Electromagnetic Field - User contributions [en]

Feedback

2014-09-06T21:46:06Z

Mat: Project/site manager

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Please let us know what went well and what didn't go well at EMF this year. We really do care about your feedback and we'll try and improve this for next time.

Add your feedback below:

== Good Stuff ==

* Location
* Badges
* Variety of talks [+1]
* Showers [+∞]
* Hand washing facilities
** putting the showers (with hot water in handbasins) next to toilets v.good
* Parking
* Shuttle trailer to car park
** ... and shuttle to BLY railway station. Made coming by public transport a doddle.
* Power & data infrastructure - pretty much rock solid throughout! [+2]
* Speedy response of volunteers/organisers to problem resolution
* Service at the bar was good (while the drinks lasted), and it was very nice to have ''multiple'' indoor social spaces, esp for people who wanted a quieter lounge as well as louder bar.
** Being able to check beer availability on the till website was awesome!
** The lounge was great - the decorations, beanbags, no-shoes rule and power were a great combination
* Floor panel roads [+5]
* String lights (cut through to showers was awesome!) [+2]
* Ability to hire tables/chairs/marquees/hay bales etc. - were all good quality, too. [+2]
* Kids workshops [+2]
* Arcade! [+1]
* Friendliness of other attendees [+1]
* First aid [+1]
* Shop - selling books of speakers was a really nice idea, and it was good to talk to speakers & do signing there afterwards.
* That spinning music installation.
* Lighting - I didn't have to turn my torch on at all, but it was still dark enough in my tent to sleep.
* Club Mate.
* Ring making workshop
* Lake was pretty
* Supportive atmosphere for speakers and very nice feedback afterwards
* Water: plentiful flow, tasty water, cool dispensers [+1]
** Hand soap by taps (udders?)
* Keeping toilet paper supplies topped up in all the toilets
* Nice choice of real ales and proper cider
* Lasershow + Chiptunes in Tent A
* Tschunk
* Everything that Dimitri brought along [+1]
* EMF CTF: Like getting lock pickers to cook your food, playing IRL replay,relay and pre-play attacks and memory corruption, sadly no real-life cross-site scripting :)
* Tea and food provided during set up really helped me keep going.
* How to crimp ethernet cable sheets were brilliant. They made sure everyone was using the same standard and anyone new to crimping could carry them to remember the order.
* There were lots of crimping tools and wire strippers to borrow during set up.
* Vehicles: there were enough to get stuff around the site but not too many that I was worried about getting run over.
* EMF hi vis jackets were awesome.
* Simon Singh [+1]
* Till system in the bar - I found it very quick and easy to use after about 10 mins practice.
* Cashback in the bar.
* Dutch food.
* Laser cut items for sale.
* Badge creations competition is a nice way to encourage people to tinker with the badges and share the results.
* Wristbands
** Fabric was much more comfortable than paper/Tyvek/plastic, and they were pretty too!
* T-shirts
** Good choice of colours, sizes and fits, awesome design

