http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22683&id=1693285201&l=9fc25f94f7These are the pics I took today... I only did a couple of each of the three parks.
Directors Park:
Pluses: It's extremely close to the hotel. It does have tables for setting stuff. It's kind of pretty in all it's stoney-ness.
Minuses: There's no grass, so it doesn't have a park feel to it. It's not all that big.
Overall: This would be the last of the three I would recommened.
Waterfront Park:
Pluses: It's green and grassy. It's fairly close to the hotel.
Minuses: With how long it is, we'd have to be extremely specific with where we'd meet (I would suggest near Saturday Market since it's the eaisest place to converge at). If it were in that area, seating would be steps.
Overall: This would be my second choice. If you want to get as close to the hotel as possible and be grassy, I would suggest this one.
For both of the above, that part of downtown seems to be viewed as dangerous towards the evening by out-of-towners.
Holladay Park:
Pluses: It's green, grassy, and lots of trees. It has picnic tables. It's a very easy place to meet up at.
Minuses: It is the farthest away (9 stops on the MAX)
Overall: This is my favorite option, simply because it's pretty, it's easy to meet up at, and it has tables for us to store stuff on. The MAX ride doesn't seem like it takes that long to me, but that might be because I go along that route a lot. I think the convience of the park itself would be worth the ride.
Overall, Overall: I'd say go for Holladay if you don't think the MAX ride would be too much (9 stops seems like nothing to me, but that might just be because I ride it all the time). Otherwise, I'd vote for Waterfront if you want to stay on that side of the river.