San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

Post by mcphage » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 8:24 PM UTC

stainablesteel wrote: post #56

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

Post by gotaran » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 8:35 PM UTC

Tiktaalik wrote: post #95

The situation in SF shows how much of a network cities are, with pieces relying on others for support. Big downtown conferences rely on a network of hotels and retail and restaurants to support them. The hotels also rely on the retail and restaurants for support. The retail and restaurants rely on constant foot traffic. SF made the subtle mistake of over building commercial office in its downtown, which meant that mu…

Post by dehrmann » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 8:44 PM UTC

User23 wrote: post #28

stubybubs wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

West Coast city stuff then. It's everywhere. I'm convinced there isn't any kind of immediate solution to these problems. Not that we should give up on mental health and addictions treatment. I just think the solution is way broader. Reduce income inequality, improve schools, keep up the drug treatment so the children of people with drug problems stand a chance, better research about when opiate prescriptions are appr…

This approach sounds a lot like treating a heart attack with diet and exercise. Sure diet and exercise are great, but they’re not what’s indicated while you’re keeling over. First fix the acute problem and then look work on reducing recurrence afterwards. And of course there is an immediate solution: remove the people violating the social contract from society at large. It’s up to the people of San Francisco to eithe…

Post by zgluck » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 8:57 PM UTC

rhaway84773 wrote: post #84

avar wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood this obsession in the tech industry with holding small to medium sized conferences in major cities. For something truly humongous you need a Las Vegas, but as a participant I'd much prefer the conference just book a hotel somewhere in the woods, or in a relatively small town. The usual counterargument is airport connectivity etc. But in most cases you can simply drive for X amount of time away f…

You hold a small to mid conference in SF and the plurality of your audience and presenters will not need to pay for a place to stay. That means the quality of your conference will increase significantly. Place it in another major city and they can easily fly there and find a place to stay there. Being a major city their companies may have subsidiaries there so they may be able to do other company work and add this on…

Post by ohjeez » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 9:02 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #35

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…

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…