I'll be volunteering at i56 in December, the first at the nec, so i will be able to report back after that with a bit more info hopefully for those considering attending next year!
Obviously we'll see what we can do about a clanbox or something along those lines, but the NEC is famed for large spaces so I honestly have no idea what will happen at this point - hopefully after the first event things will be clearer

Whilst there are some potential downsides to the new venue, all the extra space and the fact that the NEC is one of the biggest exhibition providers in the country should hopefully fix a number of the issues that there were at Ricoh!