[Debian-uk] Dropping Cambridge bid for 2017

[Tim Cutts]

I think the Genome Campus conference space might be possible (it's nominally reserved for scientific conferences, but we have hosted IT conferences and meetings in the past, especially when they're relevant to current IT suppliers to either the Sanger Institute or EMBL-EBI).  Debian definitely counts, from that point of view, I think - the Sanger Institute has long used both Debian and Ubuntu on its systems, and hosts some of the Debian infrastructure in its data centre.

However there are definitely some downsides:

1.  I'm not sure it's large enough.  How many delegates does Debconf usually have?
2.  As Manuel says, public transport to the genome campus is less than ideal; bus service is poor and the Whittlesford and Great Chesterford stations are a reasonable walk (2.8 miles and 1.9 miles respectively, the latter on a main road).
3.  It takes 20 minutes or more (depending on traffic) to get here from Cambridge.  I live just north of the city, and my daily commute to work on the campus takes about 35 minutes.
4.  Local pubs are few and far between, so eating options outside the conference centre itself are limited, unless you make the trek back into Cambridge in the evening.

On the plus side, the campus is beautiful, and is a location of world-leading genomic science powered, to a significant extent, by the software the Debian community maintains.  You're also near to the fantastic collection of old aircraft at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford (which is also a conference centre, but I don't know what its size limits are)


Regards,

Tim

On 15/12/2015, 23:25, "debian-uk-bounces at chiark.greenend.org.uk on behalf of Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo" <debian-uk-bounces at chiark.greenend.org.uk on behalf of manuel.montezelo at gmail.com> wrote:

>2015-12-15 12:18 GMT+00:00 Andy Simpkins <andy at koipond.org.uk>:
>>
>>>> If student accommodation is vacant in the summer months it might be
>>>> affordable.
>>>
>>> Student accommodation in Cambridge is typically full during the summer
>>> months - there are a large number of summer schools and Cambridge
>>> colleges make significant proportions of their income from those
>>> schools. The reputation of the university only feeds the demand which
>>> makes the costs much higher than other university towns. Proximity to
>>> London also has an impact on the base cost of general accommodation. It
>>> was always going to be one of the more difficult parts of the Cambridge
>>> bid and has been under constant evaluation, especially whether any of
>>> the student accommodation could be made affordable by using personal
>>> relationships between the many DD's who were educated here. A lot of
>>> work has already gone into the problem of accommodation in Cambridge
>>> for the bid.
>>
>>
>> Collage accommodation might be possible (Anglia Ruskin for example but as
>> Sledge found out they don't look that far ahead in time 2016 would be
>> possible but 2017 is just too far out for them).
>
>One that I know, Hinxton Hall, would probably be quite nice as a venue
>in general.... but I guess that only less than half the size as
>needed, quite far away from Cambridge itself (specially with very bad
>public transport options).  I suspect that would be quite
>posh/expensive as well.
>
>http://conferencecentre.wellcomegenomecampus.org/#&panel1-1
>
>There are other biggish hotels outside, e.g. by Wittlesford Parkway
>(train station), but I don't know if they have meeting rooms, it would
>be uninspiring and far from Cambridge itself, and the commuting
>options to the conference rooms would be bad unless it was very close
>to the train station.
>
>I don't have any contacts or even much knowledge about the college accomodation.
>
>
>Cheers.
>-- 
>Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo <manuel.montezelo at gmail.com>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Debian-uk maillist  -  Debian-uk at chiark.greenend.org.uk
>http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/debian-uk