Logistics 2024

Travel to and from the airport

Fluidity Forum is arranging for registered attendees in all ticket packages for a minivan to take you and your luggage to and from the airport, DTW (Detroit Metro Airport, in Romulus, Michigan).

Pickup will be at 3:15pm Thursday afternoon and 8:45 Thursday evening. It turned out no pickups were needed on Friday or Saturday. Dropoffs will depart the house around noon on Sunday, and 6pm Sunday afternoon. If you forgot to fill out the travel form and you need a pickup or dropoff on other days or times, please tell us by contacting us at the email address which we used to email you your application acceptance, and we might be able to do something.

If you provide your own transportation, an Uber from Detroit’s airport (in Romulus) to our AirBnB and venue (in the center of Detroit) costs an estimated $43, one-way (20 miles).

Session Venues

We will stay in the same large rental house which attendees liked last year, and our sessions will be there on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. We’ll send the address to those who register.

But we will no longer have our presentations at The Congregation. We’ve rented an academic-style auditorium that seats 100, for sessions on Saturday. It’s exactly one mile from the large house where we’re staying. All of our sessions outside of that time will be in the the house.

Sleeping arrangements

We have the same large AirBnB as last year. If you’re a registered attendee, you’ll be emailed the address of the AirBnB before you leave for Detroit. Each attendee will be assigned a place to sleep.

The house sleeps 20 people, and will host the after party at 10pm on Saturday night. It’s 1 mile from the auditorium where we will have keynotes on Saturday afternoon. A shuttle will be provided.

If you are a registered attendee, you should have received a form asking for your sleeping preferences, to determine whether you get a room with a door or sleep behind a privacy screen, or to be the only person sleeping in a room, or whether you get a bed, a bunkbed, a couch, or an air mattress behind a privacy screen.

After using that to assign beds, we’ll post images to the #general channel on the Fluidity Forum Discord of a map of everyone’s sleeping arrangements.

We have 3pm check-in on Thursday, and 11am check-out on Monday. Participants may sleep there Sunday night! If you don’t wish to be rushed out the door of the AirBnB no later than 11 on Monday morning, you may sleep Sunday night at Matt Arnold’s house 1.5 miles from the venue in the North End neighborhood.

Food

You know how some meals, like salad bars, or tacos, are designed so that each person can assemble their entree from a range of optional toppings and optional bases? Most of our meals will be like that this year. We’re trying to include options that can accommodate low-carb, gluten-free, vegetarian, lactose intolerant, and seed-oil-free.

I’m going to keep my espresso machine at the main AirBnB during the weekend for attendees to use.

We have some plans for a variety of continental breakfast foods, which will be listed here soon.

We’re also still within walking distance of the delightful Z’s Good Burger on Grand Boulevard that many of you liked last year.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday continental breakfasts:

Yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, cereal with milk and non-dairy milk, fruit, bagels with cream cheese, coffee

Thursday dinner, courtesy of forum staff:

Grilled seasonal vegetables (cauliflower, zucchini, onions, bell peppers, beets) with tofu

Italian sausages for those who want meat

Baked potatoes for those who want carbs

Friday lunch, courtesy of Jasmine Ren:

Lentil soup (lentils, celery, onion, carrot, kalamata olives, bay leaves, red wine vinegar, olive oil)

Salad (salad greens, balsamic vinegar, garlic, olive oil, Dijon mustard, Italian seasoning)

Bread

Friday group dinner ritual, courtesy of Jane Flowers:

Libation
Rozendal Hibiscus Botanical Vinegar

First Course
Clubstraunt Ceviche: fatty tuna + soy sauce emulsion + ginger turmeric / nigela seed / roasted edamame toppings

Second Course
Family-style Succotash & Peach Jalapeño Cornbread
kale avocado base + roasted sweet corn + edamame + peppers + basil + andouille + tomato & peach purées

Third Course
Nut-Drunk Love
Kahlúa crême brownie + pistachio gelato + fresh cherries

Nightcap
Masala Chai

Saturday lunch, courtesy of Jasmine Ren:

Chana Masala (chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, garlic, ginger, garam masala, cumin, olive oil)

Rice (basmati rice)

Saturday dinner, courtesy of Jasmine Ren:

Tacos (beef topping: beef birria; vegetarian topping: extra firm tofu, chipotle peppers, onions, garlic, vegetable fajitas, bell peppers, red onions, paprika, black beans; guacamole, tortillas, cilantro, lime, tomato, red onion)

Sunday lunch, courtesy of Jasmine Ren:

Baked Salmon (wild caught salmon, fresh parsley, fresh dill, garlic, lemon)

Store-bought potato salad

Salad (arugula, campari tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, basil, olive oil)

Discord Server

Fluidity Forum has a Discord server, where we have conversations by turns enjoyable and practical. We did things like collect the preferences of attendees about when they want their presentations to happen, or coordinating group video calls throughout the year. It’s often the first place new information will go. If our Discord invitation link to you is expired, or if you can’t find it, please contact us at the email address which we used to email you your application acceptance and we’ll give you a new invitation.