Hi Steve.<br><br>IIRC, John Ferlito has always encouraged the Expression of Interest idea, partly on the basis that LA could then give potential bidders tips on making a good bid.<br><br>One of the reasons that a bid needs a fair bit of work is that LA needs assurance that the bidder has done as much homework as possible sussing out venues and roughing out costs. A phone call or an email isn't enough to convince the council that they should give anyone access to a fairly big chunk of money to bootstrap a conference.<br>
<br>Also, a detailed bid will alert a potential bidder to the breadth of things that need to be done to run LCA. Of course *your* idea of how to run LCA is likely to differ from someone else's, but a detailed bid lets the council know what you have in mind.<br>
<br>-- <br>MC<br><br><br>