My only complaint is that it'd have been nicer if it was downtown instead of close to the airport (apparently Durham doesn't have any large event space downtown, which is why it wasn't--or so I was told). I'd have maybe liked to explore Durham a bit more.
This is definitely something we are planning to address this year.
Yes, Clojure/core is headquartered in Durham. We think Durham is a great place to host this event. We also feel we could provide a much better conference by hosting it here. That's not to say in the future we wouldn't consider alternative locations; when it makes sense from a planning point of view.
Durham does have plenty of space we could use for this event. Last year there were other events going on that had most of the local hotels booked, and we could not get a reasonable block of rooms reserved. As another poster mentioned, we are taking care of that problem by nailing these things down earlier.
Downtown Durham does have culture; and we're hoping to enjoy the city with some of our Clojurian friends.
Hmm, there's the Marriott Conference Center in town (where the Full Frame documentary festival is held every year), but I guess that might be a little too big…(or booked out)
