Finally! The sign-up form for the 2005 European empeg Owners Meet. In this, its sixth year, the meet is going from strength to strength. We've got the usual mix of demos, great sounds, fun toys and great company. With interest being shown from (literally) around the globe, this year's event looks to be even Bigger and Better Than The Last Meet!

Before we continue, here's the disclaimer:

For the first time this year, the meet will span four days, with the "main meet" as usual, on the Saturday, July 9th. You are welcome to join us for some, or all of the weekend, and the hotel location makes it easy for you to stay overnight if you wish:

Campanile Amersfoort
De Brand 50
N-3823 LM Amersfoort
Netherlands
Tel. : +31 33 455 87 57
Fax : +31 33 455 26 20

As has been the case before, the manager of the hotel has extended special rates for our party. We have a block booking for all available rooms on Friday the 8th July, through to Sunday the 10th July. This time there's a pretty astonishing reduction on the high season price of almost 35% rate reduction per double room per night. What this means is, you will be paying € 28 per person per night, assuming you share a room. If you want a room on your own, there is an additional single occupancy fee to pay of € 22.50. Breakfast is unfortunately not included this time, but the price has been held at a very reasonable € 9.95 for our party. You will be able to take advantage of this rate if you want to stay for extra days before or after the event (please note this in your booking in the "special instructions" section below).

There are 35 double rooms reserved for our party. More can be reserved if necessary. Please DON'T try to book directly with the hotel or you'll just confuse things: you will need to make your booking using this form so that I can arrange the booking with the manager. You should note that the hotel bill is your personal responsibility. Bookings (via the website) must be made before June 22nd to be guaranteed: after this time it will still be possible but will depend on availability. So get booking immediately otherwise you may be out of luck!

The hotel is also offering flexible check-out this time to avoid the queues that occured last year - so if you need to leave early in the morning, contact the hotel staff and check out the evening before at your ease (think about this for Sunday morning folks!).

The Line Up

We will meet on Friday 8th July at 6:00pm in the Campanile Hotel bar for drinks, to spot familiar faces and make introductions. No doubt some people will be arriving earlier in the day, so there are likely to be people to chat with and installs to admire - there are also local shops and restaurants ten minutes walk away from the hotel. At 6:30pm we travel by luxury coach into central Amersfoort to visit the Drie Ringen brewery. Back by popular demand - after drinkies, at 8:00pm we have dinner at de Kluijf/Meineer Pastoor. For you Amersfoort meet veterans, this is a welcome return to your favourite meal - a ribs pig-out! Who's going to go through the most racks of tasty ribs? This is your opportunity to demonstrate your abilities at the little-needed skill of rib scoffing. After dinner there's sure to be much appreciation of great local ales (and other local delicacies) for the serious party animals. If you want to meet up part way through the evening, please e-mail Rob Schofield and he'll provide local directions.

The main meet will kick off on Saturday 9th July at 10:00am. Meet at the Campanile in good time for the kick off (we recommend that you arrive by 9:30am at the latest) and find your way to our private conference room (in which tea and coffee will be served). Make sure you park in the specially-reserved area for attendees. The day will be packed with competitions, demonstrations, Q&A, prizes, and plenty of empeg gossip! (Don't forget the Bring and Buy sale - literally anything you want to sell you may bring along for the coolest boot sale you can imagine. Can't get rid of that Powerbook, spare loudspeakers or SatNav system? Maybe a fellow empeg owner will take them off your hands!) During the day, we will go outside for the car install and audio competitions - sunshine this year, maybe? - and a sandwich lunch will be served in the car park. This is the time to show off your prowess with that R/C car or aircraft you brought with you: Patrick will be demonstrating some interesting flying (and driving) machines for your delectation. Bring them along, folks!

Never let it be said that a single detail escapes my attention! In response to good-natured grumbles last year, this year exclusively for the ladies, there will be a beautician on site doing manicures and other beauty treatments (subject to a minimum interest of 4). So come on guys, spread the word to your ladies and treat her! There's also ladies bicycle hire for shopping trips into the town at a nominal cost (pre-booking necessary), so get those credit cards ready, girls!

There will as usual be various lectures and discussions during the day, but this year we're hoping to get various members of the empeg community to give us some insight into the stuff they've been doing off their own bat in the last year to keep the ever-lively BBS community buzzing (to be confirmed). Patrick will be there to... well, need I say more? All this, and the usual Major Mystery prize to be won in the raffle! Dare you afford not to be there?

