Hey everyone, we're forming the planning committee for the 2012 AAUBA Regional Conference here in Dallas. Looking for volunteers to help coordinate venue, speakers, and logistics. The tentative dates are April 14-15 at the Omni Dallas Hotel. We're expecting 150-200 attendees based on last year's turnout in Houston. Please reply if you're interested in helping out or have suggestions for speakers.
AAUBA Regional Conference - Dallas 2012 Planning Committee
Marcus, I'd be happy to help with speaker coordination since I have contacts at several major utilities across the southeast. We should definitely get someone from ERCOT to talk about the new market changes affecting commercial billing. Also thinking we need a session on industrial demand response programs - saved one of my clients $180K last year on their TXU contract.
Count me in for logistics support. I can handle registration and materials distribution. Should we set up early bird pricing like we did for the Cleveland meetup? That drove up early registrations by 30%. Also, does the Omni have adequate meeting space for breakout sessions? We'll need at least 4 rooms for concurrent tracks.
I can help with venue coordination since I've worked with several Dallas hotels on corporate events. The Omni is solid but pricey - might want to also check the Hyatt Regency or Sheraton. For speakers, we absolutely need someone to address the new Georgia PSC ruling on coincident demand billing. It's going to impact how we audit commercial accounts nationwide.
Vegas auditor here - I'll handle sponsorship outreach if needed. NV Energy and Southwest Gas have been good supporters of our events. What's our budget target? Last year Houston came in around $45K total costs. We should also consider a casino night or similar networking event - always popular with the membership.
Great responses everyone! Rachel, the Omni confirmed they have 4 breakout rooms plus the main ballroom. Early bird pricing is definitely happening - $295 before March 1st, $350 after. Kim, love the sponsorship idea. Amir, can you reach out to your ERCOT contact about a regulatory update session? I'll send everyone a planning timeline by Friday.
Marcus, just confirmed with Oncor about sponsoring the welcome reception. They're in for $2,500 plus providing a speaker on smart grid impacts to commercial billing. Also locked down the hotel shuttle service from DFW. Registration should go live next week - I'll handle the payment processing setup through our usual vendor.
Final update: Registration is now live at aauba.org/dallas2012. We've got confirmed speakers from ERCOT, Oncor, TXU Energy, and CenterPoint Energy. Hotel room block is filling up fast - only 25 rooms left at the group rate of $159/night. Looking forward to seeing everyone in April!