[Debconf-team] [DC14] Portland team: DebConf in the USA

[Gunnar Wolf <gwolf@gwolf.org>]

And as the mails I just sent, some salient questions for you:

USA, the eternal debate
=======================

First, there's the obvious issue of going to the USA. Several European
DebConf usual attendees voiced their opposition (and some didn't
travel) to DebConf10, and several non-first-world will probably have a
hard time getting the visa.

There is also this tradition we have of not repeating countries. Of
course, being the USA such a large country, and being its Debian
population so large, I would not give much weight to the argument, but
I have seen it mentioned on IRC.

Now, I know we cannot please everybody. I know that by having a
DebConf in the USA we will (as we did in NYC) get the attendance of
several new, long-term-involved people.

Proposed venue
==============

I feel the proposed work rooms you mention for the venue somewhat
small. Quoting from the Wiki:

    One main plenary room with capacity for 200. This room has
    removable partitions that convert it into two talk rooms during
    sessions, one @ 98 places, one @ 70 places.
    One additional talk room @ 48 places.
    Two hacklabs, one @ 90 places and one @ 54 places, for a combined
    capacity of 144. 

    If attendance is higher than expected, we will have the option of
    reserving more or larger rooms closer to the date of the event
    (subject to availability). 

But, if we are looking at a >300 people attendance, there will be many
saturation moments. Do you have an idea of those additional spaces'
fees and capacities?