I’m very pleased to announce that C++ and Beyond 2012 will be held August 5-8 at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina.
Many thanks to Jamie for suggesting this venue in his comment on our request for possible locations. We checked out everybody’s suggestions, but this one best matched our criteria for accessibility, availability, facilities, cost, and likely presence of fireflies.
In addition to Jamie’s comments about the GPI (Grove Park Inn), I can attest that the conference facilities should suit us very well. The ballroom we’ll be using is both pleasant and functional, the AV support should be top-notch, free wireless is available throughout the complex, business services are present on-site, catering is experienced in dealing with groups with varying dietary constraints, and the people at the GPI seem genuinely eager to please. Those of you who attended C&B 2010 or C&B 2011 know that the Salish and the Banff Springs Hotel were great locations, but the GPI is actually better in some ways. It’s closer to an airport, use of the athletic center is free for hotel guests, and complimentary on-site parking is available.
C&B 2012’s general format will be as it has been in the past: limited enrollment, an opening reception on Sunday evening, and three days of communal breakfasts, lunches, and intense technical sessions focusing on new, never-before-published-or-publicly-presented information. A minor change to the format is to eliminate the unstructured evening sessions on Monday and Tuesday. Making them part of the schedule actually imposed structure on them, which is contrary to what we intended. Those two evenings will now be free for truly informal hanging out, chatting, and what-have-you. This revision also permits us (me, Herb, and Andrei) to retreat to our rooms, when we need to, to research the tricky questions that C&B attendees are so adept at posing.
Registration fees will be unchanged, and the C&B rate for hotel rooms will be $189/night plus taxes. We’ve done our best to negotiate hidden charges out of the contract, so you should really be able to stay at the GPI for $189/night plus taxes. (I believe I’ve mentioned in the past the thrill of negotiating hotel contracts. It’s kind of like trying to chase down pointer errors, but without the sense of accomplishment when you’re done.)
In the coming weeks, we’ll post details about registering for C&B and about making reservations at the GPI, but for now, please reserve August 5-8 for the newest incarnation of C++ and Beyond. We’re committed to making it the best C&B ever. There’s a lot going on in the world of professional C++ software development, and Herb and Andrei are in the thick of so much of it, it’s an unrivaled time to have them share their wisdom. As for me, I have a few things I’m working on that I think you’ll find both interesting and useful…
We all look forward to seeing you in Asheville in August. If, in the meantime, you have any questions or comments about C&B 2012 that you’d prefer not to post as blog comments, feel free to email our friendly and helpful C&B Coordinator (otherwise known as Lisa Wells).
Scott
PS - I’m sorry that C&B 2012 will conflict with SIGGRAPH. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, trying to coordinate schedules among four busy parties (me, Herb, Andrei, and desirable event locations) is tricky, and other weeks simply didn’t work for all of us. We tried. Honest.
