Potential Venues for Florida Drupalcamp 2015!!

Posted by mherchel on September 4, 2014 at 5:28pm

Only local images are allowed.

Its that time of year again.. Florida Drupalcamp planning season.

This year, we're looking for a larger venue if possible. Florida Technical College is awesome, but experience and feedback has shown that their classrooms and auditorium are too small for our usage. In the event that we cannot find any other space, we'll likely go back there (assuming they'll have us).

What are we looking for?

Requirements

Single room that can hold ~300 attendees for keynotes plus 5-6 classrooms that can hold ~50 attendees.
Area for the 300 or so attendees to eat catered lunch.
Greater Orlando area.
Cost less than $3-4,000. We're also willing to order catering from the venue and provide ~80 room nights. Obviously, cheaper is better, and free is best.
Great Customer Service - we want someone that gets back to us quickly and works for our business.
Audio Visual Equipment - Projectors, mic, sound, and screens in every room
Wireless Internet Access - Cheap or free is best

Nice-to-haves

Quick access to after-party venue (it would be best if this is located at the venue).
Located near tourist-y area that would attract Drupalists from around the country (to turn it into a vacation)
Inexpensive room nights ($100 or so)
Power access in the classrooms.

Deadline

We’re working on a deadline here to get stuff done. The deadline is Monday, September 15th. After that, we’ll reach out to potentials and do further reseach.

Potential Venue List

We’re compiling a list of potential venues at https://docs.google.com/a/herchel.com/spreadsheets/d/19VVBkXGMTW7spYTr83...

Comments

Venue

Posted by iribarne on September 4, 2014 at 8:59pm

I think the current venue (Florida Technical College) is awesome. Here is what I like about it:

Pros:
- Great atmosphere, since the whole venue is dedicated to Drupal
- WiFi is great
- Free (sponsor money can be used for other things)
- Next to highway (avoid downtown Orlando traffic)
- The latest hotel was really nice and was good value (big improvement from the previous hotel at the same venue)

Cons:
- None for me. The only thing I can think of is that some may want a change of paste.

Hector

Just for the sake of making

Posted by liberatr on September 4, 2014 at 9:07pm

Just for the sake of making the list, I went looking for theme-park-area hotels with built-in convention space. I don't know if any of them would include meeting space with a room block, but I weeded out some based on size or nightly room rates.

Also, the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre is a cool choice if you ask me. They have non-profit pricing, and I don't know if they would do a deal for a full-space buyout like we would use.

I added a bunch of stuff that is really just meant as "if we are going to look in to this, here are some more options", not serious or well-researched.

Last I wonder if the Florida Hospital space is an option, just wonder if our friends over there have any pull. Would be walking distance to a hotel and several restaurants, or take the SunRail to Winter Park.

Ryan Price
DrupalEasy Podcast

DUDE! I freaking LOVE the

Posted by mherchel on September 4, 2014 at 10:08pm

DUDE! I freaking LOVE the idea of a theatre! I've been to the Front-end Design Conference in St Pete for several years, and they have theirs hosted at the Paladium Theatre, and it's awesome! The vibe and atmosphere is what makes it!

Looking at their rental PDF (http://www.orlandoshakes.org/pdfs/Rental_Packet.pdf), its looks like it would fit. Renting out the place for the day looks about $2500.

Freaking awesome! +1 for this place!

http://herchel.com | @mikeherchel on twitter

While I like the idea of the

Posted by caelon on September 5, 2014 at 1:19am

While I like the idea of the Shakes (outside the cost, which we can likely afford), it looks like they are booked on the weekends anytime before May. DrupalCon is May 11-15.

Don VanDemark
Agile Process Manager, Blue Shield of California

Bah.... oh well

Posted by mherchel on September 5, 2014 at 2:06am

Bah.... oh well

http://herchel.com | @mikeherchel on twitter

Don, It doesn't look like

Posted by liberatr on September 5, 2014 at 4:16am

Don,

It doesn't look like their Saturday matinees start until March 21st. They do have shows in the evenings. It would be worth calling. They are really nice people.

Ryan Price
DrupalEasy Podcast

You are correct. I didn't

Posted by caelon on September 5, 2014 at 4:36am

You are correct. I didn't even look at February. Are we thinking about moving back to February?

Don VanDemark
Agile Process Manager, Blue Shield of California

timing and non-profit status

Posted by ultimike on September 5, 2014 at 1:13pm

Good morning everybody,

Some thoughts:

Don - we haven't discussed timing yet, although the Feb/March timeframe is normally what we look at, and it will largely depend on venue availability.
Cheryl from CFCS emailed me to remind me that as CFCS has non-profit status, we might be able to get a lower rate.
Ryan - if you recall, Florida Hospital's conference space is closed on Saturdays (Seventh Day Adventist sabbath - Florida Hospital is owned by the church).
I also like the idea of a theater. I'll give Shakes a call today (although I can't get the movie Shakes the Clown out of my head now - thanks for that).

