Accessibility belongs to the Perl Community (all of us)
The Perl Conference has over 250 attendees and at many points during this event spaces will get crowded, especially in hallways outside of conference rooms and narrow corridors. While the “Hallway Track” (time during or in between talks, used for networking) is an important part of The Perl Conference, please be mindful that some of the passageways at the DoubleTree are narrow. Please do not congregate in narrow corridors. There are public spaces where discussions will be more comfortable and less invasive in the foyer and lobby sections of the venue.
In the meeting rooms you should keep side and center aisles clear for movement as well. Further, there will be sections of seating areas marked with blue tape on the floor. The areas marked in blue tape at the front and rear of the room are reserved for people in wheelchairs and scooters. Please do not move chairs or place bags into these areas. Also, some seats in the front row are signed to be reserved for people who need to be closer in order to see; please don’t occupy them unless you need that accommodation.
- Don’t loiter in the narrow corridors.
- Discussions can be held comfortably at 20-30 feet in either direction.
- Keep marked spaces and blue taped areas clear for wheelchairs and scooters.
- Don’t sit in reserved seating unless it’s reserved for you.
Getting around the venue – What to expect
Check-In: The concierge desk is not at an accessible height.
The hotel has elevator access to get to and from each level of lodging rooms. There are 3 elevators that move from the lobby to the lodging floors. The elevators are pretty efficient.
There is one set of public male and female designated restrooms which are located on the upper foyer of the hotel, accessible via ramp. The passage to the ramp is narrow and will probably only fit single file assisted mobility passage.
The hotel foyer has “pre-function” meeting space with a lower and upper foyer. There are stairs between the lower pre-function foyer and upper pre-function foyers. Next to the stairs is a chair-lift. While the chair-lift is unlocked and can be used without an attendant, it moves at a cautious speed (slowly). It is large enough to fit 1 wheelchair/scooter with 1 or 2 standing companions.
Other conference areas on varying floors that have stairs have ramp access as well.
For speakers, the Pennsylvania Ballroom space (Erie, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia) has podiums with risers with a few stairs. The Keystone meeting space (Harrisburg, Lancaster) does not have risers. If there are speakers that need or prefer an accommodation please let us know.
Also, the entrance to the Erie room has a tight turn, and there is a narrow passage in the corridor in front of the Philadelphia room.
Conference Organized Social Events – What to Expect
There will be a conference held social event offsite aboard a watercraft. This is an evening social event and is on the water. The boat will need to be boarded from a pier by a ramp. The bottom floor of the riverboat is accessible but there is not an elevator or ramp to reach the observation deck. Public bathrooms are on the ground floor.
Tell us how we can help and/or how we are doing
In person – Talk to an event organizer
or https://perlconference.us/tpc-2019-pit/contact-us/
Diagram of Venue Layout:
