Those of you who know me know I’m actively involved with ACSAC — the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference. I’ve been running the tutorial program since 1990, and was even conference chair for a four-year stretch a few years ago (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004). Last year I even did local arrangements when the conference was in Anaheim. [ETA: No, I don’t do this alone. We have a great conference committee.]
This year, the conference is in Honolulu HI. Even though I have a long history with the conference, I was still worried about the “boondoggle” factor — that is, the folks who think people go on conferences just to sightsee. That’s certainly not true in my case — I barely leave the hotel, making sure the conference runs smoothly. Still, I was pleased when a few weeks before the end of the fiscal year I received approval to attend. The fiscal year started afresh on Thursday, and today I put in my travel and registration request.
Now, registration for the conference can be complicated. We need to ensure we make our room nights, so we encourage people to make their hotel reservations first, and give a registration discount for providing your confirmation number. I provided all the information to my office professional, who attempted to coordinate this through our corporate travel agency. I think this was the mistake. [Correction: The mistake was that we had the wrong phone number on the conference page: the conference number went to Pleasant Hawaii Holidays instead of directly to the hotel.] They thought it was a package of airfare and hotel, and booked it like that. This gave us the wrong cancellation policy (almost having to pay the whole stay if I cancelled), plus they wanted full hotel payment up front. This could be a problem, as I don’t get reimbursed until after the conference. I contacted our local arrangements chair for this year (good thing to have pull :-)), who contacted the hotel. As I left today, the problem is being worked and I have all confidence it will be resolved. Still, it did cause a bit of excitment this morning.
So, come December 6th (after a late night at the Pasadena Playhouse), I’ll be winging my way to Honolulu to start stuffing registration bags and making sure all my tutorial books have arrived. I get a week of running tutorials and an excellent technical program, and then fly back early Saturday morning December 12th in time for the 2nd night of Chanukah. Hey, shutterbug93, block off your calendar for dinner Sunday or Monday night of that week! Who knows… if I’m stuck there Friday night, maybe she can find good local theatre for me to go to….
