Need a place to host Chicago Tech Events

[Zishan Ahmad]

Taken from the Chicago Tech Scene blog:

Every so often, someone will ask me, "Do you know where I can hold my event?"

It’s a considerable problem for organizers, who are often creating these events for the benefit of the community. We then have to ask, why is it so difficult and time-consuming to find a space?

Boston has the Microsoft NERD center.

Great idea. Available for anyone to hold tech/startup events. Benefits the community. Makes it much easier to organize events. Takes out the venue cost and concern. Benefits the supplier. Improves the community.

I realize there are a few existing venues that have been popular, but as I understand it, they charge several thousand for each event, plus the added headache of insurance, providing one's own tables and chairs, etc.

So, who is up for helping the Chicago startup/tech community?

Just announce that you are making your venue available for tech/startup events in the city and the community will surely pay you back with more business, gratitude and karma. Everybody wins.

This meeting space should have chairs in a classroom setting (not a bar, restaurant or club), for anywhere between 50 to 250 people, possibly for every week-night (Mon-Thu) bookable on a first-come-first-serve basis for anyone hosting 'free' events for the startup/tech community.  Ideally, there should also be audio and video hook ups (projector, mic, speakers, etc).

In return, the space gets wide-recognition in the city, and the events will list the space provider as a sponsor and promote it.

Who's up for it?

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Note: The above is inspired by a message from Murat Aktihanoglu to NYTM. We're having an identical problem, so why mess with a good thing? ;)

Regards,
Zishan

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[David L Kinney]

Zishan,

I replied to the author's blog and will reiterate my response here:
TechNexus (http://www.technexus.org/) meets the criteria cited by the
original author -- except maybe the number of attendees that can be
accommodated (140 instead of 250). They provide their venue for free
to non-profit events that benefit the Chicago tech community, such as
iPhoneDevCamp, iPadDevCamp, and various Flex-related meet-ups I've
attended there.

Regards,
David

On Apr 19, 2:28 pm, Zishan Ahmad <zishan.ah...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Taken from the Chicago Tech Scene

> blog<http://chicago.techscene.us/2010/04/19/need-a-place-to-host-chicago-t...>
> :

>
> Every so often, someone will ask me, "Do you know where I can hold my event?"

--
Subscription settings: http://groups.google.com/group/hn-chicago/subscribe?hl=en

[David Wachtendonk]

I forwarded your message to the owner of hayesproperties (hayesproperties.com) to see if they help.

Sincerely,


David Wachtendonk
Murder Mystery Maniacs, Inc
Chief Envelope Stuffer | Founder

Phone: 773.649.1598
da...@host-a-murder.com
www.host-a-murder.com

[Daniel Zarick]

I'm a student and work at Columbia College Chicago. We have tons of space plus a brand new building designed by Jeanne Gang, the Media Production Center: http://www.columbiasmoment.org/index.php. I've been slowly pestering people about becoming more technology-focused (we are an arts & media school), so I'm going to try to pursue this a bit more.

Would people be interested in spending more time around Columbia? I don't want to make noise about this if nobody is interested.

Daniel

[Zishan Ahmad]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  Response posted here: 

http://chicago.techscene.us/2010/04/19/need-a-place-to-host-chicago-tech-events/#comment-46186410

Regards,
Zishan