== Stuff that could be improved ==

* Buy more beer! [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]]) [+1]
** No firkins next time, kils only! --[[User:Sde|Sde]] ([[User talk:Sde|talk]])
* Toilets... 'nuff said! [[User:AndyB|AndyB]] ([[User talk:AndyB|talk]]) [+2]
** +1, I also suggest adding plastic bags/bins into the toilets, for (female) sanitary waste ([[User:Will-Do|Will-Do]])
** Agreed - I've seen portakabins (like the shower blocks) that containing proper flushing loos. They're ''much'' less stinky and likely to block up than the portaloos we had, which didn't always seem willing to drop their loads into their collection tanks, leading to nastiness and health hazards (even without the pumping contractor being rubbish)
*** This was actually what we wanted, but they're tremendously expensive. Suggestions for vendors welcome! --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
** Additionally, LIGHTS in the toilets. Having to use my phone / badge as a torch to see what was going on while i cleaned off the toilet before sitting down was particularly difficult. [[User:Thinkl33t|Thinkl33t]] ([[User talk:Thinkl33t|talk]]) 20:05, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
** thunderboxes2go.co.uk are good and know how to handle local authority problems, they have done shambala for 10+ years - high enough capacity to not need emptying during the event [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
** Maybe ask Cambridge & District CAMRA who provided the toilets for Cambridge 41st beer festival - they had some fairly nice flushing toilets which came on a trailer, a bit like the posh wash showers. I think Jonty mentioned that a lot of providers were put off by the fact that we're a festival. Well, if these guys are ok with providing for a beer festival, they must be pretty brave! -[[User:Alecjw]]
** Definite vote for the trailer-style flushing toilets, with multiple cubicles (+sinks, lights and mirrors) on one tow-along trailer, just like the showers. I've seen these at MANY festivals - though, granted, usually only in 'posh' camping/press/VIP areas. Should be possible if you manage to convince the providers that we're not a rowdy bunch of drunken teenagers!
** A clue to the problem with the chemical toilets is in the name: no chemical sanitiser/deodoriser was used in any toilet I tried. Adding Elsan or similar to the toilets would probably have made them much more acceptable. [[User:PhilSwinbank|PhilSwinbank]] ([[User talk:PhilSwinbank|talk]]) 22:18, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
* Make sure that drinking water is clearly labelled as such
* More food and drink options
** Eg. non-caffeine / low or no sugar options
** Chips!
** Jacket potato vendor
** Healthy 'green' food
** also possibly going on later, a lot of the places shut up shop quite early.
** queues at Pizza place were huge, wait time was >1hour at lunch time
** A late night vendor would be fantastic - doesn't have to be fancy food, but just something hot to eat after 9pm [+4]
** Soft drinks! [+2]
*** I helped organise a ball at university. Coca Cola sponsored us and provided very cheap (maybe free) drinks to the event. Before next time, someone remind me to look into them doing this for EMF [[User:MatS|MatS]] ([[User talk:MatS|talk]]) 14:02, 4 September 2014 (UTC)
* Survey positions of lanes/tents/DKs as early as possible before items arrive and mark out.--[[User:Sully|Sully]] ([[User talk:Sully|talk]]) 12:06, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
** This was planned but we were let down by the rather poor state of mobile GIS software.
*** there are multiple open source solutions for mapping, try https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/ or reach to out myself or #openstreetmap, there are many OSM'ers in the UK, [[User:Jburgess777|Jburgess777]] ([[User talk:Jburgess777|talk]]).
* Similar to this, measure for fence panels and drop stillage appropriately, to avoid the need to carry loads of them right up the camping field by hand
* Make it longer! There was loads of cool stuff I didn't have change to check out :( After all that work everyone does, it was a shame I couldn't experience it all! ([[User:Chewie|Chewie]]) ((I still say make it a week long ;) ([[User:BuildTheRobots|Fligg]]))
* Visibility of presentations in tents (brighter projectors/darker tents??) ([[User:StuartL]]) [+3]
* Use more plasma screens in stages instead of projectors ([[User:Markp]]). Or (better, as then the speaker can point to things) black fabric shades for the screen or marquee roof
** Next time dark tents. This was a total nightmare, sorry. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* washing points over drains/soakaway so the ground doesn't get muddy ([[User:Chewie|Chewie]]) [+4]
* Mark out/allocate spaces for villages who had pinpointed locations on maps ([[User:Markp]]) [+2]
** Space needed by villages was very hard to judge before they were set up, especially once non-village campers started on site ([[User:BuildTheRobots|Fligg]])
* Improved arrangements for washing and washing up (and handling the waste water from that) [+1]
* Provide sanitizer gel dispensers at water points and near loos [+2]
* Have the schedule linked off the EMF main page
** It was, but not on the First day...we forgot! See "Programme" at the top of the main website. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Distribute and display paper schedules (even if their might be some last-minute changes) [+3]
** They were supposed to be available at the info tent, not sure what happened there. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
** Or have small screens at the entrances to tents showing what's currently on & what's next.
*** We wanted to do this but simply ran out of time. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Much more workshop activity (more hands-on electronics and physical making) [+6]
** Next time: Many more workshop tents. We totally underestimated availability and demand. [+1] --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Do have component vendors (maybe at their cost for marquee/power/space)
** This is very difficult without a clear list of what will sell, as CPC was arranged to appear but wanted advisement ([[User:Stanto]])
*** Would the (longer and with more repeats next time) workshop list work as advisement? Could workshop leaders be asked to provide suggestions for components that would be good to have available on site after their workshop?
* Pick a flatter site (for ease of disabled access)
