Trip Report

Trip	LISA '06 Conference
City, State	Washington DC
Dates	December 3-8, 2006
Traveler	Greg Woods
Additional ESS Attendees	Rich Johnson Lynda McGinley
Conference Link	http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa06/

Purpose

To keep current in my field. USENIX training classes are usually good quality and at a high level.

Overview

The tutorials I attended were mostly very valuable. Lots of nontechnical stuff peripherally related to my job (e.g. problem solving techniques, time management). Also technical stuff on DNS administration and perl scripting that can be directly useful immediately.

Reference Materials / Recommendations

USENIX always has very high quality instructors and high level tutorials, which is why I choose those conferences to go to.

City / Accommodation Comments

Hotel was very good, the people there were helpful and friendly. Everything is overpriced ($3 gouging on the ATM machine, $15.95 for the breakfast buffet, etc.) but this is pretty typical for big city hotels. The USENIX staff I interacted with were also knowledgeable and friendly. Very well run.

Anyone going into DC should try to fly into Reagan. Being able to take a cab to the hotel really helps out with what I find to be the most stressful part of traveling, which is the last leg. Van shuttles are a pain because they are cramped for someone my size, and they always seem to stop at half a dozen other hotels before they get to mine. Cabs are a win when the airport is close enough to make the cost reasonable.