[Foss4g2009] Venue & program comments

Mon Dec 15 05:16:24 EST 2008

Dave,

Find comments inline:

2008/12/15 Dave Patton <davep at confluence.org>

> Here's some comments that came to mind as I looked
> at some of the venue & program info in the documents
> that were attached to recent emails.
>
> A)
> FOS_1109_102_L1 A4_P (1).pdf
> A-1)
> In the foyer there is a small(2-table?) "catering"
> area and a larger 'catering block' in the middle
> of the foyer. Based on how things were laid out
> for 2007, and the long lines of delegates waiting
> to be served lunch, my initial impression is that
> the current 'catering layout' will cause massive
> problems.

TH - I assume that the catering layout as defined in the exhibition plan is
based upon SCEC's experience of catering for our outline numbers - is this
correct?

>
> A-2)
> What is the plan for the "poster session"? Where
> will the posters be placed, how will they be
> displayed, and when will they be setup and removed?

What is required Dave - I vaguely remember the space from 2007 but what
other requirements are needed i.e. poster stands? Anything else

>
> A-3)
> One of the lessons learned from 2007 is you need
> seating - lots of it - otherwise you WILL have
> delegates sitting on the floor using their laptops.
> Some will also want to be sitting next to power
> outlets to recharge(or not discharge) their batteries.
> Where are the "seating areas" on the venue plan?
> Without knowing SCEC policies(e.g. safety and fire
> regulations), could we provide some seating(chairs
> and/or couches) as well as 'a spare classroom'
> that people can use, and then have a "no sitting
> on the floor" policy?(i.e provide the facilities
> so that delegates don't need to sit on the floor)

I would be good to know what furniture could be set up on the parkside lower
floor under the escalators i seem to remember there was a good area for
potential seating - TH could we ask what SCEC restrictions there are on this
space?

The paintings and wall hangings may well place a restriction on what floor
sitting we can have as well as being tight on space upstairs - do we really
need/want a no sitting on the floor policy? The main time when people will
want to sit and use their machines will be break and lunch times - could our
existing rooms not be used during these times for this purpose?

>
>
> B)
> FOSS4G2009-PROGRAM-DRAFT-V0.1.pdf
> B-1)
> Workshops day - may as well have something
> (tentative) in the program for after the
> Workshops end. This could be an off-site
> social event.

My original email specified that I had not accounted for social events. I
have now updated the program to add in a social event on the Tuesday night
and Thurday night. See Google Doc at:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pm1bvJQodiW0s8T_P6CJ-BQ

>
> B-2)
> I'm assuming "tutorials" are intended to
> be either a hands-on session, which we
> called Labs in 2007, or a "hands off,
> instructor demo"?

I recall that previously the OC decided that we'd abandon hands on sessions
with hardware to hand off sessions  - I have allocated tutorial rooms to
Workshop rooms in case we want to change this and retain hardware for hands
on sessions. If this decision is fixed then we can assume full hardware
clean up at 4pm on the Tuesday after the workshops

>
> B-3)
> For 2007, Presentations(we didn't call
> them Sessions) were supposed to be 25 minutes.
> 20 min of presentation + 5 minutes for questions.
> We had 3 of them in a 1.5 hour time slot, with
> the 5 minutes in between as time to switch the
> presenters. The idea was to group three similar
> Presentations together, so people would stay in
> the same room, just like the people who chose
> to go to 1.5 hour Lab(hands on) in that time slot.

I have allocated each session as 30mins - I have done this accounting for
20min presentations with 10min spare for handover. I have not thought about
any streaming of presentations yet. We will need to gather our thoughts on
this ahead of calls for abstracts?

>
> B-3-1)
> You'll have to match up the length of time for
> Tutorials/Labs with some aggregate of the time
> for Presentation/Sessions. The current plan of
> having Tutorials end when sessions are in progress
> I don't see as workable.

Agreed this was my intention but for whatever reason - probably because it
was late, I was tired or drunk (or all three) this went astray - I've
updated the program to have tutorials running for 1hr 30min.

>
> B-3-2)
> The 2007 plan of people staying in one room for
> 3 Presentations in one time slot didn't work.
> People did, and will, move from room to room,
> so we have to allow some 'break time' between
> the (30 minute) Presentations.

See above 30mins is an estimate for presentation and turn around time -  but
if anyone has alternate suggestions? Have fewer sessions but extend the
session time slighty and have defined turn around times?

>
> B-4)
> For 2007 we had two scenarios worked out, to accommodate
> two variations of the number of delegates:
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G2007_VCC_Rooms#Presentations
> It might be a good idea to do this for 2009, based on
> what rooms we have, what additional rooms we could
> possibly get, and which rooms can be divided(i.e. with
> a 'hard wall divider') to provide more flexibility.

I think this is a good idea - I'll take an action to add in alternate rooms
into the programs so we can visualise what we might be able to access should
we need to

>
> B-5)
> Why "competition" for the Poster session?

> B-6)
> I think the Poster Session should be earlier in
> the week. Also, Posters, once setup, should be
> able to stay up for "a while".

No idea - see previous comment regarding lateness, tiredness and drunkenness
and also I have been to spatial conferences where they have poster
competitions. I have removed the poster session from the program as this
will run throughout - see previous questions I have regarding the poster
session.

>
> B-7)
> The OSGeo AGM is missing from the program.

We could schedule this for the Wed 21st at 4.30 and push back the BOF?

>
> B-8)
> Social Events are missing from the program. I think
> it's useful to have them in there, even if they are
> offsite, just so that any logistical issues can
> be seen more readily.

Now included

>
> B-8)
> For 2007, where the exhibition with the booths for
> the sponsors/exhibitors was in a separate part
> of the large conference hall, we could "force"
> everyone into the opening plenary by having the
> exhibition hall closed until lunchtime on the
> first day. With our arrangement, will this be
> an issue, and will the 'open' nature of using the
> foyer for the booths present the need for Sponsors
> (who might want/need to be in plenaries/keynotes)
> to 'man the booth' at all times and/or present
> the need for ongoing security throughout the day?

Valid point - TH could we investigate with the SCEC how secure the parkside
foyer would be for the timeslot when the plenary is ongoing?

Cheers

Simon
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