I would hope that everyone is aware that Hivefest will be happening in Amsterdam in September. Once again @roelandp has taken on the challenge of organising an event. This is a return to the city where SF1 happened. I missed that as it would probably have cost me all I had made at that point and I do regret not going. By 2017 I was a dolphin and I decided to go to SF2 in Lisbon, Portugal. That was mostly paid for with my earning. It was a great experience, especially as so many people seemed to know me.
If you are wondering what to expect then I can tell you what I experienced. Each day of the event was at a different venue with transport provided from the official hotels. There were drinks and snacks during the day with a full sit-down meal each evening. That was something I had not expected. There were other evening events such as playing pool with plenty of free beer. During the day there are lots of presentations by the various projects, but some people just seem to socialise.
When SF3 was announced for Krakow in Poland I had to go to that too. These were my first visits to these countries, but I was so busy with the events that I did not do a huge amount of general exploring. SF3 was equally cool with more amazing organisation. The presentation below was in an old tram shed. The headphones allowed for a couple of talks to happen in the same space and you could switch between them.
I did not get to SF4 in Thailand. It was just too far to go for me, but it did open it up to more people in Asia. There had been people from all over the world at the others and it was great to meet so many of them. Since then we have had two virtual Hivefests that I attending in AltspaceVR. It is not the same experience, but just being able to walk up to people and chat is great. We should do more informal events using the various online tools. I have been on some Zoom chats with a few people.
Not too long ago Roeland announced the first in-person Hivefest. He is from the Netherlands, so it will be easier for him to do it there. People will ask why it cannot be in the USA or elsewhere. It will come down to cost and who can organise it. Anyone can organise their own Hive event, but something on the scale of these is a major task.
Once the 'official' hotels were announced I booked a room. Previously I had left before the final evening meal, but this time I will stay for the whole thing, so that will mean arriving on the Thursday and leaving on the Monday. I will be staying at the Volkshotel. It is not a cheap city, but I went for a fairly basic room. I just need a bed and a shower really. You can stay wherever you like, but that may involve extra travel. Some people may even camp.
I needed to power down to pay for my Hivefest ticket. There are a range of prices and you are asked to pay one appropriate to your account size. The bigger accounts can subsidise the minnows. You can see who has paid in the Hivefest wallet and so far it is not many. I expect some will be powering down or have to raise the funds from other sources.
This week I arranged my travel. I will be taking the Eurostar from London. My journey involves a change at Brussels, but to go direct would mean a very early start. As it is I need to be at the station around 7am to get checked in. I have not used the Eurostar before, so this is an adventure for me. I would rather not fly even if it is a little more expensive, but this will be fairly convenient as I can get a train into London and the station in Amsterdam is not far from the hotel.
With those three things I have sorted most of it. I am thinking of bringing a guitar along as there were some jam sessions at previous events. For those I took a ukulele as that was easier when flying.
I really hope that COVID does not cause too many issues with Hivefest. The last thing we need is more travel restrictions. I did seem to catch a cold or something at previous ones, but then you are talking to so many people. You may lose your voice anyway. I would recommend taking it easy with the free drink if you want to last the weekend.
I did some running in Krakow and I see there is a parkrun in Amsterdam. I would like to try that, so if others can be up in time on the Saturday we can go. It is a little way out of the centre, but we can get a taxi if necessary.
I really hope to see lots of you there. Even if you are a small account you will be made welcome. We can all bring something to Hive.
Hive five!
