not staying longer, because “everyone else is staying for at least five days.” I only wish I could, but I have to get back to work next week!
Also at the airport: I almost was run down by a galloping herd of TV journalists, people waving Kenyan flags, and assorted other folks who were chanting and yelling and generally causing a ruckus. It turns out that I got here about the same time as a Canadian woman named Suaad Hagi Mohamud who is in the news because she was denied re-entry into Canada after a trip to visit relatives in Kenya (story is here; what a saga). Then the journos had her coraled in the road right in front of my bus as we were trying to leave, which did not please the bus driver one bit. But we eventually got out, as I hope that poor woman did.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:12 am
I rarely, if ever, comment on blogs. However, your statement about booking outside the block - and sounding relatively proud about doing so - astonished me.
Surely you understand the importance of having conference attendees make their reservations inside the conference block. Surely you understand that every roomnight that’s booked outside the block is one less roomnight that counts towards the organization’s contracted pickup. Surely you understand that if the organization missed the contracted pickup because enough attendees have booked outside the block, there is an attrition penalty assessed. Surely you realize that if the organization has to pay an attrition penalty, it hasn’t saved anyone any money.
Surely you realize that, as a blogger about meetings, you are responsible for “doing the right thing” for our industry you represent and the meetings you attend.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:16 am
NEVER pass up a Swatch that is fun. Ok.. sometimes pass one up but after 3 hours?! OY I’d not have made it and EWR is not the most exciting airport.
WiFi is available in the Center and it’s even better at Timothy’s at the North end of the North side. Tho’ it appears we’ll be spending most of our time in the South side.
WOW about being there when Suaad Hagi Mohamud arrived - read the story in the paper here yesterday.
Glad you are safely here. Look forward to your observations.
And about staying around the block: I understand! I stayed in it at the lowest price hotel and will be paying for it for a bit. I wish ASAE would disclose their commissionable rates, don’t you, and better, give us the discount somewhere else if not on rooms. Unfair!
August 16th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Amy F, I really am not proud about having to book outside the block. Believe me, I understand the attrition issues. We’re all between a rock and a hard place, wanting to support our organizations by staying in the block, and knowing that we may not be able to come at all if we can’t keep the costs down, even if it means doing something we really don’t want to have to do (like stay outside the block).
There are no easy answers. If there were, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Associations need to understand the economic realities their members are facing, just as attendees need to understand the economic realities, including attrition, their associations are facing.
Like Gary Hamel was talking about this morning, we need to stop looking at problems like this in old ways that aren’t working for today’s realities, and find ways people can attend that don’t bankrupt the association or the attendee. The old attrition model isn’t working, that much is clear.
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