Introduction

This is a survey of PODC registrants regarding PODC 2005. (PODC 2003 will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, and PODC 2004 will be held in St. John's, Newfoundland.) The PODC Steering Committee hopes to use input from this survey to plan PODC 2005. It is hoped that plans for PODC 2005 can be announced at PODC 2003.

The three key issues are (1) a possible collocation with the ACM Symposium on Parallelism in Algorithms and Architectures (SPAA); (2) choice of site; and (3) conference timing.

PODC collocated with SPAA once before, in 1998 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. There was general agreement in both communities that the combined conference was very successful. You can get a sense of what the conference was like by looking at the combined program. The conferences shared invited talks but mostly ran in parallel; there were a few "exclusive" sessions, which allowed PODC participants to attend relevant SPAA talks (without conflict) and vice versa. There were plans to collocate with SPAA again in 2000, but these fell through when it transpired that the venue selected by SPAA (which was administer the second collocation) was not large enough for a combined conference.

Because PODC 2003 and PODC 2004 will both be held on the east coast of North America, western sites are favored for PODC 2005. Two cities have been identified as likely candidates: Las Vegas, Nevada, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Both cities are in the Mountain time zone and both exist in rather arid (desert) climates. However, they are quite different in many ways, which are summarized briefly here:

1. Size.
   Las Vegas is a much larger city, of about half a million people, compared to Santa Fe's 60,000.
2. Ambience.
   Las Vegas is very much focused on entertainment and tourism; there are many hotels, restaurants, and shows. Santa Fe is more integrated with its natural environment and has a world-class opera. Las Vegas is within driving distance of Death Valley, Hoover Dam, and the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Santa Fe is within driving distance of Los Alamos (home of the National Lab) and the Taos Pueblo (a UNESCO World Heritage Site).
3. Weather.
   In the summer, when PODC is usually held, it is very hot in Las Vegas (average high in July is 106F). Because of its higher elevation, Santa Fe's temperatures will be much milder (average high in July is 85F). Indoor attractions in Las Vegas are air conditioned. Both cities are dry.
4. Accessibility.
   There are frequent flights to Las Vegas from all of North America and abroad. In contrast, flights to Santa Fe are infrequent and expensive. Most travellers would likely prefer to fly to Albuquerque and then travel to Santa Fe by rental car or other ground transportation (approximately 90 minutes). While more accessible than Santa Fe, Albuquerque is not as well connected as Las Vegas. Here are some sample roundtrip airfares from Boston for July 2003:

   Albuquerque	US$327
   Las Vegas	US$260
   Santa Fe	US$494

   Car rental should not be required in Las Vegas as the hotels under consideration are not far from the airport and there are many attractions within walking distance.
5. Hotels.
   Both cities should offer hotels at reasonable rates (US$90-110/night). However, there is only one hotel in Santa Fe large enough to host a combined PODC/SPAA, and prices at that hotel are unknown at this time. Siting in Santa Fe might imply splitting the conference between two hotels. In contrast, there are many good-sized and affordable hotels in Las Vegas (e.g., sleeping-room rates in a brand-new Westin in Las Vegas would be $109/night in 2005).

PODC is typically held sometime between mid-July and mid-August to accommodate the academic calendars in the United States and Israel. SPAA's timing is less regular, although it is often held earlier in the summer than PODC. In 1998, the combined PODC/SPAA was held from the very end of June throughthe very beginning of July (i.e., earlier than PODC is normally held). If PODC 2005 collocates with SPAA, the conference may be held at a time other than PODC's usual dates. There are questions below regarding preference for dates.

Survey

1. Name
   
2. Email address
   
3. Past PODCs.
   Please indicate which past PODCs you attended:

   1982 (Ottawa, Ontario)	1989 (Edmonton, Alberta)	1996 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
   1983 (Montreal, Quebec)	1990 (Montreal, Quebec)	1997 (Santa Barbara, California)
   1984 (Vancouver, British Columbia)	1991 (Quebec City, Quebec)	1998 (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)
   1985 (Minaki, Ontario)	1992 (Vancouver, British Columbia)	1999 (Atlanta, Georgia)
   1986 (Calgary, Alberta)	1993 (Ithaca, New York)	2000 (Portland, Oregon)
   1987 (Vancouver, British Columbia)	1994 (Los Angeles, California)	2001 (Newport, Rhode Island)
   1988 (Toronto, Ontario)	1995 (Ottawa, Ontario)	2002 (Monterey, California)

4. PODC 2003.
   Indicate if you plan to attend PODC 2003 (Boston, Massachusetts):
5. Preference on SPAA collocation.
   Please indicate your preference for a PODC collocation with SPAA in 2005:
   I would not attend PODC if collocated with SPAA
   I would prefer that PODC not collocate with SPAA
   I don't care if PODC collocates with SPAA
   I would prefer that PODC collocate with SPAA
   I would not attend PODC if not collocated with SPAA
6. Preference on location.
   Please indicate your preference for the location for PODC 2005 (with or without SPAA):
   I would not attend PODC if held in Las Vegas
   I would prefer that PODC be held in Santa Fe
   I have no preference between the two locations
   I would prefer that PODC be held in Las Vegas
   I would not attend PODC if held in Santa Fe
7. Possibility of split hotels.
   As noted earlier, there is only one hotel in Santa Fe large enough to accommodate a combined PODC/SPAA. Prices at this hotel are uncertain at this time; if we are willing to split the conference between two hotels, room prices could probably be kept close to US$100/night. However, splitting between hotels defeats some of the advantage of having a combined conference. Please indicate how much you would be willing to pay nightly (in US$) for a sleeping room at a single larger hotel (bearing in mind that we can get a rate of US$90-110 at smaller hotels).
   
8. Preference on timing.
   The following seven (7) questions are designed to help us determine the timing of PODC 2005:
   1. First half of June:
      I would not attend PODC if held in the first half of June
      I would prefer that PODC not be held in the first half of June
      No strong preference regarding the first half of June
      I would prefer that PODC be held in the first half of June
      I would attend PODC only if held in the first half of June
   2. Second half of June:
      I would not attend PODC if held in the second half of June
      I would prefer that PODC not be held in the second half of June
      No strong preference regarding the second half of June
      I would prefer that PODC be held in the second half of June
      I would attend PODC only if held in the second half of June
   3. First half of July:
      I would not attend PODC if held in the first half of July
      I would prefer that PODC not be held in the first half of July
      No strong preference regarding the first half of July
      I would prefer that PODC be held in the first half of July
      I would attend PODC only if held in the first half of July
   4. Second half of July:
      I would not attend PODC if held in the second half of July
      I would prefer that PODC not be held in the second half of July
      No strong preference regarding the second half of July
      I would prefer that PODC be held in the second half of July
      I would attend PODC only if held in the second half of July
   5. First half of August:
      I would not attend PODC if held in the first half of August
      I would prefer that PODC not be held in the first half of August
      No strong preference regarding the first half of August
      I would prefer that PODC be held in the first half of August
      I would attend PODC only if held in the first half of August
   6. Second half of August:
      I would not attend PODC if held in the second half of August
      I would prefer that PODC not be held in the second half of August
      No strong preference regarding the second half of August
      I would prefer that PODC be held in the second half of August
      I would attend PODC only if held in the second half of August
   7. First half of September:
      I would not attend PODC if held in the first half of September
      I would prefer that PODC not be held in the first half of September
      No strong preference regarding the first half of September
      I would prefer that PODC be held in the first half of September
      I would attend PODC only if held in the first half of September

9. Comments.
   Feel free to use the space below for any comments you might have.