Checklist for the Haifa bid for Debconf 20.
Contents
Local team
Please name the main local team
- Tzafrir Cohen, Lior Kaplan, Shay Gover, Talat Batheesh, Tamir Gadot, Avi Avraham
Of these people, which have been present at a previous ?DebConfs and which have participated as organizers and/or volunteers (the line might be quite blurry at times) of a previous DebConf?
Briefly describe their involvement in Debian and the Free Software world.
- Tzafrir and Lior are both DDs. Shay and Talat are involved in the Free Software community.
Who has previous experience in organizing events? What events?
Avi was involved in ?PyCon-IL, Lior and Avi were involved in August Penguin and Tamir organises events for the university.
Who of your team is contributing to DebConfN-1? In which teams?
Are any local team members linked (professionally/financially/personally) with any of the organizations who will provide services (e.g. venue/food/accommodation) to DebConf? (Any links can be good or bad, but they should be stated publicly.)
- Tamir works for the University of Haifa
Choice of city / town / whatever
- Are you suggesting a city, a town, a village, a spa in the middle of nowhere?
- Haifa is a city on the coast of Israel. The third largest city in the country.
- How many people live there?
- ~300000
- How easy/convenient is it to get computer hardware and electronic components?
- Electronics shops.
- There are electronics shops in Haifa.
- Computer hardware stores.
- There are computer hardware stores, selling components.
- Supermarkets, etc.
- There are supermarkets around the city. Including one 200m from the proposed venue.
Delivery from online shopping services like Amazon, ?MediaMarkt? How long does delivery take?
- KSP and Ivory are online shopping services in the area, with delivery options as fast as 4hrs. Ivory has a branch over the road from the railway station.
- Electronics shops.
- How easy is it for handicapped people to move around?
- It's an old city, with fairly narrow, twisty streets. The city surrounded by hills.
- Busses may be accessible, Handicapped people need to arrange train trips, in advance, to be met.
- How many people live there?
- Haifa is a city on the coast of Israel. The third largest city in the country.
Which is the nearest airport?
- Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport (TLV). There is also an airport in Haifa, but no useful scheduled flights.
Are there any cheap airlines flying to the chosen city (or nearby)?
- Ryanair, easyjet, Wizz, Norwegian, Vueling, WOW, Transavia, Pegasus
How long does the trip from the airport to the venue take?
- About 1.5 hours away by train or car. Buses are also available.
How friendly is your country towards foreigners?
- Israel is friendly to foreigners. Haifa is especially cosmopolitan, with a diverse population.
Visas: Which/how many countries' citizens require getting a visa? How hard (bureaucratic, probable) is it to get it?
EU & US are visa-free. A visa is granted at the border, without a stamp in the passport. Chinese and Indian attendees require a visa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Israel
Are there any import regulations, which might affect DebConf? (e.g. a limit to number of laptops / cheese / wine you can bring in; hard regulations for money transfers; etc.)
- 1kg of cheese is fine. Wine up to 2l.
- Language: Do most people speak English? How hard is it for a foreigner to find their way around?
- Most people understand some English. Anyone dealing with tourists will speak English.
- Smoking: What are the local regulations about smoking?
- Not permitted inside buildings. Not currently restricted outside, but there may be a restriction near building entrances by 2020.
Conference Facilities
How much does it cost to rent these facilities?
- TBD. It seems buildins will be mostly free of charge.
How far away are the locations from each other? (auditoriums, hacklabs, restaurant, sleeping quarters, front desk, orga spaces)
- Auditoriums are colocated with hacklabs, the Front Desk and BoF spaces.
- The dorimitories are 500m from the auditorium area.
The cafeteria is > 200m from the auditorium area. We may also serve food in the atrium around the auditoriums.
What kind of places are available suitable for hacklabs, workshops, ?BoFs and talks? Usually DebConf needs 2 videoed presentation talk rooms, 1 videoed BoF room, several (>=3) smaller BoF rooms, and a few (>= 2) hack labs.
- Hacklabs: University class rooms (flat)
?BoFs: University class rooms (flat)
- Talks: University lecture theatres (raked)
- How many people fit in each of them?
- Hacklabs: 30 people
- Main BoF room: 60 people
- BoF rooms: 30 people
- Talks: 205 people
How flexible are the spaces?
