Selecting Conference Locations
APNA uses a variety of criteria to evaluate and select locations for its conferences. These include:
- Dates the venue has available to determine convenience for the majority of APNA members and avoidance of major holidays as possible
- Airport facility and access from the airport to the hotels
- Access from hotels to meeting space
- Flow of meeting space
- Quality of hotels and meeting space
- Safety and walkability of the surrounding area
- Nearby restaurants, shopping and attractions
- Financial factors such as room rates, food and beverage minimums, and meeting space rental
- Number of members within a 500 mile radius of the location
- Average airfare from 16 major cities to the destination
- Average number of plane stops required to get to the destination (non-stop flights vs 1-stop flights)
- Distance from the airport to the destination
- Crime rankings
- Average weather at time of event
For the APNA Annual Conference, further considerations include:
- Rotating geographic regions to provide an accessible conference to the majority of the membership, touching as much of the membership base as possible
- Location population density and attendance from prior conferences held within a similar geographic region
- Attendee budgets and typical hotel rates, minimums, and ancillary costs that are standard in potential cities
