Bitcoin Forum

To my surprise, I didn't find any mention of this on the forum so I thought I'd post about it until an official thread comes along.

The Bitcoin Foundation is organizing a Conference in San Jose, California on May 17-19 2013, titled "Bitcoin 2013: The Future of Payments".

http://www.bitcoin2013.com/

I think it would be interesting to see who will be coming and from where.

I will fly in from Tokyo.

I plan to attend.

Why is that BitcoinTalk is the last to get wind of this? Not meant as a diss, but am curious.

Being that the subtitle of the event is The Future of Payments, I believe this would fall in line with how NPOs will be funded in the future. It may be worthwhile for me to not only attend, but erect a booth and form a panel.

~Bruno K~

I wondered the same. I heard about it on Reddit. 12 hours later, still nothing on the forum. 10 more and still nothing official. This really puts into question the forum's status as the go-to place for staying in the loop.

Maybe TBF is just taking the time to troll-proof their announcement :).

Hey, Someone was supposed to announce it everywhere, maybe it was just an error on their part.


I would love to talk to you about this and making it happen. Ill PM you details once we finalize them

Thanks

Does anyone have any stories how difficult it is to travel to USA from europe? I have heard that the custom, security checks etc can be real pain in the ass. I would love to attend but I don't like traveling/flying that much, especially long waiting times in some custom queues...

I believe that if you fly into a regional hub, the wait won't be as bad.


<humor>

Please don't tell us that Lindsay walks around with a chicken on her shoulders.  ;D

I couldn't resist, and perhaps it was just an oversight. No harm!

I look forward to your PM, Yankee.

~Bruno K~

It always has. But I've visited the States a few times in the past, and the Customs/Immigration bureaucracy, while onerous, is tolerable for those qualifying for the visa-waiver program (or if you can somehow otherwise swing a visa).

The real problem now is the TSA when flying out of a US airport. I would love to try to attend this but I don't plan on visiting the US without an overland plan to travel onto Canada and fly out from there, thus hopefully bypassing the TSA. That will be more onerous, time-consuming and costly.

Which country are you arriving from?

I believe Eurozone countries get an auto tourist visa upon arrival. You dont need to provide other information, ect.

Last time I looked, Greeks did not have access to the visa-waiver program, something that may or may not have changed by now. Plus, something called an ESTA has to be obtained in advance, I think, along with the regular I-94.

It's tricky but certainly not impossible to travel to the US as a visitor. Nowadays, I'd be more concerned about the DHS/TSA than Customs/Immigration.

Well seeing as the convention center is less than a mile from my house, I'll be there :P

Is it just going to be panels, or will there be individual speakers, breakout rooms, etc?

Moreover, whether all panels or not, is this the type of panel (or similar) to be expected at Bitcoin2013 shown in the following video?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poSouQFcb0Q

~Bruno K~

Not a word about registration fees on their Website yet.


The reason for this forum "not being in the loop" may simply be that not all the details have been worked out yet.

Itll have all of that!

Its a 3 day mega event!

I wish it to be less preaching-to-the-choir, and more of an opportunity for bitcoin-curious businesses to see demonstrations and attend lectures and hands-on workshops. Besides that, bitcoiners should get together for brainstorming sessions and hackathons.

Sorry, I got excited in my response  ;D

To answer your question....Yes, we've been trying to tailor this conference in a very hands-on way.

I think a successful conference is when we interact with each other and the experts in a specific field together, concentrated in topics and fields of knowledge.

There will be panel discussions, a hackathon, VC pitches, and exhibits, as well as individual speakers.

Let me rephrase. If I go to the website, there is only a submission form to be part of a panel discussion (worthless, imho). Where do I submit a paper or sign up to give a talk?

Ah, it all goes to the same email inbox. You can also PM me and we can chat about it!

San Jose?! That's actually a location I could attend!

I'll be watching this thread with great interest.

The US has various kinds of visa. Even if you are from what they call a "visa-waiver" country you have to complete ESTA registration, which you can do online. ESTA is not referred to by the US as a visa despite that it obviously is - you have to fill out some paperwork with your passport number and so on, it costs you money and the government can refuse your application for any reason, in which case you are not allowed to go. So being from a visa-waiver country just reduces the burden somewhat, not eliminate it. You also have to fill out paperwork on the plane giving the address of where you're going to stay.

Border queues are not great, but hardly much worse than any other country. The border guards will take your fingerprints and photo.

Even if you don't need a visa flying to the US is, compared to other countries, a pain in the ass. But that's because travel to large parts of the world is very easy. Going to the US is really not so bad that it should put you off attending the conference.

