Guten Tag!

We have finally arrived in Berlin! Over the weekend we have visited some tourist spots such as the Fernsehturm Tower (which is featured in the Berlin Symposium logo), the Brandenburg Gate as well as numerous Christmas markets to get a real feel for what Berlin is all about – it truly is a cosmopolitan city with a lot to take in. We have also seen a few familiar faces (who will be attending the symposium) on our travels around Berlin who are also taking in the sights before the symposium begins.

On Sunday 6 December, we first set foot in the Hotel Maritim Berlin, where the symposium will be held. Our first impressions were of the beautiful foyer where our bright eyed symposium staff were waiting for delegates to arrive and sign in. We then whisked ourselves off to the PR room to check that all of our equipment had arrived undamaged. I am happy to say that everything has arrived safely – including our enormous volume of Velcro and over 800 delegate bags to be distributed to our delegates.

The final preparations are now being made including assembling name badges, separating poster labels (so that poster presenters will know where their poster is situated) and putting up poster boards.

In answer to PALS and CALS in the UK who commented on my last blog entry – I’m afraid that we do not have a symposium Twitter account. This is the first year that we have used New Media to report on the symposium and I will be feeding back as much information as I can through this blog with the added support of two of our RCDAs, Kevin and Chris.

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