Re: [Debian-NYC] [Fwd: DebConf10 pre-proposal: New York City]
On Aug 11, 2008, at 11:46 PM, Eric Dorland wrote:
> * Ron Guerin (ron@vnetworx.net) wrote:
>> Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
>>> On Aug 11, 2008, at 7:01 PM, Micah Anderson wrote:
>>>
>>>> * Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans@eds.org> [2008-08-11 15:31-0400]:
>>>>
>>>>> The last Podcamp NYC was at Poly, about 250 signed up, with a
>>>>> peak of
>>>>> 160ish at once. The total Podcamp paid Poly was about $3k.
>>>>> Compare
>>>>> that to the previous year in a big hotel's conference center:
>>>>> $30k.
>>>>> Barcamp NYC was just there, it had 24/7 access to one 10m x 20m
>>>>> room
>>>>> with 9 projectors, and 9am-11pm access to the rest of the
>>>>> spaces. I
>>>>> think the budget for Poly was $2k. Poly just merged with NYU, and
>>>>> NYU is a money-making machine, so that might change. Hopefully
>>>>> not.
>>>
>>>> Can you give an idea of how long these events lasted for? Debconf
>>>> is
>>>> typically just shy of 2 weeks, with a smaller debcamp before-hand,
>>>> and a
>>>> larger 1 week event as the main attraction.
>>>
>>> The camps are 1-3 days, so short. The Poly campus is pretty dead in
>>> summer, so two weeks should be possible. But it would also be good
>>> to
>>> mix it up a bit, NYC is a big place. So perhaps the camp could be
>>> at
>>> one location, and the conf at another.
>>>
>>> Also, there is a hacklab 5 minutes away from Poly:
>>> http://www.nycresistor.com/
>>
>> Google has made their facilities in Chelsea available for community
>> events in the past, without charge. This of course is nowhere near
>> Poly, but would be easy on the budget.
>
> Without saying anything "official", I doubt a prolonged event like
> Debcamp would be acceptable since space is fairly hard to come by
> during the day. I'm sure an evening event would be possible but I
> don't think Debian folks would be happy to accept the restrictions
> imposed by Google.
There are various arts organizations (Shashama is one, I beleive) that
match performing groups with temporary empty commercial spaces. The
idea is that while a landlord is moving between tenants (or if he just
doesn't want to rent a space out for a long term lease, for some
reason), he can temporarily convert it to a blackbox theater so that
some group can put their shows up for cheap.
While this space may not be appropriate for presentations, it may be
appropriate 24-hour hacklabs. Internet connectivity might be
unpredictable, but hey, maybe that's just a reason to procure some
OLPC XO's and string them to a nearby Starbucks :)
The pros are that the spaces are cheap, big, could be interesting/
quirky, and Debian could do anything with them short of structural
damage. The cons are that connectivity might be sketch, availability
is a last minute thing (or more precisely, last couple months thing),
and Debian would have to convince an organization like Shashama to
help them out.
Along that note, there are uncountable small theaters that would
gladly rent out space for a couple weeks for some steady income.
Wes
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