The largest of the physicists’ meetings has in recent years been in quite a variety of cities: Austin, Montreal (my favorite), LA, Baltimore, Denver, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Portland (Oregon), and Dallas. Next year will be Boston. Dallas and Portland, even though they have fine convention centers, don’t really have enough hotel capacity near the convention centers to handle meetings as large as it’s become (nearly 8000).

My understanding is that Vegas has been working hard to develop itself into a a real city with a more diverse economy than just gambling. I’ve heard from some of the product reps I work with that it’s working on trying to develop a serious manufacturing base, for example.

A couple of years ago, the American Philosophical Association was scheduled to have one of its meetings in San Francisco and controversy arose because the hotel was in a bitter labor dispute with its employees. The Association polled members about alternative locales (Oakland, Phoenix, LA, Vegas) and Vegas finished last. (Ultimately the conference ended up taking place in SF.) But I recall some comments in the blogosphere to the effect that Vegas was tacky, unserious, etc. My sense is that academics feel the need to buttress their sense of being a member of the respectable middle-class, and cities like Boston, New York, Chicago, etc., mirror that sense back to them. Free buffet, slots everywhere, hock your wedding ring, $69-a-night Vegas? Not so much.

That said, I agree with you. And you didn’t even mention that the predictable weather in Vegas means no meteorological catastrophes, like people simply not making the conference or being stranded there trying to get home. (This has happened at least twice with one of the three regional APA meetings, which are — inexplicably — held between Christmas and New Year’s in Boston/NY/Philly/DC/Baltimore.)