[Sketching12] Sketching in Hardware 2012 Update #1

[Mike Kuniavsky]

Hi. The following email is long. We know. Please read it. It has 
information in it that is going to be useful to you and a several things 
that we would like to know from you.

CONTENTS
- This mailing list
- Conference Hotel
- Conference Dates/Times
- Food guests/preferences/restrictions
- Presentations
- T-shirts
- Bringing new technology?
- Contact information
- Thanks

THIS MAILING LIST
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This mailing list is just the confirmed participants in the conference. 
Based on past years' experience, there will be a handful of updates before 
the conference. You should also feel free to use it to coordinate 
transportation, hotel sharing or other activities, but please use it 
sparingly. As soon a the conference is over, I will roll the membership of 
this list into the general Sketching alumni list and this list will go 
away.

CONFERENCE HOTEL
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We've sent out this information individually, but just to reiterate:
Please book your hotel for Sketching in Hardware no later than July 8. 
After July 8, our group rate at the Courtyard Portland City Center will no 
longer be available.  July is a peak travel month in Portland, and most 
hotels will be expensive, and fill up fast.

Here are the instructions:

Courtyard (by Marriott) Portland City Center (NOT the Portland Marriott 
City Center)

550 SW Oak Street
Portland, OR 97204
Group Rate: $149/night
Expires: July 8

BY PHONE:
Reservations can be made by calling the central reservations line at 
1-800-606-3717.  The block will be listed under "Sketching in Hardware" so 
please reference this when you call.

ONLINE:
Reservations can also be made online at www.myfavoritecourtyard.com using 
the group code THMTHMA for standard king rooms and THMTHMB for double 
queen rooms.

CONFERENCE DATES/TIMES
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Our tentative schedule will be:
Thursday, July 19: pre-event dinner. Location TBD.

Friday, July 20:
Breakfast: 8:30-9:30
Introduction: 9:30-10
Presentations: 10-5PM (with lunch served 12:30-2)
Dinner: 7PM

Saturday, July 21:
Breakfast: 8:30-9AM
Presentations: 9AM-1PM
Lunch: 1-3PM
Portland activity: 3-5PM
Dinner: 7PM

Sunday, July 22:
Breakfast: 8:30-9:00AM
Presentations: 9AM-noon
Lunch: noon-2PM
Secret activities: 2PM-5PM
Conference ends 5PM
Post-event drinks immediately after (location TBD).

If you are planning to fly in on Friday please try to be at the event by 
10AM. If you're leaving Sunday night, please try to hang out until 3PM or 
so.

FOOD GUESTS/PREFERENCES/RESTRICTIONS
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We're very excited about the food this year. Portland is a food town and 
to give everyone a sample of what it has to offer, we are working with a 
different caterer every day for breakfast and lunch and have several 
restaurants that look great for dinner. If you would like to bring a guest 
to dinner, please let us know and we'll let you know what the cost is 
(generally around $50, but it varies and we're still in negotiations with 
the restaurants).

We will try to accommodate a variety of food preferences, and there will 
be vegetarian options at all meals, but if you have additional food 
restrictions (allergies, preferences, etc.) please let us know ASAP so we 
can let the (many!) caterers and venues know.

PRESENTATION TOPICS
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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, and you should try to address this year's 
theme (which, roughly speaking, is the relationship between "the cloud," 
physical things, and manufacturing). If the thing you're really excited 
about doesn't fit the theme, though, that's fine, too.

PLEASE minimize biographical information. If you'd like to present a 
retrospective of your work to set the context, please keep it to 3 
minutes, but the bulk of your presentation should be about something new 
or something old that's totally awesome. Think TED talk, not History 
Channel.

Past presentations have been on everything from reviews of recent 
research, to descriptions of specific projects, to demonstrations of new 
devices and software, to describing the work 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.

If two people from the same organization want to team up and present a 
single thing, that's fine and we will give you a little extra time, but 
please have both people deliver the presentation. Also, there is no 
requirement that you present together.

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

T-SHIRTS
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In the interest of living the theme, we're trying to push the limits of 
event shirt manufacturing to make a different shirt design for every 
participant. Greg and Justin at Brand New School have developed a 
generative design that will create a unique shirt design for everyone. 
We're working with Portland-based printers to produce these within 
our budget.

We'll see if we can get there, but even if we end up going with a more 
traditional process, we need your shirt size. If you give us a size, we'll 
get you a shirt that size. If you don't, we'll have to guess at your size, 
and there's a good chance we'll be wrong, especially if we've never seen 
you in person.

Please send us your shirt size ASAP.

BRINGING NEW TECHNOLOGY?
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Are you bringing new things to show off? Please do! We want to see 
unannounced, pre-release, half-baked, experimental, totally great stuff. 
If you're wondering if it's ready, it is. Bring it and talk about it.

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

THANKS
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As mentioned above Justin Bakse and Greg Schomberg of Brand New School are 
designing Sketching in Hardware's website and t-shirt. Their work is 
awesome, as always. http://brandnewschool.com/

Thanks to the University of Oregon for renting us space in their White 
Stag building (thanks to a connection made by Mark Gross, a former 
Sketching attendee. Thank Mark when you see him).

And a GIANT thanks to Intel Labs. Their generosity makes Sketching 
possible this year. THANK YOU.

(Also, if you, your company or your organization is interested in 
sponsoring Sketching this year, we still have several sponsorship 
opportunities available. Please contact Mike at 
mikek at sketching-in-hardware.com and I'll let you know what we have to 
offer)

-- 
Mike Kuniavsky
mikek at sketching-in-hardware.com