How to organise an Unconference : from the idea to the day it really happened.

During the last years, I travelled to conference in South Africa, in Italy, spend a few weeks in Strasbourg to meet my fellow space enthusiast and share innovative ideas and views on the Space Industry. One day, while flying back tired from the travels and the fight to get the fundings, I thought : I have in Bremen plenty of people that are working on exciting them with which I would like to share ideas.

I saw on the internet the Space Up concept popping up abroad, Paris, Belgium, New Zealand. To know what is a Space Unconference please see my article. I knew this format would be awesome. And this happened on April 11-12th. 

What are the important steps to start?

1. Get a team with motivated and independent people
2. Make the website and flyers as soon as possible
3. Get some sponsors and make them commit to the event (Let them pay! otherwise they can say no, and your are in trouble)
4. Find a place to accommodate your event with enough rooms and light
5. Organise a cool DJ that will rock your breaks
6. Choose the catering. If people eat well, they will be happy. Happy participants is important for an happy event!
7. The whatsapp group for the organisers save your life during the event
8. Communicate with to have new participants, to connect with them
9. Find some cool keynotespeakers (see below our astronauts Reinhold Ewald)

Lessons learned:

1. Make people pay so they can commit.

I wanted to have a free event so everyone can join whatever the back-ground. However, we had a full event and refused some people, which was a pitty because 20-30% of the people did not show up or just stayed an hour or a day...

2. Dealing with the budget is not that easy

It takes some time. So maybe dedicate one person to do this job.

3. It is important to push the participants to participate 

Even if the event has no rules, the participants have to be the conference, it is important to explain to the people the concept, give them the confidence to be on stage, propose some subject, get prepared to different topics.

What next?

1. Help the new team to make Space Up Bremen 2015 even better
2. Try to apply this format of conference to other areas
3. Get people over 35 to participate

Lucie's 4-month adventure on Mars

I hope you are all enjoying your Easter holiday! Sometimes it's difficult to find some time to write a post when you are so busy visiting family and friends or sun bathing under the Spanish sun with a beer on your hand (the sunlight makes it impossible to look at the laptop screen...). Emma has also been busy getting ready for her trip to Brazil (yes, we all hate her!) (no, not true, we all love you, Emma!). Anyway, I've looked through the window this morning and I've seen it's raining (it sometimes rains in Spain), so it's time to write a post about my very good friend and colleague Lucie, who is spending Easter in a very different way: she's on Mars!

She is also an aerospace engineer and she couldn't wait until the next European Astronaut Selection. She wanted to know what it feels like to be on Mars with a crew, a habitat, freeze-dried food, an unknown desert around and complete isolation. Thus, she has joined the HI-SEAS mission in Hawaii. Yes, how cool, Hawaii! But remember I said habitat, astronaut food and isolation. And desert, not beach! And I forgot to say that every time she goes out from the habitat she has to wear a space suit, no bikini!

Habitat on a volcano in Hawaii

 

HI-SEAS crew

 

She will spend 4 months in a closed habitat doing space-related research with 5 other space enthusiasts. Life there is an experiment itself and it's one of the "almost-on-Mars" experiences you can have nowadays. And this is not the first time she does something like this! If you are willing to know more about this mission, or you want to see more pics of lucie with a space suit, have a look at her blog, 100% recommended! And you don't have to be a space freak to read it!

We miss you, Lucie!!!

European Elections 2014: how to vote if you are living abroad

I'm sure you've all read the post about the coming European elections on the 22nd - 25th May. Some of you have asked how to vote if you are living abroad, and I realized I have the same question! Every time there is an election you have to get informed about when, where and how you get the proper documentation and until when you have time to send your vote.

You may already know that I love tables and structured information, so I've prepared a summary for the French and Spanish people living in Germany.

1. If you also live abroad and want to know more, you can find useful information here:

http://www.europeansabroadvote2014.eu/

2. and these are the websites where you can find specific information about your country (you will probably have to contact them at some point):

http://www.botschaft-frankreich.de/
http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Portal/es/Paginas/inicio.aspx

3. Or you can decide to register in your city to vote where you live. For example, in Bremen we received a letter. If you live in Germany, are a european citizen and you want to vote there, you have to register before Mai 4th. The good thing in Germany is that you can vote with a letter.  So no worries if you have plans for this week-end. You will still be able to fulfil your citizen duty. No excuses.
I am doing it for the first time as well, so I will let you know how it goes.

http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/europawahlen/EU_BUND_14/unionsbuerger
http://www.bmi.bund.de/europeans-vote-in-germany/ (information available in several languages)


We are now all registered to vote. The next step. Who are you going to vote for?

What are Chia seeds and why you should add them to your diet?

Some months ago I set myself the goal of eating healthier. You can call it hobby, or call it obsession, but I love finding new foods to add superhealthy nutrients to my diet. You have seen my posts about the BIO obsession, and I also explained my first (and last) bad experience with ginger (we are friends again). My last discovery are the chia seeds. I've been adding them to some of my meals and a lot of people asked me what are these black disgusting grains. I thought it was time to write a post about this amazing food!

Health benefits of chia seeds:
- source of omega 3 (helps to reduce bad cholesterol)
- protein
- fiber
- satiating effects
- antioxidants (against free radicals, aging and cancer)
- calcium (good for your bones and teeth!)
- potassium
- magnesium
- manganese
- phosphorous
- stabilizing effect on blood sugar (insulin level regulation)

But (!):
- it's extremely expensive (13euro per 450g in the BIO shop, no kidding)
- it has almost no taste (in my opinion)
- you shouldn't eat more than 28grams a day (too much fiber can harm your stomach)

Ideas to include chia seeds in your meals:
- mix it with cereal
- make healthy pancakes (with one banana, one egg, one teaspoon chia seeds)
- add some to your salads
- egg substitute for baking (1tbs chia seeds and 3 tbs water and let sit for 15 min) (I've never tasted it, but I will and I will post it!)
- add some seeds to your milkshakes

European Election 2014 : What is the European Parliament? Who is sitting there?

We are going to vote for the European Parliament. Do we know much about the Parliament? What is this parliament? Who is sitting there and where are they from?

First, let's check on Wikipedia

"The European Parliament (abbreviated as Europarl or the EP) is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council) and the European Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described (by its own members) as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world.^[2] The Parliament is composed of 766 members, who represent the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after the Parliament of India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (375 million eligible voters in 2009). There have been 766 Members of the European Parliament since Croatia joined the EU in July 2013 but this number is being scaled down at the 2014 elections to 751 and will stay at that level in future. "

So 751 members but where are they from and which party do they represent?
The seats are distributed according to "degressive proportionality", i.e., the larger the state, the more citizens are represented per MEP. As a result, Maltese and Luxembourgian voters have roughly 10x more influence per voter than citizens of the six large countries. 

Check on this map how many representative you have in your country!

European People's Party	275
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats	195
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group	85
The Greens–European Free Alliance	58
European Conservatives and Reformists	56
European United Left–Nordic Green Left	35
Europe of Freedom and Democracy	33
Non-Inscrits	30
Total	767

Do you know those Parties? I don't. So I will write about them in a next post.