Berlin Hackathon 2011/Attendee information

= 1st infomail, sent on April 19 =

Dear participants of the Wikimedia Hackathon 2011!

The Hackathon is coming up fast, we are exited to welcome you all in Berlin in just three weeks!

Here are a few update and reminders:

Flights and Visa
We have now finished booking flights and sending out invitation letters. Everyone who requested Wikimedia Deutschland to book their flights should now have received their tickets. If not, please get in touch immediately. Same goes for invitation letters!

Venue
This year’s meeting will be held in the betahaus[1], a famous coworking space in Berlin Kreuzberg. We got almost a whole floor for ourselves, there is enough space for hacking, talking, presenting, showing things and whatever you need. The venue is located close to Oranienstraße, on of the most lively streets in Kreuzberg, offering bars and restaurants of any type within walking distance.

Accommodation
Those of you who have asked Wikimedia Deutschland to book/reserve accommodation for will be staying at the Comebackpackers hostel at Kottbusser Tor [2], just a 8 minute walk away from the venue. Attached you find a list of all booked rooms and nights. Please note that a cancellation is now only possible for a fee. If you are not on the list but want us to take care of your accommodation OR find out that your dates are incorrect, please let us know right away! We can't change the booking after Thursday 23rd, 5pm CET!

Those of you who pay for the rooms themselves: A bed is about 20 €/night in 4-5 bed dorms with shared bathrooms, breakfast is 3 € extra.

Getting Around Berlin
As the venue and hostels are so close to each other, we won't provide tickets for public transport.

We won’t be able to offer a pick-up service at the airports or stations, but you will find helpful directions on Meta [3] and a map of surroundings and main points of interest, soon. Also, Berliners are tourist-friendly and helpful and almost anyone speaks (some) English.

We are really excited and looking forward to welcoming you all in Berlin next month! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Best regards, Daniel, Cornelius and Nicole

[1] http://betahaus.de/ [2] http://www.comebackpackers.com/ [3] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Berlin_Hackathon_2011/Getting_there

= 2nd infomail =

Dear hackers and participants of the Berlin Hackathon 2011,

The Hackathon will take place next week, and we are already excited to meet you all here in Berlin. This message is an update on the programme and logistics of the event. Please read it carefully.

Schedule and talks
You can find the schedule of the conference on MediaWiki[1]. The venue is set on 9:00 am on Friday morning for the Wiki loves Monuments guys. The Hackathon officially starts with lunch and registration at 1 pm. Please be on time, but don’t be there before 1 pm to not interrupt the WLM meeting. If you are planning to give a talk or short presentation (max 10  minutes!), please write an email to hackathon@wikimedia.de with the  topics and content you’d like to talk about. Please send your slides before the Hackathon or bring them on an USB stick. We are glad that the betahaus offers the option for “open end hacking”, which means that there is no closing time. But: The space can only stay open when we find someone who takes responsibility for the key and who, at the end of the night, takes the key to the guys who need to open the door again in the morning. Since Daniel, Cornelius and me need to be rested in morning, we will not be able to take care of that. If you are interested in late night hacking, and are ready to take responsibility for the key, give us a shout.

Social programme
On May 12, Thursday afternoon from 6–8 pm there will be a pre-registration to those already in Berlin at the Comebackpackers Hostel[2], where most of you will be staying. Of course, you can also register on Friday at 1 pm. We are still looking for a restaurant or bar where we can all meet on Thursday, but cannot promise to provide a welcome dinner. Will let you know as soon as we know more. There will be a hackerlounge on Sunday evening at the c-base, with music and beer :) If you are interested in a sightseeing tour or a visit to the Computerspielemuseum, or have any other great idea of spending your time in Berlin, please let us know [3].

Financial Support, Accommodation
Support in paying travel and/or accommodation costs is granted to everyone who requested it in the registration form. All flights are booked and all rooms are reserved at the comebackpackers hostel. Find attached the updated list of booked rooms. Please make sure that the your details are correct!

Participants who have chosen to pay for their accommodation themselves are asked to bring cash to pay for the rooms. Please calculate 18 to 25 Euro per night incl. breakfast, depending on the type of room you are staying in. Since there have been recent changes in the booking list, we can only provide the final rates on the day of your arrival. Wikimedia Deutschland will pay for the rooms in advance, so you don’t have to pay at the hostel reception but at our welcome desk in the hostel lounge on Thursday or at the venue on Friday (depending on your time and date of arrival).

Reimbursement
Participants who have asked for reimbursement of travel costs should contact us BEFORE the conference. Please use this reimbursement form [8] and send it via email to hackathon@wikimedia.de, hand it in at the registration or send it by post. Of course, we can only reimburse against original receipt/invoice. Since it is very expensive and often complicated to make bank transfers to countries outside of the EU/US, we offer three ways of reimbursement:
 * Participants from inside the EU or US hand in the form including their bank account data and will be reimbursed via bank transfer.
 * Participants from outside the EU or US, who don't have an international bank account will be reimbursed in cash (EUR) at the event. They have to send in their documents before the event so that we know how much cash we have to bring.
 * Third option for everyone would be the transfer to a PayPal account.

Please let us know until Monday, May 9 how much you spent and how you would like to be reimbursed.

We are really excited and looking forward to welcoming you all in Berlin next week! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Daniel, Nicole and Cornelius [1] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Berlin_Hackathon_2011#Schedule [2] http://www.comebackpackers.com/ [3] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Berlin_Hackathon_2011#Side_programme [4] http://www.wikimedia.de/images/d/d2/Reimbursement_form.pdf