In the evening, the now traditional evening BBQ party. Following the sucess of last year's excellent offering, the hotel will again be putting on a wall to wall spread of delicious grub and an almost undrinkable volume of top-notch Pilsner beer. This will be a great opportunity to chew the fat with your fellow empeg owners and the developers (or you could go for some of the alternative veggie offerings if you prefer). The BBQ will start around 7:00 pm at the Campanile on the terrace, and - yet again - this year will feature the famous feely bag game! After a conspicuous no-show last year, Patrick will definitely be bringing some terrifyingly dangerous toys for your delectation - bring your body protectors and a sense of humour! What with fire-eaters, a massive light rig and the best pyrotechnics you've seen, watching on the web cams (WiFi broadband connection to be confirmed) will be no-where near as much fun.... will you survive one of James' incredible flaming cocktails???

Sunday will kick off at 7:30pm with breakfast for the survivors, then departing 10:30 am for Amersfoort town centre. Firstly, for the desperados among you there is a visit to Jauk's Beer Shoppe: with over 150 different beers and various different drinking paraphernalia, no thirst should go unquenched. When you've bought all you can carry, there's a conducted tour of the City locations historically involved with beer brewing. For the non-beer lovers, there's a chance to climb the 100m high Onze Lieve Vrouwe bell tower that dominates the centre of Amersfoort - the cartographic centre of the Netherlands! (that'll sort out the hangover). At 2pm, there's a repeat of last year's sucessful boat tour of the canals of Amersfoort - you can see the city from underneath! After lunch in Amersfoort around 3:00 pm there's a trip to a local farm where you will be able to see traditional cheeses being made, which should also be available to buy. We return to the hotel for flying demonstrations in the park, with Patrick showing his revolutionary in-flight camera system! Since we're next to a lake, there's a chance for those of you with R/C boats to demonstrate naval prowess - we're working on Boxer again... For those less inclined to watch aeroplanes fly in circles, the British Grand Prix will be televised (by special arrangement) in the afternoon in the hotel bar, on a huge stereo wide screen TV! Finally, in the evening there's a chance to relax and wind down after all the excitement with a delicious Chinese meal at the local restaurant - for those of you leaving early, here's your opportunity to say Bon Voyage to your friends old and new, until next year.

On Monday morning, the die-hard hangers on will be treated to a specially cooked full English at Rob's house (10min walk from the hotel). So before you leave, wind down over a cup of tea with your bangers and bacon (subject to pre-booking and minimum number).

What a line up!

Competitions and Prizes

The usual plethora of competitions will take place during the meet. When you arrive on Saturday please ask for an entry form for each competition you wish to enter. You will be given a competitor number (which in the case of vehicle competitions must be placed inside your windscreen - please be sure to park near the other empeg vehicles so your entry will not be overlooked!)

If you are bringing your empeg-installed vehicle you can enter three competitions, which will be judged by your peers. There will be prizes for the winner and runner up in each category. All meet attendees can vote on any or all of the categories:

Sound Quality : The best sounding installation (according to individual preferences)
Professional Installation: The best professionally installed system (including empeg and ancilliary components)
Self Installation: The best self installed system (no professional help)

The much beloved empeg Knowledge Quiz will run once again, with questions of empeg trivia chosen by the empeg team (probably on the ferry at the last minute!). There will be small prizes for the winner and runner

The Distance Traveled competition never ceases to amaze, and this year we know people are traveling from far and wide to attend the meet. If you are driving all the way to the Campanile then the rules are simple: note your odometer mileage when you set out, and the miles driven during the journey can be submitted as your entry. If you are using public transport (e.g. plane, ferry, train or bus) for part or all of your journey, then your competition miles will be half the number of miles Traveledas the crow flies for that stage of the journey. Note that the starting point of your journey is considered to be the place from which you set out specifically to attend the meet - in other words, if you live in Iceland but happened to be in France on other business, then your competition mileage will be calculated from your starting point in France. If, however, you set out from Iceland primarily to attend the meet then your starting point will be Iceland. Clearly we will rely on your honesty! There will be a prize for the longest distance Traveled and also a prize for the attendee who crossed the highest number of political borders during their journey (internal UK borders will count).

Your entry fee for the meet will also include one entry in the grand empeg Raffle! Tickets will be pulled at random for some great prizes - come and take your chance!

All tie breaks will be resolved with tie break empeg trivia questions. One person (who has not entered any competitions) will be nominated to give a final decision in the event of any disputes or unforeseen interpretations of the rules! :-)

Signing Up

Please read through the itinerary below, and fill in the boxes for the activities that you plan to attend. If you have any queries contact Rob Schofield. There is a paypal account for payment (preferred - do not send anything before you receive your confirmation or it may go astray) or you can pay on the day (Euro's only). BBQ and room payments are being handled by the hotel. If traveling as a group, you can complete this form once for the whole group provided the answers apply to everyone. Be sure to enter the number of people in your group!