InfoCamp Seattle Blog

Jump to Comments (2)

This year, InfoCamp Seattle will be in the Capitol Hill/First Hill neighborhood! On October 2 & 3, we’ll gather in the Pigott Building on the beautiful Seattle University campus, near downtown Seattle and close to a hotel, several bus lines, and some great restaurants and bars.

Venue amenities

On our tours of the building, we appreciated the auditorium that seats about 400 people, the variety of high-tech classroom options for breakout sessions (see below), the gorgeous, light-filled atrium, the art, and the interesting smaller spaces for hanging out and chatting. The space around the building impressed us too – with a beautiful green space, fountain, and reflecting pool right outside the doors.

Two of the classrooms for InfoCamp breakout sessions

Not only do we love the feel of the building, but it meets our criteria, developed over the past three years, for a good InfoCamp venue:

• Big enough for 300-400 participants, with an auditorium & breakout rooms
• Located in Seattle
• Parking and/or public transportation options
• Wireless internet access
• Non-stuffy atmosphere
• Affordable – so ticket prices can be low

View of the hotel from an InfoCamp breakout room

A bonus for out-of-town participants — InfoCamp will be one block away from a hotel!

The Silver Cloud Hotel on Broadway is the same hotel we worked with last year. We’ve set up a block of discounted rooms there – get the details here.

Selecting the venue

During the selection process, we reviewed comments from last year’s post-InfoCamp survey. Of the 16 comments about last year’s venue (Cleveland High School), 12 were positive, 2 were positive but suggested we consider venues closer to downtown Seattle, and 2 requested a more central location.

One participant suggested, “It would be easier to have a ‘greener’ conference if you held it within downtown Seattle. I drove a bunch from hotel to conference and back again. I’d much prefer to walk more.”

A “greener” unconference is a great goal, and since InfoCamp’s low budget rules out the expensive downtown venues, we’ve done our best to find an affordable “green” venue — in fact, Seattle U was recently featured in The Seattle Times for its sustainable practices. We also prefer to avoid the typical corporate hotel & convention center locations, because their atmosphere tends to lack the friendly, community-oriented character that InfoCamp tries to cultivate. We look for venues run by nonprofits, schools, and community organizations, and we’re happy to have found one so close to downtown, next to lodging, and in one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Seattle!

We look forward to holding InfoCamp Seattle 2010 in Seattle University’s Pigott Building and hope it works well for everyone who wants to attend. More details about buses, parking, etc., will be on the wiki soon. Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions about the venue.

View more photos of the venue, learn more on the InfoCamp wiki, or register now!