Social Events – GUADEC 2017

GUADEC is a great place to meet people from all around the world and make new friends. We have planned a variety of social events throughout the conference to help. Some of the details below are subject to change depending on weather, so it’s a good idea to check this page for updates.

Apart from the events below, we will be hosting a variety of activities for GNOME Newcomers. Participating in these events is a great way to get to know people in the GNOME community, so we hope to see you there!

At a glance:

Thursday 27th July: Preregistration at Kro Bar
Friday 28th July: Newcomer’s lunch, city tour, dinner & games at The Wharf
Saturday 29th July: 20th anniversary party at MOSI
Sunday 30th July: sponsored breakfast, football game, city tour, curry mile dinners, drinks at the Turing Tap
Monday 31st to Wednesday 2nd: peak district hike

Thursday 27th July: Welcome drinks and pre-registration

This is a friendly event for all attendees prior to the official conference opening on Friday morning. If you’re in town a day early, we encourage you to come out, grab a drink, and meet other GUADEC attendees.

(Kro Bar CC-BY-SA Mike Peel)

Location: Kro Bar, 325 Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PG (Google map, OpenStreetMap)

Time: 18:00

Friday 28th July: Conference Opening

Newcomer’s Lunch

Come grab a bite to eat with us on your first day! We’ll have tables reserved at the nearby cafeteria and will have some GNOME project leaders and long-time community members that will join you to eat and answer any initial questions you may have about the conference. We’ll walk over as a group when lunch break happens, but you’re also welcome to grab some food and meet us at the cafeteria on your own.

Location: Canteen inside of conference venue

Time: We’ll leave from the conference hall together at 13:05. If you miss us, just meet us there.

Tour of Manchester

We have organized two special tours of Manchester that will be provided by Free Manchester Walking Tours. Each tour can take a maximum of 50 people. Both tours take the same route — we arranged two so that everyone has a chance to attend one. Note that the Friday tour clashes with the games event at the Wharf and the Sunday tour clashes with the football match. If you’re interested, please add your name to this list: Manchester Tour Interest Group.

*(Alan Turing Statue at Sackville Gardens, CC-BY-SA Stephen Richards)*

Cost: pay as you feel after the tour, suggested donation £10

Time: leaving 18:20 from the Brooks Building info desk, or from the Alan Turing statue in Sackville Gardens at 18:45

Dinner & Games

If weather permits, we’ll be hosting outdoor games (e.g balloon relay races and other fun stuff). After that, we’ll have a dinner buffet at The Wharf, which provides a stellar view of the canal basin. If we get rained out, we’ll do some indoor games and still do the buffet.

GitLab are sponsoring drink tokens for this event, which you’ll get at registration. Children under 18 are allowed at The Wharf if away from the bar area.

*(Manchester Canal Scene at Night CC-BY-SA Smabs Sputzer)*

Location: The Wharf, 6 Slate Wharf, Manchester M15 4ST (Google map, OpenStreetMap)

Cost: free entry, £13.50 to eat at the buffet

Time: 19:00 (games), 20:30 (buffet)

Saturday 29th July: GNOME 20th Anniversary Party

This year, we’ll be hosting a very special event to celebrate GNOME’s 20th anniversary. This dinner party will be held at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, and we’ll have plenty of fun and surprises for you. Please RSVP by registering to attend GUADEC by July 14th.

There will be welcome drinks at 19:30 sponsored by Centricular, and a cash bar after that. Purism will be demoing their laptops from 19:00 until the dinner starts at 20:00.

Location: Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, Liverpool Road, Manchester, M3 4FP (Google map, OpenStreetMap)

Time: 19:00 – 0:00

Sunday 30th July: One Last Hurrah!

While we encourage you to keep socializing well after the core conference days are over, Sunday is the last day that the GUADEC team has planned official social events. We hope to see you there!

Football

Do you fancy a little healthy competition? Stop by and show us what you’ve got. The football game is mixed and we encourage anyone who loves football (and even those who don’t) to participate.

Location: Brooks Building sports hall

Time: 18:30

Tour

See the Friday tour for information. Please let us know if you’re interested in attending by signing up: Manchester Tour Interest Group.

Duration: 1.5 hours

Cost: pay as you feel after the tour, suggested donation £10

Time: leaving 18:20 from the Brooks Building info desk, or from the ~~Alan Turing statue in Sackville Gardens~~City Library in St. Peter’s Square at 18:45

Curry Mile Dinners

When traveling, it’s always fun to try out the local cuisine. While we could be recommending some great fish n’ chips joints, the GUADEC team suggests you venture out to Curry Mile to try out some awesome Indian restaurants – they’re a local favorite! (OpenStreetMap).

If you would like to host a group dinner and would like to advertise it, let us know. You can contact the GUADEC organizing team (guadec-list@gnome.org), and we’ll gladly help suggest a place to eat and put your dinner up on this page.

Group Dinners

Here are some group dinners being organized. We encourage you to form your own group dinners and let us know if you’d like us to post about them here.

Women’s Dinner

This year marks the eighth annual women’s dinner at GUADEC. If you’re interested in attending, we encourage you to sign up – we’d love for you to join us to celebrate the contributions of women to free and open source software.

Location: Curry Mile – Mughli Charcoal Pit

Time: 20:30

Newcomers Dinner

Come join us for one last newcomers activity – and get ready to graduate from being a newcomer to being a full-fledged GNOME community member.

Location: Curry Mile – exact restaurant TBA

Time: 20:00

Pub Night

After you finish eating, you can rendezvous with other GUADEC attendees at a nearby pub. For those who would prefer not to eat curry, this pub also serves food.

Under 18s are not allowed in the Turing Tap after 20.00.

Location: Turing Tap, 421-423 Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9WG (OpenStreetMap)

Time: From 20:00

Monday 31st to Wednesday 2nd August: Unconference days

There will be a hiking trip to the Peak District National Park during the Unconference days. The aim is to do this on Wednesday 2nd but we may change this based on weather reports — look out for announcements during the conference.