The Four Hundred

Officials at COMMON's Chicago headquarters last week began releasing information about the fall IT education conference and expo in Orlando, Florida, scheduled for Sunday, September 7, through Thursday, September 11. Tom Bittman, a well-known Gartner vice president and research director, is giving the keynote address. The meeting also will have a behind-the-scenes tour of the AS/400-based IT department at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure theme park, a security-oriented conference within the conference is being planned, and changes in the hotel-and-conference-registration process were explained.

Bittman, who was IBM's chief software engineer for the AS/400 earlier in his career, will talk about the competitive position and technological capabilities of the iSeries during the opening session, which has been moved from its traditional Monday slot to Sunday. Bittman will also speak during the COMMON executive conference, which will be held on Monday, September 8. The executive conference, geared toward C-level execs (that is, CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, CTOs, and so forth), has a separate agenda, speakers, and networking opportunities, including one-on-one time with vendors.

The rare opportunity to take a look at Universal's IT department is limited to 200 attendees and will take place Wednesday. In addition to learning about the iSeries' role in running this huge theme park, participants will get an up-close technological review and a ride on two of the park's most popular attractions: The Amazing Adventures of Spider Man and The Incredible Hulk Coaster. There are two four-hour tours available. The cost is $60 per tour. Registration for the tour can be found on the main registration form, available on COMMON's Web site.

The emphasis on security issues, COMMON officials say, will be presented as a conference within a conference. As such it will include non-iSeries material as well as iSeries-specific sessions. COMMON attendees will have access to this, but those who register strictly for the security conference will not have access to COMMON sessions.

Hotel registrations have become a difficult issue for COMMON over the past several years, so the organization has implemented a new policy that it hopes will provide an incentive for more attendees to select the host hotel for the show. At this year's fall COMMON, the entire conference--sessions, meeting rooms, expo area, and hotel accommodations--will be under one roof at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center. No other hotel is within walking distance. Rates at the resort are $165 per night for those registering through COMMON's housing bureau before July 15 and $175 per night for registration after that date. The change from past policy involves attendees choosing other accommodations. Those attendees will be asked to pay an additional $100 on their conference registrations if they do not choose the hotel affiliated with COMMON.

COMMON officials explained last week that this move was necessary because a certain number of hotel rooms are factored into the total price paid to acquire meeting rooms, expo areas, and other facilities. When conference attendees don't fill the prearranged number of hotel rooms, the conference is charged a higher rate than anticipated. To one way of looking at it, attendees who choose the Gaylord Palms will, in effect, receive a $100 discount on their conference registration. Like any clever marketing organization would do, COMMON has tried to disguise the absence of a new tax as a discount, but attendees who usually save money at COMMON by staying in cheaper hotel rooms--like the employees of Guild Companies--will easily discern the truth. It will be a lot more expensive to send employees to COMMON if companies decide to stay in the hotel of choice for the show. For its part, COMMON officials are understandably keen on meeting their contractual agreement with the host hotel. Incidentally, the new accommodation fee applies to all attendees, including vendors and the press. Local user groups with members who do not need hotel accommodations will not be charged the higher conference registration price. Expect some grumbling about this fee, but it seems unlikely that a $100 fee will keep people from attending when it costs a few grand to send someone to COMMON as it is. For the spring 2004 COMMON event, the group says that it will try to offer an option of less costly but officially sanctioned housing.

The first 300 people to book rooms for the fall COMMON show will be entered in a contest to win three complimentary nights at the resort. The first 600 have an opportunity to win a complimentary two-night stay, and the first 800 are eligible to win a one-night stay. For those staying through the weekend, the rate for September 12 and 13 is $149 per night. The standard rate at the Gaylord Palms is $230 per night. All the above-mentioned rates do not include additional resort fees and taxes.

In addition to being an all-inclusive venue for the conference and expo facilities, the resort is located within 10 minutes of major Orlando attractions and offers complimentary shuttles to all four Walt Disney World theme parks.