Definitely a couple very noticeable changes there.
Well, at least there will be less complaining about the food at the banquet 
Changes were made due to membership feedback - fill out those surveys!
This has a few more details, but smart money says that Sam is not doing the keynote in MN.
The local committee has been working on pre conf. events and things to do on Saturday night. I am waiting to see the list.
A friend is from White Bear and was back for Christmas. She said there are many places that one can visit off of the light rail line.
Jeff, I bet Susan remembers a horde of hungry bearded brewers descending upon the Pro “Night” hors d’oeuvres in Grand Rapids. ;D hopefully having another pre-dinner party doesn’t lead to more of the same.
Also, if AHA Forum Meetup happens at Friday lunch again, I’ll be at BJCP meeting instead. Shrug can’t please everyone; I get it.
She does.
I got there 20 minutes late and there was nothing left.
Almost the same for us. She was head steward for the second round, we got there a little late and not much was left. We did a meet up with a big bunch of friends at a GR restaurant with others and enjoyed it thoroughly. Susan was glad to just set down and rest.
Edit - just read this.
I think the changes sound good.
We deleted the banquet since it was becoming impossible to provide high quality food that conformed to our (AHA’s) chef’s artistic goals. In addition, more attendees want to participate in the NHC awards than we had banquet hall seats. So the change to an open entry into the awards session and a closing ‘happy hour’ after that, should give attendees more bang for their buck and also enable everyone to plan for a night out on the town on Saturday night. I’m really excited that there is the light rail line and venues along its path.
The other good thing is that attendees that don’t have an interest in attending the awards session, will have the opportunity to continue attending conference sessions. These late sessions will all be repeats of earlier presentations, so you won’t necessarily miss anything.
I am 30 minutes NW of the cities, so just an FYI 8) ;D ;D
It looks like we will be ~6 blocks from the green line that runs past the University and goes to St. Paul, so walk or take a bus to the llght rail. Many of the breweries are a short walk from the green line, from what is see on Google.
Bauhaus is a little north, and is one started by a former member of the forum, he went by Pawtucket Patriot. Might drop by and say hi.
I was actually thinking about doing that as well.
We are driving, and plan to spend a night in Eau Claire to check out Lazy Monk and say hi to Leo’s.