On 7/28/08, Tom Holden <thomas.holden(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Well there certainly are larger venues than the town hall in Oxford.
> (Though the town hall may be able to accommodate more than 500. Their
> website suggests both 500 and around 750. I've sent off a clarification
> e-mail about this.) The Sheldonian can seat up to 1000 and the Playhouse can
> seat 613.
>
>
>
> Using both of the two 450 seating rooms at Exam schools is another
> possibility perhaps. We could have cameras and projectors in both rooms, and
> take it in turns between having a live video feed from the 1st to the 2nd,
> and a live feed from the 2nd to the 1st. (This would obviously only work
> if there were going to be multiple speakers in the talk.)
>
Breaking up a single session between different spaces would make for a
pretty impoverished experience, in my opinion. (If I understand you
correctly.)
Just to be clear on what we need - we need a large theatre/room that holds
*all* delegates (say, 700) for openings/keynotes/closings; then we need a
range of medium-sized rooms that hold groups of people (eg. 1x200, 2x150,
3x80) for presentations; then we need a communal space (or several spaces)
where people can mingle, chat, display posters, have coffee, etc. In
addition, we will probably need somewhere to eat communally - this wasn't
provided for in Alexandria, but it has been one of the criticisms of the
conference raised in its wake.
Cormac