Vienna 2024 Attendee Guide

• Vienna Alignment Workshop, Main Sessions: Sunday, July 21 from 9:00–18:00

• Open Social Event (open to all ICML attendees): Sunday, July 21 from 19:00–22:00

• Monday Unconference: Monday, July 22 from 9:30–18:00

Both the Vienna Alignment Workshop and the Monday Unconference take place at:

Austria Center Vienna (ACV)

Bruno-Kreisky-Platz 1, 1220 Wien, Austria 

See their instructions for arriving here. 

All workshop activities will be held on the ground floor of Austria Center Vienna (ACV). Registration will open at 8 AM on Sunday, July 21, though you can check-in at any time during the event.

An "Alignment Workshop" banner will be displayed at the registration table for easy navigation.

The schedule is visible on Swapcard. We'll also display it on-site and will send announcements on Swapcard.

The workshop schedule includes several experimental activities we've designed to help attendees get the most out of the workshop. 

• As with previous Alignment Workshops, we're limiting the time for Q&A after talks and replacing them with optional "office hours" with the speakers from the previous session. 

• We're also including a lot of time for unstructured discussion; we particularly encourage attendees to schedule 1:1 meetings during these.  

• To make sure we can cover a wide range of ideas, we'll have twelve 5-minute lightning talks. 

Swapcard is the main event platform, with Slack as a secondary platform.
If you're unable to access either platform, please contact the organizers (alignment-workshop@far.ai)

One of our key goals for this event is to help build connections among existing alignment researchers and those new to this research community: We expect attendees to find building their networks to be one of the most important activities at this workshop!

We encourage you to schedule 1:1s by

• Contacting the person you want to meet on Swapcard. You can use the scheduling feature to easily facilitate this: the in-built Calendar system allows you to choose a mutually-compatible time.

• Suggesting a topic or questions you want to discuss. It should go without saying, but it’s worth emphasizing: meetings are usually more productive when both parties have agreed on what to speak about in advance.

We also encourage you to make time for unstructured networking and group conversations. There will be opportunities to do this during meal times and during the Open Social on Sunday night.

Buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be served each day in Foyer E outside of the main hall. We’re catering for omnivore, vegetarian, and vegan diets, and there will be gluten-free options. Meals at the workshop will take into account common food allergies (e.g., peanuts and shellfish), and all allergens we’ve been notified of will be clearly labelled on all dishes. 

• 8:00–9:00 | Breakfast

• 12:00–13:00 | Lunch

• 18:00–19:00 | Dinner  

We’ll also have morning and afternoon breaks where light refreshments will be provided.

There is an open "ACV" WiFi network, which does not require a password. Select the Wifi, open a browser with the landing page, click accept and you´re in. Please note after some time of inactivity you need to log in again (just like in airports).

In July, Vienna experiences its highest average temperatures in July, reaching a peak of 26.7°C (80.1°F) and a minimum of 17.4°C (63.3°F). 

You can see today's weather here (°F) or here (°C). For a 10-day forecast, see here (°F) or here (°C).

ACV has Type C plug (Europlug) electrical sockets. It is difficult to find adapters in Vienna so bring the adapters you need. 

You're welcome to store belongings and luggage in Room 0.15. However, please note no one will be supervising this room, so this is at your own risk and FAR AI is not responsible for misplaced or lost items.

We strive to create a Workshop that is inclusive and accessible, and that enables all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. To this end, the workshop offers the following accommodations:

• Wheelchair access

• Meals for attendees with dietary restrictions

Please email Lindsay Murachver at lindsay@far.ai to coordinate these or other necessary accommodations. 

Photographers and/or videographers may be present at this event.

By participating and being present during the event, you give FAR AI the right to use photographs or video/audio recording taken of you during the event for educational or promotional purposes and for sharing with external news media. If you do not wish to photographed or recorded, please contact us at alignment-workshop@far.ai 

The workshop will not be streamed. However, some talks will be recorded (dependent on speaker preference). Upon completion of recording and edits, talks will be added to our YouTube page here.

If a speaker needs a space prior or post their talk, please invite them to use Room 0.41. 

We're committed to providing friendly and productive events for all participants. We will not tolerate harassment in any form.

At this event, you agree to:

• Respect the boundaries of other participants.

• Respect the confidentiality of other participants.

• Look out for one another.

These behaviors don't belong at this event:

• Offensive or discriminatory actions or communication.

• Being disruptive or drinking excessively.

• Bullying or threatening behavior.

• Sexual harassment of any kind, including unwelcome sexual attention and inappropriate physical contact.

Not adhering to these guidelines may mean that you are asked to leave the event with immediate effect.

We understand that human interaction is complex and that people understand it in different ways. Please give each other the benefit of explaining behavior you find unwelcome or offensive. If you’re asked to stop a behavior that’s causing a problem for someone, we expect you to stop immediately.

Contact us to report any problems

Please contact your on-site point persons (Lindsay Murachver or Vael Gates) immediately with any concerns.

We'll do our best to maintain the confidentiality of complaints whenever feasible. We will always communicate with you if we need to take a complaint further and/or discuss it with anyone else.

Our commitment

We will investigate all incidents reported at an event with discretion and will respond as needed, including removing participants if necessary.

Our onsite team will be wearing "Staff" name badges and will be available throughout the workshop. Please have a very low bar for reaching out to us for any help.

For all logistical queries, Lindsay Murachver is the main point of contact. She can be reached via Slack, Whatsapp, or Telegram (+1 860 488 5568). 

If you experience any personal or interpersonal problems at the event that you’d like help with, Vael Gates and Hannah Betts will be available on-site at all times. 

• Vael: DM on Slack, Message on Swapcard, or email vael@far.ai

• Hannah: +1 64 22 679 6653 or you can DM her on Slack

As in our Code of Conduct, harassment, bullying, or unwanted romantic/sexual attention is unacceptable at our events, and we encourage you to report any of this behaviour to us.

What do you recommend to do while in Vienna?

Visit this Official Travel Guide or Visiting Vienna for tips, or schedule a free highlight tour. 

What safety precautions should I take in Vienna? 

It is recommended that attendees travel in groups of three or more, remain in well-lit, high traffic areas, plan your route ahead of time so you don’t get lost, stay alert to your surroundings, keep your phone and valuables tucked into your bag or pocket and don’t hesitate to ask a uniformed officer, guide or security professional for help or guidance.

This is an invite-only workshop and we are at capacity, but please submit an Expression of Interest Form to be considered for future events.