[Foss4g2008loc] Exhibition Floorplan for LOC approval

[Dave Patton]

Gavin Fleming wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> Here's the exhibition floorplan

> We've had to take into account serving food,
> people access and flow and fire regulations. 

> Some coffee stations and other minor details might change but what I
> need you to approve is the size, number and layout of the stalls and the
> demo theatre.

1)
My gut feeling as soon as I saw the layout, based on
what I saw at FOSS4G2007, was that the "buffet stations"
layout "just won't work". No matter how long a 'lunch hour'
you have, most people will 'go for lunch'(or other food/
beverage breaks) as soon as they are able. I see long
lines of people out the entrance doors, queues of people
at the stations closest to the entrances, few people in
'the far corners', a rush of people to 'be first in line'
so they can get their food and get a table to eat at, etc.
Even once everyone is 'in the hall', I think it will be too
crowded. Also, people need to be able to get their beverages
from the same lineup/place as their food, so having coffee
stations and the bar separated from the food stations is,
I think, a bad idea.
I've never been to your conference centre, so I'm just
going by my initial reaction to what I see in the PDF.

2)
As for the location of the Demo Theatre, I didn't have
much to do with it at FOSS4G2007, but I'd  suspect that
most attendees were there because there was a specific
demo scheduled that they wanted to see, not because
they 'wandered by'. If that's true, then where it's
located doesn't matter, so long as the conference
program has the location clearly marked, and so long
as there is good signage.

-- 
Dave Patton

System Developer
National Forest Inventory
Pacific Forestry Centre
Natural Resources Canada

Degree Confluence Project:
Canadian Coordinator
Technical Coordinator
http://www.confluence.org/

OSGeo FOSS4G2007 conference:
Workshop Committee Chair
Conference Committee member
http://www.foss4g2007.org/

Personal website:
Maps, GPS, etc.
http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/