This week EDUCAUSE held its annual Enterprise IT Leadership conference in Indianapolis. It was the very first time I have visited the city. I am not sure what I expected, but I know I was not expecting Indianapolis to be so cool. That's right. Cool. Who knew?!
If you have attended that past few Alliance conferences, Indianapolis combines some of the best features of the cities we have visited recently. The public art in downtown Indy is reminiscent of Denver. The canal walk reminded me of San Antonio (the fun run this week in Indy was along the canal). The downtown restaurant scene is great: several steak houses and pubs with good local beer. Best of all is that the entire downtown area is walkable and safe, clean and attractive, and never terribly crowded.
Embedded Media: http://www.youtube.com/v/rIHdrYlnQaM
Something else that I loved about Indy was how easy it was. The airport is new and clean and it is a quick trip into downtown. All of the interesting attractions (museums, gardens, theaters, parks, sporting events) are very close to the downtown hotels, to the convention center, and to each other. Indy seems to have been made for Alliance.
I've become an instant fan of Indy. Really. Hope to see you all there at Alliance 2013!
-Ted