Today is one year and thirteen days from the first blog post on this site. At the time, I was fairly reliably employed and looking forward to enough of a bonus at project completion to provide a little seed funding for a small conference in addition to other financial needs. Read more…
I have begun the process of setting a location and date for the first Hearthingstone PLC. I am attempting to book the hotel for January 3-5, 2020. After touching base with the hotels in the expanded search area, I believe that one of them stood out as clearly the best Read more…
After receiving meeting room rental estimates from five different hotels around Austin, I’ve come to the difficult decision that I need to look further afield for smaller, more affordable venues. Originally, I was looking to stay as close to downtown as the hotel room rates would allow. To the right is Read more…
I’ve received a proposal from the last of the hotels I was waiting on out of about a dozen I sent RFPs to. This one gave a blanket quote for a large number of dates, which I will list further down. As with VC #2, this location is near the Read more…
This is the fourth hotel I’ve gotten any pricing back from. This one only looked at one date despite my request for some other dates to consider. Their rate was just shy of $120 per night for Nov. 8-10, 2019- so about $20 more than #1, which also quoted that Read more…
I received a response back from another hotel today. This one is just across the highway from Venue Candidate #1 and was recommended by another member of the Facebook group. Sadly, this hotel has fewer dates available (or quoted fewer). I haven’t spoken with the rep there- they called, but Read more…
I received a response back from another hotel today. This one is right near the airport and has plenty of room to grow (as with Venue Candidate #1). Here are the best rate dates that I received from them: $100-110 for Single/Double June 28 – 30 July 5 – 7 Read more…
I received hotel room rate estimates from Venue Candidate #1. Rates are Single/Double occupancy, per night. Under $100 (Barely) April 19 – 21 (Also being considered by someone else- Easter) June 14 – 16 July 12 – 14 November 8 – 10 (Veterans’ Day weekend) January 3 – 5, 2020 Read more…
Now that I’m talking to hotels and trying to pin down dates, that brings up the question of paying for this whole event. While I may need to resort to crowdfunding for a deposit, the overall costs will need to come from a registration fee of some amount. That brings Read more…
When I started discussing Hearthingstone, one of the first pieces of advice I received from the chair of the 2014 PLC was to charge admission. I’d been planning to, but it’s very sound advice. Conferences have costs, and I do not have money burning a hole in my pocket. Aside Read more…
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