RAT Conference November 17th-19th 2006

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

looks like you had a good time.

See you all hopefully next year in Nijmegen

If that's true, i'm certainly there (i don't know if that's a plus... :wink: )

[Robert Vermaat]

So, now everybody is back home, recovered and well-rested, it's time for analysis!

How many RAT members visited the sessions?
How many non-members?

What lessons have been learned?

[Jona Lendering]

How many RAT members visited the sessions?

Svenja, Christian, Martin, Volker, Hans, Jurjen, Jasper, Jona

How many non-members?

Axl, Marco, Liz.

What lessons have been learned?

* That it is good to organize these seminars.
* That it is possible and that debate is on a high level.
* That it a plus to organize it in a town with a museum and some other interesting things to see.
* That the schedule must not be too rigid; it is discussion that matters and sometimes people may have a reason to opt-out (Marco had to visit a colleague in Munich, Volker arriving early on Saturday...)
* And a lesson, not from Augsburg, but from RAT: many people could have attended if it had been announced a bit earlier. It was perfect like it was, but could have been bigger.
* That Christian deserves the highest praise.

[Praefectusclassis]

That Christian deserves the highest praise.

Hear, hear! (which is why he has been awarded a second Corona Aurea).

[Robert Vermaat]

* And a lesson, not from Augsburg, but from RAT: many people could have attended if it had been announced a bit earlier. It was perfect like it was, but could have been bigger.

So what if we start advertising at events and in the scientific community?

* That Christian deserves the highest praise.

Agreed!

[Praefectusclassis]

So what if we start advertising at events and in the scientific community?

I'm a little hesitant about doing that. Small has advantages, but, even more important, it might change the character of such a meeting.

[Robert Vermaat]

So what if we start advertising at events and in the scientific community?

I'm a little hesitant about doing that. Small has advantages, but, even more important, it might change the character of such a meeting.

So it won't need to be on the scale of a ROMEC, but what's wrong with having 10-20 people at a lecture? We could always invite people?
I mean, it's cosey, but in theory there could be 20-30 RAT members flocking to a next conference, which would also change it from this first one, right?

[Praefectusclassis]

I'd work my butt off to make it possible if 100 RATers wanted to join in, no worries. What I meant is I'm hesitant about inviting people who are not on RAT. This common quality of sharing a forum has an important effect on the character of the conference.

[Jona Lendering]

So what if we start advertising at events and in the scientific community?

I'm a little hesitant about doing that. Small has advantages, but, even more important, it might change the character of such a meeting.

I agree. One of the delights was that it was possible to ignore the clock and talk about the contributions. That is possible with a small group, not with a larger one. I think that 20-25 is the ideal size.

[Crispvs]

I'm very pleased to hear that it went well and that everyone enjoyed it. It's nice to see what some of you look like as well!

What I have been thinking about all along though is this: what subjects were aired in lectures and what new perspectives should we now be aware of as a result?

Crispvs

[caiusbeerquitius]

Summary

Friday, 17th of November 2006
After fetching the horribly expensive beamer in Bobingen I directly went to the König von Bayern to wait for everyone to arrive. I was there at 18:00 and put my von Gravert helmet (WIP) on the middle of the table to make it perfectly clear to everyone, which table would be the right one. I ordered a beer and waited. Some of the people at the surrounding tables looked from time to time in my direction and were probably wondering what that silly guy was doing there alone at his large table with a helmet on it. Around 18:50 Svenja arrived, briefly after that Axel, then Hans, Martin and after a while the "rest" from the Netherlands. We all ordered and had dinner. I started to get a little dipsy before that, as I had not eaten anything yet that day, but already had my second Weizen. Well.

Saturday, 18th of November 2006
It was a very nice evening, after everyone went home Martin and I went to a cocktail bar nearby and had another drink w/ talk. It was quite late....

We met at the Kresslesmühle around 9:30 and started building up the gadgets (beamer, overhead), and Volker arrived as well in the Morning. We started with the lectures in the order of the table set. Each of the lectures was quite interesting, but hopefully all the lecturers will provide a brief summary of their work here in this thread, as it would take me quite too long to do this..

Just after the seminar raeticus arrived, then we split up for noon break, I went with Jasper to some specialties-stores to get bavarian specialties for Christy, then we had a Bayern-burger ( Leberkässemmel mit a weng siaß´m Senf), went to the Zeughaus, and met the others in front of the Römisches Museum Augsburg. We spent some time in there (most of the time was used by some to buy the museum store empty), many took a lot of pics, which also might be appearing in this thread. Martin left us. Afterwards we went to the Dom, which has the oldest stained glass windows in the world, and had a look at the Peutingerhaus (Peutinger is the guy who found the tabula peutingeriana). Some of us went for coffe afterwards. raeticus and his family left again.
In the evening wen all met in the Augsburger Hof (which by some was thought to be a bit too posh) for a very good dinner and good talk. A few were rather tired and left a bit earlier (after 22:00 ), the others went searching for a bar, which we found after a while. There we could congratulate Jasper to his birthday, and we sat for a little longer (with some beer)

Sunday, 19th of November 2006
We met again in the morning at the Kresslesmühle, Jona and Marco missing, they had to go to Munich briefly. After the Seminar we decided to stay in Augsburg, as the archäologische Staatssammlung in Munich had the Roman and prehistorical section still closed. We went to the König von Flandern for Weißwurscht und Brezen, and talked and relaxed. This was a good thing to do, as everyone was a little exhausted / tired anyway. Little by little everyone started his / their vacation homewards, Svenja and Volker stayed until monday morning, so we three spent some more time in the city, including a brief visit to the (basically closed ) Maximilianmuseum, and a coffe afterwards. I left them around 5:30, if I remeber correctly.

IMO it was a great event, and I had a really good time! I hope everyone else did so as well!

Here are some more pics:
Friday:

[Robert Vermaat]

Thanks Christian!

[caiusbeerquitius]

[caiusbeerquitius]

[caiusbeerquitius]