Price is definitely a factor for me.  Since I am (as of yet) unaffiliated
with an institution, there is no one but me to pay my costs.  Cost was a
factor in not being able to attend our most recent conference. I enjoyed the
Quebec accommodations, but I did not have a family or infant in tow either.
 
Greetings to all I met in Quebec.  My first academic conference was quite a
positive experience.
 
 
Robert Bird
 
 
At 03:08 PM 10/29/97 -0500, you wrote:
>     Thanks, Ginny. My hotel room in Quebec had only a Murphy bed, was so
>     small we could not get a crib for our infant in there, had a faucet
>     that did not work and a toilet that did not flush -- that qualifies as
>     grungy in my book.
>
>     My comments are hardly a criticism of all of the hard work that Dan
>     and the officers put into the conferences, but rather reflect the fact
>     that we ask them to do the impossible -- locate good hotels at cheap
>     prices in popular tourist destinations. Perhaps we should conduct a
>     formal poll of the membership to see what people value most highly --
>     cheaper accommodations, popular destinations, or whatever is most
>     likely to influence a person's decision to attend. I also think that
>     the suggestion to move the conference so it spans Saturday night (to
>     take advantage of cheap airfares) is a good one.
>