Dateline: 06-21-2009

Hotel news - Food, parking, and major process changes

Food -
For the first time ever, the Sheraton will be making a quick access food bar available during the convention. The food bar will be open during at least two of the three major day parts, and could be a handy place to stop and grab a quick sandwich or other snack both quick energy and sustainingly wholesome. In addition, for evening fare, the Sheraton will be presenting a $12.95 (plus tax) buffet in Nine Mile Grill. This is a buffet folks, not the dinners they’ve been doing. No word yet what’s on the menu, but it might be worth looking into.

Parking -
Parking has been addressed with the help of the Sheraton, but there are very specific guidelines so please note:
The Lifetouch building will once again provide additional parking for out attendees. We cannot park in their lot during the day on Thursday, and a part of the lot will be coned off for Lifetouch employee exclusive usage during the day on Friday. Please stay out of the coned off areas, and out of the lot except during designated times. Otherwise, please feel free to use the Lifetouch lot in the evening on Thursday, all but the coned off areas on Friday, and through the week-end from Friday 5 pm until Sunday 5 pm.

There will also be street-side parking on that road between the Sheraton and the Sofitel. Please note this is a boon granted by the city of Bloomington and they have designated very specific hours, which are:
Thursday - nothing as it is still pretty much a work day for the area.
Friday - 6am-8pm, but not later than 8 p.m.
Saturday - 6am- 10pm
Sunday - 6am-6pm

And please note, there will be designated parking for CONvergence staff and Guests of Honor in specific spaces in the Sheraton lot itself. We ask that these spaces not be used by anyone but those for whom they are intended.

Process Change - The room request process goes paperless!
A big change to note at this year’s convention is that there will be no room request forms available. The Hotel team has decided to come out of the dark ages and join the electronic world by trying a paperless system. Changes are being made to the site where registrations are purchased to enhance the functionality of the room request option. Soon you will be able t request a room solely through that site, and to know absolutely when your request was forwarded to the Hotel team. This will give us better ideas on when types of rooms fill (rooms for two beds, for example) and to know better when the hotel fills. Our anticipated "go-live" is October 1, 2009. We will update through the CONvergence website as more information becomes available.

As always, please send any questions on hotel things to hotel@convergence-con.org.