[Foss4g2009] Venue & program comments

Sun Dec 14 15:13:20 EST 2008

Simon, can you please review and confirm this is ok.

Kirsty,
Are these rooms going to be available to us in the evenings?
Simon hasn't included "Birds of a Feather" sessions or an "Installfest" 
in the program which could see us using the rooms till later (say 8pm), 
and people will want to come back and use the internet till midnight.
What is the cost impact of this?

FOSS4G OC - Tour Hosts wrote:
> Dear Cameron and Simon,
>
> Firstly Cameron it was good to meet you this morning - it always helps
> to put a face to the name and voice on the end of the line. 
>
> Thank you for your comments on the venue allocation for the FOSS4G
> Conference. Please find my responses to your questions below.  
>
>   
>> From: Cameron Shorter 
>> Sent: Wednesday, 10 December 2008 8:08 AM
>> mapbutcher wrote:
>>     
>
>   
>>> 1. Notes on the attached program (PDF and Excel)
>>>
>>> Find attached a first draft program, this includes an outline
>>>       
> program
>   
>>> for the conference as a whole inclusive of the workshops and also an
>>> outline daily schedule. The program does not include the following
>>>       
> at
>   
>>> this stage:
>>>       
> Thanks Simon the program looks great and it is good to see something on
> paper. 
>
>   
>> Do we get an option to save money by not using the Parkside Auditorium
>> on Thursday? The program as structured suggests we don't need it.
>>     
> We would need to pay for the Auditorium on the Thursday even if we did
> not use it for two main reasons; Firstly, the Foyer area which we are
> using for Exhibition and catering comes packaged with the Auditorium ie:
> SCEC would be unable to sell the auditorium to another client as they
> would not have access to the foyer. Secondly whether the room is in use
> or not it will still be set up with our AV equipment and requirements.
> Therefore we are better off using the Auditorium for a session on this
> day rather then paying for an additional session room.
>
>   
>>> 6. Comments on the venue
>>>
>>> a) Capacity has been given for G07 can we abandon the suggested
>>>       
> usage
>   
>>> in favour of using this as a session room and secure this for the
>>> conference i.e. 21st, 22nd & 23rd?
>>>       
> We would strongly recommend against using G07 as a session room for
> three reasons:
> 1) The ceiling height is low and this prohibits the height of the
> screen, this can lead to the bottom of the screen being hidden by the
> chairs in front. The room is better suited to speaker preparation room,
> board room for Organising Committee, area for volunteers to gather/store
> belongings.  
> 2) The capacity is quoted as 60 theatre style however please bear in
> mind that delegates will often leave a seat between themselves and
> others for comfort sake. We would recommend that the size of the room
> allows for additional seats. 
> 3) The capacity of the room will decrease once an AV screen, lectern and
> head table for chairperson is included as these will take up space at
> the front of the room. 
>
> From your above and previous comments we realise that the OC does not
> want a speaker's preparation room as part of the conference. Is this
> because most delegates will use their own computers for their
> presentation? Please confirm.
>   
After chatting with Paul Ramsey and Jeff McKenna, both agreed that 
speaker's prep room is not required. "People have hotel rooms they can 
use for that".
Yes, speakers will all be bringing laptops, unless they are damaged in 
customers, in which case they will borrow a laptop from a friend or 
someone in the audience.
>   
>>> b) Can we confirm G04 for the conference i.e. 21st, 22nd & 23rd?
>>> c) Can we opt out of 110A and 110B?
>>> d) I think we need to secure Parkside 01, 02, 03, 04 & 05 for
>>>       
> workshop
>   
>>> set up on Monday 19th.
>>>       
> TH will contract this space on Monday 19 October.
>   
Looking at the exhibition layout, which spill around Parkside 110A & 
110B, will this be an issue if we don't use these rooms.
>   
>>> e) I would like to see exhibitors have access to the Parkside foyer
>>>       
> as
>   
>>> soon as lunch has finished on the Tuesday 20th?
>>>       
> Are you planning on offering workshop delegates morning and afternoon
> tea? Looking at the program it seems like only lunch will be offered,
> can you please confirm? 
Simon?
I expect will be be serving tea for 15/20 mins.
> If you are not using the foyer for afternoon tea
> then exhibitors could come in and dress their stands after lunch. Please
> note that the foyer is the only way delegates can get from rooms G01,
> G02 and G03 to G04 and G05, so delegates may be walking through the
> exhibition area while exhibitors are setting up. The exhibition would
> officially open at 0900am on Wednesday 21 October.
>
>   
>>> f) Will the booth bump in during the night on the Monday incur extra
>>> costs? 
>>>       
> There is a small charge for bumping into the exhibition area from
> midnight. However it is less then paying for an extra day's room rental
> for bump in on Monday. 
>
>   
>> Agreed, I'm interested to know if we can mitigate risk by opting out
>>     
> or
>   
>> taking rooms at the last moment.
>> We can lock into number of delegates = 550 to 600.
>> Anything over that should be optionally added later.
>>     
> Agreed that for the moment we contract rooms for 550 - 600 delegates and
> then we have placed additional rooms on hold which we will be able to
> contract at a later date (at 2009 prices) should delegate numbers or our
> requirements increase. 
>  
> Following on from my point above regarding G07 we are concerned about
> the room capacities of the session rooms and would recommend that
> instead of using G07 as a session room that we hire half of the Parkside
> 110 rooms (either A or B) giving you the following room capacities:   
>
> Parkside Auditorium - 1000 delegates
> Parkside 110 (A or B) - 240 delegates 
> Parkside G02 - 70 delegates
> Parkside G03 - 50 delegates (tutorial)
> Parkside G04 - 120 delegates (tutorial)
>
> In providing a bigger room, it provides greater flexibility in
> programming and gives delegates a bit more room and comfort. 
>   
I think we should be using Parkside 110A as it is right in the middle of 
the Exhibition, and could double as the Demo Plugfest room that was used 
if previous years. (Alternative is to set up a small stage in the 
Exhibition area, if that is allowed.)

