[Foss4g2009] SCEC visit cont'd

[mapbutcher]

Following on from our venue visit here are some notes to accompany the
pictures:

http://bit.ly/1T5qSh

Janelle, Fay(e)? mentioned that SCEC have pictures of the rooms as well -
could you arrange for these to be sent to the list please?

General Impressions.

It was my second visit to the venue and it's definitely a good fit for the
conference IMO - the general setting is similar to Victoria both in terms of
the conference centre and the general setting. The location is great! Stacks
of post conference dinner/drink options, loads of cultural/tourist stuff -
great transport links, loads of accommodation close by etc.

Exhibition Space

There are two choices at this stage.

The Parkside Foyer (confirmed)

The Parkside Foyer is large open plan space which leads from the main
delegate entry point out to an vehicular access and the escalators down to
the parkside lower level rooms. Its a good space, however it could get quite
busy, as we would be using it for a number of purposes: Registration, IT
Desk, Catering, Exhibition and main thoroughfare. There are three room
access points - the main auditorium, and 110 A and B from the foyer.

The Exhibition Hall (waiting list)

Much larger space on the lower level of the parkside foyer. Access to the
delegates could be directly from the harbour side entrance or from the upper
level parkside foyer, 'Bump In' access for exhibitor set up is from a
loading bay to the rear of the room. The room can be *partitioned* to make
it smaller, although my impression is that this partition would be in the
form of a back wall of booths. Its a uniform space which in contrast to the
foyer.

If we were to take the exhibition hall there is a catering cost offset - the
finer details were not made clear, TH  - could we get more details on this?
This offset is not applicable to the parkside foyer

Booths

I think the small booth (1mx3m) will be an issue if we choose to go with
this size across the board. We discussed with SCEC/TH if we could have a
range of booth sizes and this is a possibility. The 30 x 1mx3m is the
maximum number of booths we can have in the parkside foyer, however if we
have a range of both size options  - perhaps this would be more realistic of
demand. A range of booth sizes would limit the number of exhibitors to less
than 30. My impression was that booth size has been *calculated* against
some health and safety policy. I also asked whether exhibitors will be
policed if they're set up extends beyond the limit of the booth - yes was
the answer here, however i think in realistic terms the odd banner extending
out past the booth limits might pass, but a complete lounge suite might not!

Main Auditorium

Standard Auditorium capacity for 1000 - however they can provide a set of
curtains that can restrict the room down to certain sizes - this is a good
option for us as we can limit the seating to tailor it for our use - for
example we might want to open up to 500+ for the plenary but use the
auditorium throughout the conference (is this included in costs so far?) for
more popular presentations and limit the seating to say 200 - I guess the
issue with a large auditorium is that i can seem empty as people tend to sit
toward the back etc and in a 1000 capacity space this can be a long way from
the stage.

Rooms

In general there is a good mix of rooms and capacities:

110A and 110B are big rooms, can be opened up to 1 large room, but i suspect
more useful to us divided. Both have two rear projection units and AV desks
- handy for session swapover.
G04 - another good size room (together with 110A and B) this would give 3
large presentation rooms + perhaps the auditorium?
There are two further rooms on the lower parkside  - smaller - but still
suitable for presentations. These are in the pictures (One with Jody in and
one with Julia in) - Janelle can you confirm the room numbers for these
rooms?

The lower level of the parkside has access into the auditorium, the
exhibition hall, three rooms and a speaker room - there's also a cool under
escalator space - which would prove a nice chill out area?

Possible workshop rooms

On the other side of the parkside auditorium are three good sized rooms with
access from the harbour side parkside entrance - these were shown to us from
a workshop perspective. This would provide space for three concurrent
workshops to take place, all the kit would need to be hired and 'bumped in'
and 'out'.

Social Event

I popped into the maritime museum (next door to the SCEC) to look into the
options for using it for a social event - this is an option  - very a 'la
2007 i.e. buffet in the galleries etc, however it may not be applicable as
numbers are restricted. However there are probably quite a few options in
terms of social event venue

Cameron, Jody - you want to add anything - Jody discussed a space for
posters?

Cheers

Simon
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