-mike

Shakes the Clown feedback

Posted by ultimike on September 5, 2014 at 5:30pm

Here's the feedback I received from the Orlando Shakespeare Theater event manager:

----- begin

We do have a room that can hold 324 people (Margeson). In Feb/March we could have 3 other rooms available (patrons room, Santos Dantin, and Mandell) that could hold 50 people.
I'm not sure where this could happen. Are you opposed to people eating in two separate locations? Possibly the Courtyard and Lobby could work, but neither is large enough for all of the guests.
We do not provide projectors/screens, but you are welcome to rent them from an outside vendor. We have wired handheld mics and sound systems in the Margeson, Santos Dantin, Mandell. There is no sound system/mics in the patrons room.
We have WiFi in the lobby, but the signal is not strong in all of the theaters. If you can give me a better idea of what the WiFi would be used for, I can let you know if I think our system would be able to accommodate.
Power Access not a problem

So you would be looking at renting the Margeson, Patrons Room, Santos Dantin, Mandell, Courtyard, and Center Lobby. Your best bet for a day that these would all be available is a Monday.

----- end

I don't think it looks doable, especially on a Saturday...

-mike

Well at least you followed up

Posted by liberatr on September 5, 2014 at 6:36pm

Well at least you followed up on my spitball ideas... Thanks for validating my input! (seriously, I feel like I learned something now)

Mike, do we have a document we could use as an RFP for the conference? Even if it is woefully out of date? I'd hate to start from scratch if we email some of these hotels. A few of the "Meeting / Event" pages on the hotels I linked to want an RFP, others just have a phone number, but something in writing could help speed up the responses.

Additionally, Canvs, the new Downtown Orlando space on Church Street:

3 things coming to Church Street Exchange building by 2015
Meeting space: ...the drawings for the lobby revamp project have been submitted to the city. ...and put in furniture and equipment for an event space. It would hold 450 people, Gray said, and construction would start after Tech Week, which is the last week in September.

The project would be finished in November, and the space would be event-ready in December.
photos

Ryan Price
DrupalEasy Podcast

Wiki page

Posted by ultimike on September 6, 2014 at 6:25pm

I just created and posted a wiki page that can be used by anyone to provide information to potential venues.

Deborah W sent me an email with some great ideas for potential venues (University of Phoenix, Canvs, and Catalyst). I've asked if she wants to do the initial legwork on these 3 locations...

She also got a good start on a requirements document - to create the wiki page linked above, I combined her input, Mike Herchel's input, and my own knowledge.

Thanks,
-mike

Me leaving in Spain and you

Posted by AuricularesBluetooth on September 7, 2014 at 3:46pm

Me leaving in Spain and you guys having fan with the Florida Drupalcamp... Maybe somehow you can make a videoconference out of it :P

Just hope you have fun, Im sure you cannot wait;)

I emailed and received a

Posted by mherchel on September 8, 2014 at 1:12pm

I emailed and received a phone call back from Visit Orlando. They're willing to put together an RFP for us, and have hotels/conference centers email us directly. There's no charge.

They can also provide our attendees with discounted attraction tickets, if we're interested.

I gave them the info and told them that we will want to view the RFP before it goes out (this was obvious to me, but not to her). She sent the followup email below:

from: Michelle Molz, CMP
date: Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 3:05 PM

Hello Mike,
It was a pleasure to speak with you today! Thank you for reaching out to Visit Orlando for assistance with your 2015 program. As discussed, I will work with my Business Development partner to create an RFP for your program to send to hotels that meet your parameters. Once created we will send to you to review and then send out to our member hotels. In the meantime, I have attached a list of our complimentary services as well as the meeting planner web site at: www.orlandomeeting.com for resources such as our online image gallery and video gallery.

Mike, we look forward to assisting in making your 2015 program a great success!

Kind regards,

Michelle Molz, CMP
Destination Meeting Services Sr. Manager
Visit Orlando®
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Suite 400
Orlando, FL 32821-8043
Tel: 407-541-4227 | Fax: 407-370-5017
OrlandoMeeting.com

http://herchel.com | @mikeherchel on twitter

Pure Genius

Posted by BeachsidePaul on September 8, 2014 at 2:56pm

Genius I say! Amazing how sometimes the easiest way to accomplish something is to simply ask the people/person who makes a living doing it. Good work Mike, this might just open up an array of possibilities for future Camps too! Thanks for all you work on this, Paul