Questions about size of room

Thu Dec 16 13:11:51 PST 2010

It is definitely a good idea to ask the public safety people or the the 
fire marshall about the maximum capacity... it might also turn out that 
you are not allowed to have more than 199 people (thats the rule in most 
German states)sitting in chairs that are not bolted to the floor or 
joined together. This makes sense for emergency but not for a gathering 
in open space... when we had 2108 in Wuerzburg, the janitor passing by 
us while we were discussing how to deal with the "chair problem" asked: 
"Why not have them sit on the floor on small cushions?" We bought 2000 
of them (the kind you might have on a wooden garden chair) and it was 
genius... have a look at the pictures here
> http://www.boscop.org/events/165

Klick on the picture you see there which will lead you to 87 more, 
picture 6 shows you the center, picture 23 shows how a participant posts 
an issue on the bulletin board (it consisted of 3 of the 4 walls in the 
space, each 50 meters long)... we actually used the bulletin board also 
to become the news wall with the reports hung right next to the issues 
(see picture 29), picture 37 shows you how participants dealt with the 
fact that there were more than 50 issues in each of the three breakout 
sessions, pictures 46,47,48 and 49 shows you the grandchildren crew 
filling little cotton bags with sand on the beach 400 miles north of 
Wuerzburg weeks before the event (they were used to anchor the ballons 
we used to mark breakout spaces), the same crew under the supervision of 
their grandmother painted the bumblebees and butterflies we floated on 
large ballons in the space (50, 51, 52)...there may be restrictions 
regarding flammable material!!...53 shows you HO wondering how the team 
would get their act together (there were 12 os us)...64 shows you the 
advanced technique I use to this day to get footprints onto the poster 
with the law using my shoes...68 shows the setup nicely with a few 
chairs at the edge for people able to sit only on chairs...

Once the event got started there was no way for us to manage anything 
and it wasnt necessary since the participants took over with the 
greatest ease and navigated through what anyone looking on from the 
outside would have considered pure mayhem, chaos...

Have a great time simmering away
greetings from Berlin curious to hear how it went!
mmp

By the way, I ask how many people the space will hold with people 
sitting "theater style" and divide that by 2,5 or 3 depending on the 
geometry of the space (longish I take 3 more rectangular I take 2,5) and 
what I alway insist on is seeing the space well in advance and to 
arrange a part of the circles to get a picture...

Harrison Owen wrote:
> I think the 2-3” shows up somewhere in The User’s Guide – which doesn’t 
> make it official, but it has always worked for me. And Yes – that is 
> just for the Bulletin Board / Market place wall. News Room will take 
> more and probably different space. When it comes to room size, my rule 
> of thumb is to half the rated capacity of the room. So if the Fire 
> Marshall says the place will hold 300 people that should be good for 150 
> in Open Space. Nothing magical about those numbers, but it should get 
> you started.
> 
>  
> 
> Harrison
> 
>  
> 
> *From:* OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] *On Behalf Of 
> *Jennifer Hurley
> *Sent:* Thursday, December 16, 2010 12:47 PM
> *To:* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> *Subject:* Questions about size of room
> 
>  
> 
> Hello everyone!  First, thank you for all of the wonderful OS insight 
> everyone on this list brings.  I’ve been a mostly lurker for a few years 
> and have learned lots from all of you.
> 
> Now to my questions – I’m planning my first large OS (we’re expecting 
> about 800 people, and previously, the largest group I’ve done OS with is 
> about 100).  I’m having trouble figuring out some of the logistics.  I 
> saw an estimate on this list that you should plan for 2-3” of wall space 
> per person, which would suggest at least 133’ for my group of 800.  Is 
> that estimate just for the topic wall, or does it include space for the 
> notes as well? I also found a wonderful tool from Koos de Heer, Auryn 
> management advies. (http://www.auryn.nl/) for estimating how many chairs 
> will fit in a circle of a given dimension, but does anyone know how to 
> estimate the number of chairs what will fit in an *oval* of a certain 
> dimension?
> 
> As soon as I can find the time, I’m going to write you all the story of 
> how this OS came about – it’s been a slow simmering process over at 
> least 7 years!
> 
> Thanks,
> Jennifer Hurley
> __________________________
> HURLEY~FRANKS & ASSOCIATES
> 1500 Walnut St STE 504  |  Philadelphia, PA 19102
> p: 215-988-9440  |  f: 215-988-9441  |  c: 267-971-4598
> JLHurley at hfadesign.com  |  http://www.hfadesign.com
> Certified WDBE through PA UCP, City of Philadelphia OEO, and NJ UCP
> 
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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49-30-772 8000
mmpanne at boscop.org
www.boscop.org

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