Back from SIAM Data Mining 2005

I’m back from SIAM Data Mining 2005 held in Newport Beach, California. I’m now quite sick and I’m taking a few days off.

It was a reasonably interesting conference. Some of the talks were really insightful. However, I must say that the Santa Anna / Irvine area is not one of the most interesting I ever visited. I chose not to rent a car, so this was a bit boring. I did go walk on the beach, but I didn’t do anything exciting beside.

Also, what is the deal with holding conferences in hotels? People are stuck in two modes: attend a talk or go back to your room. There are no good areas where people can mingle or work.

Also, please don’t put the posters in a closed room off the side. The posters should be what people look at while sipping their coffee during the break.