OKFest Info Pack: Participants

Welcome OKFestival 2012 Participant!

We are very happy to have you as a part of the movement as one of the pioneering ticket-holders to this (sold-out!) event. Our programme is amazingly diverse this year, with over 150 sessions and satellite events in 13 guest-planned Topic Streams from “Transparency and Accountability” to “Openness in Sustainability”. With 100 OKFest organizers and Guest Programme Planners have been involved in building this crowdsourced programme and over 1,000 registered participants, you are a part of the largest open knowledge gathering the world has ever seen. It has been an inspiring road, and we thank you for daring to be a part of it. You’ve made OKFestival what it is!

At the same time, we realise that the vast number of organizers, speakers and festival elements may create some challenges for communication, so this page provides practical information to ensure your experience during the week is inspiring and pleasant! If you have questions during that aren’t answered here, please go to the Info Desk, where the #OKFestCrew will be available to help you out. Best of luck, many thanks, and we’ll find you all in Helsinki!

Participant Info Pack: Print Version

When you arrive at the OKFestival venue on your first day, you’ll receive the following info pack in your participant bag which provides all the details you’ll need for the week - but here it is in PDF form for those of you who want a preview! You can also view the programme in-depth online.

Participant Info Pack for OKFestival 2012

Venue Location and Spaces

  1. To get to the OKFestival venue at Aalto University School of Art and Design (Arabia Campus) we have prepared a few sets of directions based on your mode of transport. Details are also provided in the OKFestival print pamphlet above.
  2. Venue Photos + Floorplans - the Aalto Uni venue are in a former factory, which makes exploring it quite the adventure! This should give you the clarification you need to find your sessions, but if you get lost, there will also be signs posted throughout the venue, and you can always pop by the Info Desk if you have a question or need a guide!

Lunch Vouchers and Food

A healthy lunch of Finnish cuisine options will be provided by a local catering company in the INSPIRE Foyer for a discounted rate of 8EUR/day. To reserve your lunch, vouchers are available online until 3pm GMT on Mon Sept 17th.

If you’d like to eat at the venue, we strongly recommend reserving in advance to avoid long queues. For the more adventurous, there are also various restaurants and cafes in the neighbourhood to explore. Light snacks will also be for sale in the INSPIRE Foyer in evenings.

Getting Involved in the Movement

With the 2012 theme “Open Knowledge in Action”, getting involved is one of the most important parts of the OKFestival experience - and with an ever-increasing list of (free!) public hackathons, lightning talks, satellite events and hands-on workshops, there are many ways to become engaged outside of the typical conference routine:

  1. Lightning Talk sign-ups for those of you who want to share your projects and ideas with a receptive open knowledge audience;
  2. A set of crowdsourced evening receptions and meetups, from Hacks/Hackers to thematic dinners to Open Sauna;
  3. And many free satellite hackathons, workshops and events from Open Data cooking workshops to local tours to coding jams!

Key OKFest Times and Dates

  1. Tues - Fri, 9 - 10 am: Every morning between 9:00 and 10:00 (before the INSPIRE Morning Plenary), free morning coffee will be served at the INSPIRE Foyer. This time will serve as the meeting point for Session Hosts & Speakers as well as a space for you to meet invited guests before it all kicks off.
  2. Tues - Fri, 10-11 am: MORNING INSPIRE PLENARIES. These are your chance to get inspired by our keynote guests as well as hear about what’s happening in the key Topic Streams of the Day‘ for a positive start to your morning!
  3. Tues evening after programming: OKFestival Welcome Reception for all guests, hosted by the Open Knowledge Foundation‘s Rufus Pollock, with music and drinks.
  4. Fri Summary Day in INSPIRE Auditorium: On the last day of OKFest, we invite you to hear an informal summary of what happened during the week at each Topic Stream in the INSPIRE Auditorium. Join the Guest Programme Planners for a reflective discussion on what went right, what went wrong, and what we’ll collaborate on as a result of the OKFestival movement.

Feedback Form and the OKFestival Book

Whether you are at OKFestival for a day or the entire week, we’d love to hear how your experience was. Best of all, we’ll put the best bits into our upcoming (CC-BY licensed) OKFestival book to be released this fall about the festival and surrounding open knowledge movement!

The form will be provided in your participant package when you register, but if you would rather fill it out online, you can also access it here: tinyurl.com/okfeedback

That’s it for now - thanks again for your attention and passion. We can’t wait to meet you all in Finland!