Welcome the elventh official bulletin for the 2006 YAPC::Europe Perl Conference in Birmingham, UK.

Hotel Bookings

The offer period for Jury's Inn has ended, but you may still be able to get the same rate. However, it is much better to give them a call to see what is available. nitenite still have rooms available, and there are several other hotels nearby, if anyone wants to stay elsewhere.

Conference Meal

We are delighted to announce that we are finalising details for the Conference Meal, and it will be a very Birmingham Balti experience. For anyone who might be concerned, vegetarian options will be available. The meal will take place at a venue that is slight distance from the conference, but roughly a 15 minute walk. We will arrange for a mass walk from the conference venue, and provide details for anyone wishing to get a taxi or make their own way there.

Conference Auction

As is traditional, on the final day of the conference we will be holding the YAPC::Europe auction. For those who have never experienced a YAPC auction, be prepared to witness a rather strance phenomenon. We will be auctioning off the usual Perl / Open Source related items - we have been very fortunate to have several individuals and sponsors approach us with items to put up for auction. So far in the pot are T-shirts, books, magnets and other assorted paraphernalia. More is promised, and we'd be delighted to hear from you or your company if you would like to contribute any items for the auction. But aside from these, there are also a number of oddities, In the past, the colour of T-shirts, websites, and even the language of the opening speech have been auctioned off. This year is likely to be no difference, so join in the fun and help raise funds for some good causes.

So what good causes are you helping to raise money for?

All money raised will initially be donated to Birmingham Perl Mongers Limited, a non-profit company with aims to help fund Perl projects. After covering any outstanding expenses of the conference, Birmingham Perl Mongers Limited plans to make a donation to The Perl Foundation (TPF), use some money to help with future events for Birmingham.pm, and provide an initial amount to the organisers of next year's YAPC::Europe conference.

So please take part and help to keep the YAPC::Europe continue their success. In order for us to appropriately apply funds to the right places, we would request that you pay by cash (Pound Sterling only), a UK drawn cheque (no Euro or other currency can be accepted) or credit card (online PayPal payment). Further details will be available during the conference.

More Sponsors

Following on from our previous major newsletter, we are delighted to announce further sponsors. We are really greatful to all our sponsors helping to make this event happen. If anyone is still interested in sponsoring the conference, please get in touch. Although some deadlines have passed, we still have items available for sponsorship and we can still accept swag for conference bags or the auction.

Our latest sponsors are Google (speaker sponsor), Shopzilla (organiser's tshirt sponsor), Booking.com (refreshments sponsor), UKFSN (broadband sponsor), AnServe (sponsor donation), Sendit.com (auction donations), O'Reilly Media (auction donations) & Manning (auction donations), who have all made the organiser's lives less worrisome :)

We are extremely grateful for these sponsors providing us with the ability to put on the kind of conference we would like, however there are still plenty of other niceties we would like to include. As such if you or your company would like to sponsor us, please get in touch as soon as possible.

Contact

Should you wish to contact us, please email The Organisers, where you can mail us with your questions and suggestions. There is also the regular YAPC::Europe conference mailing list, which is open to all.

That's all for this release. Look out for more news and announcements in the future.

Thanks, The Birmingham 2006 Organisers
www.birmingham2006.com

YAPC::Europe::2006 is sponsored by

• Morgan Stanley
• Systems Mechanics
• Shadowcat Systems
• Outcome Technologies
• Google
• Shopzilla
• Booking.com
• Belfast Perl Mongers
• Jon Allen
• TSS
• logicLAB
• Positive Internet
• UKFSN
• AnServe
• UKUUG
• SendIt.com
• Apress
• O'Reilly Media
• Manning

YAPC::Europe::2006 | 30th August - 1st September 2006 | Birmingham, UK