The #westcoastDO is here!  On May 10th we held a celebration of Mile madness in Charlotte.  The event was our first attempt at bringing good people together with a common goal.  At that time we made Mile Madness the reason for the celebration, and made a day of it by bringing in guest speakers, having a great lunch, and a fantastic social hour in the evening.

Charlotte sold out very quickly, and there was huge interest for another event, something more convenient for the West Coast folk to attend.  The difficulty we faced in planning this event was how to make it better.  We could easily sell double the tickets, heck, we would sell out at 5x capacity, I am sure.  But this would lose some of the essence of what made Charlotte so special.

This event is all about the people, and while I think that the people who spoke at Charlotte were phenomenal, from well known names like Frequent Miler, to legends of the ‘game’ like Marathon Man – it wasn’t about them.  It was about everyone having the right attitude that made it a great day, with no pretentiousness.  It was great to see people sharing stories and making new friends.  How to follow up an amazing success like that?  We went to the essence of what made it work – a great location, environment and people, and made it even better.  The #westcoastDO will be like nothing you have seen before in a conference.  Because it isn’t a conference – it is a retreat.

The Event Snapshot

• Date: 11/8 Saturday from 10am (doors open 9:30am)
• Location Firesky Resort, Phoenix
• Confirmed speakers: Frequent Miler, Marathon Man, Miles Professor, Bengali Miles Guru, Points2PointB and Myself
• Unconfirmed speakers: we expect to have a couple more people joining the line up.
• What’s new: Panel Q/A for an hour to get more interactive with the group, more time between speakers, longer lunch to socialize
• What”s the same: Lunch is included (trying to get it outdoor as a grill session, but it will be great wherever it happens) A Social hour with Drinks and snacks
• Ticket price: $115 there are 120 tickets on sale, no earlybird pricing, and we are all buying, including me.

Ticket Purchase Link

The Date:

• Saturday 11/8 from 10am (registration/doors open 9:30am)
• Presentations will run from 10am until 5pm
• Lunch will be extended to 1hr 30 mins, so you can enjoy the slower pace, great food and wonderful people.
• A social hour will occur in the evening – note that Kimpton has a free wine social hour for guests with rooms, so we will time it so people can roll from one to the other with minimum lack of a beverage in hand.  Those who chose to stay in other hotels can’t access the Kimpton social hour.

Many people are staying the weekend.  From speaking with the organizing team, it seems that most will arrive on Friday evening and depart on Monday, so things will be happening both on Friday evening and Sunday.  I’ve set up some Forum threads to discuss Car Pooling/ Ride Sharing, Alternative hotel rates/codes, meetups for Friday, Sunday etc so people can connect.

The Location

The Firesky Resort – A Kimpton Hotel (nearest airport PHX)

As you can see, this is a beautiful looking property.  When we were planning this one of our organizers stated: we want a place where we can all hang out and talk smack around the firepits til 2am.  While the time might not be everyone, I think the idea of sitting outside and forging new friendships is a fantastic one, and this is the way to develop your connections in the game.

 Room Rate

We have negotiated a nightly rate of $159, there will be a link to book online soon, but in the interim you can book by calling in:

• Ryan Nelly is our incredible lead reservations agent and he can be the call-in contact for your group.  If you can instruct them to call Ryan directly at 480-424-6091, he’ll be able to take care of everyone!

Note that there is also a resort fee of $22, for which the following is included:

Self and valet parking

o    Wireless internet in guestrooms and public space (not to include meeting rooms)

o   Coffee service in living room lobby daily from 6:00a – 10:00a

o   Seasonal non-alcoholic beverages served in living room lobby and Paradise Pool

o   24-hour access to fitness center

o   24-hour access to business center

o   S’mores to enjoy over fire pits, on request

o   Daily newspapers, on request

·         And don’t forget the additional inclusions guests receive when staying with us:

o   Complimentary Wine Hour every night from 5:00p – 6:00p, seven days a week

o   Complimentary Denali shuttle service, within a 3-mile radius of the property

o   Complimentary bicycle rental to explore the area like a local

o   Complimentary 24-hour yoga channel and yoga mat in-room

o   $10.00 Raid the Bar card with Kimpton InTouch membership

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments here, or take the conversation deeper by joining in at The Forum.

Tickets on Sale now: $115

Note, right of admission is reserved, regardless of ticket holding, tickets are refundable up until 7 days prior to the event, and are transferable always.