Oh, and I was told to avoid hotels, if possible.

I'm getting the idea that you're from San Francisco because of your e-mail address, so here's a link to the Business Journal's list of meeting facilities. If I picked the wrong city you can change it.

They have something called a "proposal generator" on that page - I'd start there, and see what you get. Otherwise I'd search for meeting facilities near your location (near the airport, perhaps, if people are flying in) and ask them to send you information. Be sure to ask about any technical requirements your organization may have.

*quietly wonders if chewie will see this thread*

ah, on second glance I see most of the links on that page are spammy in nature. Still, you might get something out of the proposal generator. This looks better. Or check the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

What desjardins said, CVB, and also Chamber of Commerce if you have one of those. They may have a prepared list all ready to fax or email you.

Yes, I am in SF.

Thanks so much! Further suggestions welcome!

Well, (because I am procrastinating), it would be helpful for you to compile a list of requirements before getting in touch with any facilities. For instance:

-how many people will attend
-room setups you need (audience seating, meal seating, roundtable seating, etc)
how many rooms/concurrent sessions you have to accomodate
-A/V requirements you have (laptop projector, screen)
-IT requirements you have (Wi-Fi, etc)
-is catering onsite or separately provided
-do you handle catering or do they
-if no catering, is foodservice nearby
-do they set you up with ice water and glasses in conference rooms - if not, get cases of bottled water
-do they provide chart paper, note paper, pens/pencils or do you
-transport/parking arrangements - nearby PT stations? parking at site? in local garage? daily charges?
-accessibility (walkers, wheelchairs, elevators/stairs etc)
-overtime charges for room (if you go over - sometimes this is an issue)
-setup/breakdown times
-bathrooms - how many, how accessible
-ask for references from other orgs that have used the space, or a list of clients

Some of that I have, some of it we don't know yet. I think I'm just supposed to be compiling a list of potential venues at this point... my boss is often a bit vague, and she's currently out of town, so I'm a little at sea...

But I filled out a bunch of forms and emailed a bunch of semi-cool-looking venues (a pioneer museum!) and fed my work email address to a bunch of sites that will hopefully start spamming me soon. So we'll see how it goes...

a pioneer museum!

Ooh, fun. I'm all for the private sector and secondary education making use of museums as places to do inservice programs. Sometimes there are some cool connections to be made.

I love museums. When I was young enough to be going to museums with my parents but old enough to be able to wander off on my own, I used to go sit in the Pacific Northwest Indian hall of the Field Museum (I think it was the Field) and just sit there and think I wanted to stay there forever.

Big fan of From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Our company had its big bash this year in the SF Museum of Modern Art, which was very cool. We also give them a lot of money, which is probably even cooler.

But I'm definitely pushing for the Pioneer Museum, assuming they ever get back to me with availability and pricing.

I'm delurking (hi!) because I just had to suggest this place.

I went to a wedding recently at the Fort Mason conference center and it was so so lovely. Huge windows looking out onto the marina and you can hear the boats swaying and knocking in the breeze. It's great!

birdie (hi!), I was looking at that, because it looks gorgeous, but I think we wanted to keep it downtown.

Which is annoying, actually, because it seems like there are very cool venues throughout the city, but very few of them are downtown. Downtown, it seems like it's mostly stuffy bland characterless beige-walled rooms with no windows. Blagh.