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+--- Thread: RAT Conference 2012 (/showthread.php?tid=18711)
RAT Conference 2012 - Praefectusclassis - 04-13-2011
Hi all,
Seems like a good time to start the discussion about the next RAT conference. I think we all agreed York was awesome and needs a successor! We also decided that a 'candidate city' should be:
- have something to see for Roman nuts
- have good food and drink
- and ideally is located near a low-cost carrier airport
Any suggestions?
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - Tormenta - 04-13-2011
Hi,
Ljubljana can be an idea.
-Roman nuts:ok
-food:ok
-airport:ok-Ljubljana(not being the biggest of the countries
, look around it:Trieste, Venezia,Treviso, Klagenfurt and maybe Zagreb)I'm looking forward for other options.
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - jvrjenivs - 04-13-2011
Well, Ljubljana seems like a nice idea.
Well, in the Netherlands we could see if either Leiden or Woerden would be possible, although it has been in the Netherlands before. In Germany the Bonn/Cologne area could be interesting, but I would prefer Ljubljana, unless some other more interesting suggestion turns up.
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - Caballo - 04-13-2011
I know ( that like the soccer World Cup and the Olympics) we should avoid the same country, but either for 2012 or 2013, London is a thought? Cheap flights to Luton and Stansted, cross channel ferries, great museums, Trajans Column ( in plaster cast taken before car pollution at the V and A) . Against, accommodation more expensive.
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - Praefectusclassis - 04-13-2011
Hi Paul
London really gets very expensive for a few days I think, worthwhile though it may be. Aren't there other locations in the country that'd be better candidates?
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - Robert Vermaat - 04-13-2011
With York just over, I think that London (although indeed an attractive location) would not be the first choice.
How about Belgium? We have quite a number of members from Belgica... The same goes for Italy I think.
I would also welcome a second term in The Netherlands, of course. :wink:
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - Caballo - 04-14-2011
Quote:The same goes for Italy I think.
If we have someone there who would organise it, a weekend in Rome sounds pretty special....or Ravenna?
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - John Conyard - 04-14-2011
From our experience I would suggest:
You need a place with lots of cheap accommodation, close to
the airport.
You need a room for around 20 people, with a projector and
screen. You may need to hire the equipment.
You need a computer whizz to get peoples papers together
and make sure they work on on the projector.
It is good if food and drink are nearby - pubs are good!
You need a venue which people want to come and see. An historic town or city.
You need to approach a few good quality speakers to make it
worthwhile for academics to come to.
Guest speakers should receive free travel, accommodation and food.
You need a good few RATers to speak to give it that "community" feel. Be strict and go with those who want to give papers from the first, rather than members who volunteer themselves after all the information is sent out.
Aim for a theme each day. Talks can be linked to make them collectively of greater interest than just a wide range of individual papers. We did reconstruction and equipment on day one, and frontiers and garrisons on day two.
You need a joining pack explaining transport, accommodation, food etc.
You need a booking form to confirm attendance and to give academics something to show their institutions in order for them to claim travel and accommodation expenses.
You need a venue for a Saturday night meal.
Secondary attractions like a big museum, wargames show etc. are very good.
You may need to charge people a nominal attendance fee to cover equipment/room hire.
A sponsor to help cover costs is useful.
Prepare a secondary venue just in case! We finished up using our reserve venue, with two other reserves lined up just in case.
It is a very positive experience to organise and attend. I was humbled that so many people had travelled such large distances. I travelled under 3 miles!
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - Kai - 04-16-2011
My personal preference would be Italy and especially Ravenna. I have to make some research trips to there anyway so I could combine this with the RAT conference.
As I have said it on York, Berlin might be an attractive option: easy to get to (lots of low-cost carriers), cheap accommodations and food, great museums, good city transportation (if they are not on strike…), and a buzzing night-life if you wish that.
With the exception of "free travel, accommodation and food" for the speakers I think I would know how to arrange all the points in John’s list.
On another negative note, I have heard you had a lot conferences in Germany already.
Again Italy would be great and as I also said in York, Miha’s idea surely has its merits. If I remember correctly he even volunteered organizing it :-)
regards
Kai
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - Gaius Decius Aquilius - 04-16-2011
You might have it in the United States? THe standard of living is still reasonably high and most people speak a kind of English here. I would not go too near the southern border though... or to Texas. Or to SoCal ...or to... oh never mind...
Ralph
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - jvrjenivs - 04-16-2011
Quote:You might have it in the United States? THe standard of living is still reasonably high and most people speak a kind of English here. I would not go too near the southern border though... or to Texas. Or to SoCal ...or to... oh never mind...
Well, sound interesting, but I'm not sure I would be able to afford attendance then. Same goes vise-versa. However, it would probably be cool to have a US 'counterpart' of the European conference. If the organisers would like to put even more efford, it should even been able to have a skype connection and have one or two 'shared lectures'. In one of the previous editions it was indeed already suggested to record the lectures for podcast access from this site.
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - Vindex - 04-16-2011
I certainly wouldn't suggest London, and certainly not for 2012.
Ljubljana or Ravenna would be useful perhaps (says she who lives in the UK and couldn't get to York!)
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - Tormenta - 05-02-2011
John thanks for shering with us the work behind the curtains, it helps a lot.
But even before writing my first post in this thread I checked some of the things mentioned by John. It would be very irresponsible of me, promising something that it is impossible to organize.
Putting this aside, if I recall correctly in York we talked abuot having the next conference somewhere in Germany. My very personal opinion: Berlin sounds fine to me. If not it saves me from losing even more hair in the process of organizing the conference.
, if the members of this forum are going to choose Ljubljana.
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - caiusbeerquitius - 05-02-2011
I could arrange something here:
http://www.saarpfalz-kreis.de/europaeischerkulturpark/index-de.htm
or here:
http://www.regensburg.de/startseite
with trips to Straubing and Künzing
or here:
http://www.weissenburg.info/roemer/
with a trip to Eichstätt / Limes trip:
http://www.museumfuerurundfruehgeschichte.de/
including Pfünz and maybe Ellingen
Re: RAT Conference 2012 - jvrjenivs - 05-02-2011
Well, I would vote for Ljubljana or Regensburg then.
Also, I know we haven't finished choosing a location yet, we should also think about a time frame, as things are getting closer already. I think the early February of York was as good as the other 'after season' dates we had. Well, if we would go for next year, perhaps the 1st weekend of February would be okay again?