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

Tue Mar 19 05:59:23 PDT 2013

Dear Kari,

I have found the following rule of thumb in general useful.

1.  Two square meters per participant is minimum to have both opening, closing and discussions in one room. So 100 sq m means maximum 50 participants.
2.  One and a half meters per participant to have opening and closing, but space outside the room needed for discussion groups-

The above assumes that:
- 100 square meters is 100 real square meters. Some locations calculate outer boundary rather than real surface space, there may be factors reducing the real space available, 
  such as pillars, things fixed to the floor, I even once found there was a round bar in the middle of a very large space - not movable …..;
  drinks etc to be served outside the room, computer station and registration outside the room - if you have all that inside, I agree with Gerardo's 3 sq meters.

On the other hand, there may be reasons why there is more space than seems the case. Like a large lobby area around, some tables and chairs on a terrace outside 
when the weather is nice, and so on.  I always like to have a look around on site to see whether there are these kind of possibilities.

I have also found the shape of the room has some impact. A round or square room somehow seems to accommodate more people than a room which is longish.
Finally the power of the question I feel also has an influence on how many fit into a room. I once had 200 in a cellar 40 by 7 meters, dark and my head almost touched the ceiling,
so by all calculations a space very unfit. It did not matter. They used it because they were i trouble and could not afford to rent a location, and it sort of enhanced the sense
something had to be done.

Hope this is useful,

Greetings from a beginning snowstorm,

Gerard Muller
Open Space Institute Denmark

On Mar 19, 2013, at 1:44 PM, Michael M Pannwitz <mmpannwitz at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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>
>>    _______________________________________________
>>    OSList mailing list
>>    To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>>    <mailto:OSList at lists.openspacetech.org>
>>    To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
>>    <mailto:OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org>
>>    To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>>    http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>> 
>>    --
>> 
>>    <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>
>> 
>>    *Gerardo de Luzenberger
>>    ***IAF: Certified Professional Facilitator*Mob: +39 3293281343*
>>    <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>ge at scuolafacilitazione.it
>>    <https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/blocked::mailto:info@scuolafacilitazione.it>
>> 
>> 
>>    **
>> 
>>    *
>>    **SSF - Scuola di Facilitazione*
>> 
>>    *Via AlessandroVolta 6*
>>    *20121 Milano*
>>    Tel: +39 02 89751746
>>    *Fax: +39 02 87151318 *
>>    info at scuolafacilitazione.it
>>    www.scuoladifacilitazione.it <http://www.scuoladifacilitazione.it>
>>    www.loci.it
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> OSList mailing list
>> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>> 
> 
> -- 
> Michael M Pannwitz
> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> ++49 - 30-772 8000
> 
> 
> 
> Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 405 resident Open Space Workers in 72 countries working in a total of 143 countries worldwide: www.openspaceworldmap.org
> _______________________________________________
> OSList mailing list
> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org