WordCamp Edinburgh UK 2012 venue bids

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Selection of venue

The following are responses to the invitation to propose the venue and related social activities for the follow-up to WordCamp Portsmouth UK 2012, to be held Saturday and Sunday 14-15 July 2012.

Discussion will be on the WPUK mailing list (registration required), working to the deadline of 11 December 2011.

Edinburgh

Contact

  1. Name and email contact for bid? (email address redacted): Taryn Wallis
  2. If others are involved in the bid list names and email addresses (email addresses redacted): Martin Young

    3. Venue

  3. Name and postal address of venue? Surgeons’ Hall, Royal College of Surgeons, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9DW
  4. Does the venue have easy access to public transport facilities with national and international links? Yes
  5. Are the following in walking distance from the venue?
    • reasonably priced accommodation for attendees? Yes
    • bars, food, pubs etc? Yes
    • reasonably priced/free car parking? Yes
  6. Is there access for all areas during the following times?
    • Saturday 14 July 2011 0800-1830? Yes
    • Sunday 15 July 2011 0900-1900? Yes
  7. Do all rooms and areas have:
    • wifi internet access of sufficient capacity to accomodate 200 attendees, some using multiple devices? Yes
    • mains socket distribution and extensions for the charging of portable devices and general use? Yes
  8. Will supplementary signs be required so attendees can easily get from room to room during the event? Yes
  9. Any additional notes on the venue questions above?
    • Public transport: Surgeons’ Hall is located in central Edinburgh approximately 10 minutes walk from Waverley Station. For attendees needing to reach Edinburgh Airport, the airport bus service is available from Waverley Station. Marketing Edinburgh (a City Of Edinburgh venture that provides free support to conferences taking part in the city) has negotiated discounted transfers with Lothian Buses who run the airport bus service, which will be available to attendees if tickets are booked online via a link provided by Marketing Edinburgh. Surgeons’ Hall is also situated on many of the city’s main bus routes.
    • Accommodation: Ten Hill Place Hotel is part of the Surgeons’ Hall complex. It is a 4 star hotel, with current rates at £115BB for a single room and £125BB for a double, per night. These rates are guaranteed until 6 weeks prior to arrival for a limited number of rooms. For those attendees looking for a cheaper alternative, the following options may be considered:
      • St Christopher’s Inn (hostel next to Waverley Station) (www.st-christophers.co.uk/edinburgh-hostels) – current prices £31pppn for a double en-suite
      • easyHotel (Princes St) (www.easyhotel.com/hotels/edinburgh.html) – current prices from £48.85 per room per night. In addition, Marketing Edinburgh has been able to provisionally block book rooms in some hotels close to Surgeons Hall – see the doc at http://www.wpscotland.org/wordcampuk-2012/ for details. These rooms and prices are held until 6 weeks prior to the event. If WordCampUK goes ahead in Edinburgh and these block bookings are required, Marketing Edinburgh will provide us with a link for the event website, through which attendees will be able to book the rooms they require.
      • Bars, food, pubs: Surgeons’ Hall is centrally located in Edinburgh, and there’s a wide variety of restaurants, pubs and bars in the immediate vicinity!
      • Parking: On-street parking is available in the surrounding area. While such parking incurs a charge on Saturdays, on-street parking in Edinburgh is free on Sundays. Parking in Holyrood Park (Holyrood Palace Broad Pavement car park) is free on Saturdays, and this is approximately a 15 minute walk from the venue. For off-street parking, there are a few public car parks situated close to the venue. Attendees coming in to Edinburgh from the surrounding areas can also make use of the various Park & Ride facilities provided on the outskirts of the city.
      • Wifi: Surgeons’ Hall provides wifi access to attendees. This is currently able to accommodate 200 concurrent connections, and is also in the process of being upgraded to support up to 400 connections at the same time.
      • Signage: Surgeons’ Hall will provide signage to direct people to the various rooms.
      • If there is venue catering available, with attendee payment facilities, please provide details: Surgeons’ Hall can provide catering, though this is required to be organised in advance and does not provide for attendee payment facilities. If the lowest price catering option is chosen (see the proposal document at http://www.wpscotland.org/wordcampuk-2012/ ), the total conference cost to each attendee (for 200 attendees, excluding accommodation and travel) works out at £38 per day. If venue catering is not chosen, there are plenty of options for meals and coffee/tea in the immediate vicinity – Surgeons’ Hall is surrounded by a variety of restaurants/cafes/pubs/shops.
  10. Will any information need to gathered during ticket sales, such as names for wifi access? No, wifi access is available via a general username and password which will be made available to all attendees.
  11. Plans of all rooms and areas for planning purposes are available at the following publicly accessible URL(s): http://www.wpscotland.org/wordcampuk-2012/

    12. Room 1

  12. Room 1: minimum audience capacity 200 – what is the actual capacity? 300
  13. Room 1 room style: Lecture (300), classroom (200)
  14. Room 1: facilities
    • Video projector(s) that can be driven by presenters laptop? Yes
    • Sound system with presenter and audience microphone(s)? Yes
    • Sound system that can be driven by presenters laptop? Yes
    • Sound system with line out facility for external recording? Yes
    • Flipcharts, pens and paper? Yes
    • Blackboard or whiteboard? Yes
  15. Room 1: if video projectors are available, what are their resolution? XGA (1024 x 768). They can accept other resolutions by scaling them up or down as necessary.
  16. Room 1: any additional notes: Wolfson Hall can be split into 2 separate areas if required, or used as one large venue.

