- If you spot somebody not being excellent to someone else, remind them to be excellent and have them apologi(s|z)e to the insulted part(y|ies), but only if the insulted wish to be apologi(s|z)ed to. Sometimes the insulted party will just want to move on and not have any further contact with someone who was coarse to them.
- Put your name on your stuff, especially on things you’ll likely lend to someone (power strips, cables etc). Twitter handles make excellent name tags because people know how to contact you right away. Prefer permanent markers over stickers, for theft reasons.
- You DID make backups of all your devices, didn't you? That includes portable computers, servers, mobile phones, tablets, navigation devices, wrist watches and all your other $gadgets.
When using ATMs/Cash Machines/Bankomaten/Geldautomaten give them a good wiggle before inserting your card. During 32C3 a Skimmer device had been found at an ATM at Bahnhof Dammtor. This is just a reminder, you should do that every time you use your card.
If you need help, just call for help, there are many, many friendly people around to help you.
Event and location related emergency information is in a seperate document for the corresponding event in this repository! You may want to copy that info to a notes application on your smartphone or have a printed card in your wallet.
Your personal medication does not belong on the public interwebs for your privacy. This is just a reminder to pack it. Please do not include your personal medications in pull requests. :-)
If you need refrigeration for your personal medication, that is possible at the [C3 CERT][38]on site.
Pack some reserves of your medication. Better to have too much than not enough with you ;-)
Some meds require papers to be allowed legally in some countries, don't forget those to spare yourself unnecessary hassle by authorities. (e.g. medical uses of marihuana)
- At least ONE clean shirt for each day you stay, plus two for traveling to and from congress (nerdy print is always welcome)
- At least ONE set of clean underwear for each day you stay, plus two for traveling to and from congress (Doesn't necessarily need to be in matching pairs, but that is up to you.)
- At least ONE pair of clean socks/stockings/tights/overknees for each day you stay, plus two for traveling to and from congress (again, matching pairs optional)
- Enough pants/skirts/trousers/dresses/etc. so you can wear clean clothes every day you attend congress (even if somebody accidentally (or intentionally) spills a beverage all over you!)
- Sewing set (needle, thread, spare button for your trousers/skirts/shirts/blouses/etc.)
- Mac: small Duck-head and long ([Schuko Plug][6]) cord
- Mac: MagSafe to MagSafe 2 Adapter
- Mac: There are also cords that you can plug directly into the MagSafe charger (when removing the duck head) that end in a [Euro Plug][8]. These cables are also often used on electric shavers
- 3x to 10x multi-plug power extension (230V AC @50Hz) with [Schuko Plug][6] (and optional switch, hotel rooms usually suffer from severe lack of outlets)
- A portable battery pack (aka powerbank) so you can charge on the go. (And the necessary cable to recharge that battery pack overnight. A USB-A to micro USB cable in most cases, maybe already a USB-C cable as well.)
- A spare plastic card to fool the power-saving system in your hotel room, while you're not there. (So your gear can charge and the LEDs keep blinking.)
#### Laptop and Devices
- Laptop (with a working battery)
- Maybe clean display and keyboard while you're at it ;-)
- USB flash drives
- Put an OWNER.txt file on them with information on how to contact you in case one gets lost accidentally. (Twitter, phone (for example DECT, 33C3 GSM extensions), email, name of the assembly you're well known at, owl, raven)
- For devices with private information be sure to encrypt them! (VeraCrypt, GPG, FileVault, EncFS, Bitlocker, gbde, geli, dm-crypt, LUKS, eCryptFS)
- Make a GPT Label or Volume label with your online nickname or handle because people can't read your owner.txt file on encrypted devices. You may also create multiple partitions (plaintext and encrypted ones).
- make note of the filesystem used so you know if they will work on the system of the person you want to exchange data with. (FAT32 is a safe bet to work everywhere, for larger files ExFAT should also work on most platforms.)
- Mac: NTFS can be read, but not written to without 3rd party software. FAT, ExFAT, HFS+(J), HFSX are fine for current OS X versions, ZFS, Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 and NTFS r/w support need 3rd party software. APFS support is experimental in macOS 10.12 Sierra and available from the command line only.
- USB/Thunderbolt/USB-C to Ethernet RJ45 adapter, if your device needs one (for example thin notebooks)
- Mass storage devices (bring some empty ones to fill with data and/or bring your own data and share it!)
- Tablet computer, iPad, Android tablet, Microsoft surface
- Kindle
- An actual book (for those offline blackout moments), see [B.O.O.K.][32]
- Ham radio equipment, portable, the callsign prefix for CEPT licence holders in Germany is DL (Delta Lima), and DO (Delta Oscar) for CEPT-Novice licensees. Also see [ham radio licensing information for Germany][35]
- USB-A to some proprietary equipment connector (Some phones, embedded systems or cameras use these.)
