[Foss4g2009] Venue & program comments

Tue Feb 10 00:18:46 EST 2009

Dear Mark and Simon,

Can you advise how many posters you expect? I cannot find information on
how many were received in 08 however in 07 they received 28 submissions
before the deadline. 

I will then contact SCEC and see if we are able to put poster boards
into the lower parkside foyer. The area is quite dark so we would need
to allow for poster boards with lights. 

Julia 

________________________________

From: cucumber.sunshine at gmail.com [mailto:cucumber.sunshine at gmail.com]
On Behalf Of mapbutcher
Sent: Sunday, 8 February 2009 15:04
To: Mark Leslie
Cc: foss4g2009 PUBLIC; FOSS4G OC - Tour Hosts
Subject: Re: [Foss4g2009] Venue & program comments

Mark,

With regard to the poster session i have not allocated any  time slot in
the program as I assume the poster session essentially runs for the
duration of the conference - therefore it's a physical space issue only?

I had thought that the lower parkside foyer:

http://www.scec.com.au/rooms/floorplan.cfm?roomID=128

shown as the 'foyer ground' in the above page - it looks to be a small
space from the floor plan but from memory I'd thought about this space
as dual use:

1. OSGeo chill out area

2. Poster space

A review of the space would need to be done to validate this and we'd
need to check out if SCEC has any restrictions on the usage of the
space?

Here's a rubbish picture i took on my last visit:

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/mapbutcher/SCEC#5265141353150288194

Simon

2009/1/22 Mark Leslie <mrk.leslie at gmail.com>

I wanted to verify that the room allocation matrix (FOSS4G Client Venue
Matrix - 12 DecCS2.xls) is up to date.

Following our points about a poster session, I've been trying to sort
out what space we have booked and what's allocated where.  I've moved
the details from this spreadsheet, the program and the floorplans into a
wiki table
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2009_SCEC_Rooms#Current_Allocations so
I can see what's going on (done before I was directed to the
spreadsheet).

In particular, there are a number of offices, foyers and promenades that
we don't have designated for any purpose, but I'm not sure if we
actually have access to them.  Can anyone comment on the Organizers
Office, Foyer Ground, Parkside Promenade, Parkside Terrace or Upper
Promenade Foyer?

Mark Leslie
Geospatial Software Architect
LISAsoft

-------------------------------------------------------------
Ph: +61 2 8570 5000 Fax: +61 2 8570 5099 Mob: +61
Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf 19-21 Pirrama Rd Pyrmont NSW 2009
-------------------------------------------------------------

LISAsoft is part of the A2end Group of Companies
http://www.ardec.com.au
http://www.lisasoft.com
http://www.terrapages.com

Cameron Shorter wrote:

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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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