Europe meet-up. Would you be interested?

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It is very disappointing.

Still, University campuses is a good idea also. As for my garden, well it is large enough for a few tents, but there are two problems. One is that most of it is on a 40 degree slope! The other is that I'm thinking about moving out by the summer anyway.

I think that to get an idea of numbers attending, we need to get some aspect fixed, such as the location or date, then work around that. Taking date as I think it's less complex than location, we would want to avoid the main European school holidays, which I think are July & August. June would be nice as it leaves enough time to arrange something and isn't such an awfully long wait as September! Also is OK weather wise, as the hot countries aren't totally baking yet and even the UK is usually pleasant in June!

Do the universities let you have any access to conference rooms? A small one may be useful as we could organise some activities. A whole weekend of David Lynch films including all of Twin Peaks, perhaps

If we knew who was seriously interested, we could mark our locations on the map, then find the exact mid point and all meet up there. So long as it wasn't in the middle of a lake or half way up the north face of the Eiger! If there was less than, say, 8 of us, then I think a medium size hotel would be fine. If more, then the University campus sounds better.

I agree. Something solid to negotiate around.

Re. date: Unfortunately, ( seeing as you suggest the opposite ) , I prefer August, because babysitting is easier/possible, as my son's french father is on holiday then, but Easter, ( I think that is the weekend of the 11/12 April this year ) would probably work too, ( but it's very soon ).

I think August, or June/July and September, are best for campus acccomodation, ( conference/meeting rooms usually cost extra, but not astronomically much ), and I notice, on the site mouse888 mentioned, that many venues ( for hire ) tend to already have retreats/workshops etc on for much of the year except August and July.

However that is only relevant if we did something in the UK. NB. An important advantage of the UK, ( and perhaps Holland and Germany ), is that we don't risk great heat or too much bright light, which a couple of people have mentioned disliking.

The site which lists venues for hire, that mouse888 recommended in her post, is rather tempting/appealing, and there are some foreign properties. Here is the link:

http://www.places-to-be.com/

Hmmmmm ... ...

I vote that we try to organise a meet for at least 20 people, ( I probably wouldn't travel, from France, for anything smaller ), this year, ( in August preferably/please, or at Easter , as I said ), and that next year, having learned from our mistakes, probably, we do it again but BIGGER!! ! ( perhaps on the beautiful Keele Campus, or one of the larger properties on the places-to-be list, or whatever )

Does anyone else think that this is worth trying?

A trial-run European Wrong Planet gathering this year and a mega one next?

PS. I might be able to get to something in June if it wasn't too far away from here, in the foothills of the French alps near Montelimar. ... ... ...

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[This is Peter Benie posting on behalf of Debbie.]

You have hit the point exactly. A post on this thread was talking about 31 people having expressed an interest. This would be a mammoth proportion of the total size of Autscape.


Please note the use of the word "solely" in Debbie's post. She was *not* saying that WP members cannot come. The meaning is that if you coming to Autscape because you are interested in Autscape, you are welcome to come, whether you are from WP or not. But if you are not actually interested in Autscape and are just using it as a way to get somebody else to organise accommodation for you, then that's not really appropriate as it would displace people who are interested in Autscape. Does that make sense now?

People keep mentioning how much Autscape costs on this thread. The fees have not been set yet so discussion of how much it will cost is very premature. If you want to know what facilities (eg. bedrooms, bathrooms, etc) are available, I urge you to ask in an appropriate forum, which you can find from the Autscape web page. This thread contains a blend of information from different years and since it's a different venue, the information is out of date.

Peter Benie

To boast about it and fuel some peoples narcissism. Its kind of really what Autscape is about - I am kind of surprised a few more people here had not figured that out.

You can pay to be a member or something of it I gather.

I can't wait to hear the answer to this one

Its designed around the hypothetical low-functioning Autie which of course they cannot get anyone to come along. But the range of functioning argument still holds, god forbid if anyone really high functioning were to show up and expose the event as a mismanaged stunt which really is more about sticking up two fingers at "NT"'s as opposed anything else.

Lol - I can't wait to see what their actual response will be to the rest of this. Maybe their plan to be as far away as possible from NT's has backfired, meaning that of course its very difficult to expand in the case of increased demand. If somewhere more sensible had been picked, this problem would have not arisen. Or maybe the intention is not to expand.

It's just an ordinary email list. There's no moderation, and messages won't be rejected unless they are excessively long (eg. if you quote the entire daily digest) or contains viruses etc. From the description you gave on the LJ page, it sounds like you haven't set up your email program.



The archive contains every chat message since we moved to that server. (There was a Yahoo group, now defunct.) There are certain months (just before and just after Autscape) that are really busy, but most of the time it's quite low traffic.



I can only speak for groups that I am involved in, but I can _guarantee_ that you have not been prohibited from joining the tech or venue groups on the basis that we've never turned anyone away. You do need a working email program to be able to join the subcommittes.

Peter Benie [on behalf of Debbie]

That was a general summation of the interest in a meet up, of some kind, ( as indicated in the poll ), but the number of people who expressed genuine interest in attending Autscape specifically was never more than five. As anyone reading the thread could have known.


