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San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

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Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#51

Post by joezydeco »

DebtDeflation wrote: post #30

I've been to tech conferences in San Francisco (Moscone specifically), Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, and Boston. While I'm not ordinarily a fan of Las Vegas, it is hands down the absolute best place for conferences, logistically. It's a 10 minute Uber to get from the airport to the strip. Tons of hotels on the strip. If the conference is at one strip hotel and you are staying at pretty much any other strip hotel, you can…

I used to do trade shows in Orlando and Vegas. Everyone hated Orlando because attendees would bring the entire family, show up for the first half-day, then leave for the parks. The place would be a ghost town by day 3.

At least with Vegas everyone left the families at home. Sure, they would be all hung over every morning but at least they came.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#52

Post by Fordec »

tlogan wrote: post #29

In separate news, sf chief economist is saying that everything is great [1]. Why is there such strong denial among city leadership and many individuals? [1] https://sfist.com/2023/07/06/san-franciscos-chief-economist-...

If he said anything otherwise the economic death spiral would become a cliff. He's just doing his job to not make national headlines basically telling people to run to the hills.

He's not right, but he's not in a political position that will economically benefit the people of the city by being candid.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#53

Post by YZF »

DebtDeflation wrote: post #30

I've been to tech conferences in San Francisco (Moscone specifically), Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, and Boston. While I'm not ordinarily a fan of Las Vegas, it is hands down the absolute best place for conferences, logistically. It's a 10 minute Uber to get from the airport to the strip. Tons of hotels on the strip. If the conference is at one strip hotel and you are staying at pretty much any other strip hotel, you can…

I only attended one conference in SF, VMworld. We were a vendor. We stayed at a really nice hotel ~15 minutes walking distance from Moscone (picked by our sales VP, I'd never pay that much for a hotel ;) ). I had a good experience. There's no shortage of places to eat or sit around there as well. SF does have fairly reasonable transit as well. This was a pretty long time ago though.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#54

Post by vsnf »

gotaran wrote: post #37

There’s a lot of (admittedly warranted) shade been thrown on SF here over the past two days. But putting that aside, I feel sad that remote work + the tech downturn means that employers have slashed all conference travel budgets. Conferences were a great way for me to meet professionals outside of my workplace. Even if it was just an excuse to get drunk and party, I think the industry benefitted as a whole from the n…

I thought BlackHat was already the stodgy academic version of DefCon

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#55

Post by [deleted] »

Calvin02 wrote: post #17
benatkin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More expensive and a pain to go to the conference. I guess that's a big part of why they're attempting to extend CalTrain to Salesforce Transit Center at a ridiculous per-mile cost.

But aren’t most conference attendees from out of town? My guess is either shrinking demand for the conference (vs the cost) and or location desirability.

[deleted]

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#56

Post by stainablesteel »

tlogan wrote: post #29

In separate news, sf chief economist is saying that everything is great [1]. Why is there such strong denial among city leadership and many individuals? [1] https://sfist.com/2023/07/06/san-franciscos-chief-economist-...

this is a repeat of what happened to philly when it went from bustling economic center to a union stronghold that stifled productivity, the politicians today still pretend like nothings changed

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#57

Post by gerad »

gotaran wrote: post #50
CydeWeys wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely not true that you can walk the length of the entire strip in ten minutes. The strip is not super great for pedestrians because you have to keep walking up, around, and through various escalators/bridges/casino entryways. The strip would be much more pedestrian friendly if they closed the main street to cars and let you simply walk at ground level in a direct line. Anyway, it takes over an hour to walk from…

Yeah, sometimes it takes 15 minutes to just walk to the casino next door.

And sometimes it’s like walking in an oven.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#58

Post by dehrmann »

Fordec wrote: post #52
tlogan wrote: post #29

In separate news, sf chief economist is saying that everything is great [1]. Why is there such strong denial among city leadership and many individuals? [1] https://sfist.com/2023/07/06/san-franciscos-chief-economist-...

If he said anything otherwise the economic death spiral would become a cliff. He's just doing his job to not make national headlines basically telling people to run to the hills. He's not right, but he's not in a political position that will economically benefit the people of the city by being candid.

But the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#59

Post by inferiorhuman »

dehrmann wrote: post #18
benatkin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More expensive and a pain to go to the conference. I guess that's a big part of why they're attempting to extend CalTrain to Salesforce Transit Center at a ridiculous per-mile cost.

Moscone isn't that much closer to the Salesforce bus station than to Caltrain. It's about the same time once you add in the extra time to wind through the tunnel and get out of the terminal. The issue with Caltrain is it ends about 1.5 miles short of downtown.

Nobody's going to take Caltrain from the airport to Moscone. Spending a few billion dollars on a bus station is ridiculous but it's orthogonal to the issue at hand.

Moscone now has a subway stop, which may help with downtown connectivity (but I won't hold my breath).

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#60

Post by alephnerd »

stanford_labrat wrote: post #20
lordnacho wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wouldn't surprise me if this were the real reason. It really jumps out at you as a visitor. I mean literally last time I was there, a dude pooped in front of me. Another person ran into a restaurant to grab my leftovers. Numerous people were cursing at their imaginary enemy. All in areas of town where visitors might be quite common. It's really quite bad and it's an impression someone ought to do something about.

I found used condoms on and around my car not once but twice, and that was enough for me…

Just make sure not to wear a technicolor dreamcoat and remember they won't refund your deposit.
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