* Ask speakers for bio's to include with their abstracts. Given them an abstract length up-front instead of editing it in an ad hoc way. Confirm acceptance to speakers and workshop organisers earlier.
** Do this after talks have been accepted. I didn't write my talk so didn't know details until I got the OK.
** The CFP was a bit of a nightmare this year, we'll certainly be doing this in 2016. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Make and enforce a clear music curfew (say from midnight or 1am or 2am to 8 or 9am or 10am), to defend those sleeping from (eg) the technoevangelists and the drunk [+4]
** Perhaps try to select a site next time where we can make part of the site to be a quiet area, eg a part surrounded by trees for natural sound insulation. Then enforce a noise curfew there. I'm not keen on the idea of having a noise curfew covering the entire camp though. [[User:Alecjw]] [+1]
** Seconding enforced quiet/family camping area, but no overall noise curfew. It didn't take long to get away from the worst noise, and the end of the field by the kids' area was incredibly quiet (though strangely empty!!)
** Well, not quite - I need sleep to function, so camped in the quiet area - a nearby group thought 6:30am was the right time to turn on their music system. Not so good.
* Loos not so near food vendors (pong + visible urinals offputting) [+5]
* stronger enforcement/signage of quiet camping area [+5]
* an explicit invitation (with clear instructions) to report Code of Conduct violations in open ceremony, brochure, Twitter, etc. We had no direct reports to Team Comfort, but several anecdotal tweets after the event -- when it's much too late. [[User:Martind|Martind]] ([[User talk:Martind|talk]]) 20:58, 1 September 2014 (UTC) [+1]
* quieter, less-enclosed and more spacious bar (I suffer from social anxiety when I'm closed in with crowds, so I had a very sober emf!). [[User:Jane C|Jane C]]
** perhaps an outdoor seating area if a larger marquee is too costly.
*** There was an outdoor seating area set back to the right of the bar under a marquee, however the marquee vendor put it in the wrong place a day late, so wasn't as obvious, and didn't get hay bales until Saturday evening. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* use our collective knowledge of technology to sort accessibility issues
**ring-fence money for things like closed-loop in the stages early on.
**ask people about their access requirements much earlier on - e.g. when they buy a ticket - so that there is more time to meet these requirements (or reach a workable compromise)
**Build some kind of working system for preventing able-bodied people from using the disabled loos and showers (radar keys that only work when the loo is empty?) [[User:Jane C|Jane C]]
***Disagree with this as it reduces overall toilet/shower bandwidth, but would wholly agree with a solution whereby those who could only use limited facilities (disabled, families, etc) could queue-jump into those facilities the moment they because available. [[User:StuartL|StuartL]]
* Info desk didn't seem to have the details wrt. volunteers, so when I volunteered I was sent out and found I wasn't needed. Suggest splitting the job - having a volunteer team leader (or several, in shifts) whose job it is to know who is where and also to make sure nobody gets stuck on a gate for 12 hours (eg. rotating people to more interesting places every couple of hours). ([[User:TonyHoyle|TonyHoyle]])
** There was a separate volunteer manager in the same tent, this should not have happened. Sorry about that. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Also similar to this, a register of 'on call' people - excess volunteers who can deal with sudden demands for people (esp. in the case of fire I can imagine this would be extremely useful - you'd potentially need to cordon off a largish area very quickly, and that takes people. More mundane reasons would be a talk/workshop accumulating a large queue that needs managing). ([[User:TonyHoyle|TonyHoyle]])
** There were shifts for people to be "on call" but they weren't obvious. We'll make sure this is easier. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
** with earlier (/working) workshop sign-up, I would have put myself on call - instead I was waiting to hear what workshops would be available when.
* add GPS or other location aware technology like BTLE/iBeacon to the badges for automatic now/next notifications [[User:Jburgess777|Jburgess777]] ([[User talk:Jburgess777|talk]]).
* Locking wristbands that don't get any tighter. [+1]
* Having a tent for Badge Operations would be pretty handy - similar size to the workshop tent, that could be set up as a production line / fixing area if needed. If not (hopefully) it would be a rolling workshop area for people to work of hacking their badges, writing new software, adding hardware etc. ~~
* Floor panel walkways were very slippery in the morning after rain, not sure if there's someway this can be improved
**Sprinkling some coarse sand on them might help. [[User:Moem|Moem]] ([[User talk:Moem|talk]])
* Better info on the bus between EMF <-> Bletchley so we know when they're running (alt: can we put GPS tracking on the buses?)
* The buses were quite cramped so it was hard for people to get large bags through seats
* More space between caterers and generator - the plant was right in the middle of prime catering space. --[[User:Nick|Nick]]
* Appoint a (i.e. volunteer someone as) project manager to draw up a plan (Gantt chart!?) of when everything's arriving and leaving (to the extent known) and what resources (telehandler, buggy, number of people) are needed. We'll never stick to the plan and things will arrive early/late run off schedule but the same person can adjust the plan to control the chaos during build-up, take-down and the event. Chuck them out of the way in a tent managing things rather than doing; site manager if you will. This role is distinct from Jonty and Russ as they have their own things to do.

