Why?

We have been thinking about putting together an in-person event for the first time in a long while. (s. https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Atlassian-User-Groups-articles/RFC-Opening-up-To-meet-how-to-meet-or-not-to-meet-that-is-the/ba-p/1408934#M47 ) after the Senate published their revised COVID-19 rules on June 23rd. (https://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/2020/pressemitteilung.949728.php )

We think that staying at home was the right answer for the short-term, but it is not a long-term solution for a long term problem like COVID-19 and there is a high probability that this pandemic will remain a risk until 2021 and - worst case - beyond that. Anything else would be a positive surprise.

Be that is at it may, there is certainly no essential need to meet again, but we have heard some voices in our community who would like to and as we are doing this for you, if there really is demand, we decided to make an offer.

Make no mistake: This is not risk free - and this is your personal risk - but in our fair city the risk looks manageable enough - sticking to few ground rules - to try, because - again - staying at home and avoiding all human contact is not a long-term solution.

And we honestly would like to see you again in real 3D.

When and Where?

August, 13th - 18:00 – Airport Tempelhof (Tempelhofer Feld) - Park closes 21:30 in August. As this is a very big and busy place, We will share an exact location about an hour before the event.

Overview of the park and entrances: https://gruen-berlin.de/tempelhofer-feld

Entry to the park is free.

We will send out GPS coordinates when we are on location. (The field is - very - big)  

A Chat and a Tombola

Chat

This is a first. We want to sit and chat with you about your experiences during lockdown, how did remote work work for you? With or without Atlassian. Did a Trello/Jira board save your sanity? Did you keep a Confluence diary?

Open mike. We want to record and publish it, thinking about a Zoom meeting as an extension to give more people a chance to join/communicate with us. We will bring camera, PA and mike.

Prizes

• A limited edition Dragon Empress Barbie (R) - s. picture - solid investment in times of volatile stock markets
• Software Architecture Book Package (German) - Feed your head'
• 3x 100 USD voucher for Atlassian Shop.

So we have five prizes, winners can choose which prize they would like to have from the remaining options.

Keeping everybody safe

It is not risk free, and the Senate of Berlin asks us to have a concept, so here it is.

• Contact Tracing: We will need to register all your contact information for contact tracing. Full name, address OR e-mail, phone number, time of arrival. No exceptions. As we value your right to privacy, we will provide each one of you with an index card an envelope. Put your information on the card, put it in the envelope and seal it (no licking required ) . If nothing happens, we will destroy the sealed envelopes after a month. On the other hand: Should you develop symptoms and/or test positive for SARS-CoV-2 up to three weeks after our event, please let us know, so that we can inform everybody else and ask them to get themselves tested and self isolate. Only then or in the case that an “official” contact tracer will contact us, will we open the envelopes.
• Filling out the card with the correct information is in your and your families best interest and this follows the template in §3 of the Infektionsschutzverordnung from June 23rd mentioned above.
• We highly recommend installing and activating the “Corona Warn App” on your phone. (https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/themen/corona-warn-app)
• Wear a mask over mouth and nose. A mask is not an ideology, it is a sign that you respect everybody’s safety concerns and it doesn’t matter if you personally believe in its efficacy. If you show up without one, we will provide one for you.
• Keep a distance. Wave, don’t hug, don’t shake hands and if you do not live in the same household keep a distance of at least 1,5m. We will bring measures to help with that. We will also provide bracelets in different colors, so that you can signal how comfortable or uncomfortable you are with physical contact (inspired by: https://twitter.com/ianbattersby/status/1279739658101014528?s=20) Red = Keeping my Distance, Yellow = Ok to talk to, but no touching, Green: I am comfortable (we still discourage hugs and high fives )
• We will have hand sanitizers and wipes to keep shared devices (e.g. microphone) safe and just in case you need them.
• Bring you own food and drink. It’s a picnic after all. We will have some emergency bottled water, if you forgot to bring anything, but nothing else.
• If you are a member of one of the high-risk groups with pre-existing conditions – you should know by now if you are – stay at home and join us via Zoom.
• If you feel sick, stay at home and join us via Zoom. If you are visibly sick and/or coughing and sneezing, we will ask you to stay away. We are not medical personnel and you might assure us, that it is only an allergy, but we have no way to make sure for everyone else.

Please help us to make this happen and keep everybody safe as possible, while we conquer the great outdoors again.

Caveats

Two caveats:

• Bad weather - we will not picnic in the rain.
• Bad pandemic - we will cancel the event, if there is a surge in infections in August and the rules for meetings change again.

We are looking forward to seeing you again.