2011 CDH Conference in June in Orlando!

[KarlaHolt]

I do appreciate everything! I certainly understand that the conference wouldn't be affordable at all if I had to pay conference fees and travel fees. I have been to a ton of education conferences for work that were pricey so I understand how conferences work.

[Barbara and KevinWagner]

Dawn is not kidding when she says that there is alot of work that goes into these conferences!! SHEW!! I am tired just thinking about it all again! ROFL And the COST that some places want to charge?!? holy moly!! We have seen some HUGE prices!!

Out of all the conferences we have Orlando has been the best. Prices, Accomadations as well as attractions. I know, I know.....I like to travel to different cities also!! ****BUT**** Plain and simple......without the HELP we just do not have the time to hunt, beg and plead every year for a new location.

Sooooo (wink, wink!) I got a challenge for you all! Hehee! Look at Dawn's earlier posts.....read the "requirements" carefully! Each one of you pick 2 cities that you would most like to visit. Post them here so that you are not working on the same ones! Then before Christmas (that gives a month!!) post here what you find. Include the:

*Family Friendly City
*Hospital (NICU/PICU) that is within 10 mins
*Family Attractions (at least 2 or 3)
* Prices for TWO Hotels that will offer us families rooms for under $100 that include breakfast. These hotels need to be in a nice area where families feel safe and are a reasonablle distance from the attractions.
*Prices for the TWO conference rooms. Include any package deals that they might be willing to make....ie so many rooms booked = x amt of discount off of conference room.
* Find out if we can bring food in!!
* Airport that is nearby as well as if they have a shuttle for hotel


So who is in on the challenge?! Who knows we might find that "gem"!!

And remember the deadline is Christmas!!

[Crystal Benitez]

I am really excited about Orlando, but I will get to work on San Diego. I'm sure I can find some deals and will try to work out all the details. It doesn't seem that there are as many west coasters as east coasters, but I guess it doesn't hurt to have the option!!

[KarlaHolt]

I'm in.

okay...I'll research Philadelphia, Baltimore (sorry...I have to check it out Dawn) and Chicago (my dad says it is reasonable-he travels A LOT!).

[KarlaHolt]

I've been filling out some online requests.....can you tell me about how many rooms we need / number of attendees?

What AV equipment do we usually need?

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

Until we pick somewhere different, we have posted Orlando. Families need to keep the dates open.

And there's a new problem - as soon as we posted yesterday morning about our conference, BOH posted their "CDH Summit" for the SAME WEEKEND just to compete (they haven't booked a hotel or anything - just grabbed the same dates).

So reposted this morning because families need to know when CHERUBS' is. That we've posted those dates for over a week before BOH did this.

I hate they are making families choose. The CDH community does not need drama.

Good news is - our conferences are night and day. As one person who has attended both told me "I can see why CHERUBS keeps growing and your events are so popular. It's a completely different atmosphere and more family friendly and comfortable". So we're really not competing. People who want a hospital visit to St. Louis and a "business conference" can go there - families who want CDH research, accurate information and support in a kid friendly environment will come see us. We're offering 2 completely different things.

But still, I hate this unnecessary nonsense....

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

Ditto on everything Barb said!

No Philadelphia! Sorry - BOH had their "summit" there last year and that is just drama we want to avoid. Plus, we heard families were bored there anyway and the prices were way too high and they had to pay for parking too. And no St. Louis either.

We want families to look at the city and say "We want to go on vacation there!". We want the conference to be about CDH but fun too!

Don't forget, we'll be doing something in DC in April too so do we want to even look at areas near DC? If we're going to look at different places, let's look a very different places... like San Diego, Chicago, New England, etc.

I am open to other cities. But I really think Orlando would be the best for the majority. I'm getting a lot of "Yeah, so happy it's near Disney, we want to go again / we were sad so we missed Disney last year!" and only 3 "Boo Orlando, I want to go somewhere else" responses.

Maybe get some ideas, prices and we'll take a poll?

Karla, don't need any AV equipment (we have our own). About 20 rooms, 100 people.

[KarlaHolt]

I don't mind Orlando I just don't want to go there every year.

Just tell me what cities you want me to research... I can't help if everything gets shot down. I'm trying but feeling useless.

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

Chicago is a great idea! We looked at Boston and Niagara too but couldn't find anything affordable. Maybe you'll have better luck? NYC would be great if we could ever find anything remotely affordable with parking. Gina mentioned near Yale - easy commute to Boston and NYC.

We already have 3 research facilities confirmed to speak!

If we do have it in Orlando, we are not living the West Coast and New England members stranded. We are having a 1 day event in May in Palm Springs and are looking at another 1 day event in New England (fall maybe?). And April in DC. More big events in different places than any other year!

So there are options to go and see other places and meet CDH families. But for the big conference, with researchers, round tables, etc we need 1 cheap place with lots of tourist attractions... why Orlando is so appealing.

[Crystal Benitez]

Looking forward to the event in Palm Springs!! What is the price range of the conference room? And is there a certain distance between facilities you would like to keep it at. From what it sounds like the conference is going to be in Orlando, which I am excited about, so should I still try to find out San Diego info?