==Suggestions==
* Ask for an optional email address for each ticket to go on your announce only mailing list. Only the person that bought the tickets got your emails and they were slow to forward them on meaning most messages were received too late.
* Ask for age of children when booking, to give better planning stats for workshops etc. [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* A talk (a bit like lightning talks) where people are given 5-10 minutes to share what they did with the previous event's badge. (If someone sends me the competition winners/runners up, I'll co-ordinate it) [[User:MatS|MatS]] ([[User talk:MatS|talk]]) 07:54, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
* Pre-paid accounts for spending money on food/beer/whatever to negate need for cash ([[User:Markp]])
* Have a fleet of communal wheel-barrows to help people transport their stuff from car to campsite [+2]
** Stepney City Farm have a fleet of broken wheelbarrows – fix ’em, use ’em, everybody wins! ([[User:Andylolz]])
** Or purchase some sack trolleys
* contactless payment gear for food, beer, workshops
** We had contactless payment for beer! (And we also offered cashback.) We should have messaged that better. Contactless payment for other things is complex, as we don't really control them. [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]])
* forewarn food vendors to expect all-day demand, not just mealtimes, so they can stock and staff appropriately [+1]
** food vendors were pretty much *events* caterers, used to feeding people snacks/lunch, we need *festival* caterers who are used to feeding people who are staying for a number of days. thethalicafe.co.uk? bedouin tent (shambala)? +late night options [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
*** It's really difficult to get caterers. Now we're a bit better known it's getting easier. [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]])
* pinboard (offline) notice board everyone can contribute to (lost property, mini event notices eg rocket launches, would like to meet.., etc) [+1]
** This was supposed to be next to the info tent, but got lost in the last-minute panic. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Ask people who want to give workshops if they'd be happy to give more than one session - the blacksmiths' output was extreme, but even giving two or three sessions would greatly increase the % of attendees who could sign up.
** Many workshop submissions specified that already, the issue was actually with finding space for them as we only had one workshop tent. We'll have many next time! --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Sign-ups some kind of "express preference" systems, so most people (including those who don't check email regularly) can get at least one of their top choices, rather than first-come-first-served.
** Online workshop sign-up is a priority for next year. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Board games tent in the evenings [+4]
* Poker tent
* Be less ambitious with badge functionality [+3]
** And provide full documentation of features/functionality [+1]
** And sample code for each function
** Perhaps a back-to-basics through-hole design that comes with soldering iron, solder and instructions?
** I think we might build on this design for the next event. [[User:Russ|Russ]] ([[User talk:Russ|talk]])
** Software that doesn't involve an OS (but rather more conventional Arduinoery) might be more easily hackable by others during/after the event? Especially given libraries for people to do amusing things with the peer-to-peer radio...
*** That is actually much harder to build anything decent with. The badges are normal arduinos and all the libraries are available, you don't have to use the EMF OS, it was designed for people to write normal Arduino code for! --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* EMF is unlike other festivals - for a large number of people, carrying kit to/from car is impractical and security walking every car through site is time-consuming and volunteer-intensive (not to mention the fact that cars driving off site weren't walked off). Suggest that the parking area is directly next to and easily accessible from the camping area (e.g. just separated by hay bales to stop cars driving on to the camping area).
** As a village/car user you could generally provide your own security person walking in front of the car. This works 2 fold: 1) security doesn't need to walk for you 2) less waiting time for you since you already provide someone to walk.
** The plan for this was to allow people to drive onto site on the Thursday evening. It wasn't very well communicated and we had a *very* tight setup schedule so we needed to reduce this as much as possible. This is ultimately an issue with our setup schedule
** It wouldn't work on this site, but for some locations it might be possible to have a drop-off point close to camping (with a limited number of cars at one time), better idea than having cars (ignition source) close to tents. Some people were taking the mickey on Monday morning, many people driving onto site that could have carried things instead tying up volunteer resources to escort them.
* Provide job descriptions for traffic control, parking and entrance gatehouse. Instructions were handed from volunteer to volunteer by word of mouth and whilst common sense prevailed, it would have been useful to have instructions as to what to do under certain circumstances and a list of answers to FAQs, e.g.:
** What if somebody didn't have a parking ticket and wanted to park?
** What if somebody was just dropping off - where should they do this?
** What times were shuttle buses running?
** What times the gates were open/closed?
** Have a priority queue for people with machine readable tickets (ie paper!)
** Volunteer training was lost by the wayside for some roles, we'll fix that. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Add suggested age ranges for all workshops, some of the "adult" workshops were also very suitable for children (e.g. electronic fashion, solar pv) or could have been run once in main workshop once in kid's area [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
** This was supposed to happen but got missed off by accident. Apologies. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* Bolt the fence from the right side, I know we didn't even want it at all but local authorities can be fussy, I've been at a festival before who did the same and they made them fix it during the event.. [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* Want the good coffee on Monday morning, especially for drivers :) Maybe in the car park to help persuade people off site. [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
* Would be good to have eggs, fresh milk, bacon at the shop (there was a comment like "we don't have eggs, they break too easily" - so charge extra to cover this, though it's probably not as bad as you think..) [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]])
** The shop was being run by an external team, we didn't control what they stocked. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
** Morrisons did a tent with Milk, Bread, Burgers, BBQs etc @ http://www.festivalofcycling.org/expo/name/morrisons/, might be worth asking them? [[User:Jburgess777|Jburgess777]] ([[User talk:Jburgess777|talk]])
* Start ticket sales (a couple of months?) earlier, maybe with a slightly bigger difference between early ticket prices and full price to encourage attendees to get in early (which in turn would improve cashflow) [[User:Sthen|Sthen]] ([[User talk:Sthen|talk]]) [+1]
* Start ticket sales *now* whilst you have all the publicity or at least have a page up where people can register to be emailed once the next event has tickets for sale. That way you get your current mailing list + everyone else who has only just learned about it as your audience. [[User:Alteralias|Alteralias]]
** Until we have a date/venue that is not a great plan, as we'd end up with a lot of refunds. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
*** Please let us still register to be emailed as soon as 2016 is confirmed and then told as soon as ticket sales start?
*** Although a massive mailing list/Twitter/Facebook push might be a good idea so people are ready to hear that tickets are on sale.
* Cluster the talks into related-topic sessions
** This is very difficult due to availability of speakers, and we'd rather people with very specific interests had talks to go to all weekend rather than just on one afternoon. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
*** More Q&A sessions like the security one, getting multiple speakers on a topic together for questions might be a better idea.
* Volunteering stuff ([[User:HughePaul|HughePaul]])
** Whiteboard in info tent for current issues / tasks, handover
** Have info tent next to security tent so both can be available at the same time and all the time.
*** The info tent and the gatehouse/security tent could be two sides of the same erection.
** have predefined named people in shifts for head of / coordination of volunteering (could also double as an info/security tent staff)
** maybe stream some talks in info tent so they don't feel like they are missing things
** more formal defined (and communicated) lost-property form and procedure
** define volunteer job roles to make handovers easier and so we know what we are meant to be doing
** Look at ways to guarantee volunteer attendance once they sign up. Perhaps return small monetary amount at end of festival per shift done? Just something to make sure people who sign up turn up
* Have dedicated blog / tweet / website updating person/team
* big screen with latest official event update tweets
** Very expensive to hire. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
*** small screen with latest updates? even a 20 inch cycling through the latest tweets in a big font?
* info about getting DISconnected from DKs and leaving the site in vehicles
** This was badly handled, and we only realised when it was too late. --[[User:Jonty|Jonty]]
* perhaps worth putting up a summary of the overall budget after the event, so people can see what's costly?
* website needs to be designed around the info people need at the time
** days before the event front page should have location, travel, packing, instructions such as workshop booking, village booking, volunteering
** during it should have info about DKs, current day schedule (possibly whats on and next), links to streams, power and internet usage :), lost property instructions, latest updates/tweets
** after have thanks, photos, tilda sales, etc
* Some kind of welcome tent / meet-a-stranger area / badges saying "talk to me" (and not reliant on tech that might not be available/working till later on) / person-bingo-style game - deliberately flagged up as a way for people to meet new people, including if they came on their own / hadn't been to anything like this before. For many the whole event will be like that anyway - it wouldn't hurt to help out those shyer / newer / more awkward. Maybe there could be a welcoming/newbies/friendliness team prior to next time who came up with stuff to try of this nature (all utterly optional, of course)?
* More flying cars (requested by someone leaving site when asked what they thought was lacking)
* Dual controls quad-copter training. So someone can learn to fly and know the "instructer" can take over if it gets out of hand.
* A few people with cars were making trips out to the outdoor supplies store in Milton Keynes for camping stuff, might be worth figuring out if we could do a more official shop run to get stuff for people who don't have cars.

