The prices for the plane tickets will be best once the event is 30 days away. At that point the airline is more interested in getting asses in the seats than charging premium price and risk sending an empty plane. It's best to wait on tickets, especially if you don't mind taking a flight at a weird time. Haunt the online ticket sites and watch the rates each week - Travelocity, CheapTickets, Orbitz etc.
If you're not going to stay at Venetian (super expensive), Treasure Island (moderately expensive), or Harrah's (their normal prices are cheaper than the "special Internext group rates"), then it doesn't matter where you stay really. Those three are an easy walk to the convention hall. Everything else... isn't. Many folks stay wherever they can and just take a cab ride over to the convention hall.
Like if you don't care about being able to come down the elevator and be surrounded by webmasters, you can stay at a hotel like the Holiday Inn by the airport, or even one of the nicer extended-stay places that are a block or so off of the Strip and do it for $35-$50 per night. Then just hop in a cab and have it take you right to the convention hall and you're set.
Check all of the hotel websites, watch for "winter deals" or "weekday specials" and call them and ASK if they're running any specials.
The trick is, don't try to book everything all on the same day or even the same week... just watch all of the sites online for specials and grab them when you see them come up.
Btw if you're budgeting for food, eating at the all-you-can-eat buffets is really inexpensive. Food is one of the cheapest things in Vegas... well, besides all of the free drinks
