Meeting #1 was great and it’s time for #2

Science Hackday Berlin – we are coming!

On Wednesday, June 12 (7 pm), seven people met at co.up coworking space to start a planning a Science Hackday in Berlin, Germany. While most of these people were associated with OpenTechSchool we were happy to see other creative people joining this open meetup. After all a Science Hackday needs the combined forces of the hacker scene, researchers and scientists and artists.

In the 2 hour meetup we got to know each other and discussed the basic structure and the  critical requirements we already spotted.

That’s what we know so far (but it’s subject to change with good arguments):

  • dates: October 5+6 or Oct 12+13 or Sep 21+22
  • time: Saturday lunch time until Sunday afternoon, possibly a pre-event on Friday
  • target size: 150 – 200 people overall
  • aiming for a good split between scientists, hackers and artists
  • event is open to beginners and will be taken care of (courtesy of OpenTechSchool)
  • sponsorships will be needed, but we won’t sell out event (no branding of the event, no booths, no pitches, no marketing folks “harassing” attendees). Partnerships (e.g. sponsored food, infrastructure) is possible. Brainstorming on further non-invasive sponsorships needed.
  • venue needs to
    • be close to the city center
    • be able to hold that many people in work set up (grouped tables)
    • be barrier free
    • have electricity, bathrooms, water – and a kitchen would be nice too
    • pre-installed, prefessional WIFI would be a plus
    • nice to have: an outside area for noisy & smelly experiements, handiwork etc.

Open questions are:

  • Do we need an age limit? Any problems concerning minors?
  • What can we offer sponsors? What do we want to offer?
  • Who is the main organizer team as a point of contact? Who is doing what?

What’s next? A meeting!

As we are now at the starting point and need to move fast we agreed on a 2nd meeting one week later, which is Wednesday, June 18.

You are more than welcome to join us and get to know us:

  • Where?
    co.up coworking space, 5th floor, Adalbertstr. 7+8, 10999 Berlin (Google Maps)
  • When?
    Wednesday, June 19 at 7.30 pm
  •  Who?
    Everyone who wants to become a part of this event or has suggestions to make it better!
In case you can’t join us there’s always the Google Group you can sign-up to to stay informed what’s going on.

 

Hope to see you,

Stefan