FAQ

General

Who are you?

This event is organised by a non-profit organisation and produced entirely by volunteers. We are members of well-known hackerspaces and other organisations. The initial idea was brought forward by founding members of the London Hackspace, but we're keen to grow this team beyond the social borders of a single city; and we already have quite a few key contributors from other organisations in the UK and the EU. Get in touch if you want to join us in making this happen.

Who are you (officially)?

Electromagnetic Field Ltd. is a non-profit company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales with company number 07788466.
Registered office: 2 Ockendon Mews, London N1 3JL

Why are you doing this?

Our first blog post provides some of the reasons.

There now are dozens of hackerspaces and makerspaces in the UK, and countless other communities of craftsmen, artists, designers, engineers who are interested in the same DIY ethic; but they have few opportunities to all meet up. Most events catering to these communities are small regional conferences and often focused on very specific themes.

We want to change that :)

Why Milton Keynes?

We looked at a fair number of candidate sites. The site we ended up with was the best candidate for a number of reasons:

It comes at a comparably very low price (some of the candidate sites we looked at asked for tens of thousands of £££.)
It has great transport links to much of the UK (both roads and trains.)
It was close enough to a few data centres and high speed Internet uplinks.
The Milton Keynes Parks Trust staff are very helpful and responsive.
They have experience in hosting camping events at their site.

Bonus: it is very close to Bletchley Park :)

Ticket Sales

How can I get a ticket?

~~Tickets are now on sale from our web site.~~ A limited number of day and camp tickets will be available on the door. Day tickets will remain at £30 but camp tickets will be £100. Tickets are now only available on the gate.

How much does it cost?

Adult tickets are £95. There are a limited number of tickets available for under-14s at £47.50 (accompanied by an adult). Children under 5 can attend for free.

If you have a Camper van you will need a Camper van ticket which are available for £30

There are day tickets for each day available for £30 (£35 on the door).

Should we not sell out of camping tickets they will be available on the door for £105 cash.

Online payment is via Google Checkout (which charges a small fee).

Do volunteers pay for their ticket?

Everyone is expected to buy a ticket, including people in the organising team and all volunteers. We have four free tickets for First Aiders as they will be working all weekend (doing 8 hour shifts) and require full certification.

Is there an age limit?

We encourage children and young people to attend. However there are a number of things to bear in mind:

Everyone under 18 needs to be registered at the Infodesk when they enter the camp. This is a requirement of our event license.
Children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
There will be dangerous things on site, but they will be clearly marked.
Licensed alcohol sales are only for people of age 18 and over. Bar staff will ask for ID.

Planning your Attendance

Where is it? How can I get there?

Refer to Location.

When can I arrive? When do I have to leave by?

The site will open to ticket holders at 08:00 Friday morning.

All ticket holders must leave the site by 14:00 Monday.

We will be there before and afterwards setting up and packing up, if you want to help with this please let us know and we can make arrangements. It's worth noting outside these times we can't guarantee availability of toilets/water/electricity/internet etc.

Have a look at our Timeline for an updated summary.

Can someone take me there?

Refer to CarShares, or post an email to the mailing list.

When do things kick off?

We talks and workshops will begin at 16:00 on Friday, with the "official" opening at 15:30 although people will be setting up earlier in the day.

Talks and workshops run daily finish at 11pm, although we expect villages will be doing things late into the night!

What should I bring?

Please take a look at our Packing List for information on what you should and shouldn't bring.

Will there be food?

We expect that most people will bring their own food. That said, we will try to organise some basic food stalls, and some villages may be offering food as well.

If you're interested in selling food at the camp please get in touch with our Vendors team!

Will there be a bar?

Yes, we'll be running a volunteer-staffed licensed bar selling beer and wine, as well as soft drinks and the hacker energy drink Club Mate. Far from the usual crap festival beer, we will be serving real ale from local breweries such as Milton, with all profits going towards making the next iteration of Electromagnetic Field more awesome.

The bar on site will be open from midday to midnight (11pm on Sunday).

Can I bring pets?

Sorry, animals (except guide dogs) are not allowed.

Can I bring X/Y/Z?

tl;dr Probably

Please let us know if it's going to be large/use a lot of power/be noisy or anything else you think we should know. We don't plan on stopping people bringing the latest cool laser helmet for shark 3d printer arduino powered UAV thing, but we need to plan for it. Note that access to the site requires going under a bridge with a clearance of only 9ft 9in.

Camp Infrastructure

Can I see the camp layout?

We're working on this atm. Some initial information can be found at: Location.

Is there parking available?

There is a nearby Park & Ride with capacity for at least 300 cars (usually 1/4 full), and the minibus shuttle will take you from here to the site. The limited parking space on site is now SOLD OUT. We strongly suggest you carpool or use public transport.

Can I bring my camper van?

We have limited parking for camper vans - you can buy a ticket for £30 through our tickets site.

Will there be Internet access?

Yes, we are provisioning onsite high speed wifi and wired access (direct to your tent!), see Internet.

Can I make a fire, or bring my own BBQ?

If you want to light your village at night and feed your visitors you can make fire as long as it is contained and not on the ground. E.g. you can bring your own barbecue grills or oil drums as long as you take them with you when you leave.

Large open fires unfortunately aren't permitted. As part of our lease we're committing to not leave lasting damage to the grass (including large burned areas.) Instead we aim to provide communal BBQs where attendees are free to grill their own food.

FAQ

Contents