Overview
We are happy to announce the upcoming Octave Conference 2017 to be held at CERN [1], near Geneva, Switzerland, from March 20th until March 22nd. Octave [2] is a fundamental tool of analysis and research for hundreds of CERN scientists and, like CERN, promotes values of openness, cooperation, diversity, quality and commitment.
The three-day event will be an opportunity for sharing experiences, planning the future of Octave and promoting its use among the scientific community and beyond. There will two open sessions on Monday and Tuesday showcasing Octave and some interesting and successful Octave stories.
We are finalising the details of the programme, which will include: a presentation by Octave's creator and main maintainer John W. Eaton in the CERN Main Auditorium (Monday afternoon), several interesting talks about applications of Octave to various scientific domains, a Code Sprint, and a session to promote the open-source supported by public institutions as a model for free and successful development.
The key members of the Octave development team will participate in the conference, both from oversea and from Europe. You can find updated information on the programme in the Wiki page [4] and we are filling the Indico timetable.
Social events
Two social events have been foreseen, besides the coffee and the lunch breaks:
* A unique visit to CERN [5] on Wednesday morning
* A Fondue [6] dinner down-town Geneva on Monday evening (an option for Vegans exists)
Registration
Please use the registration form below to register your attendance. Early registrations are preferable to help us on the logistics side. Please contact us with recommendations and if you have any further ideas or particular wishes.
The conference is free of charge, however donations (e.g. to support the travel of developers from oversea) are welcome. Details can be found in the Octave wiki [4].
We look forward to seeing you at OctConf 2017!
The local organising committee:
Andrea Latina, BE-ABP-LAT
John Evans, IT-CDA-AD
Melissa Gaillard, IT-DI
Logistics
How to get to CERN
Visiting CERN... important instructions
Accommodation
The conference will take place in the CERN's main site (Meyrin). You can try your luck and search for an accommodation in one of the CERN Hostels.
Should the CERN hostels be full, or should you prefer to stay in Geneva, we advise you to consult your favourite on-line booking portal (www.booking.com, www.tripadvisor.com, www.trivago.com, www.expedia.com etc.) and to contact the hotel directly in order to identify the lowest tariff available for CERN users and collaborators (preferential tariffs may apply in some cases).
Hotels in the vicinity of "Gare Cornavin" (Geneva's main railway station), or along "Route de Meyrin", are particularly recommended. Tram number 18 links Gare Cornavin to CERN in 20' (see timetable on the TPG's webpage at this link).
Notice that, by staying in hotel, youth hostel or at a campsite, you are entitled to receive a personal and non transferable Geneva Transport Card for free, which will allow you to use the whole public transportation system of Geneva for the length of your stay for free. This includes buses, trams, trains, and yellow taxi-boats - Mouettes. Just ask for it upon arrival on the reception.
Useful links
[1] http://home.cern
[2] https://www.gnu.org/software/octave
[3] https://indico.cern.ch/event/609833 (this page!)
[4] http://wiki.octave.org/OctConf_2017
[5] http://visit.cern/tours
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fondue
