thanks for bringing that up, alex.
thinking without being constrained by the current venue, i imagine the ideal .org mixer space would be rectangular, with all the booths around the perimeter. since there are fewer distractions in .org space, everyone can be visible from every location. a contained space allows a free flow of clusters of people across the center that won't clog any arteries or block other booths. and people can visit exhibitors in the order that makes sense to them.
i think .com booths in general need more individual space while also needing to get rowdier from time to time. they need to be able to have high energy presence because they are making sales while doing their outreach.
...lori
On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 2:58 PM, Gareth J. Greenaway
<gareth@socallinuxexpo.org> wrote:
> The are currently two exhibitor halls at SCALE, with a large open space
> in between them. We're exploring ideas to utilize this space better
> Thanks again! A few ideas that have been discussed by the team already
> include having some banners that promote the exhibitors who have been
> supporting SCALE for awhile.
We currently have booths which are mostly hangouts mixed in with the
booths that have a project/product focus. It doesn't work very well
because the cluster of chatting people tends to disrupt mobility and
access to the adjacent booths. I suspect it's a factor why some
sponsors choose to support the events and don't have a booth any more.
This year Facebook had both sides of an endcap that it seemed to work
out well [verify with them in case I'm wrong].
Maybe we could encourage sponsors to distinguish between having a
booth in the conventional sense and/or contributing to an in-corridor
social space. Aim for that space to be segmented by vendor more for
theming than anything else, since the idea is to chat and socialize
without the presentation tools that would need a booth. Give the
social space the same pricing and basic initial setup as conventional
booths, but make it clear the collection of vendors can make (ahem)
improvements. Propose the option of having an endcap as a product
booth in either of the halls that is close to their social space if
they would like to have both.
In addition to using the corridor constructively, it may also free up
more project booth space ... which I gather ran out fairly quickly
this time?
_______________________________________________
Scale-planning mailing list
Scale-planning@lists.linuxfests.org
https://lists.linuxfests.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/scale-planning