How to organize a project meeting?
This page intends to help organizing an appropriate project meeting. The most important thing is that the guests are comfortable and enjoy their time in Darmstadt, at our university, and with us at the IAS. In case you have organized a project meeting and feel that some important points are missing, please do not hesitate to add them.
Website
Create a website with the items listed below. As an example, you can use CHIRON2022.
- A brief overview with an introduction and the scope of the project meeting;
- A time schedule;
- Quick Facts about the organizers, the location (meeting room) and the date;
- Travel information with all the options to get from Frankfurt Airport to Darmstadt and back. You can find some information on the contact information page;
- Recommendations for accommodation. Jan recommends the Welcome Hotel Darmstadt and the Hotel Atlanta Darmstadt. The Best Western Hotel Darmstadt Mitte can also be an interesting option.
Room Booking
You can find all available rooms for booking on Meeting Room Booking System. The most interesting rooms for us are Room 07 in S1|103 (old main building) and A103 in S2|202 (CS building). The first one is close to the lab and is well suited for project partners. The latter is in the A wing of the CS building and is more appropriate for official partners. Ask Nanette to book the appropriate room, as a PhD student usually has no rights to it.
Catering, Snacks and Beverages
You can order a catering, snacks or beverages at the Studierenden-Werk. You should place the order about 2 to 3 weeks before the event.
Restaurant
When choosing a restaurant, we must consider three important things:
- First, it is possible to pay on invoice (Rechnung). This should be clarified when making a reservation, because some restaurants, e.g. Green Thai, require a certain preparation time. The invoice information, like the address, etc., can be taken from the contact information page. For the invoice, you need to list all the people attending a dinner and give that list to Nanette along with the invoice;
- Does the type of food suit the guest. Don't go to a Chinese place with Chinese guests for example;
- And last but not least: Does the restaurant offer vegetarian and vegan dishes.
Below we list all the restaurants we have visited so far:
| Restaurant | Type | Vegetarian Dishes | Vegan Dishes | web | Phone | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Braustuebel | german | Yes | Yes | www.city-braustuebl.de | 06151 25511 | Beautiful beer garden on the back. |
| Green Thai | thai | Yes | Yes | www.greenthai.de | 06151 5999307 | |
| La Lucha | mexican/burger | Yes | Yes | www.lalucha.de | 06151 3594077 | Nice terrace on the back. |
| Ratskeller | german | Yes | No | www.ratskeller-darmstadt.de | 06151 26444 | Beautiful terrace on the front. Invoice only possible for bigger groups (>30) |
Social Activities
In case a social activity fits into the schedule, Darmstadt and its surroundings offer a variety of options. Two of them are a guided tour of Darmstadt -- offered by the Darmstadt Tourist Office in english and german -- or a visit to Frankenstein Castle. In the city tour we have had very good experience with the guide U. Arndt.
If there is another good activity you know or have done with your guests, feel free to add it to the activities.
Invoices
Make sure that Nanette gets all the invoices from the restaurants, the catering etc after the project meeting. In case of restaurants / bars, you need to list all the people attending and give that list to Nanette as well.