DebConf15/Bids/Germany/Heidelberg

Introduction

Heidelberg is located in the north-west of Baden-Wuerttemberg, which is a region of Germany, which again lies in the middle of Europe:

Heidelberg in Germany

Baden-Württemberg in Germany

Europe and Germany

• • Inhabitants: ca. 150 000
  • English should be spoken at least basically by some people; Heidelberg is a tourist city for US and Asian people and has a young student population

Getting there

Additional time to reach the venue (see below) from the main station is 10 minutes by bus (travel time, add 5-15 minutes for connecting times and ticket handling)

• By Train:
  • Heidelberg Hbf (main station)
    • (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg_Hauptbahnhof#Services)
    • serves german IC connections
    • international connections:
      • close to major ICE hubs Mannheim Hbf (0:20 by S-Bahn) and Karlsruhe Hbf (0:45 by S-Bahn)
      • ca. 3:30 from Paris (Est) by TGV/ICE via Strasbourg and Karlsruhe Hbf/Mannheim Hbf
      • ca. 3:45 from Zurich by IC/ICE via Basel SBB and Karlsruhe Hbf/Mannheim Hbf
      • EuroCity connections from Austria: from Vienna and Klagenfurt via Munich, from Innsbruck via Ulm/Lindau

• By Plane:
  • Frankfurt (FRA), major worldwide hub, all possible international connection - around 80km away
    • ca. 1:00 to Heidelberg Hbf by ICE via Mannheim Hbf (1-2/h)
    • ca. 1:30 to Heidelberg Hbf by IC via Frankfurt Hbf or Mainz Hbf (2/h)
  • Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden (FKB), regional airport, mainly "cheap-fare airlines" (Ryanair, TUIFly, ...) - around 80km away
    • ca. 2:00 to Heidelberg Hbf by Bus/RE/S-Bahn (2/h)
  • Stuttgart (STR), international connections, also "cheap-fare airlines" like easyJet, AirBerlin, ... - around 85km away
    • ca. 1:40 to Heidelberg Hbf by IC/S-Bahn (bad connections in the early morning) (2/h)

(Hbf: main station, TGV/ICE: French/German high-speed trains, IC: InterCity, EC: EuroCity, RE: Regional Express, S-Bahn: Metropolitan Train)

Venue

We propose Heidelberg's Youth Hostel for both conference *and* accomodation.

Heidelberg aerial view with venue marked, based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heidelberg-luftbild-aerial-photograph.jpg by Christos Vittoratos, CC BY-SA 3.0

Heidelberg International

• Tiergartenstr. 5
  69120 Heidelberg
• Map: OpenStreetMap
• 10 mins from Heidelberg Hbf per public bus
• two busses to centre town right in front of venue, every 10 minutes

• The staff is very welcoming, already hosted other conferences of this size and would be happy to accomodate us.
• The City of Heidelberg might help, too
• We'd need to prove non-profitness (and the DebConf 15 association needs to join the "Jugendherberge-Landesverband") to get access but that's trivial.

• With exclusive access, 24/7 is no problem. But there will be limitations during DebCamp (or if we end up with less than 350) when we are not the only ones (noise concerns, etc.)
• our info desk can be next to it in the lobby or in a room next to the main talk room, or even integrated with the YH's front desk.

Prices

• Prices for 2014 (!) are 36,50€/p and 30,40€ for subsequent nights, incl. three meals, so approx 32,50 € weighted average/p.
• Current offer is 11500 €/day for 350 people (minimum), 32,90 € for each additional person.
• Rent for conference rooms and infrastructure is 1.000 €/day (down from 1.630 €/day).
• The hostel is VAT-exempt, i.e. the prices are net == gross.

• minmum is negotiable if necessary, i.e. 320 seems possible. With fewer people, we would not be guaranteed exclusive use of the venue.

Network

• the big conference rooms have wired network
  • temporary cables to the smaller ones possible
• WiFi available in-house, especially when we use the venue exclusively, we'll be able to add our own equipment/setup

• LTE connection available (not enough)
• Negotiations with the University of Heidelberg (across the street, line of sight) about network connectivity have started.
  • They are generally happy to support us with a 1Gb link, but we need to bridge the "last mile".
  • Connecting the youth hostel to the city's fibre network would only be possible with the help of the hostel and the city, as the costs would be around 53.000 € and we made it clear that we cannot cover any of these.
  • Currently, the plan is to run a fibre semi-permanently through the zoo. A meeting has been arranged on 2014-03-18 to investigate this option and estimate the costs (which we assume to be less than 1.000 €; however, we won't offer to chip in, yet…).
  • If fibre is not an option, a microwave link (AirMAX) would be possible.
• There is also another provider across the river. No contact exists yet.