- USB <-> RS232 adapter (FTDI, PL2303, etc.)
##### USB-C
Keep in mind that USB-C *only* refers to the connector, not the charging, signals and alternative modes it actually supports.
Check out the [USB-C cable matrix][36] on what a certain manufacturer's cable actually supports.
- USB-C from or to micro USB adapter (To charge a phone or laptop from a powerbank)
- USB-C to mini USB cable to connect to a micro controller or serial adapter (like FTDI)
- USB-C cable (Check if it does 5Gbit/s or 10Gbit/s USB. It doesn't have to, but helps to *know* before you troubleshoot an issue for hours.)
- USB-C adapter to
- USB-A
- HDMI/DVI/VGA
- Audio jack
- Ethernet (RJ45)
- USB-C docking station (and power supply if necessary)
- Razer Core
- USB-C multiport switch
##### Thunderbolt
- Thunderbolt 3 (with USB-C connector) to Thunderbolt 1/2. (These adapters do *not* carry Mini Displayport signals, you cannot cascade a Mini Displayport to some video standard adapter. Well, you can, but it won't work.)
- Thunderbolt 1/2 cable
- Thunderbolt 3 cable (with USB-C connectors)
- PCI Break out Box
##### Serial
- RS232 cable (DB9, DB25)
- Null Modem cable
- Level shifter for 5V or 3.3V serial connections like on embedded or SoC boards
- Patch wires to connect to micro controllers and embedded systems
- f/m
- m/m
- f/f
- RJ11 to connect to an analog modem or DSL line
- TAE to RJ11 adapter or cable to connect to a phone network outlet (There are different TAE plugs for Germany and Austria which are not interchangable)
- Monitor adapters (VGA, DVI, HDMI, mini Displayport/Displayport, USB-C; especially for the Mac users and those with other fancy slim laptops. ;-) ), you may need them for your presentation or lightning talk.
- Remote control for your presentation / lightning talk (also check the batteries in the remote), dont' forget the USB dongle if your remote requires one
- Pocket knife ([Conforming to the German Weapons Act:][29] Blade must not exceed 12cm; Folding knifes with locking blades must not be designed to be opened with one hand. Also, “thrusting weapons” such as daggers, stilettos, swords etc. are restricted items.)
- Have a look at the [Fahrplan][20] and maybe make a preselection of talks you really “have to”, “want to” or “would be nice to“ see
- Install one of the Fahrplan apps for Android ([PlayStore][26], [Source][27]) or iOS ([iTunes][28])
- Be sure to schedule a period of time to get your T-Shirt or pullover/hoodie/zipper (when preordered in the first two days)!
- Have a sense of how the trains are going from the station near by, enter Dammtor here: http://geofox.de/jsf/stationSchedule.seam direct connections to the airport, enter Dammtor at start and Airport
All security measures for devices on public Internet networks also apply here – threats might come from untrusted devices _within_, as well as from maleficent third parties _outside_ the Congress network. Of course you should have these measures in place everywhere and all the time since event networks are no more or no less dangerous than the internet in general.
Read the [How to survive guide][1] in the Congress Wiki. There are many excellent tips in there or consult you local [CryptoParty][33] meetup, CCC ERFA or hackspace friends.
Make sure your system does suspend to disk (SSD) and not to RAM, so you can't extract the passphrase from RAM via Firewire/Thunderbolt/ColdBoot attack.
Check that _all_ your server services are using proper TLS. See [bettercrypto.org][15] or other sources you trust for help on how to properly configure your servers. (Mail, Web, VPN, SSH, etc.)
Have at least one trusted, working and tested VPN endpoint available for tunneling out of the congress network. If you don't have your own VPN server at your disposal ask friends you trust to help you out. If you do, ask your friends if they need a VPN endpoint and share!
Make sure your VPN works with IP and Legacy IP without leaking DNS and other traffic.
Also have those tunnels configured on ALL the devices you intend to use on the local network of the venue, and have it tested. That includes your laptops, phones, tablets, servers, fridge, etc.
- If you don't have a VPN tunnel available, you can use [OnionBrowser][7] (iOS) or [Orbot][orbot] (Android) to surf via tor (which may be it's own kind of risk).
Most events publich a lot of information about events as they happen. There are many ways to stay in the loop during the event or in between by subscribing to RSS feeds, Twitter accounts, mailing lists and even newsletters [sic].
For a list of CCC related news sources you may be interested in following, see CCCongress.md in this repository.
- store chocolate/chips/crisps at home as an post-event depression antidote
- Make notes during CCCongress to watch all the lectures you missed on site because you were attending an awesome workshop or were having interesting conversations with people.
[35]:http://www.darc.de/der-club/referate/ausland/main-page-english/visitors-to-dl/ "Bundesverband für Amateurfunk in Deutschland - License information for non-germans"
