[OSList] What are your thoughts on venue size selection?

[Michael M Pannwitz]

I see it about the same way as you, Gerardo, the number of people in an 
open space is in relation to the main space where everyone is gathering 
for the start, the bulletin board and the market.
My rule of thumb is to ask how many folks the room will hold theater 
style seating (in rows) and divide that by 3 (for larger rooms you can 
also get the number of chairs allowed by the firedepartment and divide 
by three)... that usually allows both for the circle and enough space 
for the bulletin board.
Of course, the shape is important.
Karis large room is fairly perfect, in my experience, with dimensions 
similar to that of an A4 sheet (3 x 2), leaving enough space at either 
end of the room for the bulletin board... or for one or two breakout 
spaces for the time after the opening with some breaking up of the 
initial circle.
You can probably get everyone to sit in one real circle with about 35 
people, or have a very perfect circle with about 22 people and then add 
parts of circles on the two edges facing the narrow side of the room to 
accomodate about 40 people.
Of course, the neat approach is to have a good guess at how many people 
are expected and search for a venue THEN.
Another observation I have made is that the space is never too large... 
and spacious is grand for open space... with the additional option to 
have all of the action (breakout spaces etc.) all in one space for 
everyone to see the whole action all the time (the never-ending buffet 
is better outside in the hallway close to the news wall).

Greetings from Berlin where I told a potential client a couple of weeks 
ago that the space he has for his event with 400 folks is big enough for 
a 135 people open space... no response!
mmp




.03.2013 12:30, scuola superiore facilitazione wrote:
> Hi Kàri.
> The problem is the opening  - you need to put all participants into one
> room.
> So I normally calculate the /carrying capacity /on the main room.
> My rule of the thumb is 3sqm per participants.
> Of course you can reduce the parameter a bit according to the shape of
> the room
> ge
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 11:18 PM, Kári Gunnarsson
> <kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is <mailto:kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is>> wrote:
>
>     Dear Oslist
>
>     A client is asking about how many people he can have in Open Space for
>     a given venue.
>
>     The space is divided in 3 rooms, on of them is upstairs. There
>     dimensions and spaces are as follows:
>
>     Big room: 7,8m x 12,8m (100 m2)
>     Small side room: 5,0m x 8,8m (44 m2)
>     Long room upstairs: 3,4m x 12,8m (43 m2)
>
>     Total work area: 187 m2
>
>     Here are my gestimations:
>     If I where only to use the large room, then I would only invite
>     40-50 people
>     If I where to exclude the room upstairs then I could invite 60-70 people
>     But if I would include the room upstairs, then I could perhaps invite
>     up to 90 people
>
>     What are your thoughts on venue selection?
>
>     --
>     Kári Gunnarsson
>     kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is <mailto:kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is>
>     gsm: +354 8645189 <tel:%2B354%208645189>
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>
>     *Gerardo de Luzenberger
>     ***IAF: Certified Professional Facilitator*Mob: +39 3293281343*
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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49 - 30-772 8000



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