In slightly expanded form here … (as in, more than 140 characters)

IMHO, the Winter Meetings “experience” can often be determined by two words: Hotel Lobby.

This is one reason I am so looking forward to this year’s event in Dallas which, along with the Sheraton in Anaheim, is one of the most “participant-friendly” set-ups in the expanded rotation.

Really? you may ask, Why is that?

Well, thanks for asking …

While there are important participants who would really rather NOT see and be seen (GMs tend to get pestered by everyone, for example), overall, an event of this size needs a nucleus which is big enough to find everyone you want to find in a small area, but not an area SO small that it’s crowded and stuffy. And it’s also essential that that area have a bar. Or three.

The Dallas lobby has an easy to spot main entrance, a good-sized lobby, and then you reach The Bar. Which is big and round and opens up onto the second part of the lobby where you can always find a place to sit, plus a kiosk for snacks and coffee during the day. A few nice restaurants line the sides.

Generally, you can find almost anyone and everyone you want to see there, from first thing in the morning (on line for coffee) until the wee hours (not on line for coffee).

In addition, there is (or was, hope it’s still there) a sports bar downstairs where you can watch games on TV, grab some bar food if you’re hungry, and find more people to share drinks with.

Because it’s a high rise hotel rather than, say, a meandering maze like Opryland in Nashville, it’s nice and compact and your feet aren’t barking at the end (my very first meetings were in 1989 in Nashville … like a moron, I wore high heels the first day. Like a double moron, I overextended myself feeling I had to be everywhere at every moment. And like a triple moron, I came home with pneumonia.) In dallas, there are only so many places one can go, and most are right near each other.

Plus, the hotel is not in downtown Dallas (IS there a downtown Dallas?) … rather, it’s outside of the city in an area where the only other place to go is the convention hall where the Trade Show is (you don’t even have to go outside to get there).

So, unlike, say, Las Vegas (where you had to walk through casinos to find anyone, there were few real “bar areas” and everyone went out every night) or Disney World (where people brought their families) there is little if any reason to leave the hotel. And unlike Nashville, where there are a ton of bars hidden throughout the maze, it’s easy to find who you’re looking for.

If you come to the meetings with any kind of agenda, job to do, or people to see, you’d have to try really hard NOT to get it accomplished.

As long as those ice storms don’t close the airports like they did last time, anyway.

See you in Dallas, where I promise to bring you my thoughts and ramblings live from the lobby.

(Photos from Winter Meetings of the past forthcoming within a few hours so you can have a visual here)