I live just up in Oregon, so hoping to attend this one!

BTW, the website makes no mention of conference ticket cost.  And if I am cost-conscience, are there any hotels available cheaper than those with "blocks" allocated to the conference?

Who is running it?  It sounds like Yankee is involved... who else?

Bitcoin Foundation

Is the ticket price not set yet?

We have a rough idea of what it will be,

I travel to the US from the EU a few times every year. The worst part is the long flight. Otherwise apply for ESTA well in advance (it is valid for a year or two) and fill in the waiver on the plane. The immigration queue varies, but I'd say that it is roughly 20 minutes. Be polite and honest with the immigration officer. Carry at least one credit card and 100$ in cash (less than $10000). Don't say that you will pay for your stay in bitcoin. Someone on the forum tried that once and was sent home without leaving the airport.  ;D

The 9 hours time difference is a bitch and turns me into a zombie, but it wears off after two days for me. I always try to arrive a few days before I have to deliver.

Assuming you're coming alone (no better half), the rooms have two beds. Split the rate three ways, with the third party on a roll-away or pallet on the floor (sleeping bag preferred).

I'm planning on driving out to San Jose, making a vacation out of the trip, leaving at least a week early from Illinois. In fact, I'm thinking on bringing the pickup, playing American Pickers on the way back home. If I'm lucky, the picks will pay for the trip.

~Bruno K~

True.

My better half wouldn't be the least bit interested in attending.  She's still stymied as to why people want Bitcoins, exactly.  ;)

I'd be willing to share a room with 2-4 others, so that would certainly reduce costs.

That would be awesome indeed if you could finance your trip with a barn pull.  :)  I've always been fascinated with the art of reclaiming abandoned wood, but I am too far from the world of physical labor to accomplish something like that on my own.

If anyone from socal wants to give me a ride pm me!

I wasn't taking about barn wood, but barn finds is not out of the question. I was referring to finding or buying cheap vintage stuff. The more industrial in nature, the better.

I wonder if Adrianne Jeffries is going to be there. Any notables scheduled?

~Bruno K~

Let's do it!!!!

For all practical purposes, the event is written in Yap stone.

Another question: Will the discussions/talks be record with quality cameras, manned by competent individuals? There should be no excuses for inferior productions. Who here has quality equipment and is planning on attending? Do you lack anything or have questions or concerns pertaining to the event? Exactly what do you need to make sure the recording process proceeds seamlessly?

~Bruno K~

I'd imagine this should be moved to Meetups?

I would love to attend to live blog as many of the events as possible.  How, exactly, I will finance this event is still questionable.  ;)

Wut?
This is not just a meetup. This is probably the biggest in-person Bitcoin event of the year.

I agree of course, but essentially it's a meetup so big people from all over the world are willing to travel to attend. So I think cross-posting on Meetups a link to here or the official thread (still waiting) is in order.

As an A/V technician, professionally, I handle a lot of events like this. As a Bitcoin Foundation member, I will be attending with some solid HD gear. All I would request is for a good spot in the back and a direct XLR connection to the mix for high quality sound. I'm also a Newtek Certified presenter, and can run a TriCaster 8000 if we want to do this thing live over livestream.com to the world, which can simultaneously integrate live social media streams.

Let me know!

(best use my 10,000th post for something constructive)

This is wonderful news, thefiniteidea. Assuming the organizers are keen on the idea of having some talks/discussions streamed live, do you have assess to a TriCaster 8000 or only informing us that you're capable of operating said device, being certified and all? Over and beyond the streaming aspect, is it safe to assume that you would put the videos on YouTube or, at the very least, make them readily available elsewhere? One more question, and please understand that it has nothing to do whatsoever with your abilities, for they're not in question, but is there a video you can link too, thus showcasing your talent and the equipment in use?

I look forward to seeing you at Bitcoin2013. I'll be the guy with scraggly ass beard.

~Bruno K~

Please do this!  Hell, I'd pay a little bit of bitcents to see it also  maybe admission to live streaming to make it worth your time?

I don't think anyone would argue with you livestreaming the events!  After all, that's what the community has asked for and attendees have promised, but not delivered on, for all the prior conferences.  The question is, can you actually pull it off, unlike all the other who have said they would do so, only to have irreconcilable technical difficulties when push came to shove?

@ Yankee or anyone else familiar with the conference proceedings - will reliable WiFi access be available in the events room(s)?

