Lotusphere on $5 a Day (sort of)
By The Turtle (Scott Wenzel)
It's one of those years. You got approval to go to Lotusphere — or maybe you're still pulling hard for it. Either way, you know the budget is tight and every nickel counts. How can you make the trek to Orlando without asking for a federal bailout? Read on. The Turtle will show you how.
Lotusphere can be expensive. In past years, it has cost me as much as $3800US to attend, including registration, travel, hotel, meals, and a host of related smaller items. However, some years I've spent as little as $300 over and above the cost of registration. Although you might not be able to match that mark, you can come close by following these tips:
Registration
To get the best deals on registration, always, always register as early as you can. In fact, the $400 to $600 you save by registering early makes it worth putting the cost on your own credit card if you're pretty sure your employer will eventually approve the cost. Lotus can change your method of payment later, moving the charge from your card to your organization's card or purchase order. The cost goes up on November 21, 2009, from $1895 to $2295. It goes up again on January 14, 2010, to $2495. Act now!
There’s another discount available — an extra $100 off the registration fee if your organization can send 20 or more people. The savings can be enough to send an extra person for free. Look at it this way: It's a "buy 19, get the 20th free" deal. If you're close to sending 20 people, see if you can justify sending one more person to make it to the magic number. Note that the group discount is good through December 9. It is not tied to the early-bird discount, and it can't be combined with other discounts.
SPECIAL for LotusUserGroup.org Members: You get the special $1795 price just for being a member. This special price is only available before November 20, 2009, so act now! http://tinyurl.com/ya59qpx
Hotels
The single biggest expense for most people isn't the registration fee, it's the hotel. Sure, everyone wants to be in Swan or Dolphin so they can be close to the action, but at $235 a night this year, you could easily spend $1700 to $2000 for the accommodations. As always, there are alternatives.
Double up: If you can stand your co-workers, offer to double up with them. That splits the cost evenly. You aren't going to spend that much time in the room anyway. The Swan and Dolphin rooms are on the small side relative to other major conference hotels, but the beds are great and the access can't be beat. I've even shared rooms with friends from other companies and, in one case, a Twitter buddy who I didn't know that well in real life. He turned out to be a great roommate. Ask around!
Downscale: In the past, I’ve heard people complain about the transportation arrangements for attendees staying at offsite Disney hotels. Even so, you can save a lot of money by taking advantage of an offsite hotel. All-Star Sports Resort, the cheapest official hotel, is under $90 a night, and shuttle service to the Sphere is provided. True, it's inconvenient and the extra travel time and shuttle schedules may mean you can't stay out all night "conferencing" with other Sphereians. But cabs are an affordable option. The ride from the Dolphin to the All-Star isn't expensive.
Go off-property (non-Disney hotels): This is a hard economic year, and many hotels in the Disney area are hurting. My old favorite, the Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista, is comparable to the All-Star Resort at $90 a night. Currently, the Rodeway Inn in Kissimmee is the “incredible deal” — it’s offering rooms as low as $29.99 a night during Lotusphere. The Quality Inn and Suites Eastgate, also in Kissimmee, starts at $50.
But wait, you moan... how do I get to the conference? Simple, my friend. Use taxis. The taxi ride from one of these hotels to the Dolphin might set you back $30 a day, but you're saving much more than that on the room. Plus, you get to experience Orlando's truly entertaining cab drivers, which alone is worth the price of admission!
Travel
You should have already booked your flight now. Go do that right now (we'll wait). OK, you're back? Good. There's nothing to be gained by waiting for a better deal on flights, as fuel costs are rising and so will ticket prices. Act now.
Something to consider: drive. If you're located within 500 miles of the conference (in other words, south of Virginia or east of New Orleans). Your mileage is likely deductible as an unreimbursed business and professional development expense in the US. Plus, you won’t need to rent a car when you get there and ...hey, you'll have your CDs and your own familiar coffee stains on the seats to keep you company. The Turtle has driven to every Lotusphere since 1995 (except one). The car trip is actually a very good way to ease into the Lotusphere mindset and then, on the way back, slowly readjust to normal life. True, gas is getting expensive, but if you have a car that gets good mileage, you can still save some money. Of course, the savings add up even more if you are planning on bringing your family to Orlando.
Food
The year I spent barely $300 on Lotusphere (other than registration), I literally spent $2 on food the entire week. True, this was years ago, when vendor hospitality suites featured shrimp the size of your head and plates of hors d'oeuvres that could feed the
Swiss Army. But literally, I bought a single Big Mac for $2, and the rest of my meals came from receptions, dinners, and leftovers from the Lotusphere-provided lunches. In 2009-2010, times are tight for everyone, but if you have a vendor who's been good to you (and you've been good to them), ask your contacts there if they're having a customer appreciation reception or a dinner. Not only is the food at vendor receptions always terrific, these events are also a great opportunity to talk to sales execs, developers, and product management folks. Vendors wouldn't put on those events if they didn't get some benefit from doing it, so take them up on their hospitality!
If you’re not in a position to get invited to a vendor reception or need a little more traditional dining experience, there’s always Picabu (formerly Tubby’s) which is a self-service, ala-carte type of diner with lots of seating and plenty of options including To-Go items, and an entire section of candy bars and crackers. It’s not exactly bargain value prices, but there are smaller-cost items so you can eat without breaking the budget. There are a few other options in this category too, like the Splash Grill and the Java Bar but the economical selections there are far fewer (danishes and fruit mostly).
And remember, you won't need to buy dinner on Sunday (the night of the beach party), Wednesday (the night of the big offsite party), and, if you can live on hors d'oeuvres, Monday (the night of the Showcase reception). Plus, there’s usually an abundance of vendor parties on Tuesday night. So you needn't starve or go broke at the Sphere. Just leave me some shrimp and some of those little egg rolls, okay?
In short: Schmooze. Economize. Put up with a little inconvenience and save a lot of money. Act early and save more.
See you in Orlando!
Turtle
The Turtle (Scott Wenzel), is a longtime veteran of the IBM/Lotus world, perennial fixture and sometime speaker at Lotusphere, former columnist for ePro Magazine, and maintainer of several Lotus-related sites including his blog weightlessdog.com http://www.weightlessdog.com.