Posted by eliza411 on July 9, 2009 at 3:51pm
As Amye noted on the wiki, we're in search of a new venue for DrupalCamp. Anyone pursuing a venue for the camp, please tell us about it here.
I thought it might be a little easier than trying to track the Wiki page. I also added the ability to tag discussions, polls, etc. with topics to help us in organizing. I'm still exploring what I can do with this site, but using the topics should let us subscribe to feeds in the areas we're helping with. People should be able to subscribe or unsubscribe for e-mail notifications, too. Note the DrupalCamp tab at the top of the page so we won't have to scroll and search for all things DrupalCamp planning related.
Comments
Public School Rental
I promised to look at the Portland Public School Civic Use fees and policies, and they're more expensive than I thought . . . all the information as well as the application is at http://www.pps.k12.or.us/depts/cub/
Classrooms are $10/hour and the auditoriums are up to $75/hour. It's possible to get equipment (projectors/dongles, etc.) but it does look like it might be extra . . .
I know not everyone lives in the neighborhood, but there are two school buildings in Northwest, Lincoln High School and the Metropolitan Learning Center. Lincoln's school Web site is built with Drupal, so it might be worth talking to their Web person. MLC is right by 21st with easy access to the bars and restaurants. For out-of-town visitors, the Northwest Portland International Hostel is walking distance (18th and Glisan) providing affordable accommodations.
Of course, using a school rules out any weekday sessions during school hours, and filtering could be an issue although I haven't noticed it being too restrictive.
It's pretty much a questions of making a decision on number of attendees and rooms, finding sponsorship, choosing a date, filling out the form, paying the fee, etc. so once we see what other options are available, we can weigh the choices. I suppose this is true of all venue possibilities, but the earlier a request is put in, the better the chance that space is available.
I feel like it's a viable option if we can get sponsorship and if we don't have any better plans secured within the next couple of weeks, but given the price I definitely think it's worth pursuing other options.
I still like schools, and don't rule them out entirely
Both of these schools are easy to get to, have parking, etc.
* Filtering, not that big of a deal, all things considering, particularly if we can get wireless sponsorships. (More on that later.)
Things that I am concerned about regarding using schools:
* Paying for staff that have to be around for school on top of room rental fees.
* Event insurance
Other ideas/concerns welcomed.
Reed College
I have a friend in administration at Reed, and so I've started asking her about possibly using space on campus. It doesn't look likely that they'll donate space (however -- are any of you alums??), and this summer is entirely out. Unfortunately, she's on vacation this week, but I'll continue to pursue this.
PSU...
If you can hook up with a group on campus, you can often times get facilities at PSU for free or for extremely cheap. If we get it for pretty cheap, we can probably find a few sponsorships to pay for it.
Jenni Simonis
http://www.forwardsupport.com
Jenni Simonis
http://www.forwardsupport.com
I emailed Bart Massey (who
I emailed Bart Massey (who helped us a great deal with the planning that last camp) and he suggested that we look into University Place. Bart said that he could get us "a substantial discount as
a sponsor" but that the food could be a bit of a problem as we'd pretty much have to work with Aramark. I don't know if not having any food at our event would be a possibility, but that may work if there are enough nearby places to grab food. (I don't know that area very well).
As far as Aramark goes
My recollection from my time at KPSU was that if you wanted an outside food vendor you had to allow Aramark to bid on the same food. But if you were getting a vendor to donate food then Aramark wasn't going to beat that price and you could have the outside vendor. So in theory there are some ways around it but in practice it might not be worth the trouble.
NedSpace
I work at NedSpace Downtown, and they are also opening a new Old Town location. I bounced the idea off the owners, and they are open to letting us use the space for DrupalCamp. Big question is the number of attendees. Any sense? To be honest, I don't have a lot of time to help organize right now, but would be happy to help coordinate with NedSpace if there's interest.
Lev Tsypin
ThinkShout, Inc.
thinkshout.com | twitter.com/levelos
How many people does the space hold?
The space is going to determine the maximum number of attendees, and the size and number of rooms will determine how many things can happen simultaneously.
