It was ChanelCinq's event. I wasn't party to much of the behind-the-scenes discussion, and there was little I could do to salvage things at the last minute. The Right Thing probably would have been meeting for dinner in the East Bay, but I was still laboring under the assumption we were trying for something in San Francisco proper.

I'm hoping, perhaps foolishly, that it's possible to achieve some sort of consensus rather than resorting to management by fiat. I agree, more lead time would have helped immensely.