Renting computer labs/meeting rooms?

[DieScum]

I'm kicking around the idea of offering a 6 week evening class in various computer skills.

I'm looking at renting at space for this. There don't seem to be any computer labs for rent during the evening.

My other option is a meeting room and then deck it out with laptops. With prices coming down I could probably put together a mobile lab of 10 machines for 5k but setup would be a hassle.

Have been looking at meeting rooms in hotels. Seems to be between 200-400 quid for a half day hire.

Looks like:

1 time set up cost for machines = 5k
Room cost for 6 3 hour evening classes = 1.5-2k

Anyone done anything similar? I've done a lot of full time training but I've never set up all this stuff myself.

[MPwannadecentincome]

Have you tried Regus, their offices can't be used much during the evening?

What about the local school or college, they may be open anyway for adult education classes.

[DieScum]

Regus seem to be shut at night.

I am working on the local college. Not replied to emails so far though.

[pmeswani]

Regus seem to be shut at night.

I am working on the local college. Not replied to emails so far though.

What about colleges and schools?

[lightng]

Also worth considering community centres. My local one has a computer suite. I'm sure they would consider renting for just a few quid an hour.

[chef]

univeristy labs are open for hire out of hours. manchester uni's were when I worked there 10 years ago.

[pleomax]

Tried Holiday Inn? They have free Wi-Fi!?!?

[TykeMerc]

You can also rent PCs, servers and switches quite inexpensively if you want to save on startup costs.

Quite a few of the training organisations can rent their training rooms out so they're worth asking, since you're a trainer you might already have suitable contacts.