Travel

2014-08-25T14:28:58Z

Mat: First stab at routing from airports, needs more work

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>

The address for EMF 2014 is:

Electromagnetic Field<br>
Hounslow Hall Estate<br>
Drayton Road<br>
Newton Longville<br>
MK17 0BU

The gates will open at 9am on Friday August 29th, and (unless you're helping out with teardown) you should aim to leave by midday on Monday September 1st.

Please try and arrive on site by 9pm. If you arrive after this time, we will need to open the gate to let you in.

== Public Transport ==

=== Shuttle Bus ===
If you are travelling by public transport, we will be running two minibuses to shuttle people to and from the site.

'''Pickup Point''' Bletchley Railway Station

'''Drop off Point''' EMF Site!

The timetable for this is:

{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align:left;"| Day
! Start Time
! End Time
|-
|Friday
|10:00
|21:00
|-
|Saturday
|09:00
|15:00
|-
|Sunday
|12:00
|22:00
|-
|Monday
|08:00
|13:00
|-
|}

=== Rail===
[http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/BLY.aspx Bletchley Station] is the closest, with trains to London Euston, Birmingham, etc

If you travel by train, you may be interested in the [http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/bletchley-park-(1) 2FOR1 offer] for [[Bletchley]] Park (requires sign up in advance and printing)

For those people who are arriving/departing between Saturday 7 PM and Sunday 1 PM (which should none of you as you should be there from Friday morning), be aware that heading to/from London between Watford Junction and Hemel Hempstead there is no train service due to planned engineering works.

There is a replacement bus service for that leg of the journey, which means the journey is going to be 2 hours (if the buses actually run on time) to/from Euston, as opposed to the normal 30-50 depending if you are on the express train or not.

=== Air ===

Closest airports are (in order) LTN, LHR, BHX. LGW and STN are also possible.
Minicab taxis (pre-booked) from airports to site:

{|
|LTN
|~35GBP
|40 mins
|-
|LHR
|~65GBP
|70 mins
|}

====From Heathrow====
Taxi from Heathrow is likely £100+

Train route
* Heathrow Express to Paddington
* Tube Paddington to Euston
* Train Euston to Bletchley

National Express bus

====From Luton====

Train?

National Express bus

====From Stansted====

There's no great east-west rail so it's probably best to take a National Express bus.

==National Express==

Run coaches from major airports, and other towns/cities where you might not be able to get a direct train service to Milton Keynes/Bletchley without going in to London, wandering around the underground to get to Euston Station and adding cost.