And another question: Have you considered a price break for those who are members of TBF? Here's my line of thinking: Assuming $X is the desirable price point you're pegging for, price the fee at $(X + Y) in such a way as to make it worthwhile for a person to become a member of TBF to enjoy the price break. Perhaps I could have sent a PM pertaining to this scheme (for lack of a better word), but opt to present it for all to see. Besides, it's just a suggestion.

~Bruno K~

I may go, I live in arizona so a bit of a drive for me.

I am capable. The unit itself is about $30,000-$40,000. It may be possible to rent out from an A/V reseller in the San Jose area for 10% of that cost, but that needs to be looked into and obviously funded (perhaps by the foundation?). I really don't know what the foundation has in mind in terms of A/V gear, and that would be well worth knowing depending on what they wanted to accomplish.


The unit itself has the ability to upload videos to youtube simultaneously while the presentation is being filmed, recorded, and streamed. It's an amazing piece of hardware/software. Note, the price lol.

I will lay this out:

Technically, for this to really happen, we would need all of your standard conference room A/V gear, plus some:

Mic(s) for the presenter(s) (wireless/wired, depending on pref.)
Tx/Rx for Wireless mic systems
Audio Mixer
Camera or cameras/tripods (depending on number of angles desired)
Audio/video cabling (XLR, SDI/Component, etc..)
Stable (preferably wired) network connection (50Mb/s would be best, or as long as upload is at least 10Mb/s. Higher the better)
TriCaster 850 (or better, 8000)
Projector Screens
Projectors (associated cabling)

And then all of this on a room by room basis... perhaps designating the tricaster/stream to rooms with bigger talks.

Just to give you guys an idea. Again, I have no idea what the foundation intends.

EDIT: found this with a quick google search. Obviously I did not do this TEDx production, but same equipment and a place to rent it near San Jose for a good price...

I've attended conferences at the proposed location.  It is a premier venue with whatever facilities you can imagine.  Technically, anything you require, they can provide.

However: I have no clue whether communications services (e.g. WiFi for attendees, or a large pipe for streaming) are standard or will require separate purchase as an add-on from the organizer.  Also, possibly the convention center will frown on 3rd party attendees doing A/V work instead of hiring their onsite personnel and equipment.  The Foundation will have to figure out all these details based on whatever budget they have for the event, and based on a ticket price that people can afford.  From a financial standpoint, announcing that everything will be livestreamed for free could be counterproductive, as it would reduce the incentive for people to fly in and attend.  If the event doesn't sell out and break even, it would look very bad for PR reasons, and would likely mean either higher prices for those who do attend or, even worse, possible cancellation of the conference.

Lower turnout due to having the event freely live streamed would be a major concern.

Valid point.

They could also profit from the fact that certain segments would be streamed by charging to view it live. Or not mention that it will be streamed until it gets close enough to the point where they've sold enough tickets, and people wouldn't request refunds/change their plans. But perhaps it would be best to just upload segments after the conference.

Also, it would certainly make things easier for the Foundation if the venue did have an established, integrated A/V service already at the venue. If they do, hopefully they know what they're doing. I would really like to record the conference and sometimes those guys can make things harder than they need to be.

Of course, we're all just speculating here. I'm assuming we'll find out more details on this as the BF board members deliberate on the issue.

Hopefully, the event will sell out quickly...and thus the Foundation would have enough attendance certainty to consider doing some streaming (free, or paid as thefiniteidea suggests) as a means for widening the reach.

Alternatively, what I've seen some companies do in order to give an event higher visibility without risking empty seats, is maybe livestream a keynote or two (or post them online soon afterwards) while leaving the rest of the talks unstreamed and unposted for a few months.  But in that case, as thefiniteidea points out, it's best not to announce such a plan beforehand, so as to encourage maximum attendance.  So my guess is that there will be 100% silence from the Foundation on the topic of streams until the event is confirmed sold out...which should be easy, given that Bitcoin is unquestionably the most exciting technology since the Internet itself, and the chosen location has the highest concentration of nerds/VCs/entrepreneurs per square mile of just about anywhere else on earth.  If executed and advertised properly, this event has the potential to be massive wrt. spawning new Bitcoin startups and generating millions in funding for Bitcoin ventures.

Valid point on the streaming aspect being withheld up to the event date, whereby whatever is announced, we shouldn't be that disappointed, but what is paramount is that close to 100% of the event is filmed with utmost quality and released to the general public ASAP.

It would be amazing to see the venue sold out, thus creating a secondary market by the scalpers at its entrance.

I will not be able to attend, and see no advantage to having a live stream available. Being able to see the talks few days after they took place is a better option as it would save BF resources and make them available for other jobs related to the conference.

