General Consultant Discussion

Next meeting we might look at renting conference rooms. I see Embassy Suites has a bunch all on the lower level. It would save us a lot of shuttling - which won't be practical as we add more attendees. Depending on the groups thoughts - a portion of annual fees could be used to cover meeting room costs. I think there is great benefit in at least one meeting a year supplemented by a shorter meeting at Summit which would be less formal (recognizing that not all members attend Summit).

I just looked - There is an Embassy Suites in Irvine, CA is not too far from Sage - Has free internet and has a better or same rate. Airport is Orange County, CA

I would like to see the next conference in either the Central or Mountain time zone. Yes, it would be nice to have a chance to visit the evil empire but that isn't critical to me. The three hour time zone shift is a killer for a two day conference. May I am getting old, but Denver, Dallas or Chicago areas come to mind................

I still like the cruise or carribean idea. Snow ski resort would be appealing also to get a little pleasure in there. But Dallas is convenient for me also since I am in Big D. Ed Kless is here if you wanted a presentation from him. Biznet headquarters are here also.

If we are talking February, then we need ""warm"" climate choices. Chicago or Denver - Feb...uh, not so much. Of course, this comes from the ""snow, no go"" person in the group.

What about Dallas in August? Or Nahsville? >:) I'm a stick in the mud, I know but I don't really care about the weather. I'm there to collobarate damnnit!

I would be fine with California again -- I think Johnny's idea of Irvine is intriguing. My main request is that I would like not to be having dinner late -- we could potentially start early in the day -- say 8am and wind up by 3:30 or 4:00 pm and have a dinner close by the hotel on one night. If we are having sessions in the hotel - then an early start time is much easier. I suspect we may have more people attend the next one so that a hotel conference room would be desirable. I can manage the time zone change so long as I can get in bed at a decent hour. I strongly prefer something over the weekend - Fri/Sat/Sun which gives us at least two days of uninterrupted meeting time. Perhaps the Friday session starts later in the day so people could fly in on that day and still make the session. .02

rambling here - I just wonder if we did have at Irvine and maybe used a Sage training room - maybe we can get some of Sage staff to do some free training of some sort - or present early versions of new product rollout etc. Though if we have in Feb - 5.0 just hit the street - but maybe we are early to influence 5.1. I am thinking this is where 90 minds can have an impact. I think we can give feedback etc. I believe Sage wants to do things right but it is hard to hear through all the noise of everyone else to have a clear vision. Sage is our bread and butter for most of us and it is important to have a close relationship in various ways. This would be a way to show our committment. .02 I liked to arrive on Thur personally. I would prefer to have one of the weekend days be a travel day. My fear is being in the air during the work week and there is a disaster down below at a client and I do not find out till I land. Though in the next few year it will be a mute point with more planes having WIFI.

In concept this is nice Johnny -- however if it were possible to occur in reality I think that it would have happened at one of the many many many Sage sessions that I've attended over the year. The company appears to be largely steered by a need to regain organic growth. I'd like to see us remain independent. i think the goals of the consulting community have probably permanently separate from the goals of Sage UK -- which is really who is in control.