Hydra Connect 2 - Fall 2014

 

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What is Hydra Connect?

Hydra Connect (hashtag #HydraConnect) is a chance for Hydra Project participants to gather in one place at one time, with an emphasis on synchronizing efforts, technical development, plans, and community links. As the community expands, it is becoming clear that not every Partner will make every meeting, but there is value in ensuring cross-connections across the community, and we'd be well served to have at least one meeting where everyone shows up. Put another way, if a Partner could attend only one meeting in the 2014/2015 academic year, this would be it.  Adopters of Hydra, or those considering its adoption, who are not yet Partners are equally welcome to attend and a significant number of the meeting sessions Tuesday - Thursday will be specifically tailored to their needs.

The meeting will include:

• • training opportunities for developers and managers
  • demonstrations & lightning talks
  • Introductions & matchmaking
  • (lots of) unstructured times / open room format for...
    • coordinated development
    • taking action on strategic plan items
    • documentation updates
    • investigating patterns

 

Logistics

When and where?

The second Hydra Connect meeting will be held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio from Tuesday 30th September - Friday 3rd October, 2014.

The meeting will be held in the Kelvin Smith Library and the Thwing Center, next door.  (See Google map here.)

Room and Facilities Information

The conference is now sold out - sorry!

Problems?

If you run into problems trying to make accommodation bookings or have any other queries about the event, feel free to contact the Hydra Connect logistics team.

 

Program

Hydra Connect 2 Program 

Sign-up program content

There are a number of sessions during the conference where we hope attendees will contribute to the content.  Full details are in the sections immediately below, but here are a set of quick links to the pages where you can propose content:

 

Monday 29th September

Please sign up for one of the Monday Night Welcome Dinners on Monday night.  The idea is that for those folks who arrive in time (especially Hydra newcomers) we would hope there might be a small dinner group you would want to join so that you can start getting to know a few other Hydranauts on the Monday evening and/or simply to meet friends you haven't seen in a while.

Refreshments 

Refreshments will be provided before each day's proceedings start and, with the exception of Tuesday, during the morning break.  On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings the early serving will include fresh pastries etc.

Tuesday 30 September

Pre-conference workshops

Some 15 pre-conference workshops will be offered on Tuesday.  Registered attendees will be emailed in early September to ascertain which workshops (if any) they wish to attend.

Evening Beer Bus

The Cleveland locals are organising an evening Beer Bus to tour some of the local micro breweries - a good opportunity to make new friends!  Places on the Beer Bus are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.  Registration for the beer bus was here. Cost includes transportation to Ohio City, a Westside neighborhood with tons of drinking and eating options, as well as a Cleveland Beer Bus tee.

Wednesday 1 - Thursday 2 October

The main conference days will be a mixture of plenary and breakout sessions covering the whole gamut of issues important to the Hydra community.  Wednesday morning will include a welcome and introductions, a "State of the HydraSphere" address and some short talks.  Wednesday afternoon will largely be given over to an open session of posters and demos where attendees will have ample chance to mingle, find out what others are doing with Hydra and ask detailed questions (all Hydra adopters are being encouraged to have posters - details below - and gear up for small scale demos where appropriate).  Thursday will mainly be a mixture of short talks and breakout groups.  The topics for at least some of the breakouts will be proposed by attendees before the conference (see the "unconference" section below) or the day before; Thursday's lightning talks will be chosen from those proposed by attendees (see below).  Thursday will end with a plenary session.  We have plenty of spaces booked and so we anticipate three or four parallel meetings during the breakouts providing, between them, for new and potential Hydra adopters; established managers; established developers; and for special interest groups.

Wednesday poster show and tell

We are asking all institutions attending Hydra Connect to prepare a poster for the show and tell session.  Details were sent out in an email to the hydra-community list on 8/26 and Poster show and tell requirements.

Wednesday conference social event

On Wednesday, immediately following the day's proceedings, there will be an informal meal at "The Jolly Scholar" in the Thwing Center for everyone.  The cost of the food and soft drinks is included in your ticket price.  People who have registered to attend Connect #2 will receive an e-mail nearer the event which will ask about any special dietary requirements; we will try to accommodate these.

Thursday lightning talks

On the Thursday morning  the program committee has left space for a number of lightning talks of 5-6 minutes each.  This is a chance for attendees to make a short presentation, for instance about what they and their institution are doing, or planning to do, with Hydra.  The talks can be targeted at Hydra’s “new and potential adopters”, managers or developers.

We have created a page called  Suggestions for Thursday Lightning talks where you can make a bid for a slot – we’d *love* to hear from you.  If you have editing rights on the Hydra wiki, please just fill in a line (or more) of the table.  If you haven’t got editing rights, drop the organizers an email at hydra-connect@googlegroups.com and we’ll fill in the page for you.

Hydra Connect is all about sharing your work and experience with Hydra, so please contribute!

Thursday unconference session

On Thursday afternoon there is provision for a number of "unconference" sessions proposed by attendees: informal discussion groups around topics of particular interest.  It will be possible to propose these at the meeting, but if you have ideas already we'd love to hear from you.   The UNCONFERENCE -- Brainstorming.

Friday 3 October

The final day of the gathering will be given over to working groups covering a wide range of topics nominated by the community.  We will ask registered attendees to nominate up to four working groups that they would like to attend and allocate rooms on that basis.

 

New and potential Hydra adopters (NPAs)

During the workshop day on Tuesday and the first two days of the conference proper, Wednesday and Thursday, the program will include specific provision for new and potential Hydra adopters.  Friday will be a day largely devoted to working groups and there will be no such specific provision although, of course, new and potential adopters will be more than welcome to join the groups.

 

Attendance list

• Hydra Connect 2 Attendee List

Code of Conduct

We want Hydra Connect to be a fun, informative, engaging event for all our participants. We've got a few strategies to help make this happen:

1. 1. We've planned lots of great content and provided plenty of room for community engagement - watch as the fantastic schedule develops between now and the end of September!

   2. We encourage everyone to apply the Hydra community principles of openness, inquiry, and respect in their interactions at the event.

   3. We're pleased to announce that we have officially adopted an Anti-Harassment Policy though, of course, we hope never to need it.

If you have any questions or concerns at the event, please feel free to reach out to any of the planning team members or community helpers . They should should be easy to find and will all have an identifier on their name-badges.

 

Things to see and do in Cleveland

• The local micro-brewery tour (Tuesday evening, 30th September) - booking can be found here (Places limited: first come, first served. Registration now open!)
• Places to see
• Places to eat and/or drink

 

Accommodation

Hotel accommodation

A group rate has been agreed with the Courtyard Marriott hotel less than two blocks from the meeting venue.  We understand that the hotel is now full but you may wish to double check.

• • Special room rate for Hydra Connect $139 via the link below
    This rate is available only until 28 August 2014 after which normal rates will be charged: you may be able to get the Case Western Reserve University corporate rate if you ring.
    Book your group rate: CWRU Hydra Connect >>
  • King or 2x Queen rooms
  • Rate available for the nights of 27 September to 4th October inclusive
  • Cancellation up to 6pm day prior to arrival
  • Shuttle to CWRU campus for any delegates with mobility issues
  • Valet parking ($20/day).  (University parking nearby, $10/day)

If your attempt to book on-line tells you that there are no more rooms available, contact the hotel direct.  They are, we know, running out of rooms.

If the Courtyard Marriott is full, there is a Doubletree hotel about 15 minutes walk away from the conference venue: their website is here.

Shared houses