Can smaller auditoria be merged into a bigger one?
- No
- Are tables/chairs fixed, or can we arrange them to fit more people/give more room to the people that we need?
- The classrooms have moveable desks (except for one BoF room, with a horseshoe fixed layout)
Is the venue accessible? Note: There are more accessibility issues to bear in mind than just mobility. Is the area safe for people with any kind of disability? (There are sight and hearing-impaired people, too.) Bonus: What people is it not good for?
- Although it is an old building, it is quite accessible. There are tactile paths between buildings for the sight-impaired. There are elevators between floors and wheelchair accessible toilets on every floor.
- The main, raked, lecture theatres only have wheelchair access at the back of the room. Talk room 1 (room 715) has wheelchair accessto the stage, too.
- An audio loop would need to be hired, if necessary.
- Is there access to all areas with ramps and/or elevators? (Note: carrying somebody over some steps is not usually an acceptable option.)
- Yes
Are there people with experience in accessibility at the venue? Are we in contact with them?
- Yes, not yet.
- Are plans / blueprints with exact distances available to us (to be kept confidential on request)?
- Yes, but we haven't got them, yet. We have our own hand-drawn ones.
What kind of audio equipment is already present in the talk rooms?
Wireless or stationary mics?
- 1 wireless and 1 stationary mic
- TBD on availability of more
clip-on kind of mics or hand-held mics?
- Clip-on wireless
How many of them?
- 1 wireless and 1 stationary mic
Can the video team take control of the audio equipment in the room?
- TBD, but expect no problem
- Will the hacklabs be allowed to stay open 24x7? What time schedule do they offer?
- By default they close at 10pm to 6am. But if we hire security, it can be.
What kind of security will be there?
- Every entrance to the university buildings has security.
Are there any limitations regarding the consumption of food / alcohol? Where do these limitations apply?
- No
- In the dormitories, alcohol is prohibited, but moderate consumption will be tolerated.
How far is it to the nearest convenience stores / all-night restaurants?
- There are convenience stores on campus, near the auditioriums as well as near the dormitories.
- There are all-night restuarants in Carmel Centre, and in the city.
- Please provide pictures of the venue and accommodation.
- TBD
Food
How much are the meals per person per day?
- Roughly ₪ 100 (€25) / day
- Where will food be served? Is this near the talk rooms / the hacklabs?
- TBD
- Either in the cafeteria, or in the open areas around the auditoriums.
What kind of food will be served?
- Typical Israeli Food (not that different to typical western food, but with more hummus)
In what fashion? (table service, limited buffet, open buffet, etc.)
- TBD
- Typical Israeli Food (not that different to typical western food, but with more hummus)
- Would food for vegetarian / vegan / lactose-intolerant / gluten-sensitive / religious (of any denomination) people be available?
- Yes.
How many meals do we need to order to get those kind of "special" meals?
- TBD
Will it cost extra to get those special meals?
- TBD
Will the special meals come from a separate caterer?
- Probably not. TBD
In a two week period, how much variety in food can be provided?
- TBD
Socialising
- What areas are available nearby for attendees to hack, socially? (e.g. bars, outside tables, swimming pools, coffee shops)
- The dormitory has a common room which is used as a bar in the evening.
- It won't be open on Friday nights.
- TBD menu.
- There is a small food court 2 floors below the auditoriums.
- There is another food court next to the cafeteria.
- There is an outdoor seating area, with a couple of food vendors, 1 floor down from the auditoriums.
- Tennis courts are near the dorms.
- Every buliding contains a cafeteria.
- More TBD
- The dormitory has a common room which is used as a bar in the evening.
- What hours will they be open?
- TBD 7am-7pm
Is there conference WiFi coverage in these areas?
- Indoors, yes (may not be great)
Network connectivity
Is the area already wired with regular network infrastructure? (much preferably: 1Gbps)
- Yes, 1Gbps
How much does it cost and how difficult is it to get a big internet connection? (100 Mbps at least)
- The university has a 11Gbps uplink.
How much work does it imply to cover the area with WiFi?
The venue is covered. The area around the auditoriums has Aruba 300/330 (not sure) APs. But <=1 room. 3 in the central space.
- According to a student, not particularly well. But the venue has promised to lay on extra APs in our areas.
