FAQ

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General

Who are you?

EMF is a non-profit event run entirely by a group of dedicated volunteers. EMF 2016 is the third major festival we've held in the UK, and a lot of us also help run other festivals in Germany and the Netherlands.

Can I help out?

EMF is organised entirely by volunteers. The event's success relies on attendees helping out to the extent they are willing.

More information on helping out during the event will appear on the Volunteering page in due course. If you are able to help plan and work before the event, check out the Teams page to see which teams need help.

How accessible is EMF?

We take accessibility very seriously, and we want to let as many people experience the fun of EMF. However, it is ultimately an event in the field, and we can't work miracles with our limited budget.

The site will be well-lit during the event, and we will aim to cover access to the stages with trackway. Travelling between stages may take some time. There will be accessible toilets and the current plan includes an accessible shower with a wheelchair ramp. We cannot guarantee 24/7 power, so it must not be relied on for medical needs, but the power infrastructure team will be on call through the night.

If you will be attending with a carer, they are entitled to a free ticket. Please email us in advance so we can allocate the ticket. Registered assistance dogs will be allowed.

If you have any other accessibility concerns, please drop us an email.

Is EMF family-friendly?

Yes! We want to make EMF a great event for hackers of all ages.

In 2014 we had a full, licensed, free childcare service which was exceedingly well-received. We're aiming to provide this again for 2016, subject to sponsorship being secured (childcare is expensive!). There will be a designated family camping area, and a whole track of events and workshops for children.

EMF has a comprehensive lost-child policy with DBS-checked staff available to help out.

There are a number of things to bear in mind:

• 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.

Ticket Sales

How can I get a ticket?

Tickets will only be available from our web site starting on Monday December 14th at 20:00. There will be no day tickets and no tickets being sold at the gate.

How much does it cost?

Adult tickets will initially cost £100 during the early-bird offer in December, with prices rising closer to the event. Buy early to get the best price!

There are tickets available at a lower price for under-16s accompanied by an adult. Children under 5 can attend for free but still require a ticket for planning purposes. If you have a camper van or similar, you will need a camper van ticket, and if you want to bring a car you'll also need a car parking ticket.

If you want to support our non-profit event, you can buy a supporter ticket at a higher price. This will help us make the EMF site even more awesome.

How can I pay?

We accept three payment methods:

• Direct bank transfer.
• One-time direct debit via GoCardless.
• Credit or debit card via Stripe (for an additional fee).

With all of these methods, you can pay in Pounds Sterling or Euros.

What does the ticket price include?

The ticket price includes admission to the event, admission to all of the talks, and most of the workshops. Some workshop organisers charge a fee in order to cover material costs, and places on most workshops will be limited.

Your ticket also includes:

• Tent pitch
• Water
• Showers & Toilets
• Fast internet
• Electricity

Can I bring a caravan/camper van?

Yes, we will have a dedicated camper van area on site, within the main fence, with 16A power provided. You'll need to buy an additional camper van ticket.

As we restrict vehicle movements on site for safety, you may not be able to enter or leave in a vehicle during the public opening of the event. Plan to arrive early and leave late.

We unfortunately can't provide water hookups or drainage/emptying facilities. You will not be able to empty your tank during the event.

Can I get a family ticket?

Unfortunately, as every attendee including children counts towards our capacity limit, we are unable to offer family or group tickets. We have however already discounted the child ticket prices by 55% which is as far as our budget allows.

Do volunteers get a free ticket?

Everyone who attends is expected to buy a ticket, including the founders and the core organisation team. So many people contribute to running EMF that it would be financially impossible to give everyone who helps out a free ticket, and unfair to draw a line past which volunteers receive free tickets.

The sole exception to this rule are first aiders, who must be trained to the high standards of our first aid team, and are expected to carry out three eight-hour shifts in return for a free ticket.

The transaction reference you've provided isn't accepted by my bank!

If you are having trouble entering the transaction reference into your online banking, just remove the hyphen. Some banks don't like it and don't tell you why.

Can I pay more? TAKE MY MONEY!

If you can afford it and wish to help support the event financially by paying a bit more for your ticket, you can buy a Supporter ticket. We're a non-profit event and so the money will go towards making the event even more awesome.

Planning your Attendance

Where is it? How can I get there?

The EMF 2016 site is Loseley Park, located just south of Guildford, Surrey.

By car, the site is two minutes from the junction of the A3 & A31. Look for the EMF sign as you approach the site; if you take the exit to Loseley Park you will have to turn around as there is no way through to the event area.

By train, we are close to Guildford, Farncombe, and Godalming stations on the Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour line. We will be running a shuttle bus service from one of these stations.

For international visitors, the site is 30-50 minutes by road from both Heathrow (LHR) and Gatwick (LGW) airports, or alternatively 90 minutes drive from the Eurotunnel terminal.

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

The site will open to ticket holders on Friday morning. All ticket holders must leave the site by Monday afternoon.

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'll let you know when you can turn up. If we have not confirmed that we're expecting you before or after the event you will not be admitted to the site. Anyone arriving before Friday morning or staying beyond Monday afternoon will be expected to help with set-up and tear-down.

When do things kick off?

The talks and workshops will begin after lunch on Friday, although people will be setting up earlier in the day.

Talks and workshops run daily through to the evening, although we expect villages will be doing things late into the night!

Will there be food?

We're planning to improve again on the food situation, with multiple food stalls, catering to all needs.

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 with all profits going towards making the next iteration of Electromagnetic Field more awesome.

The bar on-site opening hours are subject to licensing which will be finalised soon.

By the camping areas there will also be push taps of drinking water available for free.

Can I bring pets?

Sorry, animals (except registered assistance animals) are not allowed.

Can I smoke?

Smoking is not allowed in any of the event tents or in the food/bar area. Elsewhere, please be considerate and very careful to extinguish your cigarettes to avoid setting the dry grass on fire. Please make sure cigarette butts are disposed of in rubbish bins rather than just thrown on the ground as the site is used by livestock at other times of the year, and it's a pain for the clean up crew to pick them up after the camp is over!

Can I bring X/Y/Z?

tl;dr Probably

Please let us know if it's going to be large/tall/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.

Things requiring special permission and may not be allowed: balloons, sky lanterns and the like.

Can I bring/fly my drone?

Yes - lots of attendees will be bringing drones and there will be a dedicated UAV flying field. It is against UK law to fly drones over the campsite unless you hold permission from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. EMF will be enforcing this rule, and for safety we will not allow UAVs to be flown over the site without prior arrangement.

What if I don't like camping? Can I buy a day ticket?

Whilst we'd strongly recommend camping (so much happens late into the evening and it's a lot more fun) we realise not everyone wants to. If you don't want to camp there are several B&Bs in Farncombe which are a short drive/less than hour's walk away.

Regardless of whether you camp with us or stay somewhere off-site you will still need to buy a full ticket. Most of the cost of the tickets doesn't go on provisions for camping, in fact our largest expense are all the marquees for stages.

What are villages?

Villages are areas of the campsite self-organised by attendees. The idea is that like-minded people get together, set up in an area of the campsite and enjoy each other's company. Villages are often set up around a topic or existing group (e.g. lock-picking or a hackspace). Some of them will run their own events parallel to the main schedule (for example last year one village hosted a weekend-long LAN party whilst another ran workshops on ring-making).

If you want to find out more, or see which villages are already proposed see the villages page

You don't need to join a village to attend.