It is a far more complex process than you think.....
Joe stated:
"I hope that the AAW Directors select St. Louis as a venue for our yearly symposium sooner then later."
And then further opines:
Why?
1. St. Louis is located in the central part of the country which makes it
easier to travel to from the East and West coasts as well from the
Northern and Southern parts of our country.
2. There is much to see and do in St. Louis.
3. St. Louis is known for great food.
3. St. Louis is a very friendly city full of great people.
"So why has St. Louis not yet been selected as the host city for our annual
symposium."
Joe:
There are far more variables that go into the site selection process for the annual AAW Symposium than the few you identify.
If we follow your logic, then all of our symposia should be in the middle of the country because the 'coastal guys' can get there OK, and that it evens out the travel burden for everyone (?). In actuality, site locations for symposia are selected based upon many criteria, and the process is outlined briefly
HERE.
As Bill noted, the city chosen has to have the infrastructure in place with sufficiently sized facilities to fulfill the needs of ca. 1500+ attendees with meeting rooms for the demonstrations, trade show and Instant Gallery, convenient hotel accommodations, good access to transportation/airports, and several other factors, among the most significant is
overall cost. We try to keep the symposium fee affordable, and still try to make hotel costs as affordable as possible too by negotiating group rates. It is a balancing act to try to get the best deal we can to allow the largest number of turners to participate in the Symposium.
One of the biggest factors of who attends the symposium is distance to and from the symposium to a turner's home area. In many surveys done and past attendance data studied, it seems that although there are some turners (the minority) who attend every symposium no matter where it is held, the truth is that most turners deciding on whether to attend a particular symposium will do so if the venue is 600 miles (close to a day's drive) or less from where they live. This is one of the reasons why the policy has been in place to move the symposium locations around to country to try to allow as many members to attend as possible, given this travel distance factor. Another situation to consider is that the symposium is run predominantly with the good work of volunteers from local turning chapters, and site selection is also based on how much local support can be counted on to put on a rather large and complex meeting for a non-profit organization. Even if we found a great location somewhere that many members could easily get to that would be a great place to have the Symposium there several times, we have to also take into consideration that we do not want to "burn out" the members local to that venue, and unduly burden them with having to repeatedly serve as symposium "hosts", including the large amount of work that goes along with this activity. Without support of the local chapters and turning clubs, the symposium would never go on!
This past weekend I was meeting with the other AAW Directors in Tampa to finalize plans for the 2013 symposium there, further advance the plans for the 2014 Symposium in Phoenix (formal plans and contracts have already been initiated), and to begin discussions of Symposium venue cities for 2015 and 2016. Given our most recent symposium locations over the past 5-7 years, the general region for the 2015 symposium is likely to be in the mid-Atlantic region, i.e. within a couple hundred mile radius of Baltimore. (This should be well within the "easy travel" range of MANY AAW members, since it is within the geographic region of the highest density of AAW members!) Our professional meeting planner will be putting out requests for proposals from Convention and Visitors Bureaus to cities with facilities that meet our needs. Note that some "First Tier" cities (New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Seattle, Miami, etc.) may have facilities that meet our needs, but the costs associated with running a meeting of our size may just be too high, which would translate to 'unaffordability' for most members (and hence non-attendance). We will see some time later this spring what the prospects are for the 2015 AAW Symposium locations once we get some data back from the proposal submission process via our meeting planner.
For 2016, the "mid-west" will probably be the region considered, and St. Louis
might be one of the possibilities, however this situation likely may be one where having the meeting in this metropolitan area may be cost prohibitive, despite the positives you listed. You have to look at it from more than the "good food", "great people", and "lots to do" perspectives and carefully consider costs, venue availability, member locations, and meeting logistics as primary criteria.
The Board tries to do its best to locate the symposium each year, so at a minimum, the venue is within reasonable driving distance for as many AAW members as possible in the region, and can be as reasonably affordable as possible. We do want symposium participants to have enough cash left in their pockets to buy all the neat tools and supplies from the vendors that participate in the Trade Show!
I will provide a brief update about the 2014 Symposium in another thread, but wanted to respond to this to be sure it was understood that symposium site selection is a balancing act between having adequate facilities, transportation considerations, the geographic region and member's geographic locations, available support from local chapters, cost affordability for members, and yes, other attractions in the area that might also be a "draw".
It is not an easy process, but one that the Board takes very seriously.
I hope I've added a different perspective on how this process takes place, and what we need to think about when selecting the Symposium venue.
Rob Wallace
AAW Board of Directors and Member of the Symposium Committee