On 2012-11-30 18:59, Ian Jackson wrote:
Do any of the DC global team have reasonable estimates of the
proportion of DC attendees who normally obtain accomodation
elsewhere ?
Normally it depends on the quality of the main accommodation. Almost
all attendees stayed in the good hotel in Argentina, but, for example,
in Edinburgh where we used hostels, approximately 170 people stayed in
the hostels (figure from munin records) out of over 400 attendees.
Even if the space is sufficient I think a result where substantial
number of people end up staying miles away and driving to the
conference is suboptimal. From a transport sustainability point of
view if nothing else.
It has been asserted as a selling point that there are not alternative
hotels/restaurants/bars etc. nearby. Personally I find this a strong
negative, but it is clear that a significant number of people disagree.
This issue was already understood at the time of the bid decision
(although it may be that some people who wanted an isolated venue still
assumed there were better accommodation alternatives than seems to be
the case), e.g., selecting lines from the overall log of the decision
meeting at
http://meetbot.debian.net/debconf-team/2012/debconf-team.2012-02-20-19.03.log.html
19:13:33 <gismo_ch> the venue is managed by a YMCA association, it can
accomodate 325 people plus more if needed on the surroundings (camping
allowed)
(camping later turned out to be not allowed, but is apparently allowed
again now on a limited basis, as long as there are enough beds used)
19:52:30 <ultrt> gaudenz_ch: consider that in places like EDI, NY, etc
many people had alternative accomodation possible. In Le Camp it will be
"venue or nothing", right?
20:08:18 <bdale> yes, .ch has what seems like a very good housing plan
in that it's all at one facility, but lv has a range of options that
cater well to different attendee needs
20:09:40 <moray> for accommodation, both are fine for sponsored, I'm a
bit concerned about the Swiss option for non-sponsored people who don't
want to be in dorms/tents
20:10:27 <gaudenz_ch> moray: how many of them do you expect not to have
their own / rented car?
20:10:36 <moray> gaudenz_ch: almost all?
20:10:52 <gwolf> gaudenz_ch: we usually have some poeple that prefer
staying at a better hotel than what we provide
20:11:02 <gwolf> and I don't recall them renting a car so far
20:11:24 <gaudenz_ch> It's just that if they can afford swiss hotel
prices renting a car may be not that much of a problem...
20:17:10 <moray> h01ger: (we're off accommodation but) each year some
proportion of people *do* ask for single/double hotel rooms, from us or
elsewhere, we can decide that's worth losing, but it's real
20:51:10 <h01ger> the only real downside i see in le camp is "not so
optimal accom for people wanting privacy but no camping"..
20:51:30 <gwolf> I don't really care much about people going out to the
city, but the Riga option is more flexible to accomodate any different
needs - And there are always some different needs...
So it is clear that this aspect of the Swiss bid had been aired before
Switzerland won the decision:
21:26:26 * gwolf votes Latvia
21:26:37 * bubulle votes .ch
21:26:39 <moray> Latvia
21:26:39 * Caroll votes Latvia
21:26:49 * h01ger votes le camp
21:26:53 <ultrt> latvia
21:26:54 * ana votes .ch
21:27:02 * karora votes Vaumarcus
21:27:05 * bdale votes .ch
(marga was absent.)
I have also heard disturbing suggestions[1] that members of DC13
local
team have threatened to quit if they don't get their way on selection
of Le Camp as the site.
After approval was given for the Le Camp contract, I have been informed
that this threat was never a team policy. However, yes, this "veto"
definitely affected decision-making. I can say for my myself that,
after I became concerned about the high cost of using Le Camp
considering its limitations, I would have pushed much more strongly for
consideration of alternative venues within Switzerland if it had not
been that some locals made explicit threats to resign, and others made
more indirect statements about how they would lack motivation to work if
we forced a different venue.
--
Moray
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