Meeting Places in the Triangle

Libraries Wake County Durham County Orange Country

Free space Free office space Fee-based space Other

There is no charge to use library meeting rooms. I think all the libraries have wireless access (at least those listed here do), but have a backup. Not all have screens. Few have projectors.

Wake County libraries
Library locations
(1) Reservations will not be accepted for a series of meetings that designate the library as a regular meeting place and reservations may not be made more than 1 month in advance.
(2) All meetings must be open to the public.
(3) Groups using the library’s meeting rooms may not charge admission or make any monetary collections.

• West Regional Library, 4000 Louis Stephens Drive, Cary, NC 27519, Phone: 919-463-8500
  Mon.- Fri. 9:15 AM-8:45 PM; Sat. 10:15 AM – 4:45 PM; Sun. 1:15 PM – 4:45 PM.
  Nice meeting room. Accommodates 30 people; includes tables and chairs, a dry erase board, and a screen. No projector. No "kitchen," but has counters and sink. OK to bring simple food. Call the library at 919-463-8500 to see if the room is available. They cannot reserve the room for you by phone. Deliver in person or by FAX or by US mail the application form, attached below. Online maps (Google, Yahoo, Mapquest) have not been updated yet to show that the sections of Louis Stephens Drive now connect.
  Meeting room policy and application form
  NOTES:
  (1) Groups may not use the room more than twice per month.
  (2) We have used this place for several Net Tuesday/501 Tech Club meetings. But they have expanded their childrens' reading program and need the room on the second Tuesdays now (Spring 2009).
• Eva Perry Regional Library, 2100 Shepherd's Vineyard Drive, Apex, NC 27502, Phone: 919-387-2100
  Mon.- Fri. 9:00 AM-9:00 PM; Sat. 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Sun. 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
  Has a meeting room, max of 30 people.
  Meeting room policy and application form
  NOTES:
  (1) No food or beverages other than water is allowed.
  (2) We've used this place for a couple of RTPnet Board meetings. People have gotten lost. Apparently Google's directions put the library on the wrong side of highway 64.
• Cameron Village Regional Library, 1930 Clark Ave., Raleigh, NC 27605 Phone: 919-856-6710
  Monday-Friday – 9:30 am to 8:30 pm, Saturday – 10:30 am– 4:30 pm, Sunday – 1:30 pm -4:30 pm.
  Meeting room policy and application form
  Meeting Rooms (2) (Rooms 202 & 202A – Second Floor) Accommodates 35 people classroom style and 40 people theater style. Combined accommodates 60 people classroom style and up to 80 people theater style.
  No screen.
  NOTES:
  (1) Allow at least 5 working days to process requests.

Durham County libraries
Locations
Meeting Room Policy has a link to the online reservation system.
(1) Free, unless refreshments are served, in which case there is a $25 fee.
(2) All meetings must be free and open to the public. No fees, dues or donations may be charged to or solicited from those attending meetings held in library facilities.
(3) The online reservation system displays the meetings that are already scheduled showing the library and meeting room. You can select which libraries you want to look at.
(4) Wireless access is restricted to Web pages only, at least at Parkwood. (Parkwood closed summer 2010)

• Durham East Regional Library, 211 Lick Creek Lane, Durham, NC 27703, 919-560-0203.
  Mon. – Thurs. 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Fri. 2 – 6 p.m. Sat. 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sun. 2 – 6 p.m.
  New, looks good, public meeting room (seats 100), with after-hours access, two tutoring rooms (seat 8). Every Tuesday, 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM, Ballroom Dancing, Full Room. The library is a little hard to find for people coming from Chapel Hill.
• Southwest Regional Library, 3605 Shannon Road, Durham, North Carolina 27707, 919- 560-8590.
  Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., Wednesday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m., Friday 2 – 6 p.m., Saturday 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sunday 2 – 6 p.m.
  Public meeting room (seats 100), with after-hours access.

Orange Country libraries

• Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Drive Chapel Hill, NC 27514, 919-968-2777
  10am-9pm (Mon. – Wed.) 10am-6pm (Thur. – Fri.) 9am-6pm (Sat.) 1pm-5pm (Sun.)
  The Meeting Room has a legal seating capacity of 85. The Conference Room has a legal seating capacity of 25. Audio-visual equipment is available for use in both rooms. Equipment for use in the meeting rooms includes an LCD projector, portable screens, DVD/VCR/TV combination, and slide and overhead projectors. Groups using either room are welcome to provide their own refreshments, including boxed lunches. All programs must be open to the public at no charge. Requests by non-profit educational groups or institutions desiring to use a meeting room for short-term classes, institutes, discussion groups, or forums which involve small fees will be examined on an individual basis.