Conference rooms

• All conference rooms are fully accessible and within short walking distance
• talk room hosting up to 250 people, one for 120, and 8 more rooms

Heidelberg International - Conference Room (Main talk room)

• Example use (see room list at the bottom of this page):

Usage	Room	Area	Capacity
Main talk room	Heidelberg 1+2+3	210m²	250
Secondary talk room	Berlin+London	110m²	120
BoF room 1	Amsterdam	50m²	24–45
BoF room 2	Lissabon	25m²	6–10
Hacklab 1	Paris	30m²	16–20
Hacklab 2	Helsinki	25m²	16
Hacklab 3	Stockholm	25m²	16
Hacklab 4	Madrid	25m²	16
Hacklab 5	Wien	25m²	16
Hacklab 6	Athen	25m²	16
Hacklab 7	Zürich	25m²	16

• We can make very flexible use of the entire venue if we get exclusive use (depends on minimum attendants). If we cannot get exclusive use of the venue, then restrictions will be imposed. None of this has been fully negotiated.
• All the seating is flexible
• Blueprints are available on request
• The two main talk rooms are fitted with audio/video equipment, including wireless microphones. No equipment is available in the smaller rooms.

Accomodation

• 435 beds in 2,3,4,6-bed rooms, incl. shower/toilet (32 doubles)
  • 6 rooms accessible

Heidelberg International - Twin-bed room (also 8(?) with separate beds)

Heidelberg International - Six-bed room

Heidelberg International - Six-bed room

Open areas

• In addition, there are various public spaces with tables which could be used for hacking and socialising, e.g.:
  • Entrance area with 8 tables (32 people)

Heidelberg International - Lobby

• • Bistro with 12 tables (48 people)

Heidelberg International - Bar

• • Several foyers (40–50 people)
• Outside space (terrace + courtyard) can sit 120 or more, if weather allows
• We can make free use of the entire house when we use it exclusively

Heidelberg International - Courtyard

Heidelberg International - Courtyard

Heidelberg International - Terrace in front of 2nd talk room

• chairs/tables rearrangeable at will, we can get more if we need it (e.g. in the foyers, main talk rooms)

Other/Special rooms

• Server Room available in the basement
  • technical details unknown
• laundry room present (chips to be bought at the reception)

Conference catering

• Hostel can cater for 150–170 people at once
• Caters for all special needs
• Buffet-style, but serving also possible for conference dinner (though preferred only for starter/desert)
• Does BBQ e.g. for party or evening of day trip
• Prices seem reasonable, even without group discounts

Heidelberg International - Dining room - 1

Heidelberg International - Dining room - 2

• Outside eating possible in courtyard and terrace (70+50 seats)

Hostel policy does not tolerate food and drinks brought in. They won't complain about the occasional pack of lollies or water bottles, but in general, they expect food and drinks to be bought there. However, they are going to work with us on this, see below.

Bistro

• There is a "bistro" that serves food and drinks until midnight, and longer if there is sufficient demand.
• Prices are reasonable, e.g.:
  • 0,3l beer ~ 2,00€
  • 1,0l water 1,00€
  • filter coffee 1,00€
  • bottle of wine 11,00€
• They are open to "club deals", like vouchers, and of course discounts
• They'd be happy to respect our requests wrt selection of drinks and foods

Nearby shops & Restaurants

• Italian, Greek restaurant nearby, many more in the old city (20 minutes on foot)
• super market 2km, more shopping (incl. drugstore and more choice 3km)
• Electronic/Computer shops:
  • unclear; there is MediaMarkt/Saturn/ARLT consumer style ones, the only non-one selling Servers/Storage/Switches is AFAICS from Google is Theile: http://www.imsuperstore.de/th-sp/VERSION_2.2.1/shop. Needs to be looked for.

Hotels / camping

• small hotel nearby, Marriot hotel (234 rooms) 20 minutes (1.5km) on foot, other hotels (higher class too) reachable by public transport
• no camping possible nearby

Fun/Leisure/Free Time/Socialising

• the bistro will be similar to the bar at DC13
• there's table tennis and table soccer
• there's a volleyball field and swimming pool (indoors?) to use
• it might be possible to use the sports facilities of the neigbouring club (football/soccer, rugby, ...)
• Heidelberg zoo directly nearby

Heidelberg International - area outside

Heidelberg International - area outside - part of Zoo)

Timing

Because this is a youth hostel also used for school classes and other (non-profit) organizations for meetings and lectures, really the only time possible for such a big event would be during Baden-Württembergs summer holidays (30.07. - 12.09.), which would mean August/beginning of September. More concrete date(s) possible when the youth hostel planned with their regular guests.

Although there is no provisional reservation in place yet, the staff at the youth hostel are well aware of our plans and are keeping our interests in mind until the venue decision has been made (which we said would happen in early March).

(images courtesy Jugendherberge Heidelberg/madduck)