No. Partly because every one of the people who posted to say they would like to go to Autscape apart from myself, ( and I posted on KenG's thread elsewhere about my idea for a presentation about the role of diet in "Effective Living", and which I tried and failed to post to one of your committees ), mentioned attending talks, "a Special Interest in AS" etc, and even, in ManErg's case, running a music project there.

The Autscape website clearly states that people going do not have to do/attend anything if they do not want to. This invites people to go for the atmosphere, the sheer pleasure of being with other Aspies/Auties in AS-sympathetic surroundings.

I think that it would have been a good idea for Debbie to have read more of the thread, more thoroughly, before posting what sounded so very much like a notification of exclusion from Autscape to WP members.


There is no sign on the Autscape Registration page that the prices shown are last year's. I took them to be for 2009.

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I'm just back from the international tourism annual fair in Tel Aviv. I look forward to the event each year because tourism is my special interest / obsession. I spent time at the booths of the former Yugoslavia countries and I think that the ideal destination for us WP European Aspies would be Slovania. It's just over the border from Austria (which is the most centrally located country for us) but it's a lot cheaper than Western Europe. I brought lots of materials and the places are just breathtaking. The Slovanian representative was very nice and I'm going back tomorrow, so I can bring actual names of venues and prices. He offered me places with conference rooms but I told him we're not having lectures. I was at the booth of Croatia too - same stunning landscape and conditions, but a little bit further for those coming from northern Europe. I think we either do it in the UK (expensive, bad weather) if there are many more Brits than others, or someone finds a cheap and nice venue in Western Europe, or we head for the forests and lakes and castles of much cheaper Eastern Europe. What do others think?

My usual e-mail works fine, but I don't understand how to fill out the fields for the chat list mail, as I said on the Open-access chat-page, but when I last looked for the tenth time, less than a couple of hours ago, my request for help had still not been answered, which meant that I could still not contact the chat-list to ask other questions.

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So what was that all about if Autscape 2009 is in fact not practically pre-booked/reserved for previous/regular attendees already?

Who was it sent you the pm? Someone from Aspie Village or ? Why would someone send you a pm to that effect unless they had reason to think it was a rather closed-shop event?

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Probably sent the PM because they didn't want any discussion on the matter. AV is a really bigoted place.

I have read the entire thread and I don't think it's as clear as you think. Some posts seem to have been deleted in the meantime so now it is even less clear.



If that's the case, then there's no problem. Despite what some people here would like you to believe, there is no anti-WP agenda, the registration system won't be fiddled to exclude WP, and priority isn't given to people who have been to Autscape before.



That isn't what it says and it certainly isn't what was meant, but I can see how it could come across like that.



Oops! You're quite right. I'll get that fixed.

Somebody was commenting that the choice of venue was bad because of its size. Despite being the person that found this year's venue, I would have to agree. Size was not the only factor in the choice of venue. Larger venues tend to be more expensive per head (you're competing with commercial conferences), which would make it unaffordable to people on low incomes. We also need it to be accessible to wheelchairs. (Last year was very hostile from that point of view.) And it needs good transport links. (There was a lovely place in the Dales, but there was no way to drive a bus up the driveway - you would have to walk the last mile!) The main problem is that we were very late starting the venue search, and most suitable places were already booked for the summer. Taking all the constraints into account, this one was the best by far.

I'm quite keen to fix whatever problem you had posting to the Autscape chat list. But this isn't the best place to do tech support. If you would like to follow up in the LJ thread, I'd be happy to assist.

Peter Benie

I did follow up earlier, and you didn't reply so I thought you had stopped reading. I've followed up again with a bit more info.

Peter Benie

If you mean my posts, ( as I can't see (m)any other posts with "edited" marked on them ), then they were not deletions; just my usual obsessive rewording of text, plus occasional additions of information/remarks.


Except that now a couple of us who were happily planning on going to Autscape are feeling a more than a bit freaked out. But perhaps we'll recover our enthusiasm for it.


That would be helpful for any outsiders/newly interested who won't recognise them from last year.
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Last edited by ouinon on 12 Feb 2009, 2:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

I like the sound of that. For some reason, I really would like this (if it happens) to be somewhere different.



Some thoughts on advantages/disadvantages. If too rural, then we'll be effectively stuck there without transport, as well as being harder to get to in the first place. If too urban, then too noisy, generally unpleasant etc etc

The choice seems to range from a quiet venue with some activities or a large town/small city where we can entertain ourselves exploring, eating. Europe is steeped in history, we don't have to go to the obvious Prague/Paris/Milan type places, surely we could find somewhere interesting thats a little off the beaten track? Slovenia sounds a good match for this.

Another factor is the cost. If we book a hall or something, then we may lose a lot of money if people don't turn up - which is quite likely. If staying in hotel or apartment then everybody can make their own arrangements, once we decide where we're going.

What about language? It would presumably be somewhere where English is spoken or we have someone who can at least communicate the basics.

On the time of year to go, well August is a difficult month for me I've always thought half of Europe uproots and goes on holiday to the other half (who are not in as they have gone the other way) during August! Maybe that's too UK-centric.

But that's only one persons view. We need to get some general opinions on the most convenient time for most people. If it was only a 4 or 5 day 'long weekend' that wouldn't be so difficult would it?

This is Bled, Slovania

Who sent you a pm? Was it a VA mod/admin? Or just any old person passing wanting to throw mud?

And what happened to your thread about it? I couldn't find it, does that mean that it was deleted?

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