We are thinking of adding a travel agent reference to the page just for this reason. October is still warm around here, but cool at night. There are hundreds of things to do, see, places to eat within a reasonable distance from Phoenix. Tucson is a little over an hour away with the Desert Sonoran Museam and Tombstone. Sedona is a favorite for visitors, which is about an hour away. The Grand Canyon is a little over two hours away. Of course there are tons of things to do in the Phoenix area - swim, golf, site see. For those coming from the East, we are about five or six hours from San Diego, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Enjoy the conference and then stay a while!