[Chicago] [Fwd: Any ChiPy plans for PyCon 2008?]

[Ted Pollari]

On Dec 6, 2006, at 11:47 AM, DiPierro, Massimo wrote:

> My Dean tells me have rooms at DePaul in the student center that  
> may be suitable.
>
> The largest room there can accommodate 550 people and can be split  
> in two rooms easily. There is also another room in the same  
> building that can accommodate about 200 and that can also be split  
> in two smaller rooms.
>
> If the number of participants is closer to 500 than 600 I think  
> this may work. What do you think?
>

How big of a separation is there between the large room and the 200  
capacity room?  Would there be a few more (~50 person) rooms  
available for open-space, quiet-space and storage?

Is the large room some sort of ballroom like space that would have  
movable chairs (vs. a fixed auditorium)?  It might be workable, but I  
know that the mixed schoolroom/theater seating (tables+chairs at the  
back with chairs only in the front 2/3rds of the room) was  
appreciated by many with laptops at the 2006 PyCon.  To get that sort  
of arrangement, we'd likely need a room that topped out above 550  
(assuming that capacity is for a theater/talk sort of setup).

The following is a message I got back in response to my attendance  
question back in May:

On May 23, 2006, at 8:37 AM, A.M. Kuchling wrote:
> On Mon, May 22, 2006 at 05:26:15PM -0500, Ted Pollari wrote:
>> With that in mind, what capacities/projected attendance numbers that
>> we should use in venue scouting?
>
> PyCon 2005 had 430 attendees.  2006 had 410.  For 2007, I'd like to
> aim at 500, and think we can get there by doing better publicity
> and having more tutorials.
>
> For 2008, I think the venue should be able to hold at least 550
> people; capacity for 600 might leave more margin, but we'll see if
> 2007 manages to reach 500 attendees.  Attendance figures are difficult
> to predict: a recession or other external events can depress
> attendance, so we'll have to be flexible and not choose a venue that's
> totally uneconomic if "only" 400 people register.


Given that the PyCon folks are looking for a two year block, if  
possible, I guess my thought would be that it would likely be ok for  
2008 but might be a tight squeeze for 2009, if the attendance guesses  
are correct.   If the associated costs were low enough, it may still  
be tempting enough to get them here, so I'd say that this is  
definitely a good option and we should go forward with it -- the next  
step, I believe would be to find out about room costs, catering  
options, etc, if it's available for the week of 3/24/08.

-ted