Host City Considerations

I live in a major metropolitan area (with three more within a few hours’ drive), but it’s no New York City. Our airport (AUS) is the 35th busiest in the US, which is something- but travel here will still likely be more expensive and difficult than to Las Vegas or one of the big coastal cities.

At the same time, if I can pull this off at all, it will be on a shoestring budget. I can’t afford to be hopping a jet every week to check out hotels and such. At least for now, any conference I’m organizing will need to be pretty much in my backyard. It’s possible that San Antonio, Houston, or even DFW would be a bit cheaper, but my research thus far doesn’t suggest that it’s enough to make it worth my time to make those drives frequently. Plus, none of those cities has a strong reputation for tolerating differences- Austin does.

This is important in a number of ways. For instance, many shamans, spiritworkers, and mystics possess a gender identity that is not recognized by a substantial portion of the US population. Many Austin businesses (though certainly not all) offer non-gendered restrooms and/or try hard to be conscientious of gender identity.

Furthermore, many of these leaders are also subject to significant restrictions regarding diet, dress, and the like. Others carry physical scars and ailments that require special accommodation to prevent extreme discomfort and suffering. Holding the conference in a major city makes it easier to find the goods and services (and service providers) necessary to ease this burden.

For instance, I can easily source vegan, gluten-free, organic, and/or humanely-pastured food from several different vendors. Austin might be Whole Foods’ headquarters city, but we have lots of other places, large and small.

I am fully confident that this city can comfortably support a polytheist leadership conference.

Of course, being in Texas, the season is important. March is a beautiful time of year, weather-wise, but that’s when SXSW happens… good luck booking a flight or a hotel during that! March is also during the school year, and many members of our target audience are academics- teachers, professors, graduate students, and such.

For that reason, the 2014 PLC was held in July- a perfectly reasonable time to visit New York state. Austin, however, topped out around 104°F (40°C) today. Sure, there’s a hemisphere-wide heat wave going on right now, but temperatures in the high 90s are not unusual here in summer, or late spring and autumn for that matter.

While most of the conference will be indoors (though it would be nice to have some outdoor events), we have to consider the possibility that some attendees will want to sleep outdoors or in their vehicles either because of religious strictures or to save money. This is not unprecedented, so I need to take it into consideration.

Another important transportation-related consideration is vehicle access and mass transit.

Being in Texas, many venues have plenty of parking. If you’re not sure what I mean by this state’s love of the automobile, I encourage you to visit the Buc-ee’s convenience store in New Braunfels, about 45 minutes south of Austin.

On the other hand, no city in Texas has particularly great public transit. Austin’s is improving, but I will need to plan carefully around the available bus routes to make sure that non-driving guests can get from the airport, Amtrak, and Greyhound stations to the conference venue.

-In Deos Confidimus