    17. Room 2

  17. Room 2: minimum audience capacity 100 – what is the actual capacity? 150
  18. Room 2 room style: Lecture
  19. Room 2: facilities
    • Video projector(s) that can be driven by presenters laptop? Yes
    • Sound system with presenter and audience microphone(s)? Yes
    • Sound system that can be driven by presenters laptop? Yes
    • Sound system with line out facility for external recording? Yes
    • Flipcharts, pens and paper? Yes
    • Blackboard or whiteboard? Yes
  20. Room 2: if video projectors are available, what are their resolution? XGA (1024 x 768). They can accept other resolutions by scaling them up or down as necessary.
  21. Room 2: any additional notes: None

    22. Room 3

  22. Room 3: minimum audience capacity 50 – what is the actual capacity? 50
  23. Room 3 room style: Lecture
  24. Room 3: facilities
    • Video projector(s) that can be driven by presenters laptop? Yes
    • Sound system with presenter and audience microphone(s)? Yes
    • Sound system that can be driven by presenters laptop? Yes
    • Sound system with line out facility for external recording? Yes
    • Flipcharts, pens and paper? Yes
    • Blackboard or whiteboard? Yes
  25. Room 3: if video projectors are available, what are their resolution? XGA (1024 x 768). They can accept other resolutions by scaling them up or down as necessary.
  26. Room 3: any additional notes: An alternative for Room 3 is the GB Ong room, across from the Tausend room. The GB Ong room has a capacity of 60 lecture style.

    27. Communal area(s)

  27. Communal area(s) (for registration, the sponsor exhibition and the Happiness Bar) – facilities:
    • Tables and chairs? Yes
    • Display boards for sponsors and community notices? Yes
  28. Communal area(s) – additional notes: The reception area and/or one of the other ground floor rooms in the Quincentenary Building can be used for the sponsor exhibition, Happiness Bar and registration.

    29. Other venue areas

  29. Does the venue have:
    • An office for the use of the Core Group and for general admin? Yes
    • A secure area for the storage of luggage, laptops, valuables, etc? Yes
  30. Any notes about the office and secure area: The Quincentenary Building has both office space and a lockable cloakroom, and there will be Surgeons Hall staff on duty during the day. Surgeons’ Hall can also provide a manned cloakroom for extra security at a fee of £50 per day.

    31. Socials

  31. Address and details for the informal social at 1900 on Friday 13 July 2011: A suggested option for the Friday social is Illegal Jacks http://www.illegaljacks.co.uk/ , where we hold most of our WPScotland Edinburgh meetups: 113-117 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH3 9AN. Illegal Jacks has a capacity of 90. If a larger venue is required for Friday night, another possibility is The Banshee Labyrinth http://www.thebansheelabyrinth.com/ , Edinburgh’s most haunted pub(!), located in the vaults under South Bridge: 29-35 Niddry St, Edinburgh, EH1 1LG.
  32. Address and details for the main official social on the evening of Saturday 14 July 2011: The Vodka Lounge at Revolution Bar http://www.revolution-bars.co.uk/edinburgh/ : 30a Chambers St, Edinburgh, EH1 1HU. The Vodka Lounge has a capacity of 150 (if we end up with numbers slightly more than this, we can spill out into the main bar area), and is available from 8pm to 1am for a room hire charge of £200. Food is available as pre-ordered catering, or can be ordered on the night by attendees as and when required. The room is separate to the main bar area (although this can be accessed from the room) and has its own entrance and private bar.
  33. Address and details for the informal post event social on the evening of Sunday 15 July 2011: Illegal Jacks is also available as a venue for the Sunday night, if not used as the venue for the Friday social. In addition, various other pubs are available in the vicinity of Surgeons Hall. An example is The Auld Hoose http://www.theauldhoose.co.uk/ , with a capacity of about 50: 23-25 St Leonards St, Edinburgh, EH8 9QN.

    34. Budget

  34. Cost of WordCamp venue? £3500 per day
  35. Does the venue require a deposit? Yes
  36. Any notes on venue cost: The venue fee is VAT exempt. If no venue catering is required, the cost per attendee per day (based on 200 people, excluding accommodation and travel costs) works out to £17.50. If the cheapest catering option is chosen, this figure increases to £38 per person per day.
  37. Any costs relating to Saturday social (eg room booking): Revolution requires a £200 room hire charge.
  38. Any notes on the Saturday social cost: No

    39. Any finally

  39. Any suggestions for sessions or other activities during the weekend? In addition to various tourist activities, such as visiting Edinburgh Castle, Caledonian Brewery (42 Slateford Road, Edinburgh, EH11 1PH) offers tours of their facilities: http://www.caledonianbeer.com/brewerytour.htm For anyone staying a bit longer in Edinburgh on either side of the conference, a trip could also be organised further afield to either (or both!) Glenkinchie Distillery or Belhaven Brewery, situated in East Lothian just outside Edinburgh (approximately 30 – 45 minutes drive from Edinburgh city centre).
  40. Any overnight accomodation associated with this bid? Please see notes under Q9 regarding provisional block room bookings with prices.
  41. Any potential sponsors connected with this bid? No sponsors yet, although the WordPress community (in Scotland and further afield) has been very supportive in sponsoring our WordUp events, and it is anticipated that many of these community members will want to sponsor WordCampUK too.
  42. Local media contacts for publicising the event: Marketing Edinburgh is able to assist to some extent with publicising the event via social media. In addition, some of our WPScotland attendees have links to media organisations and may therefore also be able to assist with publicity. We have, for example, received publicity before from Folio14 (folio14.com) and the Mid & East Lothian Chamber of Commerce.
  43. Any other general notes on your bid: No

Last updated 14 March 2014