[Sketching11] Sketching in Hardware Update #1

[Mike Kuniavsky]

Hi. I'm very excited about Sketching this year. We have a fantastic group in
a remarkable and historic location. Here is an update with some information
and a couple of requests for information from our team.

CONTENTS
- Please book your hotel room by June 28
- Shirts and food
- Presentations
- Conference price
- Contact information
- Thanks

CONFERENCE HOTEL
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The conference hotel is Le Meridien Hotel in Philadelphia. It's a half-mile
walk from the conference location. You can call or email Rebecca Fass at
215.422.8208 or rebecca.fass at lemeridienphiladelphia.com, and mention the
Sketching in Hardware Conference to get the special rate. They will be
holding the rate until next Tuesday, June 28, after that the rooms are
subject to regular rates. This is by far the lowest rate you will find
anywhere near the conference location, so please be sure to take advantage
of it.

SHIRTS AND FOOD
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please send us your t-shirt size so that we know how many to buy in what
size. If you don't send us your size, we're going to guess and can't
guarantee a shirt that'll fit you. The shirts are cool, and you want yours
to fit. If you've sent us your size before, we probably have it, but please
send it again just in case.

Tell us if you have food preferences/constraints, especially allergies, and
we'll do our best to accommodate.

PRESENTATION TOPICS
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One of the unusual aspects of the Sketching conference is that everyone
presents (yes, that means you). I would like everyone to give an 18 minute
talk. The format is quite open and the content is up to you, but it should
have two qualities:

1. It should be about something that is exciting to you.

2. It should be 18 minutes long, and no longer. We are going to be very
strict about time limits.

If possible, we request that presentations should be on something that you
haven't talked about elsewhere. Also, we ask that biographical retrospective
be kept to less than 5 minutes in a presentation. In the past, we've had
participants present everything from reviews of their recent research, to
descriptions of specific projects from their portfolio, to demonstrations of
new devices and software, to describing the work their students have done,
to impassioned challenges to the community.

Your audience will be technically sophisticated, but not necessarily
engineers, so please calibrate the technical content of your presentations
accordingly.

Because of the large number of participants this year, we would like to
encourage people to team up and present together, if it makes sense for
them. If you want to go this route, let me know and we will allot extra
time.

In addition to the presentations, we have had panel discussions and group
conversations before. If you'd like to tap the brainpower of the group in
the form of a discussion question or panel discussion, send me your topic
and I will try make room on the schedule. Past discussion topics have
included the challenges of open source hardware and teaching physical
computing.

IMPORTANT: please tell me what you're going to be talking about soon.
Abstracts are not necessary, but a title and a one- or two-sentence
description of what you're planning will help me plan the schedule. If
submitting an abstract is required by a sponsoring institution, please
submit one in CHI Extended Abstract format (
http://www.sigchi.org/chi2010/authors/format.html), and we will publish it
on sketching11.com <http://sketching10.com/> as part of the official
conference documentation.

This year I will also leave some time for "unconference"-style breakout
sessions on Sunday. Think about topics you'd like to gather a small group of
folks around for that portion of the event.

Finally, tell me if you have preferences to speak in the morning or the
afternoon, and I'll try to accommodate.

To reiterate from the invitation: The theme for 2011 is Invention and
Improvement. Benjamin Franklin clearly saw that the trajectory of technology
was not just toward incremental solutions to known problems, but in creating
opportunities that had not been imagined. He saw that inventions build on
each other, and work together to spawn new ideas. This year's meeting will
look at how invention and improvement play off each other, where they
conflict, and how electronics as a creative medium has progressed since last
year.

PRICE
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The price for this years' conference is $450. This includes meals, t-shirts
and all supplies. We believe that this is low for an event that provides all
this, but if it's too high for your budget, please let me know and we'll
work something out.

If you have put down a deposit, please PayPal $350 to paypal at thingm.com.

If you have NOT put down a deposit, please PayPal $450 to paypal at thingm.com.

If you have trouble with PayPal, or need to pay through another channel,
please contact me and we'll work something out. We can provide receipts on
request.

CONTACT INFORMATION
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Throughout the conference, if you have any questions, please feel free to
email me at mikek at sketching11.com. If you need an urgent reply, my mobile
phone number is +1-415-235-3468.

THANKS
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Once again Justin Bakse and Greg Schomberg designed Sketching in Hardware's
website and t-shirt. They are fantastic designers, and a pleasure to work
with. You can find them at http://www.tsfim.com

Phil van Allen and Art Center College of Design are our fiscal sponsors once
again this year, and have been fantastically helpful. Thank you.

-- 
Mike Kuniavsky
mikek at sketching11.com <mikek at sketching10.com>
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