Hello all,
This is an ongoing FAQ for the Leadership Summit, that will be held in Singapore next January 23, 24.
If you have more inquiries, feel free to add a comment here, or send me an email to franc [at]mozilla[dot]com.
Basic Information
1) When the Leadership Summit will take place?
It will take place next January 23rd (Saturday), to January 24th (Sunday). It’s a 2 day event meeting. Arrival date planned is Friday 22nd, and departure date is Monday 25th. You can extend your stay, but Mozilla will cover hotel for those dates. Flights will be evaluated case by case.
2) What is covered by Mozilla?
All meals, travels and accommodation costs while the event takes place. All food are
included during the event. Local transport as well (we will be giving a transport card, so you will only need to pay travel from Airport to Hotel on the arrival).
We won’t cover Taxis as local transport method.
Visas
3) Does Mozilla covers Visa fees?
Yes, we will be covering costs related to visas. Please contact Francisco for more information.
4) How will be the process to request reimbursement for visa fees?
If you are a Rep, you only need to file a budget request through the standard process. There’s already an event page, so you can include it in your request. If you are not a Rep, please contact a Rep in your country, or in your region to help you out. If that Rep doesn’t know how to help you, or refuse to help you for some reason, please contact Francisco Picolini.
5) Do I need a visa to enter Singapore?
You can check the Visa requirements, and a list of the countries that need visa. If your country is listed, please register in the form first, and then file a bug for the visa fees, we won’t process bugs that are from people that hasn’t registered yet.
6) What costs are excluded:
We won’t cover the following “extras”:
- Fees associated to offices or agencies that process the visa for you.
- Expedit/priority visas (we can do exceptions, but has to be reviewed)
- Medical insurance (note that in some countries are “suggested” and in others is “mandatory” in order to process the visa. We will only reimburse in case of “mandatory”)
- Passport (if you need to do a new passport, or if your passport has expired).
7) I’m under 18 years old, are the costs related to the visa of my guard covered by Mozilla?
Yes, exactly the same as stated above, we will cover only costs related to the visa, and won’t cover the “extras” already mentioned.
8) The embassy says that I need a booking confirmation, when I will get it?
We will be sending Invitation letters and booking confirmations as soon a we have it. In any case, you can present the email from George inviting you to the Leadership Summit. Invitation letters will be sent by the week of the 21st if there are no delays.
9) My passport expires in 2016, do I have to renew it?
As usual, you will have to have a valid passport for at least 6 months after you enter the country. If your passport expires before July 22nd 2016, you will have to request a new passport. And as we explained in point 6, this cost won’t be covered by Mozilla.
Booking confirmations will be sending around January 4th. We need time to make the rooming list.
Flights
10) How do I book the flights?
We will be sending a link to register in our portal after
an email with a link to book the flight, if you haven’t received yet,
please contact Francisco Picolini. On that link you will be requested to
create an account. Note that if you already have an account, you will
have to access with your details.
10) I’ve requested an account in Egencia, but I haven’t received anything yet.
Note that the account authorization is manually, so don’t expect immediate replies, or an email on a weekend. Also, if you have already an account, you will be able to access with your user and password. If it has been more than 72 hours without a reply, please contact Francisco Picolini
11) It ask for Traveler Group and department.
Indicate Singapore Summit as traveler group and 1002 Participation as department.
12) My local Airport has very bad connections, and I would prefer to travel from other city, is that possible?
Yes it is, but we can analyze it case by case. Please send an email to Francisco before you book online.
13) I’m checking other webpages and flights are cheaper than in the portal, can I book there, and then request reimbursement?
Egencia doesn’t offer low cost airlines. If you see that there are cheaper options, please send an email to Francisco first. Usually countries in South Asia will find better deals, but we need to review case by case. If you can include a screenshot of the page, and the option in Egencia, it will be faster to review it.
14) I’m traveling from a long distance, and the timezone difference is huge for me, can I request to arrive at least one day earlier?
Since there’s a lot of people from so many different countries, we cannot allow early arrivals. In any case, feel free to request it to Francisco or George, and we will see if we can accommodate that. However, bare in mind that the event will start on Saturday, and you will be probably arriving on Friday morning.
15) I’ve made a mistake and I realize that I have to change my flight dates, is that possible?
It will depend basically on the price of the flight. Changes will be allowed up to certain date (probably until December 30th, or January 4th). After that date, no changes will be allowed nor accepted, unless an urgency (personal or work).
We will be sending an email with deadlines.
Hotel
16) Can I know the name of the hotel?
Yes, the hotel selected is ParkRoyal, we will be sending more information about it soon.
17) Can I have the list of volunteers to select my roomate?
Due to privacy issues, we cannot share that list publicly, feel free to send an email asking for info about this, but we won’t be able to share the complete list with you (we are working on a solution to see if it’s possible somehow).
18) Can I request an individual room?
Since we will be around 130 volunteers, we will be sharing rooms, so at this moment is not possible to request a single room.
19) Can I bring my couple/partner or family?
Unfortunately we cannot allow this, unless your family/friend/partner goes in another room. We won’t be covering this cost, and note that you will be sharing room with other volunteer.
Dinners
20) Which dinners/Foods are included?
We will be covering dinner on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. We will be trying to have a group dinner each night, having in mind food allergies, and special requests. We will probably be giving a couple of options each night. If you select another choice, we might not be able to cover it, so please feel free to comment or make a request before.
Lunch during the event will be included at the venue. Breakfast is included at the hotel.
Lunch on Friday will be depending on arrival times, as well on Monday. As soon as we have the arrival and departure times, we will be able to organize or let people arrange their own meals on those 2 days.
Event
21) Where is the venue?
The venue is Scape, you can find more information at the event page in Reps. However we will be sending more information soon.
22) How do I get there?
We will be sharing this info soon by email. Remind that we will be trying to give a travel card to all participants, so you can use public transport to get there.
23) What’s the schedule?
We are working on it at this point. It will be shared pretty soon on the wiki, and by email.
Last things
24) Is there any activity planned for nights, city sightseeing, etc?
We might be able to organize something. Remind that we are going to work at the event, but we can have some time to have fun, as in any Mozilla event. However, due to time constrains, it may be that we can’t organize a proper party or activity. Feel free to organize in small groups (or large groups, it depends), to visit some places.
25) Where I can find more information about the city?
There’s a lot of information out there, but to give you some tips:
- Trip Advisor
- Lonely Planet
-
10 Best attractions in Singapore
Note that some of them are free, others not… these costs are not included as part of the event.