Last time we had about 96
Last time we had about 96 attendees. We may have to cap ourselves, based on location, but my thinking is ideally we'd like a space that can handle more than 100, possibly as many as 150. Space for two or three tracks of programming would also be best, giving folks some choice of panels/talks to attend. This means separate rooms as sharing one room for two panels can be awkward and intrusive.
Sala kahle,
Grant
Yes pls.
I owe you a conversation anyways, so let's circle up early next week and chat.
I've seen really good unconferences happen at NedSpace, (the SAO sponsored a cleantech unconference in spring there with ~100 people) so it's a definite possibility.
The best things in life are free!
The best things in life are free. I know of a fairly well sized space that would more than likely be willing to let us hold the event there for free. Seating and projectors and things like that would have to be rounded up, but I'd like to beleive we're all resourceful enough that we can handle chairs :)
They've got internet, they've allowed kegs in the past should we want to have some fun, and they're nearby good food out on milwaukie ave. It's in inner SE so it's not so hard to find, and there's a lot more spacious apartments and what not out here for out of towners to couch surf at.
Oh and sorry I couldn't make the Wednesday meeting. We've got a lot of big deadlines coming up and I worked late.
Jesse Nicola -- My Portfolio
Jesse Nicola -- Shredical six different ways to Sunday! -- My Portfolio
Wiki updated with date list
I updated the PDX DrupalCamp wiki with a list of dates along with the other DrupalCamp dates I could find, as well as other area events I pulled out of Caligator, and holidays.
I also attempted to organize a list of venue possibilities and a couple of other things based on discussions we've had so far- edit at will! Let's rock this thing.
devil's advocacy for the original date
Hey all -
a little bird told me that a number of rockstar-esque or jr. rockstar-esque or perhaps bantam-league rockstars had agreed to come from far away for our original date, August 22-23. Is this true?
How does this compare with who would speak at our later fall event? Would we be losing goodwill from rockstars?
Perhaps if Nedspace or other options are available, it would be worthwhile to consider keeping the original date.
Also, if beer is one of the issues with holding it at Lincoln HS or elsewhere, we all know of pubs that would welcome us with open arms. I can think of several within rolling distance of Lincoln.
Just saying, someone who is really new to this group and hopes to not be showered with fruit or fire.
Given the loss of venue and
Given the loss of venue and shakeup that happened with the team doing the planning it seems like the later date might make logistics easier. Especially considering that the dates are only a little more than a month away. Once we've got the venue locked down again I'm sure we can dig up plenty of folks.
Walkthroughs for NedSpace + Date Thoughts
NedSpace Old Town has graciously agreed to give us a walkthrough next Tuesday, July 21st, at noon.
I'd be excited if it worked out, they're centrally located at 117 NW 5th, between Couch & Davis.
Regarding dates, I'm seeing that the weekend of Oct 2nd is open, which could coordinate/not conflict with the Drupal Summit thing that Seattle's trying to put together.
Thoughts?
Weekend of Oct 2nd
That weekend works for me.
Bill
I will be in South Africa at
I will be in South Africa at that time, but that means nothing of course, beyond my not being able to help or attend. It's really just if the time is good for most of the group.
Sala kahle,
Grant
The Seattle group have set
The Seattle group have set their date as October 2nd so I would strongly advise setting a different date to allow folks from both cities to attend each others DrupalCamp.
See http://groups.drupal.org/node/24369
Sala kahle,
Grant
Oct 2nd is a different event
Grant,
We are having an event on October 2nd, but I don't think it is the one you are thinking of. We are producing 2 events. The first is a Drupal Clinic, this is an event for n00bs and people checking out Drupal. the second is the Drupal Summit Oct 24-25 - I think this is where PDX and Seattle should avoid a conflict. The Summit will be dev-centric and large scale.
Thanks,
jared
-jared
10/2 sounds good, as does
10/2 sounds good, as does NedSpace. I can't make it downtown at lunch, but I'll be interested to hear what you see and learn.
No Grant No Go
I really think we should find a time that works with our primary organizer.