Looking for a venue to host laser show (Jacksonville, Orlando: rentals, theater)

[PL-Freak]

Hello, I am searching for a venue here in Jacksonville to host the 5th semi-annual Florida Laser Enthusiast Meeting. We've held 4 events in Orlando and are now looking else where in the state to hold our next event. The event consists of about 15-20 people, possible need for 3 phase power, ability to use fog machines and loud music.

Thanks!

[mawipafl]

What kinds of places in Orlando did you use for your event? I'm rather clueless about your needs (3 phase power?), but perhaps if you gave us some idea of the venue that worked in Orlando, we could come up with some ideas for Jax.

[PL-Freak]

Hello, thanks for the reply. We have a member that had access to a building that belonged to a Communication Workers Union. The room was about 30' by 40' and perfect for our events. Though we have several members with larger ion lasers that require 3 phase and water cooling, a majority of the folks that attend these just bring thier smaller air cooled solid state projectors that run off of 110VAC. The most important things we need are a room that can be fogged up, very few windows (none would be best) and the ability to play loud music.

Once a year, we also hold our South East Laser Ethusiast Meeting, we have a permenant facility in Newton, NC that we use. They had a serious lighting problem several years ago that we were able to fix for them, so in exchange we were able to book the theater for several years at a very discounted rate! Here is a video of what we did at our last SELEM:
YouTube - SELEM 2008 Pangolin Laser Light Show edit-well, I can't get the link to work right, copy and paste!

[Magnolia Bloom]

Maybe you could rent the planetarium at the Museum of Science & History

Parties/ Event Rentals (http://www.themosh.org/html/parties__event_rentals.html - broken link)

[PL-Freak]

I actually use to work there in the mid-90's! It would be a great place to hold the event. The biggest problem are the politics involved in that place, they were bad in the mid-90's and are worse now. It's so bad that they don't even want to have anything to do with the astronomy club here in jacksonville... It's sad really...

[mawipafl]

How about searching this site for a venue that's suitable?
Event Venues in Jacksonville, Florida (FL)

Also thinking, what about at one of the universities/colleges here - would a gymnasium work? Perhaps something could be worked out to include a seminar for students or something in lieu of payment.