+1

I plan to attend (the venue is only a short 11-hour flight from where I live)

may eh? i'd certain like to attend. we'll see how the money plays out.

https://gc.synxis.com/rez.aspx?hotel=54488&chain=13325&template=ABVI_GCFLX&shell=ABVI_flex&arrive=05-17-2013&depart=05-20-2013&NumberOfRooms=1&FrequentGuestId=


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWKUxgozeWI

http://www.booking.com/searchresults.html?src=searchresults&city=20015742&order=popularity&ssne=San+Jose&ssne_untouched=San+Jose&error_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fsearchresults.en-us.html%3Faid%3D342443%3Blabel%3Dcity-san-jose-RisE0RG9M5JU0SNw0Y9gqAS16341102110%253Apl%253Ata%253Ap1%253Ap2%253Aac%253Aap1t2%253Aneg%3Bsid%3Daaed1ea47006ab466733121cb9847e43%3Bdcid%3D1%3Bcheckin_monthday%3D17%3Bcheckin_year_month%3D2013-5%3Bcheckout_monthday%3D18%3Bcheckout_year_month%3D2013-5%3Bcity%3D20015742%3Bclass_interval%3D1%3Bcsflt%3D%257B%257D%3Binac%3D0%3Boffset%3D0%3Border%3Dpopularity%3Bradius%3D0%3Bredirected_from_city%3D0%3Bredirected_from_landmark%3D0%3Breview_score_group%3Dempty%3Bscore_min%3D0%3Bsi%3Dai%252Cco%252Cci%252Cre%252Cdi%3Bsrc%3Dsearchresults%3Bss%3DSan%2520Jose%3Bss_all%3D0%3Bssb%3Dempty%3Bssne%3DSan%2520Jose%3Bssne_untouched%3DSan%2520Jose%3B&aid=342443&dcid=1&label=city-san-jose-RisE0RG9M5JU0SNw0Y9gqAS16341102110%3Apl%3Ata%3Ap1%3Ap2%3Aac%3Aap1t2%3Aneg&sid=aaed1ea47006ab466733121cb9847e43&si=ai%2Cco%2Cci%2Cre%2Cdi&ss=San+Jose&radius=0&checkin_monthday=16&checkin_year_month=2013-5&checkout_monthday=20&checkout_year_month=2013-5&in_a_group=on&org_nr_rooms=1&org_nr_adults=2&org_nr_children=0&group_config=&group_adults=2&group_children=0&dest_type=city&dest_id=20015742

Wish I could go  :-\

Dang, that's cheap!

Hi everyone,
Apologies for neglecting the forum in an *official* announcement.  I've started an announcement thread and I will try to answer some of the questions you've posted:

The Bitcoin Foundation

There will be keynote speakers and panels, and we are also encouraging attendees to self-form panels or suggest topics.  Yes, the panel discussions will be similar in format to the video referenced.  To make a request to be a panelist or speaker, submit your information through the conference website Panelists page: http://www.bitcoin2013.com/panelists.html (http://www.bitcoin2013.com/panelists.html)

As noted on the site, if you are interested in presenting on a different topic, you should submit a request through the Panelists page as well - please choose "Other" under "Panel Topic" when making your request.  If you want to submit a paper, make a note of that in your request.

We are working on getting attendee registration up and running - it should be available in the next couple of weeks, at which point we'll publish the ticket cost.  You can submit your name and email on the site (www.bitcoin2013.com (http://www.bitcoin2013.com)) to be notified when attendee registration is available.

You are welcome to look into other options, but those are the official room blocks available.  The four hotels offered are closest to the convention center.

We are definitely interested in recording the panels.  As previously mentioned on this thread, livestreaming would reduce the number of people who would come to the event, and we see a lot of value in those in-person interactions.  At this point, it's not something we're planning.  If we're able to record, however, we'll definitely post the videos after the event.  We are looking into costs of recording, etc.  thefiniteidea, thanks for volunteering to help us - I'll be in touch to discuss further.

Yes, absolutely.  We are working with the onsite communications team to have wifi available throughout the entire event.

Let me know if I missed anything.  Thanks for all your input!

Here's the official thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=135407.0

I'm registered, although I have no idea what activities and speakers I paid $250 for, or why they asked me about dietary restrictions, but this is the first bitcoin conference in the U.S., and I wouldn't miss it!

When the next conference held on. Anyone have any information regarding conference.


San Jose CA Locksmith (http://www.sanjoseca-locksmith.com)

Bitcoin2014
Building the Digital Economy

15 - 17 May, Amsterdam

http://bitcoin2014.com/