Chris, this is really exciting news!
WRITER and I think alike. I just KNOW there's a groundswell of support for coming to Atlanta and I'm all in for THAT. You didn't ask, but we're volunteering ATL as a super duper destination suggestion.
Our Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport is the transportation hub for, um, I believe 2/3 of the planet.
So we'd be a logical choice. We have great event venues, beautiful hotels and fabulous health clubs. And we're wicked friendly down here, too!
Having done a lot of RT's as one of your Coordinators, I'd like to see Cathe do a very Road Trip-similar format, as has been suggested. It's a tried and true format that always works and provides great value on many levels to the attendees.
I would vote for allocating Fri-Sat-Sun morning to a National Tour event, instead of just a few hours or a Fri-Sat because I think a weekend-long event maximizes the chance that Cathe, all of you at SNM, all the folks at EB who will work on this tour, and all of your attendees will have the best possible experience. Planning a quick event of just a few hours or an afternoon is still going to be a lot of work and travel for Cathe and all of you -- much more than people might realize, and really not a whole lot less work than you'd have to put in to planning an overnight or weekend-long event. I think you'd get the best bang for the buck out of your planning and your traveling by planning a longer event. I also say do the WHOLE weekend instead of Fri-Sat because Friday afternoons and early evenings are impossible to predict, logistically. Our RT experience in Glassboro has always shown us that getting our attendees to the Friday events is the toughest goal to achieve -- folks are often coming from work, or are arriving at a terrible time for traffic. Friday afternoon is just a bear of a time to travel by car, plane or train. It's difficult in most major cities to get from Point A to Point B. And if some of your attendees missed all or part of the Friday events involuntarily, I'd hate to think that all they'd have left is Saturday.
I would also vote for putting the big emphasis upon Cathe classes, with a few in-between activities periods that are designed for resting, socializing, getting photos with Cathe, shopping for Cathe stuff, snacking and hydrating. Icebreaker games at the early part of the weekend would be a nice touch. Adding guest speakers would be an attractive add-on, too, if doing so would allow for the attendees to multi-task ---- say, there's a speaker but he/she speaks over lunch. If having the speaker interferes with or compresses the schedule of Cathe classes and shopping-snacking-photo op time, I'd ditch the speaker.
Best of luck to you all at SNM with the planning. This really is such a cool and awesome thing for you all!!!
