February 2004
CG auditorium draws large groups
When Susan Friberg organized the annual UCAR members meeting last year, she was thrilled to hold it in the Center Green 1 auditorium. The 150 attendees would have been cramped in any other UCAR facility.
“It’s such a comfortable space,” she says. “It’s very easy to move people in and out, and the attendees can sit at small tables and spread out, or wander in and out when they need to without disrupting the meeting. We’ve gotten very positive feedback from the members and affiliates.”
Last year’s meeting of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research in the CG auditorium.
Despite the auditorium’s advantages, Safety and Site Services director Steve Sadler says it’s underutilized. Steve, who oversees Food and Events Services, says staffers who are planning meetings may not realize that the auditorium is open for business, even though many of the offices in CG1 are still vacant.
“The auditorium is available, and there’s a full complement of food, beverage, and banquet facilities,” Steve says. “This is a great facility, and we’re hoping more people take advantage of it.”
The 6,000-square-foot auditorium is UCAR’s largest. It can accommodate as many as 400 people, in contrast to the auditoriums in the Mesa and Foothills labs that have a capacity of about 125. The CG space is also more flexible because it does not have fixed seating, which means event organizers can set up tables, rows of chairs, or even an exhibit area. A recent conference about the High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER) featured a model of the new research aircraft.
And the auditorium is about to get a facelift. Plans are in the works to renovate it, upgrade the lighting and multimedia capabilities, and install movable walls so it can be subdivided into breakout rooms. Work is likely to begin in the late summer and last for several months.
“It’s a wonderful space, and we’re looking forward to renovating it and making it even more serviceable for a number of groups,” says Marion Hammond, UCAR’s facilities project manager.
The facility has drawn the attention of some outside organizations looking for Boulder meeting space. Last June, for example, the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research held a daylong science forum in the auditorium, bringing in scientists and policymakers from across the Americas.
“I like that room because it’s quite a bit larger than anything else we have at UCAR,” says Jill Reisdorf of JOSS, who organized the June conference and several other meetings in the facility last year. “The size offers a versatility we don’t have in our other auditorium-type rooms. Also, the atrium lobby is a comfortable place for people to relax and meet informally between sessions.”
Even staffers who haven’t attended formal sessions there may be familiar with the space as the site of last year’s Spring Fling and holiday parties. Eron Brennan of IT, who handles multimedia services for UCAR, points out, “It’s a great party room.”
Those interested in finding out more about the auditorium or reserving it can contact Debbi Naugle of Food and Event Services at ext. 1147 or naugle@ucar.edu.
•David Hosansky
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