Join us for dinner! I would like to invite you and all other EOGN newsletter readers to dinner on Saturday, February 4, in Salt Lake City. The dinner will be held at 7:30 PM, shortly after the close of RootsTech.
The EOGN Dinner will be held at the Radisson Hotel Salt Lake City Downtown at 215 West South Temple. This is only a few steps from the RootsTech conference venue at the Salt Palace. If you are attending RootsTech, there will be no need to grab a taxi or bus or light rail or to drive to the dinner. The location is a very short walk from the conference site. In fact, even wheelchairs will be able to travel the very short distance from the convention center to the dinner location. It will be a genealogists-only evening!
When I attend genealogy conferences, I like to organize dinners for newsletter readers and their invited guests. I have been hosting dinners at the end of many of the larger genealogy conferences for the past 24 years, even before this newsletter first appeared. Wow! It doesn't seem that long. In the past, these have usually been informal events at local restaurants with little or no formal plans. There have been no agendas, no presentations, no speeches, and as little planning as possible. For lack of a better name, I call these the EOGN Dinners. "EOGN" stands for Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.
The dinners have grown, and this time I am planning a slightly more formal event. We will hold the dinner in a hotel's banquet room to allow more of you to join us. In order to attend, you absolutely MUST make a reservation and pay in advance.
The menu won't be selected until we obtain a final headcount. However, there will be a selection of beef, chicken, (probably) seafood, and vegetarian meals, along with a variety of desserts. Last year, almost everyone commented on the good food served by the Radisson.
Like past EOGN dinners, reservations are required. In fact, you will need to make a reservation online and print out your ticket(s) before you attend the conference. Only those with tickets will be admitted.
This year's event will be held in a large banquet room in the Radisson, so we should have plenty of space. If you attended last year's dinner after RootsTech, you may remember that we had the second-largest banquet room. The largest room had previously been reserved by the firemen. This year, we will be in the larger room. With this many seats available, I am hoping the dinner will not sell out quickly, but I cannot be certain of that. In any case, it will be "first come, first reserved." Again, registration and payment must be made in advance.
Advance registration is required because I have to give the headcount to the hotel several days in advance to make sure they cook enough food for everyone. We cannot accommodate last-minute additions. Anyone who shows up at the door will be admitted only if they are holding a ticket. It is possible that a ticket or two will become available at the last minute if someone has to cancel because of a change in plans. However, I wouldn't count on that.
For the last few EOGN dinners, I have used an online reservation system, and it worked well. It eliminates all the confusion, so we will use the online system again. You absolutely MUST have a reservation in advance. In fact, you need to make the reservation online and then print your own ticket(s) on your printer and bring the ticket(s) with you. If you don't have a printer available, please let me know, and I will print your ticket for you several days in advance and give it to you at the conference. Either way, you must have a ticket. No one will be admitted without a ticket. Tickets are non-refundable because I have to pay the hotel in advance and, once they buy the food, there are no refunds. If you are bringing a spouse or other invited guest, make sure you make reservations for everyone in your party. If there are two of you, you need two tickets.
We will open the bar at 7 PM for those who wish to chat with friends before dinner. Dinner will be served at 7:30 sharp.
We will have "open seating." That is, you sit where you wish. However, I would suggest you make sure there are at least 2 or 3 strangers at your table as this is an excellent place to meet new friends.
The charge is $40 per person, and payment may be made with a credit card. The $40 charge includes everything except soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. Payment for beverages needs to be made at the bar.
We will start accepting reservations Monday, January 9, starting at 9 PM Mountain Time. Check www.eogn.com at that time to find the details. Past events have sometimes sold out quickly, so you might want to check promptly at 9 PM Mountain Time, which is 11 PM Eastern or 10 PM Central or 8 PM Pacific time zones. At that time, I will post a message on http://www.eogn.com that contains a link to the reservation system. Read the message at http://www.eogn.com, click on the link, and the next screen you see will be the reservation sign-up form.
I'll see you at dinner!
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