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have to do is provide the space.  No official involvement or effort from
the organisers is needed during the conference - the attendees
spontaneously do all the work.

However to make that happen the room needs some equipment.  I'm not
entirely sure what the special sauce is, but to give you the idea here
is my list for an ideal room:

1.  It is a single large room, and with consumption of food and drinks
    allowed.  Large here means comfortably hold 50 people, spread out.

2.  It has lounge chains where people can sprawl and talk.

3.  It has work desks and chairs people can re-arrange to do stuff on.

4.  It has power and network connectivity.

5.  Games.  Indoor sporting equipment (eg table tennis), simple board
    games, cards; anything that encourages random people to interact.

6.  No TV, or if there is TV put in a isolated corner.  The reason is TV
    does the reverse of games - it stops people from interacting.

7.  A fridge, so people can store food and drinks.  Bonus points for
    nearby cooking facilities (eg BBQ or kitchen).

8.  A large message/white board, so people can post about activities
    or perhaps "please clean up your mess".

9.  Easy to find and easy to get to from the main accommodation.  Maybe
    christening it with the Sunday post registration drinks and nibbles,
    so everybody gets the idea would work even if it isn't close.

We (well at least I) tried to re-create this at LCA 2011, but that
didn't work out.  Turns out finding a suitable space is hard.  But if an
LCA team does have something vaguely suitable, spending a few $K on
hiring furniture and buying games to it work would be an excellent
investment IMHO.