I seem to be on a maximum-procrastination mission today (well, let's not pretend - every day!) and based on discussion on the Philly hotel thread, I thought I'd add another post for me to refresh every 5 minutes...

What is your favorite city to attend a convention/conference in, and why?

I think Boston (Hynes, in downtown, not the new center) has been my favorite so far – a choice of nice hotels accessible through an indoor mall in case of spring rains (or snow blizzards, in my case) (btw in my world, “nice” would be a Westin or Sheraton level), a good number of quick places to grab breakfast & lunch between sessions, and an easy walk to a central area of town for restaurants/shops/tourist attractions, so you actually feel like you get to “see“ Boston. I also liked Philly for many of the same reasons but it wasn’t as polished.

My least favorite was Long Beach, although this might also be because the weather was not cooperating during my time there. Everything seemed very far apart (especially in high heels) and not too many quick food options in walking distance.

In no particular order:

London
Acapulco
Cancun
New York City
Boca Raton
Phoenix

I love Boston too-- although Chicago is in the running as well, and don't forget San Francisco (expensive but exhilarating).

Long Beach? Well, I live there, and I can see your point. The quick eats situation is improving by leaps and bounds, but it's still a bit of a hike from our Convention Center. Bring comfortable shoes next time-- it's not so bad. And when the weather's nice, downtown Long Beach is a kind of nice place to be. And you can always catch the Passport bus to Belmont Shore and really whoop it up!

New Orleans, no doubt about that one. Thinking of beer and oysters at Acme has gotten me through many boring conferences.

How about Chicago, anyone? The national school board convention DH and I were supposed to attend this coming April in New Orleans was moved to Chicago post-Katrina. Now DH is saying he doesn't want to go. Is he crazy? Chicago's great! Help me convince him--I need a vacation (purely a fun trip for me while he attends meetings )

San Diego. Convention Center on the bay with two large hotels nearby. Shops, restaurants, public transportation all close.
San Antonio Convention Center is also centrally located. And come to think of it, Denver was great too. Maybe I just like conventions because they are another excuse to travel.
Our next meeting is in the Research Triangle area. I've never been there so I'm excited about visiting someplace new.

I once went to a great convention in Beverly Hills. It wasn't so much the city as it was that they used a really fun convention planner. It included

personal limosine service to Rodeo Drive whenever you wanted it
a beach party in the hotel ballroom. There were professional sand-castle builders, a light plane 'crashed' into a sand dune, muscle-men, a Jimmy Buffet-type band, etc. and
and Oscar-night black-tie dinner dance. What was fun about that was that the evening started off with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the foyer of the ballroom. When they opened the ballroom doors for dinner, we had to enter by walking down a velvet-roped red-carpeted pathway and they'd hired several hundred teenagers and young people to stand behind the ropes waving autograph books and yelling things like 'omigod, there she is!' and 'oh please sign my book!' and practically swooning over us. We all signed autographs and it was so much fun -- we really felt like movie stars for a couple of minutes! It was a great way to start off the evening!

I definitely agree about liking conventions because it is a reason to travel - and on someone else's dime! I overdid it last year and went to 4 conferences -- Philly, Kansas City, NYC and Nashville.

Unfortunately, in Nashville we stayed at the Gaylord Opryland, which did not really meet my criteria of sightseeing/convenience, although the opening session of the conference was held in the Grand Ole Opry theater (stage?) which was very cool. But other than the mall next door I didn't feel like I had seen Nashville.

Kansas City (MO) was surprisingly nice for a small conference, I didn't expect much, but I enjoyed my time there and thought the downtown area was very cute!

Re: Long Beach, I was there in 2001 so I am sure options are better now.

