EECI US Moving to New City

In an email to potential conference goers, Robert Eehart (organizer of EECU, through his company Whoooz! Webmedia), announced that the EECI conference originally planned for Austin, TX will take place elsewhere.

We already started our preparations for it when people made us aware of a huge event happening in Austin in the same week as we have planned EECI. Although we secured a venue and lodging for speakers and staff, we can’t promise that attendees will find a place to sleep near the venue. That isn’t acceptable for us.

As anyone who has attended SXSW in recent years knows, Austin has a shortage of hotels downtown if too many events (or too large of an event) take place at once. For just a handful of small conferences or events there are plenty of lodging options downtown and all are a short walk from conference venues. However, with a big conference things fill up quickly.

As a resident of Austin I am, obviously, disappointed by this. Austin is a great city for a conference. I was looking forward to seeing everyone here. But I’m glad Robert didn’t push forward and make it difficult for attendees to find a hotel that didn’t require a cab ride to the venue. That would’ve made the entire event a drag and certainly soured everyone’s experience in Austin.

We’ve tried to find an alternative date / venue for the conference to be held in Austin, but for the same reasons we had no luck.

So what next? First of all do NOT make any travel/lodging plans for Austin. The conference will take place in a different city. We’re close to finish all details needed to make the announcement. You can expect it on the http://eeciconf.com website in about two weeks from now.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the new city and location. Maybe we’ll try Austin again next year?