Debconf11/Germany/Berlin/DecisionMeeting

"affordable" for both sponsors and attendees

We are convinced we can set up an affordable Debconf in Berlin. Berlin is a relatively cheap city compared to other big cities in Germany (Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg) and Europe (London, Paris, Zurich, ...)

Humboldt University is an affordable venue compared to commercial conference centers, hotel costs are moderate, so is food.

strong, mature, experienced local team

Our local team is strong, mature and enthusiastic.

Our bidpaper proves we did a lot of work in relatively short time.

Berlin has 17 DDs, we have 2 in our team and will hopefuly activate more :)

A lot of our team members have long ties working for Debian and related projects and most team members have experience with organizing conferences and events, including debconf, Linuxtag, Wizards of OS.

The idea of debconf in Berlin even attracted team members from related projects (sidux, LXDE)

We know our city in and out, some of us have been living here for more than 30 years.

We all have roots in the different FLOSS communities in town and will have no problem to raise as many helpers as we need.

We have students in our team with good connections in the right places for our main proposed venue Humboldt university.

Some of us will get involved in debconf10 global team and also attend the conference as volunteer

good working spaces

We can provide good working conditions for all proposed venues.

Humboldt University provides all needed rooms/auditoriums in the main building or neighboring ones (3 minutes walk)

'Audimax' (the big auditorium) can seat 732 people and an extra 282 on the gallery (the latter being perfect for the video team)

Several smaller rooms (30 to 100) are also available in the main building

Right across the street behind the main building is another university building with two middle-sized rooms (178qm / 116qm) and

several smaller workshop rooms for about 30 to 100 people.

Seats in the auditorium are fixed, smaller rooms can be arranged as needed.

Cafeteria and Mensa (student restaurant) is right next to auditorium in the main building

Hacklabs can be open 24/7 if we pay in-house security. No prices on that so far.

Urania is a all-in-one venue. All auditoriums/rooms are in the same building on 3 stories, catering arera as well.

Seating (fixed/adjustable) same as above.

Hacklabs can be open 24/7 if we pay in-house security. No prices on that so far.

excellent network connectivity

Humboldt University has a 1 Gbit line and is widely wired.

It fulfills all needs including video streaming.

At Urania they have a 16MBit line and a 600MBit fibreglass line which is not activated but can be used (will cost extra)

The admin at Urania is fond of Linux and will help with any needs we have, like extra access points, wiring areas where needed

quality and quantity of food and drink in close proximity

For both favoured venues (goes for the other proposed venues as well) quality and quantity of food is excellent.

For our favoured venue Humboldt University it could hardly be any better.

It offers catering for little money inside the venue and fastfood places and restaurants of all categories and many cuisines right within a 5 - 10 minute walk from the venue/hotel.

This even includes kosher fastfood and a kosher restaurant (normaly not so common in Germany) within 10 minutes walk from the venue/hotel

suitable accommodation in close proximity

Hotel situation can be considered very good (short ways) affordable prices and variety.

For Humboldt University (our preferred venue):

Hotel Meininger (to open in March 2010) 470 beds from single/double to 5-bed rooms) approx. mix-calculation price sharp under 30€ (waiting for precise numbers)

Walking distance: ~ 5 minutes to venue.

For Urania (2nd choice for venue):

Hotel being build right next to venue, finished in mid 2010, no prices yet, other affordable hotels close by.

Dormatory (suitable for both venues but closer to Urania):

For example the larger one of the dorms (about 400 beds) of the 10 € dorms is 10 minute walk to Urania or 15 minutes on public transport from the university

presentation facilities

As there are many conferences held at HU there is sufficient equipment. Both, clip-on and hand-mics, fully equipped with appropriate audio equipment are available in a sufficient number, since they are used to hold conferences with panel discussions and we can ask "Technische Betreuung" of the university if we need additional equipment.

travel logistics

We have 2 major airports: Berlin Tegel and Berlin Schönefeld (Berlin-Brandenburg International, BBI). There are some cheap airlines flying near the chosen city, for example Ryanair, Germanwings, AirBerlin, TUIfly amongst others, those cover most of the planet. The trip from the airport to the venue will take with Public Transport (bus and/or subway) about 30 minutes. We are currently negotiating with BVG (Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, the carrier for the local transport) http://www.bvg.de/index.php/en/Bvg/Start about "Free ride for DebConf attendees". Total cost will be 10.000 - 15.000 € and would allow all visitors to use the local transport net all over the city including Potsdam and Schönefeld Airport where most attendees will arrive. This will be an eticket that can be printed before traveling and would prevent people fiddling with the ticket machines at the airport. Therefore they will not have to go through changing money for the transport and can start their stay in Berlin very relaxed. We should be able to find a sponsor for the whole sum or at least part of it.

accessibility

The venue is completely equipped with facilities for motion-handicapped people. All hallways at the University are accessible with wheelchairs, automatic doors and elevators are right next to Audimax (our main conference room). We and the university can offer solutions for the sight- and hearing-impaired to follow the conference accordingly. Every part of the building is accessible with wheelchairs. Some of the students are also handicapped, we can ask them for advice of best practices, some of them work at ["Referat - Enthinderungsberatung"], a students association which offers consulting and support as well. For other services provided by the city please have a look at the webpages for handicapped Berlin visitors.

Good Points About Other Bids

• MUC has very good support from their municipality
• MUC has a larger airport

Weak Points of Berlin's Bid

• Berlin is such an interesting place that people might get distracted from DebConf.