- What can be done if an area isn't well covered? Are there spare APs?
- The venue is willing to handle this.
If we use someone else's infrastructure, how flexible are they, regarding routing / firewall / IP ranges / public access / WiFi SSIDs / other stuff?
- They are willing to make the venue work for us.
Do we have restrictions on allowed ports?
- By default, yes. But restrictions can be lifted on request.
Are we traffic-shaped? Or can we set a traffic shaper if we need so?
- TBD
Can we get a dedicated SSID for DebConf with static auth? Rather than per-user credentials.
- Yes
Do we have a point of contact, who understands our needs?
- Yes, although our current contact will have left by then. We will get a new contact on his team.
Would it be possible to set up the core network before DebCamp? (a day or two, earlier would be nicer, in order to handle problems gracefully. Additional weeks for wireless.)
- TBD
Special rooms
Server:
- Size
- 30 person classroom
- Have they/do they need air conditioning?
- Central A/C
- What network connectivity is available?
- 2x 1Gbps port (TBD)
What electrical load can they handle?
- Unknown, but there are 4x3 16A sockets
- Lockable? Who has access?
- TBD, presumably yes
Video:
- Size
- 30 person classroom
- Have they/do they need air conditioning?
- Central A/C
- What network connectivity is available?
- 1x 1Gbps port (TBD)
What electrical load can they handle?
- Unknown, but there are 4x3 16A sockets
- Lockable? Who has access?
- TBD, presumably yes
Front Desk:
- Where are are we expecting to host the front desk? How close is it to other spaces?
- In a classroom, near all of the talk rooms and hack labs
- Is it lockable?
- TBD, presumably yes
Orga Room:
- Is there a small (10 person) room that the orga team can use for meetings and storage?
- Yes
Meeting Room:
- Is there a small (10 person) room that can be used for private meetings? (e.g. sensitive issues)
- Room 617
Accommodation
How much does it cost per person per night?
- $25 (USD) depending on the room. Better and more expensive rooms may be available in the dormitories (up to 50$/night).
Is the place where people are going to sleep near the conference facilities?
- Yes, 500m away. At roughly the same elevation.
Is it able to handle an uncertainty in the attendee count, until a month before the conference?
- TBD
Is it able to handle the change in attendance from ~20 on the first night to the expected maximum towards the end of the conference?
- Yes
- Is it able to handle foreigners who can't speak the local languages? (i.e. do the people at the accommodation speak English?)
- Yes
Is accommodation check-in separate to DebConf check-in?
- Yes
Can couples (and families) be accommodated together?
- Yes
How many room keys would be available?
- 1 per person
- Are there other hotels around?
- There are hotels in the Carmel Centre or closer to the beaches.
- Are there rooms ready for handicapped people? How many?
- TBD a few
Child Care
- Will there be any child care available?
- TBD It could be arranged.
- Where will it be located?
- What will it cost?
- What age ranges will be supported?
- During what hours will it be offered?
Fun and Free time
- What leisure activities are recommended?
- There are plenty of restuarants and bars in the downtown area.
- The Bahá’í Gardens are on the side of the hill, above the city.
- There are forests on the nearby Carmel Mountain.
- There are some museums in the city.
- List some possible Day Trips.
- A tour of Haifa, organised by the city
- Historic tour in downtown Haifa (Bahá’í Gardens, the German Colony, Stella Maris)
- Caves
- TBD
- Are the proposed locations ready to receive people with disabilities?
- Yes.
- How expensive would they be?
- TBD
- Will transport need to be organised?
- TBD
Local Sponsors
Do you have a list of prospective sponsors that might be interested in helping the conference? (By providing venues, money, hardware, connectivity, etc.)
- Intel
- The University
- Matanel (?)
- Have you spoken to these organisations yet, to find out if they might sponsor, and what conditions and deadlines they have? (Note that many large organisations which provide funding for events need to be approached a long time in advance.)
- TBD
- Do you have promises/pledges from any of these sponsors already?
- TBD
Timing
When (and why) would be the best time to host DebConf at your location?
- Late August 2020, if we want to use the dormitories.
- What is your backup plan if your preferred venue isn't available at that time?
- The other university campus.
- Is there a provisional reservation in place for a particular date? When does the provisional reservation expire?
- Not yet, we need to decide on the bid, first.