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Strange speaking venues, part 1

by Scott | 6/18/2009

I’ve given lectures in some strange places, but this venue is a new one.

Scott Hanselman has this photo from a sports arena converted  into a lecture hall.

Hanselman explains what you’re seeing here:

They’ve used curtains to build up a “room” on the bleachers of this part of the stadium. I’m inside that black box, and the people who are overflowing up the bleachers also go all the way down to the bottom. On the outside of the box is projected both a live video of me as well as my projected computer. That acts as an overflow room, and there’s people sitting out there also. It’s a very clever way to do it, and they’ve set up six different track rooms, all like this, around the stadium.

My main question is this: how can this not have awful acoustics?   It’s certainly clever, and does add the potential for hot dog vendors to stroll up the aisles during a lecture.

What’s the strangest venue you’ve spoken at? Bonus points for pictures.

3 Responses to “Strange speaking venues, part 1”

  1. Steve Arrowood Says:
    June 18th, 2009 at 9:50 pm

    Middle of the Bali rain forest at a spa called Begawan Giri. Really nice place, except that it was in the middle of a rain forest, so it had some unusual dynamics.

    While I was training this group of customer service professionals, there were monkey and exotic bird sounds right outside the window, but the real action happened after lunch when a snake slithered through the doorway and everyone jumped up onto their chairs. “Very poisonous”, said one man.

    A gardener was called, who proceeded to chase it into a closet of the room and hack it to pieces with a machete.

    Awesome.

  2. Scott Says:
    June 19th, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    Ok – That’s not only a crazy venue, it’s a disaster story too! Poisonous snakes? How do you prepare for that? Bring anti-venom?

    Thanks for this! Made my day.

  3. DM Says:
    June 29th, 2009 at 8:51 pm

    I am very lucky to work with a very creative events planner. He has managed to book presentations in some *very* exciting and unusual places, including in a series of IMAX theaters and at a tiger exhibit at major zoo. We have also presented at some excellent music school theaters and smaller, older, venues. Outstanding experiences, all of them!

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