The Milton Keynes Coachway is a stone's throw from the M1 J14. It's quite a distance to the EMFCamp (10 miles by road) but a [[Travel#Taxis|minicab]] should be around £12-15.

Alternatively a cheaper option is to use the park and ride bus service to the Milton Keynes central train station which is £2 something. It runs every 15 minutes, and takes about 15 minutes. You can take in the sights of Milton Keynes.
Then hop on the next southbound London Midland train to Bletchley which is £3.50. They are every 30 mins. This takes about 5 minutes - its the next stop. From there the shuttle bus can transport you and all your gear to site.

==Road==
If you have spare seats consider offering them on the [[Car_Share]] Page, this will also help split the cost of fuel and parking.

The post code of the site is MK17 0BU, and most sat nav systems will do a reasonable job of getting you there. '''To reduce the disturbance to our neighbours, please avoid driving through the towns of Bletchley and Newton Longville if possible'''.

If you're coming from the M1 motorway, please take the following route:

[[File:M1_route.png|400px|thumb|right|Route map from the M1]]

===Coming From the North (M1 Southbound)===
# Leave the M1 at exit 14 (signposted Milton Keynes/Newport Pagnell)
# Head towards Milton Keynes/A509 (S)
# At the first large roundabout (Milton Keynes has lots of roundabouts) take the A4146/Childs Way towards Aylesbury/Milton Keynes South
# At the next roundabout, take the first exit (A4146/Tongwell Street towards Aylesbury).
# Carry on along the A4146, crossing over three roundabouts.
# At the next roundabout, take the third exit (A4146/All through traffic)
# Straight ahead at the next roundabout (Milton Keynes South & West). You'll pass a lake.
# At the next roundabout, take the first exit (A5 South Dunstable/Aylesbury)
# At the next (!) roundabout, take the third exit (A4146 Gt. Brickhill/Water Eaton)
# Cross straight over two more roundabouts, following the signs to Aylesbury
# At the next roundabout, take the second exit to Drayton Parslow/Newton Longville.
# You'll be pleased to hear that was the last roundabout you'll encounter (the 12th!)
# Go past the first junction (with a turning towards Newton Longville)
# At the next crossroads, turn right towards Newton Longville along Newton Road.
# Just as you enter Newton Longville ("please drive carefully") the road turns sharply right. Take the left at this junction (it should be signposted EMF).

===Coming from the South (M1 Northbound)===
# Leave the M1 at exit 13 (signposted Milton Keynes South/Bedford).
# Head toward Milton Keynes/A421 (W) from the first roadabout.
# Cross (second exit) the second roundabout shortly afterwards.
# Follow this fairly long (for Milton Keynes) section of single carriageway road.
# At the next roundabout (John Lewis distribution centre) cross straight over.
# At the next roundabout (one of Milton Keynes two space-time discontinums where supposedly parallel roads meet) take the second exit onto Groveway (H9).
# At the next roundabout take the first exit (A4146 Tongwell Street, V11)
# Follow the directions from the north from step 6.

===Parking===
If you are driving you will need to buy one parking ticket per car. There is no nearby public parking. Please don't park elsewhere as you will inconvenience our neighbours or block access to the site.

==Taxis==
Below is a list of local taxi services. Entries will be added and removed as we confirm their coverage of the camp site.

* [http://www.skylinetaxis.co.uk/fare-price-guide.html Skyline Taxis]
* [http://www.eezycabs.co.uk/rates/ EEZY Cabs]
* [http://www.speedlinetaxi.com/ Speedline Taxi]
* [http://www.greenlineairporttaxis.co.uk/ Greenline]
* [http://www.rafflescars.co.uk/ Raffles Cars]

Drop-offs will likely be the same location as the shuttle bus drop off point.

User:Mat

2014-08-17T23:07:52Z

Mat:

{{Attendee
|name=Mat
|Arrival=2014/08/25 12:00
|Departure=2014/09/02 00:00
|IRC=MatB
|teams=NOC
}}
== Mat ==

Local. Arriving early. Will probably end up pulling cables of various sorts again.

== Sandbox ==

{{
#ask:
[[Category:Village]] [[Location::+]]
| ?Location
| limit = 1
| format=table
}}

{{
#ask:
[[Category:Village]] [[Location::+]]
| ?Location
| limit = 1
| format=openlayers
| layers = osm
| forceshow = on
}}

User:Mat

2014-08-17T23:00:42Z

Mat:

Template:VillageLocationList

2014-08-17T22:53:34Z

Mat: Blanked the page

2014-08-17T22:07:32Z

Mat: /* Sandbox */

Template:VillageLocationList

2014-08-17T22:00:50Z

Mat: Attempt to get location list of villages

<includeonly>{{#ask: [[Village::{{SUBPAGENAME}}]]
| mainlabel = Name
| ?Location
}}
<span style="font-size:75%">([{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=purge}} refresh table])</span>
[[Category:Team]]</includeonly>

2014-08-15T23:38:39Z

Mat:

Travel

2014-08-12T23:33:53Z

Mat: Quicker route coming from the south

=Travel to EMF2014=

== Site postcode ==

MK17 0BU

== Public Transport ==

=== Shuttle Bus ===
If you are travelling by public transport, we will be running a shuttle bus from Bletchley Railway Station to the site.

