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As for travel arrangements, go to travelocity.com and check out the airfare & hotel deals. Then, go to your travel agent and see if they can do better. You can also ask your travel agent about visa information.
The conference is held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The closest hotel is the Las Vegas Hilton (right next to it). Someone on the forum mentioned that the Hilton has gone downhill over the years. The best bet is to find a hotel on the Strip and take the monorail to the convention center. One ticket costs $3 but you can save some money on multiple tickets. Depending on where you are on the Strip, the travel time on the monorail to the convention center shouldn't be much more than 5 minutes.
There are some big expensive hotels on the Strip and there are some reasonable ones (there are some dumps too). The Imperial Palace and the Harrah's are reasonably priced but they are older hotels.
Most of the action along the Strip is located between Excalibur Hotel (Luxor and Mandalay Bay are further down the Strip) and Treasure Island Hotel. The north end of the Strip around Circus Circus is a bit dumpy.