Assemblies – get prepared to contribute and share!

Before we open the registration for Assemblies in the wiki, we want to let you know about some conceptual changes: Since 29C3 we’ve tried our very best to leave no Assembly behind and reserved space for (nearly) every group that applied. You all know the result: Each Assembly got less and less space each year for doing the things they’ve planned to do – even if that was just to hang out together. This year this is going to change. We will not allocate space for each individual Assembly, but rather allocate enough space for the ones actively adding value to our community on site – be it for 33C3 itself, or because of meeting and hacking together on site to create more helpful tools and knowledge to inure to the benefit of everyone!

What is an Assembly all about? When we invented them in 2012 for 29C3 (as an experiment!) we wrote: “Bring your toys, work on projects, have fun and let others participate in what you’re doing!” We also stated that the possibility to participate is central for everything at your C3-conference and that we want you to share your knowledge. All of this still applies, and this year we want you to focus even more on the participation and sharing aspect, as well as on the contribution to something useful for everyone. So we kindly ask you to highlight this more in your application for a reserved space, too.

You already learned about the ticket situation from the past blogposts: We are again running out of space. As the building is static, all of us need to adjust ourselves dynamically. That means we will only provide reserved space to some of the Assemblies applying, and leave it to you to share the rest of the space. By organizing yourselves in clusters you can help to decentralize further. Similarly for all the gear you’re bringing each year: It is amazing to see what one can do with all those tools, but if you need your soldering iron just twice during Congress – why not go down to the Hardware Hacking Area for doing so – and save space for everyone to spread and share? Instead of packing everything – think about what is unique or characteristic for your assembly. This makes your travel to 33C3 easier and everyone else will be able to understand what is important to you much faster.

The Assembly team will allocate resources in a similar manner as the Content team: There we also have the curated talks in the halls, and lots of space for the self-organized-sessions. Please take your application for a reserved space as serious as you would an application to talk on one of the stages! We want to see more extraordinary things, we want to have a diverse and mixed collection of passionate people doing exciting stuff. Showing off tools is nice, but sharing what and how everyone can hack and develop with them is even more exciting! Of course not every Assembly needs to show off and share their work – we welcome quiet Assemblies that meet to work together on their projects just as much!

To conclude: 42 3D-printers aren’t the answer to everything – but if you happen to have a thing that can beam us up, do not leave it at home!