Cambridge Venue for Linux Kernel Summit in '07

[Ellie Young]

On Sep 19, 2006, at 1:50 AM, Steven Whitehouse wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Mon, 2006-09-18 at 14:32 -0700, Ellie Young wrote:
>> Hello Operation Cambridge Folks,
>>
>> USENIX has been investigating the various options supplied by this
>> list  to see if we can obtain a viable venue for next year's Linux
>> Kernel Summit.   Here's a report, our recommendation, and next steps.
>>
>> We sent specs to "Conference Cambridge" which disseminates specs and
>> rfp's to the Cambridge universities/colleges.  Then, if any of them
>> have the space/dates, etc., they contact the customer.  We heard back
>> from:
>>
>> Clare College:  they  only have a lecture hall (vs. round table
>> seating that we prefer) for the #'s we have attending.
>> Queens College cannot "do rounds in lecture theatre or dining hall"
>> Moller Centre seats 70 "cabaret style" but not 4-5 per banquet round
>> per our specs
>> St John's College has a lecture hall only. The seats do "roll
>> back" (which was stated in one of this list's e-mails), but it
>> becomes a badminton court which is used by the college.  They insist
>> they can only offer the tiered lecture seating.
>>
> That sounds pretty similar, but slightly different to the response  
> I had
> from Conference Cambridge. I had Hommerton College on my list as well,
> but thats a bit further outside the City centre than the others and
> might be considered too far.

The problem with all of the campus locations is they don't  
accommodate the cabaret seating
(4 people to a round table) that has been the standard for the  
Summit.  The hotel barely does and
it will be a tight squeeze, but we can manage.

Homerton has two rms that seat 80-100 theatre or cabaret style, not  
the square footage we need for LKS.
>
> I wonder whether the lecture hall that Clare offered was within the
> college itself? They told me that they would offer the facilities  
> of the
> Law Faculty since they didn't have anywhere large enough themselves,
> although the brochure they sent suggested that they did have some  
> rooms
> not far off the size we requested.

Yes, the room was in the Law Faculty and seats 169 people in tiered  
classrm style per the e-mail I received from the college.  Again, not  
the type of format.

>
> Did you get a reference number for your enquiry with Conference
> Cambridge? I have 138506 as the reference for my enquiry and it  
> might be
> worth letting them know that its the same event for both queries. A
> summary of my enquires was posted to this list recently, so if you
> missed that, I'll forward a copy to you.

We got the info from Ted on the mailing list.  The new reference # is  
151206 and yes, Conference Cambridge knows it's the same conference  
as ref #138506.

>
>> We also sent the specs to the Cambridge Tourist Ofc
>> (cambridge.gov.uk) who sent them to the hotels. We looked at every
>> hotel listed on the "Cambridge Area Guide - Cambridge, England
>> Conference Centres and Event Space" to determine if they had what we
>> needed.  Only the DeVere University Arms did (from whom we have a
>> proposal) and the Crowne Plaza looked like they MIGHT.  However, the
>> Crowne Plaza, after several e-mails clarifying their space, does not.
>>
>> Recommendation:
>>
>> DeVere University Arms
>> Dates:  Sept. 4-7, 2007  (note: Sept 3 is a holiday in USA, so we
>> figure the workshop could  be held either 5-7 or 6-7.
>> Ballroom is 2944 sq ft, smaller than the room in the Ottawa Congress
>> Centre (the round tables will be tight, but Ted thinks it's doable.)
>>
> Its certainly in the right area of town, and fairly close to the  
> centre.
>
>> Prices are in “packages”.  We recommend that we go with:
>>
>> Day delegate:  Approx $94 USD per person
>> Incl am coffee break, finger buffet lunch, pm tea break, flipchart,
>> lcd proj/screen, water in mtg room, “main”mtg room rental.  (they
>> assure us that the lunch will not leave people hungry :-)
>>
>> We could book the conference with the Day delegate pkg and let people
>> just book their own hotel rooms.   This might be better since there
>> are probably other lower-priced hotels nearby.
>>
> Did you get an indication of their room charges?

Yes, 145 pounds approx. $273 USD.

>
>> We will arrange dinners/evening activities at venues close by (need
>> help from the locals w/ their suggestions).
>>
> There are plenty of colleges with large enough halls for dinner, if we
> still want to use it as an excuse to allow people to visit a  
> college. We
> might be a bit stuck for restaurants I guess since Cambridge is
> generally rather small and there are probably few that can take the
> numbers. The one I had in mind as a possible venue appears to take  
> only
> 50 maximum.

That is one of the tasks we would like to have the person at  
Cambridge who ends up
being the liaison /local arrangements person do for us.

>
> Also several of the colleges are close enough that it would be
> feasible to use them for accommodation if required.

Someone local might want to try to negotiate something and we could  
put that up
on the web site, but it might be better for networking if people stay  
at the hotel.

>
>> Residential guest parking approx $19 USD
> Parking is always a problem in Cambridge. I guess we'll not need too
> much as most people will be coming via public transport. There are  
> buses
> from all the major airports to Cambridge and they terminate in the  
> city
> centre quite close to the De Vere University Arms.
>
> If its any help, I can be contacted on +44 (0)781 2059401 (mobile) or
> +44 (0)1792 513737 (office) although I'm too far away to count as  
> local,
> I did live in Cambridge for four years,
>
> Steve.
>
>