Category talk:Venue

This page is for discussion of different venues, likes/dislikes, and reasons for choosing one location or another. Please add your comments to the end of the page, and sign it with four tildes, like this:

I really liked the site visit to Inflow. - ~~~~

Which becomes

I really liked the site visit to Inflow. - Vance 05:52, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

Reasons for leaving CMU

Our ability to obtain rooms at Carnegie Mellon University hinged on the position of members on staff there. WPLUG has no official status in the eyes of CMU, so we were reliant on these members to request rooms. As members have moved on to other employment and had other demands on their time, this has become unworkable. We had a 8 year succession of volunteers that made this process look trivial. WPLUG would like to thank Jen Landefeld, Jonathan Billings, Brian Sammon, Beth Lynn Eicher, and Ted Rodgers for their service as venue host at Carnegie Mellon.

Even with the ability to reserve rooms, we were always under the threat of being bumped by some other event that the university deemed more important to its mission. This made it extremely difficult to plan and announce a schedule in advance, as we were essentially at the bottom of the totem pole and had to work around everyone else's needs. Having to deal with the front doors of each building being locked was also an annoyance, with people having to call during the presentation in order to be let in.

We are therefore looking for a venue to serve as our main meeting location that meets our needs. For the short term (next 3 months), we have settled on the Wilkins School Community Center in Swissvale. It is inexpensive compared to other venues we looked into, conveniently located right off the Parkway East and the 61B bus route, and presents no hassles in obtaining access to the building and rooms.

For the long term, we are still considering options. In addition to the Wilkins School, we've looked into the Union Project in East Liberty, the Pittsburgh Technology Council's offices on Second Avenue, and for installfests the Mount Lebanon and Monroeville public libraries. CMU or Pitt are still options, but subject to being able to meet the needs below.

The major characteristics we've identified as needs are:

1. A building that welcomes the general public in a conspicuous safe area. No residences please.
2. Ability to schedule meetings for an entire year in advance, and have those reservations stick.
3. We can afford a modest charge, but the lower the cost the better.
4. Conference rooms or classrooms with seating for at least 25 with access to electricity.
5. Reasonable access by car and public transportation, and easy access to the building/room from the mode of transportation.
6. Opportunity to interact with the local community and have WPLUG be valued as a contributor to that community.
7. Internet access (necessary for installfests, desired for general user meetings).

If you have ideas about or contacts in venues that might be suitable for us, please speak up! You can discuss this here, on the wplug mailing list, or contact any of the board members. - Vance 06:06, 14 November 2008 (UTC)