Subject: Washington Sprint Invite
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 13:33:30 +0100
From: Alan Pope <redacted@canonical.com>
To: Niklas Wenzel <redacted@gmail.com> + 14 others

Hi all,

Sorry for the mass mail but I wanted to let you all know about this as
soon as possible, and with everyone on the list so you all know who
else you can talk to about this.

** The short version **

I'm very excited to invite all of you to join us at a sprint from 20th
to 24th October in Washington DC, USA. We will cover the cost for your
travel (flight etc), accommodation and food at the Hilton McLean
Tysons Corner, McLean, VA 22102, USA. We've invited some core apps
developers and added some additional community developers this time
around.

** What I need from you **

Simply a "yes" or "no" directly to me, so we can get the ball rolling.

If you're able to come then Michelle will send out all the necessary
details you need to start booking flights & arranging visa's where
appropriate. We realise not all of you will be able to come due to
work / family / life commitments, and that is of course to be
expected.

** The details **

The sprint is a 'working week' from Monday to Friday from 8am - 6pm.
We have a large working area and break out for planning sessions,
discussions, meetings and so on. But a large part of the week is spent
hacking on apps and making the most of being in the same space as
platform engineers, designers and product managers to Get Things Done.
As some of you who attended the last Sprint in Malta can attest, it
can be hard work, but is also incredibly rewarding, and fun!

Everyone is welcome to get stuck in to meetings and provide feedback
to the teams working on the phone delivery over the course of the
week. Last time for example it was incredibly valuable for the core
app developers to provide feedback to the platform, SDK and design
teams both during the working day, and over a beer in the evening.

We expect everyone to arrive on the weekend before so they can be
ready to get going at 8am on Monday morning. Some people fly in extra
early to take in the sights (I hear there are good museums in DC) or
do a bit of shopping (or indeed jet-lag recovery) before the week
starts. Most people arrive on the Sunday and join us all for welcome
drinks on that evening. Some will fly out on the following Saturday,
but it's also common for people to stay an extra day and take in some
sights, or indeed leave earlier on the Friday afternoon to get back
home for the weekend.

We all share rooms at sprints to reduce costs, so if you're coming,
pick a 'buddy' and let Michelle know.

Some of the discussions at the sprint will be commercially sensitive
and/or confidential. I'd ask those coming to exercise restraint in
talking about those things publicly. That said we're also very keen
for everyone to write up their experience in blog reports, social
media posts, mailing list discussions and so on. It's often inspiring
to other community developers to see pioneers like yourselves to get
in early and help shape the platform.

So let me know if you can make it, no hard feelings if you can't. If
you have any questions, do let me know, or feel free to speak to any
of the guys who came last time (Nekhelesh, Riccardo, Victor, Andrew,
Adnane, Kunal) to get their perspective.

[1] http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/virginia/hilton-mclean-tysons-cor
    ner-MCLMHHH/index.html
--
Alan Pope
Technical Project Manager

Canonical - Product Strategy
http://ubuntu.com/