[EHSM] EHSM-2014 kickoff meeting March 4th 20:00 @piratecave

[Sébastien Bourdeauducq <sebastien.bourdeauducq@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

After the success of EHSM-2012 (see http://ehsm.eu/media.html for talk 
recordings, pictures and articles about it) we want to throw another 
EHSM in 2014.

I have the pleasure to invite everyone interested in making a positive 
contribution to the organization of this event to the first meeting on 
Monday March 4th 20:00 at the Pirate Cave [http://piratecave.org/]:

Meta Mate Bar
Strassburgerstrasse 16
10405 Berlin
U-Bahn: Senefelder Platz / Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz

Like at EHSM, there should be plenty of locally produced mate-based 
drinks to keep you refreshed during the heated discussions.

If you cannot attend this meeting but still wish to be part of the 
discussions and the orga, let me know, I can also simply subscribe you 
to the orga@xxxxxxx mailing list. Among other things, we post meeting 
minutes there.

We will discuss (in this order):
* who wants to organize and what.
* content. We definitely raised the bar big time for DIY/open source 
conferences, but I think we can do even better in a couple areas:
 - even more hard tech! You can visit for example Laser Optics Berlin, 
or trade shows organized by DPG to see what I'm talking about.
 - this probably means more collaboration with academia and research 
institutes, where I feel there is a lot of untapped potential.
 - more hands-on workshops, with a very inclusive policy. I think it 
makes a great statement to send only top-notch lectures to the main 
stage, but even simple workshops are very valuable to get kids and other 
beginners involved. Of course, workshops near 0K are most welcome too.
 - social aspects, which was suggested on our feedback wall: I have to 
admit the main reason I'm a hesitant about having more of those covered 
is exposing social nonsense (which too many conferences are full of) is 
harder than exposing scientific nonsense. Of course, something being 
hard is not a reason for not doing it - otherwise I'd organize 
conferences on cloud computing instead - but we should pick our battles 
and keep some focus.
* date of the the next event (I guess this will be Fri-Sat January 3-5 
at the very same location. Xenia - any update about the room booking?).
* finances (how much money we have made at EHSM-2012 and will use for 
2014, sponsors for 2014, budget, ticket prices). And yes we finally 
ended up with a positive balance :)
* e.V. registration.
* other topics you can propose by replying to this email.

Sébastien
Germany: +4917639295103