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The 2015 Masters’ Conference is scheduled for the weekend of September 19th and 20th in Santa Cruz, California with a kick-off topic setting meeting the evening of September 18th. To come and commune with your fellow Masters is a three step program:

  1. Review your hotel options
  2. Register
  3. Pay

But before you do all that, have a look at what Santa Cruz has in store for you and your family. It is a fun town from the Beach Boardwalk to nature to surfing and a lot of good food and wine (the Santa Cruz mountains are starting to get a reputation for good wines).

Hotel options (TBD)

We will be meeting in the classroom of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. There are many hotels and motels right by the sanctuary and boardwalk. Click here for a Google map/list of nearby hotels. Prices start at about $80/night though you can save if you venture away from the boardwalk. Hotels.com has this list clustered near the boardwalk.

Being local, I have only stayed at the Dream Inn. Waking up to the sight of the Pacific, the Santa Cruz Pier and such is a good way to start a day. If you reserve your room here before June 16th, they offer a discounted rate of $309/night and on-site parking for $12/day (normally $25). When registering at Dream Inn, mention “Masters Conference” to get the deal.

Register

Fill in the form above and tell us who all you are sending the the 2015 Masters Conference. All we need is everybody’s name, your email address and any food restrictions you may have as we arrange for lunch and snacks. After you register, then scroll on down because we need your money!

Registration fee (per person)

$150 before June 1st $170 until July 20th, and $190 thereafter.

Pay

There are two ways to pay:

PayPal: Easiest way is to use the PayPal button to the right. Make sure to increase the quantity if you are paying for multiple people!For those of you still in the 20th century, you can also send a check to: PayPal for Masters 2015

Silicon Strategies Marketing
PO Box 536
Boulder Creek, CA 95006

Airports

For those coming from far, far away, your best options for airports are these:

airportsMonterey (MRY): Closest and a nice drive from the city of Montery to Santa Cruz. But being a regional airport, flights are fewer and likely cost more.

San Jose (SJC): Best chice as it is a good sized international airport and the second closest to Santa Cruz … just a quick slide down highway I-880, which turns into Highway 17, which dumps you into Santa Cruz. Reasonably priced shuttles from SJC to Santa Cruz can be had from several sources, including the Santa Cruz Experience company.

San Francisco (SFO): About an hour and a half drive without traffic (a week and a half if you hit rush hour).

Oakland (OAK): Very slow drag down highway I-880, but you do find cheap flights into and out of OAK.

Schedule/agenda

Friday, September 18th:

wine-barAgenda (topics brainstorming ) meeting and drinking. During this event, we will list all the topics we want to discuss during the conference, papering the wall with economy sized Post-It notes that will migrate to the meeting room the following day. Back room at the Vino Prima wine bar, upstairs on Santa Cruz Pier, over the candy store. Agenda setting begins at 3PM.

Saturday, September 19th:

Day one. Convene at 9AM in the classroom at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (across the street from the pier, 35 Pacific Ave). Coffee will be served, as will lunch and some afternoon refreshments … planning on Woodstock pizza and salad being delivered. Meeting ends at 5PM per the venue’s request. Saturday night dinner will be at the Ideal Bar & Grill at the foot of the Santa Cruz Pier. This will be a cash event, so review the banquet menu (coming soon) and bring monty for your dinner, a 20% gratuity (which is baked into the bill) and nearly 9% in state/local sales taxes.

Sunday, September 20th:

Day two. Same schedule with a vote at lunch about continuing or breaking for fun in the sun. Lunch and afternoon snacks are planned, but bring your own if you like. Lunch will be a taco bar from El Palomar. All-hands room clean-up at 5PM.

Parking

If you get a hotel that is not walking distance to the venue, then the best parking option is about 400 yards away at Depot Park. Costs $5/day but fills up fast on weekends, so worth getting there early. Alternately the Beach Boardwalk has tons of parking at $12/day.

Some sight

And to help prepare everyone, here are some drone highlights of the Santa Cruz area (and they missed a lot of cool stuff).

Who has registered

  • Guy Smith
  • Mark Wonsil
  • Robert Karlin
  • Beth Karlin
  • Stan Sieler
  • Steve Cooper
  • Roy Brown
  • Marie Brown
  • Michael Hensley
  • Charles Shimada
  • Glenn Cole
  • David Greer
  • Mark Klein
  • Terry Simpkins
  • Matt Perdue
  • Birket Foster