The provisional timetable for this is:
* Friday afternoon/evening
* Saturday morning
* Sunday afternoon/evening
* Monday morning

=== Rail===
[http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/BLY.aspx Bletchley Station] is the closest, with trains to London Euston, Birmingham, etc

If you travel by train, you may be interested in the [http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/bletchley-park-(1) 2FOR1 offer] for [[Bletchley]] Park (requires sign up in advance and printing)

=== Air ===

Closest airports are (in order) LTN, LHR, BHX. LGW and STN are also possible.
Minicab taxis (pre-booked) from airports to site:

{|
|LTN
|~35GBP
|40 mins
|-
|LHR
|~65GBP
|70 mins
|}

National Express run coaches from major airports to nearby Milton Keynes Coachway - TODO - how to get from MK Coachway to site.

== Road ==

==Driving==
If you have spare seats consider offering them on the [[Car_Share]] Page, this will also help split the cost of fuel and parking.

The post code of the site is MK17 0BU, and most sat nav systems will do a reasonable job of getting you there. '''To reduce the disturbance to our neighbours, please avoid driving through the towns of Bletchley and Newton Longville if possible'''. If you're coming from the M1 motorway, please follow the following route:

===Coming From the M1 Southbound===
# Leave the M1 at exit 14 (signposted Milton Keynes/Newport Pagnell)
# Head towards Milton Keynes/A509 (S)
# At the first large roundabout (Milton Keynes has lots of roundabouts) take the A4146/Childs Way towards Aylesbury/Milton Keynes South
# At the next roundabout, take the first exit (A4146/Tongwell Street towards Aylesbury).
# Carry on along the A4146, crossing over three roundabouts.
# At the next roundabout, take the third exit (A4146/All through traffic)
# Straight ahead at the next roundabout (Milton Keynes South & West). You'll pass a lake.
# At the next roundabout, take the first exit (A5 South Dunstable/Aylesbury)
# At the next (!) roundabout, take the third exit (A4146 Gt. Brickhill/Water Eaton)
# Cross straight over two more roundabouts, following the signs to Aylesbury
# At the next roundabout, take the second exit to Drayton Parslow/Newton Longville.
# You'll be pleased to hear that was the last roundabout you'll encounter (the 12th!)
# Go past the first junction (with a turning towards Newton Longville)
# At the next crossroads, turn right towards Newton Longville along Newton Road.
# Just as you enter Newton Longville ("please drive carefully") the road turns sharply right. Take the left at this junction (it should be signposted EMF).

===Coming from the M1 Northbound===
# Leave the M1 at exit 13 (signposted Milton Keynes South/Bedford).
# Head toward Milton Keynes/A421 (W) from the first roadabout.
# Cross (second exit) the second roundabout shortly afterwards.
# Follow this fairly long (for Milton Keynes) section of single carriageway road.
# At the next roundabout (John Lewis distribution centre) cross straight over.
# At the next roundabout (one of Milton Keynes two space-time discontinums where supposedly parallel roads meet) take the second exit onto Groveway (H9).
# At the next roundabout take the first exit (A4146 Tongwell Street, V11)
# Follow the directions from the north from step 6.

===Parking===
If you are driving you will need to buy one parking ticket per car. There is no nearby public parking. Please don't park elsewhere as you will inconvenience our neighbours or block access to the site.

===Taxi Dropoffs===
These will likely be the same location as the shuttle bus drop off point

Team:NOC

2014-07-29T22:35:54Z

Mat: /* Arrival time coordination */

{{ Infobox Team
| name = NOC
| desc = Network Operations Centre
| lead =
| email =
| needvolunteers = yes
}}

== About ==
Team:NOC is responsible for the entire network infrastructure at the event. This includes all hardware, cabling, wifi, ethernet, IP and so on.

== Current State ==
Working on the uplink, checking line of sight, developing the camp network, begging equipment.

== Volunteering ==

We don't need a lot of help during the event - by Friday morning, all the work will be done, the network will be up and operating perfectly!

If you'd like to help, we really need help in the set-up and tear-down. Particularly, we need people who are willing to run cables and crimp RJ45 ends on Wednesday and Thursday prior, and remove all the cabling on the Monday after. Other than that, we are good, and we don't need any volunteers during the event.

