WidgetBox’s presentation from the most recent SNAP Chat can be found here:

http://docs.widgetbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/widgetbox_snap_chat_jan_2008.swf

San Francisco is a city of small conference rooms and huge Moscone spaces, yet has a severe lack of decent mid-sized venues for for-profit events (yeah, you non-profits have your pick of the litter). There are, of course, hotels, but they have $40k minimums! No way! Christian and I have spent the last few weeks touring places and talking with managers at each, and here are the places we’ve found. Let us know if you are thinking of hosting events and we can supply you with more details.

Yerba Buena Center - Nice and informative people, great presentation/performance spaces for 300-700 individuals but lacking in the breakout room and clear expo floor spaces (the gallery is okay).

Zeum Center - Small, intimate theater - seats 200 - with a mid-sized lobby for food and possibly a few tables. The central gallery is always filled with exhibits - so be ready for the wackiness if you plan to work around them. Some good class rooms, but it is hard to navigate all the small spaces and winding halls.

Fort Mason Center: Great people and environment: right on the bay in old military barracks. There are dozens of small classrooms, a few huge expo floors, and one 380 seat room for presentations. However, many of the spaces are not connected so attendees would need to walk from building to building to get to the different talks.

Commonwealth Club: A mid-sized central lobby, with a 250 seat presentation room and 50-80 seat breakout room. A smaller, well-priced venue, but you have to be out by 5:30pm for their private evening events.

Mission Bay Conference Center: The most beautiful facility in the most out of the way corner. This place is pricey, but it has the most up-to-date equipment, a theater that can seat 300 with the floating wall, or 500 without it. Great lobbies for expo floors, and smaller meeting rooms. Also a lot of open-air patios. If you are going for style, you can rent the swimming pool or climbing rock as well.

The Galleria, The Concourse, and The Showplace - We didn’t tour these venues, as they either were just a large theater (The Galleria), one giant expo floor (The Concourse), or too small for our needs(The Showplace).

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We have decided on a place, date, and time - and will announce the next SNAP Summit at the SNAP Chat this Wednesday the 12th. There will be a SNAP Chat exclusive discount, and a holiday sale until the New Year.

So now you know what to get that tech friend who is impossible to shop for.

SNAP Chats are a series of evening talks for developers looking to start a business on social networks. Our first took place on November 28th and featured talks by Joseph Smarr, Chief Platform Architect for Plaxo, and Paul Lindner, Chief Platform Architect for Hi5. Many thanks to Pivotal Labs, Inc. for hosting this event.

If you missed the event, a video recording will be up shortly. You can also find Joseph’s and Paul’s slides up online.

Our next event is on Dec. 12th from 7pm - 10pm at CNET studios. Susan Wu will be moderating a panel on VC funding; when and how to get it, what to expect from VCs, etc. The panel features Salil Deshpande, Naval Ravikant, Seth Goldstein, and Davin Miyoshi. Food is graciously provided by CNET, and drinks by SocialMedia.

Please register so we know how many to expect.

To stay up-to-date, please join our facebook group.

Good Morning All!

While quite a bit has happened since we last updated this blog, let’s start small and with the first order of business.

• We are planning another conference, tentatively scheduled for March 24th, SNAP Summit 2.0 - Business and Strategy on Social Networks. We will keep you posted on our progress here.

• We are hosting a series SNAP Chats leading up to the conference. Information coming in a separate post.

• We are also taking commissions for events, meeting, and conference. Feel free to email us if you would like an event organized.

3…2…1…GO!

Our ticket giveaway is complete! Congratulations to all our winners — nearly 30 Facebook developers walked away with tickets in their hands.