Overview

For the past 4 years, the Pentaho community has had a European meet up. The first was in Mainz Germany, the second in Barcelona Spain, third in Lisbon Portugal and the fourth in Rome (Frascati). Each year, Amsterdam has been number 2 or 3 in the vote but this year, it's time for the Pentaho crowd to step up to the quirky, creative and open-minded city of Amsterdam.

Live BLOG

During the day Bart Maertens wrote an excellent live blog

Registration

Please register for the event here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3763885884/estw

Talk proposals

We are collecting talk proposals over here: http://forums.pentaho.com/showthread.php?97707-2012-Pentaho-Community-Gathering-Talk-Proposals

The actual summary can be found below in the section "Preliminary list of proposed presentations".

What kind of event?

The event is a very informal meet up for Pentaho people from around Europe (and further afield if your boss doesn't mind footing the air fare  ), to discuss the latest and greatest in Pentaho Innovation and other geek stuff. Community members are [invited to give a Pentaho related presentation of their choosing. The intent is to keep it community oriented and not Pentaho marketing driven.

The format will be similar to BarCamp - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp. Community members are invited give a presentation or facilitate a session related to using Pentaho technology to solve problems. In addition to community sessions, most of the Pentaho Architects will be there to show off their latest stuff. People should be free to break off into groups and work together.

This is intended to be a community event - for the community and by the community. We have been taking feedback via Pentaho forums, IRC and through comments in this wiki. If there is a topic that you want to talk about or present on, please ask for a speaking slot or discuss in the forums.

• Informal
• Technically oriented
• Not a Pentaho sales and marketing event
• Alcohol available
• Opportunity to show off stuff you have been working on.
• Everyone participates
• Minimal costs for attending.

Dates and locations

Meeting date is Saturday September 29th (not 22nd - there was a brief change!), 2012, and with 'Amsterdam', we really mean 'Amsterdam'. As downtown as you can get, the meetup takes place in the Academia de Tango, Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 12, 1017 RC  Amsterdam. More info about the venue can be found here and here. 
View of the venue in its usual state

google maps:

Internet & network at the venue

The available Wifi signal is quite weak and unstable; we're working on a temporary solution but it looks like it'll be cost prohibitive to set up a decent Wifi network with enough capacity for the day. If you absolutely require a decent internet connection, it's safer to arrange your own data roaming solution. There will also be a large number of Dutch folks of which many will have a smartphone and a data subscription; most modern phones have tethering capabilities and can serve as a wireless access point for up to 5 people. Getting everyone online this way will also be a great networking opportunity btw ;-)

Friday night 28 September

The Leidseplein is THE hangout spot in Amsterdam and there are many bars & restaurants to go to. However, 'Irish pub' seems to ring a lot of positive bells so Cafe Hole in the Wall seems to be a perfect place to meet, drink, talk and get some food from around 7 PM till closing time

Saturday meeting agenda  (PDF dowload)

(1) an excellent Data Vault introduction can be found here

(2) for this session you need: a) a laptop (duh..), b) a recent version of Kettle CE and c) Eclipse installed. We don't have the speed nor the bandwidth to download this stuff on site so make sure you have at least the installers downloaded on your machine (we'll bring some USB sticks as backup). This session is placed at the end of the day to enable people to hit the bar if they're not into doing some serious Java development ;-). For those who want a head start (or want to know what they're getting into), see Slawo's excellent intro.

Saturday night 29 September

After the meetup we're having dinner at restaurant Dubbel, close to the venue. Dinner starts at 8PM and for a peek at the menu, look at the left side of the groups page. They can place 45 people at a table with maximum 10 remaining people at the bar. Price is €35 each, including 5 drinks (cola, beer, wine, coffee etc). 

Sunday 

Definitely a canal cruise; rest tbd. 

How about Canal Biking?
More info monday 24

Amsterdam travel & hotel info

More information about accomodation and traveling in Amsterdam can be found here

In general, hotels are either (very) expensive or crappy; best option is to look for a B&B via AirBnB or this link.  

This can be an alternative if you want to stay with a local.

Who is staying where?

Add yourself to this list if you want people to be able to find you.