Free meeting space for nonprofits

• Teaming for Technology (T4T), United Way of the Greater Triangle, 5151 McCrimmon Parkway, Suite 225, Morrisville, NC 27560 . There is a projector and sixteen laptops on a wireless network on eight desks, and there are three additional table/desks. Call ahead of time Al Reynolds, 919-463-5031 (areynolds at unitedwaytriangle.org), Program Operations Coordinator, Teaming for Technology. Times for usage are flexible. T4T requests a donation equivalent to the price of a desktop computer ($65) or laptop ($80). That is negotiable as well. There is a photo at http://www.meetup.com/NCTech4Good/photos/11293862/#172517392
• Alta Walk retirement community, Durham
  Submitted by suestock on June 29, 2009
  http://projects.newsobserver.com/taking_stock/free_meeting_space
  

  If you need to hold a business meeting but don't have a place to host it, try the Alta Walk retirement community in Durham. The retirement community at 5705 Fayetteville Road is brand new and Marketing Director Laura Martin said she's trying to spread the word by offering up the community's four meeting rooms, which have capacity for as many as 150 people. Space can be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. Reserve a spot by calling Laura at 919-401-0100.

  They're all booked through June 2010!

• A.J. Fletcher Foundation is making its new conference room available for free to nonprofits. The room seats 24 people, has a refrigerator, ice-maker, microwave and a plasma television for laptop-based presentations. The space is available weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Earth Fare, the healthy supermarket, Brierdale Shopping Center, 10341 Moncreiffe Rd., Raleigh, NC 27617, has a community meeting room, wirelesss, screen, seats 30 classroom style, groups meet there regularly on the second and third Tuesdays.
• Blinco's on Glenwood in Raleigh has a meeting room in the back. No projector or screen. It's easy to get 20 people in the room but tight with 30. No cost for the room. You have to reserve the room. They do sort of expect that half the attendees will order food or drink.
• Frankie's Fun Park, Frankie's of Raleigh, 11190 Fun Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27617, (919) 433-7888 was mentioned in the April 7, 2009, Triangle Net Tuesday/501 Tech Club meeting.
• Rudino's RTP - (Miami Blvd/I-40), 4911 Central Park Lane, Durham, NC (919)474-8833, meeting room for 60-65, gets wireless from hotel next door, no screen, groups meet there regularly on the second Tuesday. First Tuesdays' were open when I checked (April 2009).

Places that require a staff person to host

Places like the following are available if there is someone on the staff who will be responsible for the facilities and lock up:

• N.C. Center for Nonprofits, 1110 Navaho Drive, Suite 200, Raleigh, NC 27609
• Triangle United Way
• UNC-TV
• Most of the businesses in the Park.

Space available for a fee

• First Flight Venture Center offers meeting room space to tenants of the center as well as members of the Friends of First Flight program who pay an annual fee. On occasion, they host outside companies who match the goals of First Flight and they are charged a fee for the space.
• SoCo Studio, 104 B North Salem St., Apex, NC 27502 919-387-0408
  Private Conference Room - 10 seats: 1 Hour $50.00, 2 Hours $75.00 ($35.00 & $50.00 for Members)
• MCNC: 3021 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Room costs vary depending on size. They will give us a 20% discount for Net Tuesday/501 Tech Club meetings, so the Board Room (12-25) would cost $80. Food is only permitted in the lobby and use of the lobby is not included with the Board Room so it would cost an additional $100. (He said: "The only rooms we allow combine usage with the lobby is the auditorium and the combiantion of Conference rooms A&B" so we could explore those options more. The Auditorium (130 seats) is $125-20%.) Also, rates are for up to 2.5 hours -- they double for 2.5-5 hours.
• Research Triangle Park Headquarters, 12 Davis Drive, just a few feet North of I-40, info about Headquarters and Conference Center (pdf file). Expensive.
• Century Center (Carrboro): Wireless.
• Friday Center in Chapel Hill
• Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences (FCIEMAS), Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University West Campus

Other

• Meeting places, restaurants, locations friendly to meetup groups, posted on the message board of the The Raleigh/Durham Meetup Organizer Meetup Group.
• Churches: I haven't checked out churches. RTPnet had a meeting several years ago at Christus Victor Lutheran Church.
• University of Phoenix (easy access from I-440 at Jones Franklin Rd). There'd probably be a fee.
• Wireless hotspots
  • Chapel Hill
  • North Carolina