Warpstock Europe 2009: A Message from the Event Team

November 23, 2009 by info@warpstock.eu

We, the organisers of this year's Warpstock Europe event, would like to take the opportunity to restore the—in our opinion rather fruitless—discussion about the location Stralsund to a real and common fact base.

First and foremost and to avoid further speculation, we will publish this year's visitor numbers. This year's Warpstock Europe in Stralsund had 142 visitors on 3 days, with Saturday being most popular with 52 visitors. These numbers do not include visitors' partners who mostly did not attend sessions. However, they do include the speakers as with previous events. We consider this numbers legitimate as these persons were visitors at the same time. In addition, there were 13 persons accompanying visitors, who only participated in the social program.

We would like to thank everybody who contributed to the success of Warpstock Europe 2009. We would like to abstain from listing names as every visitor of this or previous Warpstock Europe events knows that the event wouldn't have been possible without the dedication of many involved persons and helping hands like the location staff (Hotel Rügenblick and Berufsförderungswerk Stralsund), the Stralsund University of Applied Science, the Steering Group, Mensys BV, the staff of warpevents.eu and, last but certainly not least, the speakers.

We still consider Warpstock Europe crucial for the survival and existance of "our" operating system. Albeit still being sure of having chosen the right way and location, we cannot and will not deny that there are many roads that lead to Rome and that such an event can be done "differently." If nothing else, our efforts were based on the thought of avoiding a year without a Warpstock Europe. We welcome all initiatives and efforts with the goal of contuing Warpstock Europe as an efficient platform for presentations, personal contact, and exchange regarding our operating system of choice. As in the past, we will support such actions with help and advice if possible.

Ernst Martin Kirschner, Detlef Horstmann, and Michael Oehlhof