• Debconf2007
• Venues

1. Edinburgh

http://www.edinburgh.org/

LBW2005 was held in Scotland, and UKUUG2003 was held in Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a major conference venue and tourism destination -- this means that the facilities we need are easily available, but we may need to search/think laterally to find cheap ones.

Moray, Broonie, skx, Riddell know the city very well, stargirl, sladen as well. steveq now lives there too.

We should be able to get some support from EdLUG members. If we want to use Edinburgh University facilities then we should use our contacts among students (including the computing society) and staff. The computing society, with appropriate support, might be able to get Informatics (http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/) involved as a sponsor.

Models:

• Just pay a conference centre for facilities: almost certainly out of our price range.

• Just pay ed.ac.uk for conference facilities: would work, but probably more expensive than some options. Need to investigate costs.

• Pay a suburban venue for conference facilities (e.g. Stevenson/QMUC). Need to investigate costs.

• Take over a castle/activity centre in the countryside. Unclear if anywhere inexpensive would cope with the size of DebConf. (Also harder to arrange bandwidth.)

• Organise a combination of cheaper central facilities: e.g. hostel accommodation, rented space for hacking and talks. Need to investigate costs.

Ideally we'd find a venue that sympathises with Debian's aims/voluntary status, and offers us space below market rates.

http://www.meetingedinburgh.com/ is from the Edinburgh Conference Bureau; see also http://www.edinburgh.org/conference/ -- the Conference Bureau/Tourist Board will help with fact-finding, without us needing to book anything through them.

1.1. Locations

If we don't have a location near Waverley station, where the trains and the airport bus arrive, we should plan for how we're going to meet people, give them the information they need etc. (If we do we can guide people there on arrival, give them maps etc. and then take them to where they're staying in batches.)

Edinburgh's compact enough we should be able to leave people to walk between locations (i.e. they can take the bus if they want to at their own expense).

1.1.1. Places that have replied with quotes

1.1.2. Traditional conference venues

These venues are used to handling conferences, but tie you in to their own catering contracts etc. Some may not cope with the DebConf setup (e.g. hacking space late at night). In some cases they may offer all the facilities we need on a single site (but not always, and this site will probably be some distance from the centre of town).

Edinburgh International Conference Centre http://www.eicc.co.uk/

http://www.eccscotland.com/webpages/index_accommodation.htm is Heriot-Watt's offering and lists single/double student summer rooms being Single from £27.50, Twin/Double from £45.00, prices are per room, inclusive of full Scottish breakfast and VAT. This comes out at 180k, double people up and negoiating a likely discount would get that down to 50k.

Royal College of Surgeons http://www.surgeonshallcomplex.com/ -- building works in 2006 to provide a full conference centre

UKUUG was held here in 2003 at Watsons. Ali Riddell is the contact there and it may be worth trying to reserve the school in case; slightly out of town but on a bus route. Accommodation was provided by the university.

Stevenson College --- <sfr> moray: my contact said it's not as good a location but cheaper

Heriot-Watt University (out of town) http://www.eccscotland.com/

Napier University (out of town) http://www.napier.ac.uk/cca/default.asp?w=1&x=1

Heriot's (http://www.george-heriots.com/HeriotEnterprises/Facilities.htm) -- very central

Other schools mearer the centre might also be available (unlike universities schools tend not to advertise their conference facilities in detail on their websites)

Leith Academy (http://www.leith.edin.sch.uk/community/features.asp?featureId=28) < Maulkin> Leith have teh facilities, but are calling me back on Thursday [=2006-02-23] <Maulkin> They called and said "erm... hi. We're completely unsuitable for you"

Drummond High School (I know they let people use rooms for the Fringe)

1.1.3. Cheaper accommodation options

If we have events/accommodation spread over multiple sites, we need to plan carefully for guiding people to/from events. We should be able to get maps free from the tourist board (UAI2005 in Edinburgh had a big stack of free information leaflets for each attendee), but at least on the first day or two we ought to have e.g. someone at each accommodation area to guide people to the hacking area.

1.1.3.1. Lecture theatres

We need to decide what combination of small and large talks we'd plan to have. Smaller rooms are easier/cheaper to arrange than large ones, so it's silly to hire huge lecture theatres if we won't fill them.

