Venue for 2017-2018

[gsaslis]

I'm opening this issue for a general discussion on whether we should move away from our venue in ITE/FORTH, so that all concerns and pros/cons can be voiced and recorded, for future reference.

So far, most of the discussions have taken place in a rather non-persistent form, so I think there's value in keeping a central reference as this issue has come up more than once. This would serve as a good place to send ppl next time it does.

For reference, I am recording some key requirements for our venue of choice, as collected over the past 2 years:

• [ ] must be free: always having to find sponsors to cover the venue is a huge issue, we want to avoid it, given that we have alternatives.
• [ ] must be big enough for 50-100 ppl: this is the range our attendance
• [ ] projector + screen must be available
• [ ] decent internet connection (for remote speakers)

So far, we are aware of two such venues:

:one: ITE/FORTH :two: Koinonikos Horos, Idrymata Kalokairinou @ town center

I am also recording some pros/cons for each one, that we have discussed in past org meetups.

:one: ITE / FORTH

Pros

• ample parking space
• great internet speeds
• almost always available
• it has become the de facto DevStaff meetup venue

Cons

• You probably need a car to get there.
• Even with a car, it does take some time (though maybe not more than trying to find a parking spot in town)
• limited capacity: when over 80ppl it gets really crammed

:two: Koinonikos Horos, Idrymata Kalokairinou

Pros

• walking distance for many people
• by donating food supplies DevStaff gives back something to the broader community, not just fellow devs
• bigger capacity (100-120ppl)
• post-event activities: in town, so lots of options (food/drinks)

Cons

• Sound: should be fine with microphone, but suffers otherwise
• projector: poor quality
• networking space: not as big
• parking is a problem
• internet: wifi was poor, not sure about speed of ethernet connectivity

if more venue options are added in the comments below, I can update this list, so we can use corresponding reactions as votes. Still, this is not just a vote - it is an open board for discussion and sharing your views

[sourcegr]

Καλημέρα.

Το Η2Β ακούγεται καλή ιδέα αρχικά.

Αλλά... κατάλαβα καλά; Χωράνε μέχρι 50 άτομα; Γιατί αν ναι, πολύ φοβάμαι ότι είναι πολύ μικρής χωρητικότητας. 50 άτομα μαζεύουμε ακόμα και αν κάνουμε meetup για την επίπτωση που έχουν τα semicolons στην JS στον αμφιβληστροειδή της γάτας του developer...

Κατά τα άλλα, το parking εκεί, είναι ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΙ πρόβλημα...

[mpof7]

Hi everyone,

I don't usually participate in such "debates - discussions" but I thought "Why not?". What a vivid conversation you have here! Okay, my vote goes to H2B HUB because it comprises something new (and thus neutral) and also it's in the town center. Having said that, I should mention that in my opinion the "attendance drop" issue is not only related to the venue and I think that the organizers firstly and the community as whole secondly, should take into consideration the following aspects - operations:

• Subject choice (voting is not the only efficient method, variety of subjects???)
• Reckoning and mapping the audience (get to know your audience and especially the "newcomers")
• Delivery method(s) (merely through static presentations and discussions only, more interesting methods available to assist)
• Social networking (as organizers try to help people to commute; again especially the newcomers, maybe through some "tricks" or initiatives regarding the "free hour" and apart from pizzas and drinks)
• Take into consideration to reduce the time from 3 to 2 hours OR incorporate some brakes (not everyone have the same energy levels as well as the ability to continuously concentrate on different subjects)

P.S. Try to make the DevStaff Community meetups less typical, boring and strict, instead make them more interesting, engaging, useful and funny to the members.

Thanks

[zakkak]

Just an update regarding the FORTH room. It has been renovated (and it looks pretty nice, but that's not that important) and is now equipped with a nice projector with embedded speakers (and finally you can use HDMI to connect to it).

[zakkak]

Is anyone still unhappy with Pancretan? The internet connection was fine in the last meetup.

[sonaht]

Guys shall we close this down... it is fairly covered and no point having still open.

[sonaht]

closing this as very old, see title