When the Keralite believers of the city of NY got together and asked me to lead a conference in NY, right away I had a few places in mind. One of my goals at that time was to do it right here in Long Island. I started negotiating with suitable locations right away.
My dream was to do it at Nassau Colesium. There is a Marriott Hotel at walking distance from it that had 800 rooms. So it looked very feasible - until we got into the details.
I found out to my surprise that the two locations were not enough to do the conference. The Marriott had a 1500 seat banquet hall, which would be great for the youth session. But , where would we do the children's sessions? Where would we do the dining?
And the price tag! The Colesium wanted about $100,000 just for space. Even then, we could only do the adult programs there.
So very reluctantly I started looking elsewhere. So many people had already told me not to do the conference in Rochester ( 7 hours from city) or in Syracuse ( 5 hours from city). Everyone wanted a place close to city.
That is how we ended up in Albany. It was not too far at 2.5 to 3 hrs from city. I knew they had an arena there. I had multiple meetings with the Albany County Convention Bureau. We saw a possibility there. The arena was bigger than what we needed. The floor alone could seat 2500 people with a big stage. The Crown Plaza (became Hilton later) had 400 rooms two blocks away. There were four other hotels around. The Crown Plaza had rooms for youth, children and dining. So it was a workable situation. I had pretty much finalized on Albany and said so in Canada.
But the Canada conference changed everything. It made the challenges of multiple locations very clear. Parents were always concerned about their children. Older believers were struggling with walking in the sun. Even with multiple vans and a very dedicated transportation team, people were complaining. Despite having very good meetings, in the end there were a lot of complaints.
Even before we returned from Canada, phone calls started coming. Every call had the same theme: Please do not put the conference where families are split and people have to walk a long distance from meeting place to dining hall. That is exactly what we were facing in Albany. I did not know a place where everything could be done under one roof at that time. So we decided to face the situation head on and do it in Albany anyway. I went to Albany with my wife to talk in detail about the menu etc. When we were leaving, our contact in the Albany Bureau accidentally told me that Hartford, CT is the only place where we could do everything under one roof. Since it was in CT, I did pay much attention to that remark.
The following week I was in Guyana for some meetings and I got an email from a believer in CT asking me about the conference and encouraging me. That is when I remembered the comment made by someone in Albany. When I googled Connecticut Convention Center, I was surprised by what I saw. A beautiful gorgeous facility with a hotel attached to it. When I looked at the details, I was more impressed. I realized that it was a facility where we can do all the sessions and dining in the same facility. When I reached home, I went and looked at it in person with a couple of other people. But it was in CT and the conference was supposed to be in NY.
So I decided to ask around. I asked many senior pastors in NY and around the nation for their feedback. Their reply was, the conference is given to NY and they have a right to select the best venue for the conference. We made a conference call with all the members of the National Committee and their opinion also was unanimous. Thus, we went back to look at details and start negotiations. Once we were sure of our selection, we decided to let the public know by posting it on the Facebook etc.
When we had the get together of national and local teams at the facility on September 9, every one of them were equally impressed. I am sure all of you will be too, when we get together for the 31st PCNAK on July 4, 2013.
BTW, the online registration is open now. Help us by doing early registration. We appreciate your cooperation. Together we will have a wonderful conference.
My dream was to do it at Nassau Colesium. There is a Marriott Hotel at walking distance from it that had 800 rooms. So it looked very feasible - until we got into the details.
I found out to my surprise that the two locations were not enough to do the conference. The Marriott had a 1500 seat banquet hall, which would be great for the youth session. But , where would we do the children's sessions? Where would we do the dining?
And the price tag! The Colesium wanted about $100,000 just for space. Even then, we could only do the adult programs there.
So very reluctantly I started looking elsewhere. So many people had already told me not to do the conference in Rochester ( 7 hours from city) or in Syracuse ( 5 hours from city). Everyone wanted a place close to city.
That is how we ended up in Albany. It was not too far at 2.5 to 3 hrs from city. I knew they had an arena there. I had multiple meetings with the Albany County Convention Bureau. We saw a possibility there. The arena was bigger than what we needed. The floor alone could seat 2500 people with a big stage. The Crown Plaza (became Hilton later) had 400 rooms two blocks away. There were four other hotels around. The Crown Plaza had rooms for youth, children and dining. So it was a workable situation. I had pretty much finalized on Albany and said so in Canada.
But the Canada conference changed everything. It made the challenges of multiple locations very clear. Parents were always concerned about their children. Older believers were struggling with walking in the sun. Even with multiple vans and a very dedicated transportation team, people were complaining. Despite having very good meetings, in the end there were a lot of complaints.
Even before we returned from Canada, phone calls started coming. Every call had the same theme: Please do not put the conference where families are split and people have to walk a long distance from meeting place to dining hall. That is exactly what we were facing in Albany. I did not know a place where everything could be done under one roof at that time. So we decided to face the situation head on and do it in Albany anyway. I went to Albany with my wife to talk in detail about the menu etc. When we were leaving, our contact in the Albany Bureau accidentally told me that Hartford, CT is the only place where we could do everything under one roof. Since it was in CT, I did pay much attention to that remark.
The following week I was in Guyana for some meetings and I got an email from a believer in CT asking me about the conference and encouraging me. That is when I remembered the comment made by someone in Albany. When I googled Connecticut Convention Center, I was surprised by what I saw. A beautiful gorgeous facility with a hotel attached to it. When I looked at the details, I was more impressed. I realized that it was a facility where we can do all the sessions and dining in the same facility. When I reached home, I went and looked at it in person with a couple of other people. But it was in CT and the conference was supposed to be in NY.
So I decided to ask around. I asked many senior pastors in NY and around the nation for their feedback. Their reply was, the conference is given to NY and they have a right to select the best venue for the conference. We made a conference call with all the members of the National Committee and their opinion also was unanimous. Thus, we went back to look at details and start negotiations. Once we were sure of our selection, we decided to let the public know by posting it on the Facebook etc.When we had the get together of national and local teams at the facility on September 9, every one of them were equally impressed. I am sure all of you will be too, when we get together for the 31st PCNAK on July 4, 2013.
BTW, the online registration is open now. Help us by doing early registration. We appreciate your cooperation. Together we will have a wonderful conference.
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