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

3rd infomail, last minute

Dear hackers and other participants of the Berlin Hackathon 2011,

some last minute information for your next days in Berlin:

Equipment

Please bring your own laptop and extension cord, mutli-power plug and, of course, adaptor if needed. There will be some multi power cables provided, but if you could bring your own (to the venue and the accommodation), that’d be great!

Travel

Most of you have taken care of booking their journey to Berlin themselves. If you wanted Wikimedia Germany to arrange your travel and haven't received any ticket, get in touch immediately.

Accommodation

Those of you who have asked us to book accommodation will be staying at the Comebackpackers hostel [1], just a few minutes walk from the venue. We have attached the updated list. Price per night including breakfast is 21 Euro.

Please bring enough cash to pay on arrival, and remember to pay to Wikimedia Deutschland, not at the hostel's reception desk. Room allocation will be done upon arrival. Please note that a cancellation is only possible against a compensation fee.

Breakfast in the Hostel will be served from 8-10am on Friday and from 9-11am on all other days.

Pre-registration, Dinner option

On Thursday (May 12) afternoon from 6–8pm there will be a pre-registration for those already in Berlin at the Comebackpackers Hostel, where most of you will be staying. Of course, you can also register at the Venue during the walk-in on Friday 1-2pm.

For Thursday evening, we have reserved 40 seats at Hasir [2], a famous Turkish restaurant in Kreuzberg, from 6 to 10 pm. They don't have enough room to host us all at the same time, but we assume that there is more of a continual coming and going.

Venue

On Friday, you can enter the venue through the café and ask for the way at the bar. To the left of the bar there is a lift which brings you to the 4th floor. Please note that until 1pm, the floor is reserved for the Wiki Loves Monuments meeting, so don't go up there early. The café is open all day, so you can hang out there before 1pm.

On Saturday and Sunday, the café is closed. You have to go through the yard (if you stand in front of the café entrance, turn left and then right) and then enter the stair case. We will post signs to show you the way.

Meals

You shouldn’t miss the chance of having breakfast at your hostel/hotel. During the Hackathon, we will provide coffee, water, juice, some snacks and sweets as well as lunch for free. In Kreuzberg, where the betahaus is located, there are a lot of restaurants, bars, and cafes where you will surely find a perfect place for dinner in the evenings. Also, there are several supermarkets for your special needs (closed on Sunday, though).

Reimbursement

Sorry for repeating that, but we haven't received any notice about reimbursements yet. If you have travel expenses and would like WMDE to reimburse you, please let us know asap! We need to know how much cash to bring. You can use this form [3] or just write an email with the amount of money and then fill the form at the registration.

Information

You can find all information on MediaWiki [4], please carefully read the info mails we have already sent. During the days of the conference, in case of any emergency, you can reach the organization team via our panic phone +49 176 86219490. We also regularly check our mails at hackathon@wikimedia.de.

Looking forward to seeing you all here in Berlin,

Daniel, Nicole and Cornelius

[1] http://www.comebackpackers.com/ [2] http://www.hasir.de/eng/hasir_kreuzberg.html [3] http://www.wikimedia.de/images/d/d2/Reimbursement_form.pdf [4] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Berlin_Hackathon_2011