So far I am finding the new venue for Learning without Frontiers both innovating and frustrating.
I really do like the inflated domes, they look great and a clever way of using space without needing to walk lots of different rooms. Nice and futuristic.
The theatre is okay, apart that there are too many chairs, so it makes it difficult to get a seat even though there are lots of spare chairs, as the delegates are sitting on the ends, and it isn’t easy to move pass them to the empty chairs. As a result a lot of people are standing up! Having said that even at the back, I can see the speaker and if they are using them, their slides on the three big screens. No live Twitter stream though?
The biggest frustration for me though is that downstairs from the conference is the Learning Technologies exhibition and as it is not closed off, the noise from the crowds downstairs is making it hard to hear the speakers. In the background there is this crowd noise that as the day progresses is only getting louder!
Of course the venue is only part of the deal and the content of the conference is what counts.
Totally agree – the noise from LT12UK downstairs was, at times, very distracting.
I’d been looking forward to the ‘in-the-round’ event I’d read about for LWF, and possibly what the original plan had been before the date and venue changed. While the seating arrangement worked for those seated – everyone could see the speaker and at least one big screen – if you weren’t at end end or near an exit you had to wait for the session to end, not easy after all that free tea and coffee!
It was good, but there were a few things to learn from it – next year should be good!
All the best, David.