[78-L] Sights and Sounds of ARSC - NOLA - first two parts of the video

[Michael Biel]

>> Remember this only covers things I did and presentations I saw and 
>> is - obviously - subjective. But it should bring back memories for 
>> those who were there and show others what it was like. (To get the 
>> real experience, turn off your air conditioner and turn up the 
>> humidity to 90%.)  Steve Ramm

> Except for when you're viewing the conference presentation pictures. 
> In that case, turn your AC to 50 and put on a sweater.
> Kurt Nauck

Actually the air conditioning at the hotel was quite crummy, and often
was too warm in the meeting rooms.  The elevators seem to have the HEAT
turned on, and none of the hallways had ventilation, let alone air
conditioning.  There was not a properly working ice machine in the whole
hotel -- we could never get more than half a bucket of ice any time in
the four days we were there -- and they never refilled the water
pitchers in the meeting rooms anytime during the day.  Once they were
empty, they stayed empty.  For rooms that were that expensive we were
amazed that we did not have a mini-fridge.  (On our trip down there we
had a fridge and a microwave in a $45 room.)  What appeared to be the
main entrance to the hotel -- and was the most convenient to the
conference location -- was LOCKED unless you had a key card.  We had
parked there to check in, and found we had to drive 4 blocks to the real
entrance because of the one way streets.  On a scale of one to ten, I'd
give the hotel a minus four.   

Ironically, the week before, we were at the Cincinnati Old Time Radio
Convention which had been moved to the Crowne Plaza at nearly the last
minute, and if you look at any of the comments about the convention you
will see FIRST heaps and heaps of PRAISE for the hotel.  It was
wonderful!  The staff went out of their way to be helpful.  They kept
the buffet dinners open later to accommodate our schedule.  The
delivered lunch to the guys who were broadcasting.  There were always
staff around eager to help.  No request was denied.  I've been to at
least 100 conference all over the world, and that hotel was the best
(although the ones in Singapore and Sopron Hungary are close runners
up), but this one in NOLA is about the worst.  The REAL irony is that
right next door was the NOLA Crowne Plaza.  I have no way of knowing if
they would have been as good as Cinc, but they have GOT to have been
better than the one we were in.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com