Infomail #4, April 10, 2006

Dear Project,

with this mailing we would like to inform you about:

 

1. Updated Booth Plan

We updated the booth plan. Please take a look at the official Booth Plan and get an enlarged view by clicking the plan.

2. New vCC Version

We updated the virtual Conference Center, so you can see your project status and, if it is accepted, the booth number together with its size.

3. Exhibitor Passes (not eTickets!)

The exhibitor passes for project booth members will continue to be free of cost for a reasonable amount of booth personnel. However, they are not meant as a means for regular visitors to save the entrance-fee. Hence, please don't abuse this, and don't add random visitors as booth staff if they don't belong to your booth. For this matter we already sent you some eTickets.

You can now order the exhibitor passes for each accepted project using the vCC. Please login at the virtual Conference Center and click in the Main menu on "Project" and then in submenu on "Projects".

Each accepted project will find a button "Order exhibitor passes". After you ordered the passes, we will have a look at the list and approve them. Otherwise you will get an email from us.

You'll need either normal entrance tickets or exhibitor passes for entering LinuxTag. You can get exhibitor passes on Tuesday at the LinuxTag office for the registered project staff. You can either get a single pass for your own, or the whole bunch for the entire project (or a mixture). If you fetch the passes for the entire project, please make sure that the other project members know this and know a way to get to the passes after the show has opened.

Since our office is located behind the regular entrance, this won't work the same way when the show is going on. If you arrive after LinuxTag has already started, you'll have to either get a normal entrance ticket or ask your colleagues to provide you with an exhibitor pass from the inside.

4. eTickets

There was a little confusion about the eTickets we sent you. As already said this one-day tickets are meant for inviting guests to your booth at LinuxTag.

5. Rhein-Main-Hallen

Because many people asked, we would like to clarify where the most important

things at LinuxTag 2006 will be located:

6. Booth Equipment

The booths will be separated by walls, which consists of segments which are 1m wide and about 2.2m high. All edges to corridors are open, so some booths have one or two walls.

Please note that we can only provide regular conference tables (120cm wide, 60cm deep and 73cm high) and conference chairs. We don't have any other furniture this year. The general rule is that a booth size of 9qm justifies two tables and four chairs. We are not sure if we manage to get more tables.

Within next days we will upgrade the vCC for you to order chairs and tables. In general it is possible to rent additional furniture but that will cost quite some money which could be saved otherwise. So please place your orders economically. These orders also will be reviewed and approved by the LinuxTag Team.

7. Power and Internet Connectivity

Power and Internet will be provided by LinuxTag and Rhein-Main-Hallen for the project booths. You don't have to worry about these. However, you'll need to take enough extension cords and power multiplier sockets with you. We cannot provide them in a proper number for all projects. If you use a cable drum for distributing power, please make sure not to connect any computers or monitors to it unless you've pulled off the entire cable. If you plan to present special hardware, like several servers, which will consume very much power, please contact us.

Please be advised to take long network cables with you (see below). You will also need some switches for the inner-booth network. More details about Internet connectivity will follow within next days.

8. Deliveries

It is possible to send packaged stuff to LinuxTag independent of your own arrival. However, the Rhein-Main-Hallen are very large, and if nobody knows about the packages, these cannot be taken care of properly. Please ensure that they will not be delivered before Friday, April 28, as nobody's there before.

Therefore, please only use the address given here, and please inform us about the deliveries you expect, so we can route them to your booth, even if the address is mangled (a common case).

Hence, please tell us who sends the packages, who should receive the stuff, and what kind of content is in. The Project Team will act as dispatcher anyway, but can only accept and dispatch stuff properly when the team knows about it.

If you can add a contact person, add "Frau M. Kaestner". If you can add a phone number for the recipient, please add 0611/144 462. Please send packages to

LinuxTag
c/o Rhein-Main-Hallen Wiesbaden
Frau Miriam Kaestner
Rheinstraße 20
65185 Wiesbaden

9. Storage Space

We were able to assign a few storage areas where you can place your stuff that shouldn't clutter your booth. We highly recommend to use such space for idle clothes, water bottles, other food, unused boxes and other equipment.

As usuall not all project booths have direct access to such an area so you may have to coordinate with the neighbour booth to access the storage area. Of course, please don't overstress this during the exhibition. There should be doors or curtains to separate the storage area from the booths.

Additionally we suggest to bring along long table cloths which help you to hide stuff under the tables.

10. Insurance

LinuxTag cannot apply for an additional insurance to cover all projects and their equipment. Therefore, you should be very careful with the equipment you are going to use. If breaks, it's broken.

You should also not leave small parts of value at the booth if there are no staff members at the booth, or when you are outside the exhibition (i. e. during the evening and morning). It should be sufficient to place movable parts in a box at the back of the booth.

You should also not place larger items (like monitors and boxes) in the front of the booth in a way so that they can be carried away easily. Obeying to these basic rules should help you not loose any of your equipment.

11. Posters

Please prepare at least one large poster (A1 or A0) to be placed on the walls of your booth or an idle pillar so that visitors understand what the booth is all about, or what the particular machine in front of them intends to demonstrate. Without posters or other similar stuff the booth will probably look a bit deserted and not that interesting at all.

You can use adhesive tape to fix the posters on the walls. If you plan to demonstrate fancy hardware at your booth, it is very helpful to describe these particular pieces of hardware in a poster or a large sign, so that visitors recognise its value or notice that it is extraordinary.

12. Beverages Bar

We've heard that some projects plan to hand visitors fluids of one kind or another. Please ensure that this doesn't turn your booth into a beverages bar.

This would actually cause a lot of problems because there's a default caterer and that company is the only one that is allowed to sell beverages at the exhibition center. They will get angry and try legal tricks if they feel somebody is poaching in their territory.

It is no problem to provide a cup of coffee or a glass of water to visitors inside the booth when talking to you and staff. Things just shouldn't spread.

13. Keysigning Party

Alexander Wirt will organise a keysigning party during LinuxTag. If you want to participate, please read his instructions. The party will be conducted using Len Sassaman's efficient group key signing method.

If you intend to participate please send mail with nothing but your key-id to formorer+kslt2k6@formorer.de no later than by Sunday, April 30th, 2006. During LinuxTag the keysigning party will take place on Friday, May 5th, at 14:00.

14. Social Event

The official social event will take place on Thursday, May 4th, at the local cultural centre "Schlachthof". As usual LinuxTag provides 150 tickets at a reduced price for the community. We will decide within next days about how you can apply for them.

 

Next infomail will follow soon, covering the subjects

So please stay tuned!

Regards,
Wolfgang Drotschmann, Marko Jung, Martin Schulte
Project Committee LinuxTag 2006