As I guess pretty much everyone knows by now, we had a nice little get together during April. Some basic understanding of things was achieved, some drinks were had, some businesses started, some lambs slaughtered, some debuts made, the usual stuff. The only catch was that it worked by invitation only, and most of the world wasn't invitedⁱ. Other than the friction this causes I am not particularly a fan of meeting behind closed doors exclusively.

Consequently, the second edition of the conference will be open to the public. This will work as follows :

• You can get on the VIP list. There is a cost associated with thisⁱⁱ and you will have to actually be a VIPⁱⁱⁱ. You will be expected to behave courteously towards the other VIPs, which specifically includes not trying to sell them. You may pitch if asked to pitch, you may talk business by mutual agreement, but you may not under any circumstances cold hit on people^iv - they come to the conference to relax and enjoy themselves, not to be intellectually brutalized. Please respect that.
• You can get on the press list. If you work for either well known or very cool outlets have your editor contact me for a press invitation^v.
• You can be a registered participant. The only requirement is that you make a comment here, signed with your gpg key, stating your intention to participate. You will get priority admission^vi and we will try to help you with any questions you may have or difficulties you may encounter.
• You can just show up.

Here's a tentative schedule^vii :

• Friday, April 18th 2014 : VIPs and guests arrive^viii. Open to the public lunch (15:00). Open to the public event (sightseeing or somesuch). Open to the public dinner (21:00). Clubbing and bar hopping (until last man standing).
• Saturday, April 19th 2014 : VIP only event (10:00). VIP only lunch (15:00). Press meet (16:30). VIP only dinner (20:00).
• Sunday, April 20th 2014 : Open to the public lunch (15:00), Open to the public Q&A session / workshops (16:00). Open to the public dinner (20:00).

All this will be taking place in Timisoara, which is a sleepy little town in the extreme west of Romania, which is a country in Europe (EU member, not part of the eurozone). If you are flying you will be arriving to and departing from Traian Vuia International Airport, Timisoara, Romania (IATA: TSR, ICAO: LRTR). If you have a choice I would advise against connecting through Bucharest. If more practical you can also drive or take a train, although flying is probably the best choice in most circumstances.

Yes I will have private security, but mostly to protect the participants from themselves rather than for any local concern, crime in Romania in general and in Timisoara in particular is very low. There are no particular concerns as to vaccinations, epidemics, entirely strange local customs such as not chewing gum and so forth.^ix

List of confirmed^x participating VIPs :

1. Matic Kočevar (kakobrekla) - #bitcoin-assets, Bit4x, BitBet.
2. David Francois (davout) - bitcoin-central, Instawallet.
3. Stanislav Datskovskiy (asciilifeform) - S.NSA.
4. Juraj Variny (jurov) - coinbr.
5. Mike Cirello (mike_c) - btcalpha.
6. John Carvalho (ThickAsThieves) - the real altcoin.

1. Of those who were invited ~88% did make it, which if you think about it is quite the thing, people flying from all over the world to meet in dusty old Timisoara. [↩]
2. You can either pay the equivalent of 1`160 USD at prevailing market rates during 2013 or the equivalent of 1`740 USD at prevailing market rates up until the 15th of March 2014. Note that you can't get on the VIP list late no matter what happens, if you're not in by the ides of March you will have to wait for the third edition. All payments are final, there will be no refunds made on request. [↩]
3. This means that if you don't run any sort of Bitcoin infrastructure, if you're not well represented in the WoT, if you don't have significant credentials you can't get on the VIP list irrespective of whether you're willing to pay the fee or not. [↩]
4. And yes if participants complain you will have your VIP status rescinded. [↩]
5. Press invitations are issued per outlet rather than nominal, which means you will have to bring along a letter from your editor stating you're the designated participant. Note that they will have to make specific publishing commitments in order to obtain the invitation (such and such pages, such and such slots on such and such dates).

   If your outlet is relying on the cool theory be prepared to argue it well and on the first pass, I won't be sending my staff on research binges simply because the only way some obscure publisher can get himself out of bed in the morning is the self-delusion of coolness. Just to make it clear, there doesn't exist a single Romanian press establishment that counts as "well known" in this context. [↩]

6. Should any open to the public event be full all the VIPs will be admitted, then any registered participants on a first come basis, then, if space allows, unregistered participants. [↩]
7. Bear in mind that we're almost a full year away and things may well change. A definitive schedule will be published late March 2014. [↩]
8. Just like on the 1st edition VIPs get free shuttle service to and from the airport, free (4 star) hotel accomodation including breakfast (either singles or doubles at your option, no extra charge), free meals and drinks everywhere. [↩]
9. But as in most of Europe, if you become agressive or beligerent you may be detained by the police, by a local magistrate or by the courts, and you may be fined or even sentenced to serve time - do not expect a foreign passport will work as a get out of jail free card. [↩]
10. This means they've paid. [↩]