Venue
December 5th, 2005 by Martin LambertI thought I’d take a couple of minutes during lunch to talk about the venue and other details of the event.
We’re on the 5th floor of the Franklin Institute. While this is a very cool idea, in practice we are in a conference room exactly like you’d find in any hotel. That isn’t a complaint, just an imagination-versus-reality thing; we’re not surrounded by plasticined bodies or physics experiments. Some people have said that the room is too cold; I’m quite comfortable, but I’ve also been known to shovel snow without a jacket.
Free lunch, free drinks, free snacks throughout the day. Door prizes. Free parking in the Institute’s garage as well. Oh, and free drinks at tonight’s Happy Hour and a Half, so I wouldn’t expect much liveblogging from there. Everyone received a free book from New Riders, publishers of Jeffrey and Eric’s books among many others, and there’s been a bit of an underground market in people trading books they have for ones they don’t.
The WiFi was horrible first thing this morning; apparently we completely overwhelmed it. They very quickly set up a second access point and divided us among them, so that’s going much better now.
And now we’re starting up again…
Alex DiSebastian Says:
Great job on the liveblog! I've been checking throughout the day and feel very informed as to the subjects that are being discussed.
I thought I'd feel very left out, not being able to the attend the event. But, with the exception of not receiving free drinks, free food, and door prizes, the liveblog is doing a great job of keeping us all updated and informed!
Andrea Says:
Alex: I too felt kinda left out this morning, but this blog is doing great. I'll be at the happy hour later too, but alas, no free drinks for me.
Great job, guys
Eric Meyer Says:
In all honesty, I'd have liked to find something a little more... interesting. I know you weren't complaining, but I think it was worthy of complaint. We did consider a number of other venues, and this one won due to its interest and their ability to provide wifi.
Now, as we all know, our need overwhelmed their ability in the morning, but at least they got it up to par for the afternoon. (Minus a few problems with people getting online, but I think that's going to happen no matter what. Plus Jeff's superpower appears to be killing wifi, since my laptop was fine until he used it.)