Compared to many things I attend professionally, it's really not all that big. We do have certain needs that an area under 1 million may not have, such as a hotel with the appropriate number of rooms in one facility, which I think does limit the number of cities we can go to.

That's true.

The 2014 national convention will indeed be in Chicago! Congrats to all the Brothers who worked on the bid. This also means that I will be attending my first National Convention in 2014!

Chicago just seemed more organized than either MSP or St. Louis, in addition to the fact of how long it had been since we'd been to Chicago...

That's awesome! That means I'll get to go to my first one as well! :)

Minneapolis withdrew from bidding prior to the start of Convention.

Both Chicago and St. Louis made excellent presentations and were campaigning hard all the way to the legislative floor. Congrats to both teams for their hard work and for keeping the bidding process cordial and civil by focusing on what each of their cities bring to the table.

Very cool...

I was looking forward to a 3 way race for Convention bids. Oh, well.

I do wonder who might be working on the 2016 bid. Would be back in the East. Possibilities include DC (they bid last time and lost) and Philly for locations.

As far as I can tell, the East is *always* a contested race, with convention level cities in four different regions (minimum of I:Boston/NYC, II:Philly, III: DC/Balt(?)/Charlotte(?), V:Pittsburgh). I know the National Board made a list of the cities that do qualify, but I'm pretty sure that all of them are in there.

I've heard rumors of DC, New York, and Pittsburgh. But they're all just rumors at this point.

I'm not sure that New York has bid since the 1960s, I wonder about the hotel room costs.

I should get a better feeling for whether DC will be bidding at the 85/86 sectional conference. I'm an alumnus of a school in Pittsburgh (Carnegie-Mellon), but have been in the DC area for more than 20 years...

I'd rather have it in Chicago than fricking Anaheim.

Minneapolis would have been a very good pick. I interned there last year and LOVED it. But then again, you have to consider how weather would be like at the convention. Even with Chicago, it sure is going to be one heck of a blizzard.

Part of the Reason that MSP got it in 1998 is that they had the Convention setup so that you *never* had to go outside once you got there.

Bumping this thread - who here is planning to go? :D