What is the impact on cost?
Julia, when you want me to make a decision based on options, please 
provide me with differences in functionality / service / risk / cost so 
that I can make an informed decision. (Otherwise I'll be asking you for 
these details)

>   
>>> 7. Comments on the exhibition
>>>
>>> The variety of booth choices is preferable to many small booths. In
>>> summary this alternate configuration will provide us with:
>>>
>>> a) 15 x 3m x 1m booths
>>> b) 9 x 3m x 2m booths
>>> c) 8 x 3m x 3m booths
>>>       
>> Sounds good.
>>     
>>> My preference remains to stay with the Parkside Foyer as alternate
>>> costs for the Exhibition space seem prohibitive. I would like to
>>>       
> seek
>   
>>> confirmation that we can double up as required on these booth sizes?
>>>       
>> Agreed.
>>     
> As previously mentioned there is no capacity to double up on booth size
> if required. The floorplan that SCEC has provided shows the maximum
> number of exhibition booths that we can fit in Parkside Foyer along with
> 600 delegates. Due to the physical space restrictions of the space we
> are unable to make anymore changes to this floor plan (moving exhibition
> booths around or changing the size of any booths).
Kirsty has given us an exhibition floor plan which has some bigger stands:
Linked from here:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2009_SCEC_Rooms#Exhibition_Floorplan_.28Parkside_Level_1.29
>  
>
> Moving forward I have attached an updated snapshot of the venue
> allocation that outlines the above rooms and what we recommend we
> confirm with SCEC. Cameron, as discussed this morning please sign the
> attached document to ensure that the OC is in agreement with the rooms
> that TH will contract with SCEC for the FOSS4G 2009 Conference. 
>
> I have spoken to SCEC and they are happy if I contract these room on
> Monday so please read through and call me if you have any additional
> changes. 
>
> Kind Regards
>
> Julia Vernon  
>
>   

Attached is my revised suggestion for rooms (if not too expensive). I've 
removed room G07 as I don't think we need it if we use 110A.

-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Systems Architect
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
http://www.lisasoft.com

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