Allow me to offer a different perspective...
PB Conference attendance decisions are based on cash. I have a decent job, but I also have 2 mortgages to cover a principal home and a pondsite. Attending the PB conference in TX this year was not a necessity. It was a luxury.
I timed it to coincide with a sales trip to work the Texas territory. I used this "scheduling" to cover some substantial expenses. Without that sales trip, I would not have attended.
I'm gonna bet that out of the 4000-some forum members, there is a large number that have a similar necessity-luxury decision to make. When you calculate airfare (or $4 per gal for gas in the car), lodging, food, conference ticket cost, and misc expenses, the lumps sum starts to look like a mortgage payment for many of us.
Next, taking the time off. For me, it was vacation time that I earned. I'm a middle aged fart with 4 weeks paid vacation, so a couple of days is no hit for me. The guy that only gets 2 weeks might think differently...plus....he has to explain to the kids and wife why they cannot take 2 full weeks like last summer...plus...he has to cash in a mortgage payment for Dad's luxury trip (see paragraph above).
Is my glass half empty? Sure sounds like it, don't it? Am I alone?...well, am I?
So, part of brainstorming is pointing out the faults. Another part is bringing something to potentially mitigate the fault. My thought is simple. Is it possible that if a conference was held at a destination that offered immediate access to the family fun functions that real family vacations are built around, would it open the door for others to coincide like I did with my business trip? Yeah, Arlington Tx has a bunch of stuff like that, but sorry....I don't see Apple Vacations listing Arlington as a family vacation destination. I'm talking resort type areas and family get-away destinations.
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...or not.
