Venue Selection - St. Edward's University Ragsdale Center
Brandon Satrom
Good morning everyone,
Wanted to pass along the news that we have ourselves a location for October 8th! Html5.tx will be held at the Ragsdale Center of St. Edwards University, located at 3001 S. Congress in Austin.
Here’s a map of the campus: http://think.stedwards.edu/maps/maincampus
And information about the Ragsdale center: http://think.stedwards.edu/ragsdalecenter/
We’re working out the final details at this point, but we will have at least these two rooms, with the option of a third, if we want it.
Jones Auditorium – Seats 250
Mabee Ballroom C – Seats 120
(optional) Maloney Room – Seats 100
We have two options with this third room, as I see it:
1) Make it another track room and have a 3-track event (track breakdowns TBD)
2) Use it for Open Spaces and/or a Hackathon
Open spaces will introduce an additional cost of around $2k for a professional facilitator. I know of two great such facilitators, but we do need to consider the cost if we go that direction. A Hackathon may not introduce additional cost during the day, but if we choose to start it the night before, we’d have to pay for additional space. Whether we use the room for a third track or an alternative format, I think using a third room is a good idea, at this point.
Also, with Jones Auditorium, we could theoretically cap the event at 250 instead of 200 as we originally estimated.
I’ll be working with Jeff and Tim (who are coordinating the speakers/schedule process—thanks guys!) on these options. In the meantime, I welcome and encourage your feedback, as always.
Thanks,
Brandon
Robert Stackhouse
Strictly on the facilitator note:
Have you talked to Doc List? In the past, he offered to facilitate something for me for free provided he didn't pay for his travel, food or lodging. Don't know if that offer stands, but it is worth finding out. If he volunteers, we should consider paying him an honorarium as a way of saying thanks.
If that fails, I am willing to sacrifice attending the conference to facilitate the open space. I know I'm a loud mouth at times, but Open Spaces are sacred to me. I know it is about the participants, not me. I have read Harrison Owen's book several times, and I have facilitated before.
Robert
On Jun 24, 2011 7:03 AM, "Brandon Satrom" <brsa...@microsoft.com> wrote:
> Good morning everyone,
>
> Wanted to pass along the news that we have ourselves a location for October 8th! Html5.tx will be held at the Ragsdale Center of St. Edwards University, located at 3001 S. Congress in Austin.
>
> Here's a map of the campus: http://think.stedwards.edu/maps/maincampus
> And information about the Ragsdale center: http://think.stedwards.edu/ragsdalecenter/
>
> We're working out the final details at this point, but we will have at least these two rooms, with the option of a third, if we want it.
>
> Jones Auditorium - Seats 250
> Mabee Ballroom C - Seats 120
> (optional) Maloney Room - Seats 100
>
> We have two options with this third room, as I see it:
>
>
> 1) Make it another track room and have a 3-track event (track breakdowns TBD)
>
> 2) Use it for Open Spaces and/or a Hackathon
>
> Open spaces will introduce an additional cost of around $2k for a professional facilitator. I know of two great such facilitators, but we do need to consider the cost if we go that direction. A Hackathon may not introduce additional cost during the day, but if we choose to start it the night before, we'd have to pay for additional space. Whether we use the room for a third track or an alternative format, I think using a third room is a good idea, at this point.
>
> Also, with Jones Auditorium, we could theoretically cap the event at 250 instead of 200 as we originally estimated.
>
> I'll be working with Jeff and Tim (who are coordinating the speakers/schedule process-thanks guys!) on these options. In the meantime, I welcome and encourage your feedback, as always.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Brandon
Brandon Satrom
I know Doc well, and for reasons I agree with, he tried to no longer offer his facilitation services for free. If we do decide to do open spaces, he’s worth the fee, to be sure.
Thanks for the offer, Robert. I’ll keep that in mind. Where an when have you facilitated previously?
Brandon
Robert Stackhouse
Used an open space format to help a student computer graphics org plan their meetings for a semester. I'm low rent compared to Doc for sure. I'm sure if Doc isn't donating his time anymore it is for good reason. He'd be worth every penny.
On Jun 24, 2011 12:13 PM, "Brandon Satrom" <brsa...@microsoft.com> wrote:
> I know Doc well, and for reasons I agree with, he tried to no longer offer his facilitation services for free. If we do decide to do open spaces, he's worth the fee, to be sure.
>
> Thanks for the offer, Robert. I'll keep that in mind. Where an when have you facilitated previously?
