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Adelaide ESL Meetup - Convention Centre Inquiry
Director, Conference and Exhibitions Adelaide Convention Centre
Dear Director, This is a venue inquiry, but not a sales inquiry. I am the organizer of a non-commercial bi-weekly meetup for people from all over the world, Adelaide English as a Second Language Group (https://www.meetup.com/ESL-English-practice-meet-up-group/ ). This attracts up to 30 people in a semi-learning setting at the Box Factory in Regent St. The group has existed since about 2009, but has a high turnover of international visitors, researchers, students, skilled immigrants etc. I took it over about a year ago, moved it from the German Club to the Box Factory, and agreed to become an Adelaide City Council volunteer ( I have taught English language and Linguistics in tertiary settings in seven countries since 1976). The reason for this inquiry is that a similar international meetup group in Brisbane runs dual formal and informal settings. I am looking around for a suitable informal area. I noticed that the forecourt and entrance area to the Convention Centre by the river seemed open to the public, but I don't know what would happen if, say, 60 foreigners suddenly turned up there. The informal part of the Brisbane group meets every Tuesday evening, under the cantilevered entrance to the Arts Centre near the Queens Street bridge. There are stand-up tables, the overhang shelters it from rain, but the sides open onto lawns, and there is a cafe adjacent. The Queensland climate is good for this. Up to sixty people from every corner of the world come each week to mingle. [Before this meetup found a home at the Arts Centre it was hunted out of a series of pubs and cafes because nobody ever bought much]. Finding a plausible similar venue in Adelaide is not so easy. The SA climate is more fickle, and downright cold in winter, which makes it harder. Your comments and professional suggestions on where to locate a regular but informal meetup of international folk in Adelaide would be welcome. Best regards, Thor May 27 September 2017
Adelaide ESL Meetup -
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