Rooms need to be wheelchair-accessible. We'll want a screen and data projector, though in many venues it would be much cheaper if they let us supply our own, since they often charge separate rental fees at stupidly-high rates.

Some lecture theatres in central Edinburgh:

Edinburgh First (including University of Edinburgh): lecture theatres can also be hired without organing a whole conference through them. (University building profiles: http://www.estates.ed.ac.uk/BuildingInfo/profiles.html ) http://www.edinburghfirst.com/pdf/Conference.pdf

* George Square theatre (capacity 520)

* Church of Scotland Assembly Hall http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news/speceventshall.htm (capacity 1250, but comfortable for a smaller number), other rooms available in same building

* South Hall (capacity 380)

* David Hume Tower (largest lecture theatre capacity 350)

* Appleton Tower (largest lecture theatres capacity 300)

Edinburgh College of Art http://www.eca.ac.uk/ecalite/index.cfml -- don't seem to have conference information on their website, but they have a lot of space in the centre of the city, and presumably have lecture theatres etc. that sit empty outside of term times.

Assembly Rooms http://www.assemblyroomsedinburgh.co.uk/

The Hub http://www.eif.co.uk/G21_The_Hub_Edinburgh_s_Festival_Centre.php (main hall capacity 400)

Traverse theatre (has two theatre halls, capacities 350/100) http://www.traverse.co.uk/traverse_for_hire.html < Maulkin> Traverse Theatre looks good on paper... < Maulkin> However, they don't have any breakout rooms. Note: call Jennifer there tomorrow [=2006-02-22] after 2pm

Edinburgh University Student Association -- have their own buildings. http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/services/venues/ The Pleasance might be the best of their venues: they have a large theatre space, and a lot of smaller rooms that could be used for hacking etc. EUSA are more likely to be flexible to our needs than the University itself (or rather, to be flexible without charging vast amounts extra).

Royal Museum lecture theatre http://events.nms.ac.uk/html/lecture.htm (capacity 276, smaller rooms available in same building)

Royal College of Physicians lecture theatre http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/conferencing/index.php (capacity 300, smaller rooms available in same building)

Royal College of Surgeons http://www.surgeonshallcomplex.com/ -- undergoing refurbishment in 2006, to include 350 capacity hall.

The Assembly Rooms http://www.assemblyroomsedinburgh.co.uk/ (several large rooms; largest room theatre capacity 750)

Botanic Gardens (lecture theatre capacity 240) http://www.rbge.org.uk/rbge/web/shopping/facilities.jsp

During the Festival there are a *lot* of temporary theatres in Edinburgh; many of these venues would be suitable for talks and might also have rooms good for hacking space. http://www.edfringe.com/maps/html/venuelist.html

http://www.uniquevenuesofedinburgh.co.uk/

1.1.3.1.1. Probably too small for us?

John McIntyre centre, University of Edinburgh (largest lecture theatre capacity 160)

Royal Society of Edinburgh lecture theatre http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/rooms/index.htm (capacity 145, smaller rooms available in same building)

Hawthornden Lecture Theatre in the National Gallery http://www.natgalscot.ac.uk/index.asp?centre=html/7-corporate/7_corpFS.asp?centre=7-1-2 (capacity 200)

Stuart's (http://www.stewartsmelville.edin.sch.uk/theschool/fullscreen.htm) < Maulkin> Stewart's Menville is a no too. Just a big school hall

Edinburgh Academy (http://www.edinburghacademy.org.uk/enterprises/) < Maulkin> Edinburgh Academy isn't suitable

1.1.3.1.2. Probably too big/expensive for us?

Usher Hall (capacity 2130)

Edinburgh Festival Theatre (capacity 1915)

McEwan Hall, University of Edinburgh (capacity 1300)

1.1.3.2. Hacking

An empty office block/floor. (There is a lot of empty office space in Edinburgh, both new and e.g. belonging to the council and currently disused.)

Many venues used during the Festival might be bookable as hacking space, and also offer rooms suitable for talks. http://www.edfringe.com/maps/html/venuelist.html

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