>
> Brandon
>
> From: htm...@googlegroups.com [mailto:htm...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Robert Stackhouse
> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2011 11:29 AM
> To: htm...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: Venue Selection - St. Edward's University Ragsdale Center
>
>
> Strictly on the facilitator note:
>
> Have you talked to Doc List? In the past, he offered to facilitate something for me for free provided he didn't pay for his travel, food or lodging. Don't know if that offer stands, but it is worth finding out. If he volunteers, we should consider paying him an honorarium as a way of saying thanks.
>
> If that fails, I am willing to sacrifice attending the conference to facilitate the open space. I know I'm a loud mouth at times, but Open Spaces are sacred to me. I know it is about the participants, not me. I have read Harrison Owen's book several times, and I have facilitated before.
>
> Robert
>
Keith Casey
Brandon Satrom
So it sounds like the general feeling is that the 3rd room would be better utilized for an open space, as opposed to a third track, no? If so, we’ll make it so.
Robert Stackhouse
I don't know about a consensus (Doodle, Twtpoll), but I like giving people the option of voting with their feet.
Robert
On Jun 24, 2011 2:15 PM, "Brandon Satrom" <brsa...@microsoft.com> wrote:
> So it sounds like the general feeling is that the 3rd room would be better utilized for an open space, as opposed to a third track, no? If so, we'll make it so.
>
> From: htm...@googlegroups.com [mailto:htm...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Keith Casey
> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2011 2:12 PM
> To: htm...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: Venue Selection - St. Edward's University Ragsdale Center
>
>
> I've organized Open Spaces & Uncon style things a dozen times now.. I'm more than willing to help on the ground there.
>
> kc
>
> On Jun 24, 2011, at 10:21 AM, Robert Stackhouse wrote:
>
>
>
> Used an open space format to help a student computer graphics org plan their meetings for a semester. I'm low rent compared to Doc for sure. I'm sure if Doc isn't donating his time anymore it is for good reason. He'd be worth every penny.
>
> On Jun 24, 2011 12:13 PM, "Brandon Satrom" <brsa...@microsoft.com<mailto:brsa...@microsoft.com>> wrote:
>> I know Doc well, and for reasons I agree with, he tried to no longer offer his facilitation services for free. If we do decide to do open spaces, he's worth the fee, to be sure.
>>
>> Thanks for the offer, Robert. I'll keep that in mind. Where an when have you facilitated previously?
>>
>> Brandon
>>
>> From: htm...@googlegroups.com<mailto:htm...@googlegroups.com> [mailto:htm...@googlegroups.com<mailto:htm...@googlegroups.com>] On Behalf Of Robert Stackhouse
>> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2011 11:29 AM
>> To: htm...@googlegroups.com<mailto:htm...@googlegroups.com>
>> Subject: Re: Venue Selection - St. Edward's University Ragsdale Center
>>
>>
>> Strictly on the facilitator note:
>>
>> Have you talked to Doc List? In the past, he offered to facilitate something for me for free provided he didn't pay for his travel, food or lodging. Don't know if that offer stands, but it is worth finding out. If he volunteers, we should consider paying him an honorarium as a way of saying thanks.
>>
>> If that fails, I am willing to sacrifice attending the conference to facilitate the open space. I know I'm a loud mouth at times, but Open Spaces are sacred to me. I know it is about the participants, not me. I have read Harrison Owen's book several times, and I have facilitated before.
>>
>> Robert
>>
Brandon Satrom
Done. We’ll use Maloney for open spaces and/or for a Hackathon.
Jeff Carouth
Dickerson, Monty
I see three (four?) plusses to having a “the night before” side to a tech conference.
1. Facilitates networking, comradery and a sense of community which synergizes the interaction in sessions on the main day.
2. Every other Austin-based tech conference does it, so it must be right?
3. Anything that makes the conference into a legit 2-day event allows State personnel to be reimbursed for food & lodging expense
4. aus.gingermanpub.com :)
Monty
@puresight
From: htm...@googlegroups.com [mailto:htm...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jeff Carouth
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2011 2:36 PM
To: htm...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: RE: Venue Selection - St. Edward's University Ragsdale Center
Regarding the Hackathon, what is the additional cost of starting it up the night before? Also, how long would we have the space on October 8?
- Jeff
Brandon Satrom
Agreed on all points!
Another interesting option would be to kick off the Hackathon at some kind of co-working space, or hacker-friendly local pub…
Keith Casey
Brandon Satrom
Awesome, Keith!
Brandon Satrom
I’ll check on the additional cost. As for the 8th, we’d have the space until 5. We should probably plan a closing session around the 4 timeframe.