1. Conference Halls give a rather big discount if you book multiple years.

2. VMware wants to send enough people to operationally support the show.

3. With 2 conferences a year (US & Europe) it makes a bit more sense. California can service US and partsof Asia, while Europe can service some US and parts of the far east.  If they do East coast USA,  Asia has a 18 hour flight instead of a 12 hour flight.

That's what I understand, but I could be off base and this is just my personal knowledge, not any official VMware answer.

Eric

Web Communities Team

VMware, Inc.

There is a another reason as well, I just remembered it, although probably this could apply to Boston.

  A lot of folks arrange several visits while out here.  HP, Oracle, Apple, Google and many many others are based here, so when you come out to SF, you can visit the HQs of multipel  tech vendors. Many CTO's and executives routinely do this when they come to SF. About 30% of VMworld visitors are actually executive folks who try to setup a multi purpose trip and might do VMworld for 1-2 days.

Vegas last year, with the speedway and the environment had to be the "best" show I've ever been to in my entire life. I've probably been to over 50 shows, but going out on the track was just so fun. But Vegas is very expensive and viewed as extravagent when compared to places life SF.    I also love Boston and would really enjoy a show their. 

But, I suspect it will SF for a while to come.   Maybe I will post some links for fun things to do while you here, since I do live here.  =)

Whatever the reasoning, I hope it stays on the West Coast.  PLEASE....

There are a number of people who attend this from outside the

US.  For me (New Zealand based) & next door neighbours from

Australia, we already have 12 & 14 hour flights to the west coast.

To jump to the East coast cuts alot of people out.  Getting bean

counter sign off for international travel is hard enough to the West

Coast (flights cost us more than the conf ticket).

I'm sure VMWare take into account international travellers - and as mentioned Asia is a large catchment for VMWare (it is a global company after all )

Yeah, but September is the off-season for the state of Florida because of hurricane season.  Move it to Orlando and you either risk hurricanes, very low attendence because of the threat of hurricanes, or they'd have to move the conference to a different season.  Same might be true of Boston... but probably not so much.  Either way, the conference price would undoubtably go way up when they have to factor in the cost of flying... what was it? 1,000 employees? coast-to-coast?

Hey, to that same end, the best time to go to DisneyWorld:  September!  I went last year and it was great!  Lines at the parks were empty.  Just get the travel insurance they offer in case a hurricane shows up and grab those kids out of school (what do they really learn the first week back anyway! Plus Disney offers free dining plans during that season often times to lure people there during that extreme off season.

Well, usually these types of conferences and such are scheduled for the off tourist seasons because the costs are lower all around for the organizers and attendees as well. As far as Orlando and Vegas, I  can't send myself or staff to anything in this type of area because  our BOD's will never approve them as they feel the staff sent are going to party and swill free booze with any knowledge transfer a distant 3rd tops. Kinda funny as I don't drink and they know it, but that's my reality and I'm sure others have the same issue to deal with. Not saying it's right, but I can sell SF all day long but Vegas\Orlando\etc are just non-starters around here and I can't change the boards minds about it. In fact, I was told to NEVER EVER even ask about them, period. Plus, SF is a great town so it's a win/win for me.

S.F. isn't bad.  The Moscone Center however is terrible for an event like this.  Where do the lines begin and end?  Why boxed lunches with cold sandwiches.