2008 venue ideas

This is the page for types of venues (eg university) and specifics (eg university name, facilities, contact, etc)

If we're going for Birmingham:

http://www.thisisfeed.co.uk/ FEED at Matthew Boulton College, Millennium Point. A fantastic space that's only been open for a few months and has small rooms, lots of Macs, tables, seating areas, near to a bar, cinema, lots of parking, near to the train station. Pete Ashton is going to chat to one of the people behind it to see if anything is possible.

http://www.baskervillehouse.com/ Baskerville House on Broad Street Birmingham would be appropriate. Baskerville is Birmingham's most famous typographic export, with the typeface named after John Baskerville, and this building bears his name. Good space, lots of rooms, but no bar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baskerville

http://www.bham.ac.uk University of Birmingham. I'm on the industrial board of the School of Computer Science so could look into using some of their facilities. Perhaps a little on the 'dry' side?

http://www.custardfactory.co.uk The Custard Factory - home to many of Birmingham's smaller creative companies it has some good outdoor space, rooms for hire, bars, cafes and places to eat as well as free wifi. However it's a little out of town and a dedicated 'conferency' space might be difficult.

There's plenty more - I'll keep giving this some thought.

Stef Lewandowski - http://www.steflewandowski.com - http://www.twitter.com/aeioux - stef@3form.net

http://www.bcu.ac.uk Birmingham City University. Paul Bradshaw (that's me typing) is a senior lecturer there, as is blogger Andrew Dubber. New head of website very switched on, and good online profile, may be keen to take it on. Several campuses dotted around the city.

Paul Bradshaw - http://onlinejournalismblog.com - http://twitter.com/paulbradshaw - paul.bradshaw@bcu.ac.uk

Maybe Wolverhampton!!! http://www.light-house.co.uk/facilities.shtml - Light House Media Centre – Home of Flip Animation Festival, Wolverhampton University’s Computer Games Conference 2008, Disability Film Festival, Deaffest (Deaf Film & TV Festival). Linux/Lug Radio Annual Conference 2007 – Supporter of Creative/New/Digital Media and lots more… Contact: Ren Walton

I went and had a chat with the team at E-Office in Central Birmingham, which is located directly next to New Street Station.

http://www.eoffice.net/location/serviced_office_birmingham.htm

I pitched the idea that they could give us the venue for free in return for some kind of brand exposure an sponsorship offer. They liked the idea and need some information from us on what we're looking for and what they would get in return. Interestingly the place is usually close at weekends, has an 80 seater room with project and seating, loads of desk space, break out rooms, free wifi, power sockets everywhere, a kitchen, a reception area for registration and it's really close to bars, eateries, etc. Anyone care to lend a hand on sponsorship offer please let me know!

Stef Lewandowski - http://www.stef.io - http://www.twitter.com/aeioux - stef@3form.net