Let me propose a compromise, one which has probably been done before. Rent space where the main event hall is too small, and pipe the proceedings into overflow rooms. The technology was there at Denvention. Also, arrange to broadcast the main events on one of the channels at each hotel. Not as easy, but it can be done. Finally, webcast.
What galtine1 said. The point of going into smaller space is supposed to be to reduce the cost of putting on the event. I'm not convinced that any of the things you propose would do so. You're only trading space rental for tech equipment costs, and moreover the people points to run said equipment.
What we found with ConJose was that space didn't come in smooth quantities, which led to tradeoff that produced the pea-in-a-barrel effect. We didn't have to use the Civic Auditorium across the street from the Convention Center for our major events; however, the marginal cost of doing so was less than it would have been to rearrange the Convention Center to accommodate those major events. People would have probably grumbled more about a 2500-flat-seat ballroom (really poor views from the back) setup than they did about having to climb stairs at the Civic Auditorium.
Another ConJose story: We had Art Show/Exhibits/Dealers in the three exhibit halls, separated by the air walls. Based on our actual space usage, we probably could have put all three of them into two halls. This would have increased density and thus made more "buzz." But this might have actually cost more than what we did do, because we then would have had to use a bunch of running pipe and drape to separate the sections, and we would have had to hire a bunch more paid security people to protect the Artists and Dealers whose areas were no longer separated by hard walls. And on top of that, we would have lost the smaller function rooms at the west end of the convention center, because they threw those in for free with the rental of the hall.
So we could have made people think the event was bigger (by making it more dense) but it wouldn't have reduced the cost.
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What
What we found with ConJose was that space didn't come in smooth quantities, which led to tradeoff that produced the pea-in-a-barrel effect. We didn't have to use the Civic Auditorium across the street from the Convention Center for our major events; however, the marginal cost of doing so was less than it would have been to rearrange the Convention Center to accommodate those major events. People would have probably grumbled more about a 2500-flat-seat ballroom (really poor views from the back) setup than they did about having to climb stairs at the Civic Auditorium.
Another ConJose story: We had Art Show/Exhibits/Dealers in the three exhibit halls, separated by the air walls. Based on our actual space usage, we probably could have put all three of them into two halls. This would have increased density and thus made more "buzz." But this might have actually cost more than what we did do, because we then would have had to use a bunch of running pipe and drape to separate the sections, and we would have had to hire a bunch more paid security people to protect the Artists and Dealers whose areas were no longer separated by hard walls. And on top of that, we would have lost the smaller function rooms at the west end of the convention center, because they threw those in for free with the rental of the hall.
So we could have made people think the event was bigger (by making it more dense) but it wouldn't have reduced the cost.