It's that time of the year again! \o/
After careful deliberation weāve decided to keep to our usual schedule and meet in Berlin on the weekend of 11th - 14th October, 2024! We know this isnāt the ideal date for everyone so we may still look to change this in future years.
One important difference to previous years: this time we have booked the place for three nights (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) rather than just two. This means a higher cost, but it also means we will definitely be able to stay later on Sunday and won't possibly have to leave by 10am. It also means that you'll be able to use both Sunday and Monday for return travel, which might make it a little easier to find good options!
For those who have been before, weāve already booked the same place we usually do, but the upstairs apartment this time, which has the same amount of beds but does have better communal space options. Weāve also been looking into larger places that would offer us more space, but this is tricky as there are not many big apartments available within our usual budget range, so we will have to see what is possible after sign ups. If you happen to know of any alternative accommodation options, please do let the mods know! (And it doesn't necessarily need to be in Berlin, either! As long as it's decently reachable with public transport, it's worth looking into!)
As in previous years, the meetup wonāt have a flat attendance fee. We calculate the contributions based on your means, so donāt worry about not being able to afford it! And if you need extra funds to be able to attend (for travel expenses, for instance), donāt hesitate to let us know - we budget in such a way that itās possible for europodfriends to fund your journey as well. Itās important to us to facilitate everyoneās attendance to the best of our ability.
Food & drink - in 2023 we covered 2 meals plus groceries for breakfasts and snacks for everyone out of the epf budget. We would like to be able to do that again, but that depends on how much people are able to contribute and how much costs go up between now and the meet.
And, most importantly, hereās the survey you need to fill out if you want to join us! The survey will close on 31st January 2024.
For those whoāve never been to an in-person EPF meetup, or who would like a little refresher, hereās roughly what we did the last times and what weāll likely be doing next year as well:
Friday is mostly for everyone arriving, greeting each other, hanging out, and making name badges. Very ambitious people might already be podficcing that evening, but since not everyone may have arrived yet, we donāt schedule anything specific for that day.
Saturday morning thereās a meeting where everyone introduces themselves āformallyā with names and pronouns. This is also when we do pitch ānā pod - in short, everyone who wants to gets a few minutes to talk about a fandom and a fic in that fandom they want to podfic at the meetup, and afterwards everyone can sign up to the podfics they want to be a part of and the recording gets going. Saturday evening might be another scheduled event organised by attendees - in past years weāve had a video call with Podfication, a game of āGuess That Voiceā or Podficcers Against Humanity, and watch parties, for example - but that part is up to yāall: if you want to organise something, get in touch so we can figure out the scheduling and planning!
Sunday morning weāve usually done a big, fun multivoice with everyone participating, and that would certainly be fun to do again - 2018 we did Earth Is Space Australia (and Chuck Norris Isnāt A Man With A Beard. Heās A Beard With A Man), 2019 we did I Has a Sweet Potato, and 2023 we did SMOF and Whatās in the Dark. After that, people start leaving as their travel plans call for.
Throughout the three days, thereās a lot of podficcing happening at all hours of day and night - the EPF collections on AO3 should give you some idea!
Like in the past few years, we will mostly be updating you via email, but weāll also try to crosspost to Dreamwidth, Twitter, tumblr, Pillowfort, and Mastodon, life and time permitting. If you want to make sure to stay up to date, comment here, contact us via DMs on any of the usual social medias, Discord, or email us at europodfriends at gmail to be added to the mailing list!