I attend a lot of conventions and Chicago is my favorite destination--I love the city, it has a million things to do, see, great restaurants, music scene, friendly people, great shopping. The convention (with 65,000 attendees, we take over downtown) is always held at the start of the Christmas shopping season (the week after Thanksgiving), so the city has a wonderful, lively air. And it's usually not that cold.
Next favorite (in the U.S.) would be Seattle if it's sunny. I like Philly, but lived there for years, so going there for a convention isn't a big thing. Although it gives me a chance to catch up with old friends and visit my old haunts.
My least favorite ever was in Springfield, IL. There was nothing to do (back then, maybe it's better now), our hotel was horrible, we only got two channels on the TV and were so bored we stayed in and watched a very fuzzy, barely audible Dead Calm.
Second to worst was a small convention held at a CHEAP resort in upstate New York. So cheap, no tvs in rooms, and the wiring and plumbing were intriguing, to say the least. When I turned on one of the overhead lights, small flames crawled up the cord! I called the resort office and was calmly told that yeah, that lamp flares up from time to time, don't worry. I kept it turned off for the rest of the stay. (And this was in the 1990s, not decades ago.)
Overseas, so far my favorites have been Vienna (where I've been going for two weeks in late Feb/early March) for six years running and Paris (naturellement). Would love to go to a convention in Japan or Singapore, but haven't had that opportunity yet.

The convention I was to attend in New Orleans in February has been moved to Orlando. As a northerner, I still find Orlando to be a good choice, instead of the cold snowy midwest.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Vegas, which must be the convention capitol of the world. Reasons are obvious; what happens there, stays there.

Not a fan of Vegas at all for conventions because:

You can't walk anywhere because it is too spread out.

and


There are always going to be 100,000 other more obnoxious attendees from a conference that is much more fun than the one you are attending.

and

It is impossible to stay away during those gawdawful meetings in those boring ass ballrooms after staying up all night gambling.


and

You'll have jet lag for three days after you get home if you live on the east coast.

and

I HATE flying the redeye and that is the only flight I can ever get leaving Vegas.

and

I hate coming home broke.

It is impossible to stay AWAKE during those gawdawful meetings in those boring ass ballrooms after staying up all night gambling.

You mean you actually go to conventions to learn something or get work done, GoT? ;-)

Next time you have the chance, book a convention trip there just for the opportunity to play a few golf courses; the one at the Wynn looks pretty nice! At least then you can say it's work related.

Hey, Vegas is my favorite convention destination! Seriously! I've been to 2 small conventions there in the past year (at off-strip hotels), and both were very good. It's a great place to ake DH along, since there are plenty of things to amuse himself with during the day, and we can go out together at night! 8-)

I have been to conferences in DC, Philly, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta & Long Beach.

Orlando and Long Beach were great just because they were warm (conferences were in April) and I ate very well at both! I love to swim, and made use of the hotel pools every day.

Philly was really good too. Great walking city.

The DC conference was too short & I was too busy to do anything outside of it.

Cleveland was just horrible. But the fact that there were a lot of conference-related happy hours & late night parties right in my hotel...well, that more than made up for it. Plus one night we had an event at the R&R HOF!

I go to two or three conferences a year. They are a nice "vacation" for me, sometimes the only one I get for a verrrry long time.

Oh I'm so excited for all the responses to this thread - I was away from my computer for a while (cannot procrastinate forever, alas) and all this good info!

I am thrilled to hear that people love Chicago for conferences - I *just* found out that my big annual conference for 2007 will be in Chicago that April, so I'll know where to come for tips.

San Diego and Orlando sound great too, or really any beach destination! Last year I got to tag along with a friend who works for a rather glamorous organization to remain unnamed, and they held their annual meeting at a beach resort in Puerto Rico - a far cry from my own field.

I've been to a few of the above cities for conventions and I must declare that they all beat Minneapolis and Grand Rapids!!

Not trying to start a riot here, but GoT, 4/6 of the reasons you don't like LV appear to be in your control - all you have to do is what the rest of us are doing - to enjoy a convention in LV.

Had a convention in Maui and must say that was far and above the finest choice ever made by our company's planning dept.

GoTravel,
that's strabge that you don't get jet lag from Phoenix but you do from Vegas.

"strange"