REW Customer "Summit" / Users Group Meeting?

[EFS Webmaster]

Has any thought ever been given to hosting a "REW Customer Summit" or "REW Users Group" Meeting?

I think it would be pretty cool to have a 1-2 day "invitation only", in person event for REW clients and select REW friends featuring presentations and discussions on:
- SEO / creative SEO strategies
- RE Web design discussion & demonstrations
- Lead mgt - best practices
- Case Studies
- Showcase new functionality / technologies available to REW customers (or technologies that could potentially be made available if there were enough interest)
- Focus group discussions
- get to know the REW staff and other REW Forum members

While I know time away from clients (or time out of the office) can be costly, I would think that the net effect of this type of "Summit" or Users Group would be beneficial to all parties.

thoughts?

[webmaster]

Barry, as you know we do have a "special" group that gets together online, but have never "seriously" considered the face the face thing - (It has been talked about many times and would certainly be a cool idea) - I'd certainly be willing to host a 2 day thing in REW's backyard if there was enough interest. We do have a new conference center nearing completion And it's right next door pretty much to REW headquarters. http://www.viconference.com/index.html

[OCTeam]

Better than a great idea. I wanted to make a visit months ago. What's the date?

[EFS Webmaster]

I would totally be up for it.

Not sure what amount of 'critical mass' you would need to make this a worthwhile endeavor. Hopefully others will comment on their interest level and then this thing will hopefully snowball to the point where dates/agenda/topics could start to gel.

I think this could be a lot of fun and well worth the trip North!

[webmaster]

It wouldn't so much have to be a huge profit thing - I would envision 50-100 members - If you guys really are that serious about it I will have my assist Carrie participate in this thread and start doing some fact finding / pricing for venues etc - I will contact the city and find out what the ETA is on the conference center, it may not be a viable option for the immediate future - but there is always the Port Theater - http://www.porttheatre.com is actually quite reasonable looks like $1500 per day but this is likely the lowest of the costs associated, I have attended many a conference in my day, and the "people" required to put it together and run it smoothly I wouldn't want to underestimate.

[SEO Nick]

I'm there for ya! This is a great idea. It would be cool to meet you all face to face.

[Benjamin Dona]

Sounds like it be a rollicking good time!

[TheRealOBX]

I would definitely be interested in attending.

To webmaster's point. The logistics of setting it up correctly to run smoothly with the correct amount of people is always the toughest part. Conferences seem to either run really well or poorly. Much of the differences have to be attributed to pre-emptive planning. If your have planned for every contingency then the event usually goes well. If you forgot something, it definitely is going to come up and cause some problem.

[keenjosh]

Count me in. I've never been to Canada

[SEO Nick]

BC's the best place to go for your first trip here