Venues

[Stefano Rivera <stefanor@debian.org>]

There are a few styles of venue that have worked well for DebConf.


DebConf13 in Switzerland was a good example of a self-contained
"summer camp for geeks" venue. It was a long bus ride away from the
nearest city, and the local village was tiny, so almost everyone stayed
in the conference venue for the entire conference.

We ran our own bar, and had accommodation on site. So everything was
within a minute or two's walking distance, and everything was unlocked.
It was perfectly safe to leave laptops unattended, anywhere.

On the downside, the dorm accommodation didn't suit everyone (or their
employers), and so some people stayed in a hotel in town. They had to
hire cars to get to the venue every day.

I can't think of any venues like this around Cape Town, although they
probably exist. Wine farms do have conference facilities, but don't tend
to have accommodation (or bandwidth).


Another style is the university town. DC14 in Portland is an example of
this. Almost everyone is staying in university dorm summer
accommodation, two blocks from the venue. People disperse into several
local pubs every evening, or venture further away.

If we can get some conference venues out of Stellenbosch university, it
may be a good fit for this style.


IIRC, in the past, there have been DebConfs where the accommodation
wasn't within short walking distance, and required shuttles. This isn't
ideal, but is manageable.

SR

-- 
Stefano Rivera
  http://tumbleweed.org.za/
  H: +27 21 461 1230 C: +27 72 419 8559