Just a quick thought - used to book meetings for my company. If you call and give the hotels a number of rooms (and even a lunch in a meeting room for a number of people) they will give you better rates. This is done through the sales office not online or reservations.
Just everyone individually booking rooms will cost a lot more money and probably have us spread all over town.
My two cents -
Dinah
(and yes I will volunteer to help...my husband and I just had a conversation about trying to put something together in San Antonio or Dallas. So how timely is this? It is a lot of work, but we can do it and save money if it becomes a structered gathering)