RORO Meetup Logistics

Ruby on Rails Oceania (RORO) Meetup Logistics

Attendees will being arriving at 6:00, but at least one organiser will arrive by 5:30pm or earlier for venue setup and receipt of catering

Currently, the caterer will either park outside on the street and use their own trolleys to bring up the food via the elevators if needed.
In cases where there wasn't street parking available, is there a docking area with an elevator that grants access to the meetup area.
In cases where the caterer hasn't got their own trolley (only happened once), does the venue have a flatbed trolley?

It would be great to have a table laying these out to be the first point of call for meetup attendees.

Catering is currently placed on the long table in the kitchen, with sets of cutlery/plates/serviettes placed on either end of the table.
This table is usually the second point of call for attendees after getting their name badges.

The current seating setup for RORO is currently a combination of:
- Theatre-style seating up front (approximately 4-5 rows), with an aisle split down the middle.
- Tables behind the seating (usually we can fit 3 tables vertically on either side of the aisle), with 6 seats per table. This set up was borne from the type of catering that we get: it's easier to eat the food on a table rather than attempting to balance it on your lap.
- Some seats put up the back of the room and near the reception desk, either laid out or stacked, for latecomers
- Since this is not a typical setup, at least one organiser will arrive at least 30 minutes before the start of the meetup in order to set the room up.

Currently, for rubbish, we're directing attendees to place their food leftovers either into the bins in the kitchen, or, if there is a wheelie bin nearby specifically for meetup purposes, then direct attendees to use that one.
For recycling, we're currently directing attendees to place bottles etc on the table towards the back of the Pivotal kitchen, rather than in the specified recycling bins, as we've been told that the bins just get too heavy when filled with bottles. Unless, of course, there is a separate wheelie bin available specifically for recycling, in which case we'll direct attendees to use that.

We're currently utilising both projectors at Pivotal, and connecting our computers up using the HDMI connectors so we have access to sound so we can have music playing as attendees come in.
The projectors and screens are controlled via a touch screen panel for them on the far wall, but typically the screens are already down before the meetup has started.
Sometimes, at a certain time during the meetup (is there a set time?), the screens will all of a sudden roll back up: at this point, we have to use the panel to reboot the projectors and bring the screens back down again.

Pivotal currently provides an HDMI cord and lightning adapter at the lectern that we use for presenter computers.

Once the meetup is over (we aim for 9pm at the latest), we typically try and clear the room as soon as possible and get everyone to move on to pub or gelato
Currently, we do not get attendees to stack chairs or do anything with furniture. If Pivotal requires some kind of putting away/stacking of chairs, we can certainly ask attendees to do this.