== Team members ==

([{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=purge}} refresh table])
{{TeamUserList}}

== Arrival time coordination ==

{| border=1
! Who
! Arriving
! Leaving
! Notes
|-
| [[User:davidc]]
| Mon 25th Evening
| Tues 2nd Morning
| Have a hotel for Monday night for an early start
|-
| [[User:YetiFiasco]]
| Wed 27th Evening
| Mon 1st Evening
| Bringing a campervan, can collect gear/people if its between portsmouth<->emf
|-
| [[User:JasperWallace]]
| Tue 26th Morning
| Tue 2nd at some point
|
|-
| [[User:AK47|AK47]]
| Wed 27th Evening
| Tues 2nd Morning
| Can be there earlier if needed.
|-
| [[User:markp]]
| Thu 28th Evening
| Mon 1st PM
| Camping Thu-Mon, will gladly crimp, unspool and respool cables.
(Used to do network cabling in a previous life, will bring tools)
|-
| [[User:Danrl|danrl]]
| Tue 25th
| Mon 1st
| Let's get those fibers into the dirt and run IPv6 on them!
|-
| [[User:Mat]]
| Tue 26th Morning
| Tue 2nd Morning
| Am local. May well visit Bank Holiday Monday :)
|}

User:Mat

2014-07-29T22:34:15Z

Mat: Created page with "{{Attendee |name=Mat |Arrival=2014/08/25 12:00 |Departure=2014/09/02 00:00 |IRC=MatB |teams=NOC }} == Mat == Local. Arriving early. Will probably end up pulling cables of var..."

{{Attendee
|name=Mat
|Arrival=2014/08/25 12:00
|Departure=2014/09/02 00:00
|IRC=MatB
|teams=NOC
}}
== Mat ==

Local. Arriving early. Will probably end up pulling cables of various sorts again.

Travel

2014-06-02T18:23:32Z

Mat: /* Rail */ Fix link

=Travel to EMF2014=

== Site postcode ==

MK17 0BU

== Rail ==
[http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/BLY.aspx Bletchley Station] is the closest, with trains to London Euston, Birmingham, etc

== Air ==

Closest airports are (in order) LTN, LHR, BHX. LGW and STN are also possible.

Minicab taxis (pre-booked) from airports to site:

{|
|LTN
|~35GBP
|40 mins
|-
|LHR
|~65GBP
|70 mins
|}

National Express run coaches from major airports to nearby Milton Keynes Coachway - TODO - how to get from MK Coachway to site.

== Road ==

You will need to buy a parking ticket. There is no nearby public parking. Please don't park on the access road as you will block access for farm machinery and plant.

The site is at MK17 0BU. We'll post more detailed traffic management information later.

Site Search

2013-04-13T16:23:23Z

Mat:

The biggest issue for EMF is to find a good site. Here are our requirements, in order of priority:

* At least 3-8 hectares/8-15 acres/30,000-60,000 sq m (this should fit at least 1500 people but this isn't indicative of our planned capacity)
* Available for around 11 days (including a weekend) between mid-July and mid-September 2014.
* Good access for setup vehicles (no low bridges, for example)
* Ability to get a good internet connection (1 gigabit+) (but please let us know of any potential sites and we can work this out)
* Pleasant enough you actually want to spend time there
* Some kind of water supply/sewage connection
* Good transport links
* Located centrally to the UK
* Well drained
* Space for parking
* Near largish shops (e.g. large Tesco)

We don't care about:

* Most existing facilities (especially electricity). Providing them ourselves is frequently easier than trying to deal with existing services, so they're not a major consideration.

=Candidate Sites=

{|class="wikitable sortable"
! Site Name
! Details
|-
| Colerne Airfield, Wiltshire (nr Bath)
| Owned by a company of a friend of London Hackspace
|-
| [http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/wicket/bookmarkable/uk.co.profounddecisions.website.pages.pdpages.event.tournamentstud.DirectionsTournamentStud?4 Profound Decisions location], Banbury
| Quite a lot of existing facilities here which we may be able to use. These guys provided our tents in 2012 and seem pretty keen.
|-
| [http://eventcentre.co.uk/organisers Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate]
| Site of the Great Yorkshire Show which has massive farm equipment so access is probably fine. Has event spaces, big outside areas, loads of parking. Sainsburys effectively on site. From memory, drainage is OK.
|-
| Turnpost Farm, Leicestershire
| Location of Glastonbudget. About 4 miles from Loughborough. Not sure of parking and amenities, but Glastonbudget has about 12,000 people so likely to be plenty of space if we can use some of that as car park
|-
| [http://www.peterborougharena.com/ Peterborough Arena and Showground]
| Seems very accessible by all sorts of vehicles and good public transport links. Arena has internet, so should be easy to roll out to the showgrounds. Close to Peterborough for shops and things.
|-
| [http://www.newarkshowground.com/ Newark Showground]
| Similar to Peterborough I guess. Perhaps a tad large. 84 acres, fenced, good drainage, a range of indoor spaces (max 4000 capacity), 2 miles from train station (2h15 from kings x), lots of parking, in house catering available
|-
| [http://www.doncaster-racecourse.co.uk/events/outdoorevents/ Doncaster Racecourse]
| Facilities look strong, including [http://www.digitalregion.co.uk/ digital region] connection via a very friendly local ISP. Maybe too small, and races on all the time?
|-
| [http://www.pickeringshowground.co.uk/ Pickering Showground]
| Looks like a nice spot, hosts a music festival.
|-
| Overstone Scout Campsite, Northampton
| Got water, showers and toilets. Not the flattest.
|}

Site Search

2013-04-06T13:17:16Z

Mat: