2010/4/7 Robyn Bergeron robyn.bergeron@gmail.com:
Sorry for the cross-post - not sure which list is more appropriate :)
So - I'm looking into doing a bid for the ever-so-awesome city of Tempe, Arizona (ASU, baby!!).
Before I start calling around - I figured that there are probably a few pieces of information that might be useful to have. They aren't really called out on any of the fudcon bid / sop pages, so it might be helpful to answer them and then add the info to the wiki pages.
#1: How many days? From what I can see - it looks like 3 full days, at least in Toronto for a North America FUDCon. Is this flexible ("we'll throw in conference rooms if everyone stays an extra day,")? A guideline? Etc?
So far, every fudcon i've been to has been at least three days long.
#2: Approximate number of people?
Check previous fudcons, but estimate around 200+
#3: Number of conference rooms. I haven't been to a FUDCon (yet - yet!) so - I'm not really sure here. One or two large rooms (capacity #???) and... smaller rooms?
We need at least one room / one room + overflow room that can hold everyone. We do this to get thing going in the morning and at the closing. I've never seen many rooms fully and tightly packed during any presentation though, with some small exceptions, (or large ones). Having an array of rooms from 20p to 60p along with that big one should do the trick.
#4: if it is a venue whose conference room policy is "all lunches / food has to be provided by us" - is that an automatic thumbs down? Or do we plan a two hour lunch offsite (hopefully not far away)?
Usually conference centers who do this are looking to recoup some kind of loss. If they absolutely won't accept any other option, then they are just bad negotiators. On the other hand, they are also probably keeping kitchen staff on hand that they have to pay, and sometimes they are even bound by unions. If they insist on being a vendor for food, just play hardball and make sure they provide certain guarantees, and hold them to their word. They essentially deny you the right to pick your own vendor and make the best choice, so you have to let them know you see things this way and expect only top quality from them.
Just my two cents.
-Yaakov