PLM 2005: Venue and Practical Information

PLM 2005, Poznań, 22-24 April 2005

The Venues

Most sessions during PLM 2005 will take place at the WSJO building in 5 Piekary Street in downtown Poznań. The building has a logo at the front door that reads 'Wyższa Szkoła Języków Obcych'. It is within walking distance from most of the hotels we list below (check the map below for reference and click here for venue photos).

Additionally, the opening session on Friday, 22 April is planned at the Adam Mickiewicz University Hall, 1 Wieniawskiego Street, one of the central venues in the city. Furthermore, the joint panel of PLM 2005 and L&T'05, Technology for Linguistics, Linguistics for Technology, is planned at the Malthouse of the Old Brewery (dubbed 'Słodownia' at 'Stary Browar' in Polish), which is a 5-minute walk from the main venue. Participants will be shown the way to the Malthouse during the break between earlier sessions at the main venue and the upcoming panel.

NOTICE: Even before the actual opening of PLM 2005, the Reception Desk will open on the ground floor of the WSJO building (5 Piekary Street, the main venue) on Thursday, 21 April, at 16.00. Participants who arrive in Poznan on that day or earlier are welcome to visit us, finalise the registration, and have a glass of wine. On that day, the Reception Desk closes at 22.00, and moves onto the fourth floor of the buliding until the end of the Conference (most sessions take place on that floor).

Conference Dinner and Dance at Kórnik Castle

Click here for information on the Dinner and its Venue

The Hotels

The list below is intended only as an index of chosen hotels that meet at least one of the following conditions:
(1) they are situated in the vicinity of the main PLM 2005 Venue,
(2) they offer reasonable prices.

Prices given in the table are supposed to be valid as of December 2004, unless stated otherwise, and are subject to change.
Prices are given in the currency specified by the hotels, either the Euro (EUR), or the Polish Zloty (PLN). In mid-April 2005, the approximate exchange rate is 1 EUR = 4.1 PLN. This rate is expected to change perpetually.

All the data are given to the best of our knowledge. We will not, however, take any responsibility for the data turning out to be incorrect.

We also refer you to third-party online room booking services and alike, listed below. Please note that these services are not affiliated with PLM 2005, and we will not take any responsibility for actions between you and the referred service.
Hotelia -- online room booking service -- in Polish, English, and German.
Hotel Online -- online room booking service -- in Polish, English, and German.
Zimny -- Biuro Podróży Zimny (Zimny travel agent's) -- in Polish, and in English

NOTE: Should you need help in booking a room or should you have questions related to your stay in Poznań, please address your questions to PLM 2005 conference secretaries, Mrs. Danuta Trawczyńska (dankatra@poczta.onet.pl) or Ms. Agnieszka Bury (bury@ifa.amu.edu.pl) .

The Map

Below, we present a map which shows the main Conference Venue (5 Piekary Street, WSJO building), the railway station, and the two extra venues for Friday sessions (see PLM 2005 Programme for details).

Useful Information (Mainly for participants from outside Poland)

TRAVEL

TO AND FROM POZNAN

By Train

Poznań is located about half way between Warsaw (320 km) and Berlin (280 km), and there are good, frequent rail connections between those two cities and Poznań.

From Berlin: Example connections on 17 May:

*Change at Frankfurt/Oder

From Warsaw: Example connections:

To verify these connections, and to find more, visit the timetable of the Polish Railways, or German Railways.

By Air

Poznań's Ławica airport has frequent daily connections with Warsaw (LOT Polish Airlines), as well as flights from Vienna (LOT and Austrian Airlines), Copenhagen (LOT and SAS), Frankfurt/Main and Munich (LOT), and Cologne/Bonn (European Air Express). The timetable is available here. However, please verify with the respective airlines whether the flights are available.

MONEY

The legal tender in Poland is the Zloty (abbreviated PLN or zł). Poland is currently not a member of the European monetary union. Since Poland's joing the European Union, however, it is perfectly legal to pay in Euros, as long as both parties agree. A number of shops will accept Euros in cash. Every major shop or restaurant will accept cards. The most popular card systems are: Visa, and MasterCard. In addition to the traditional, thick, embossed cards, e.g. Visa Classic, MasterCard, most shops will also accept the thin, electronic-use-only cards, e.g. Visa Electron, or Maestro, Maestro always requiring a PIN instead of the owner's signature.
If you need to change cash, a number of currency exchange burreaus are available in the vicinity of the Main Conference Venues, and some hotels have one in the lobby.
The approximate exchange rate (17 April 2005) is 4.1 PLN-to-EUR, and 3.2 PLN-to-USD. The latest exchange rates for all major currencies are available here.

Transportation

Most of the hotels listed above are within reasonable distance form the main conference venue, and from extra venues used for particular sessions (check the conference programme for details). In fact, some of the hotels are within walking distance of the main venue (see the map).

If you prefer to take a taxi, we suggest calling a taxi by phone, instead of taking one at a taxi rank. This is extremely important when taking a taxi at the airport or the railway station. The taxis casually waiting at the rank may have outrageously high rates, and it is plausible that the driver may try to cheat a foreign visitor to Poznan. We therefore suggest calling a taxi by phone, dialing (+4861) 9622 for reasonably priced service, or (+4861) 9662 for quality service at a higher price (you can check that the number you dialed is shown on the taxi's roof light or the passenger door, once the taxi arrives). Just to make sure, the address of the main venue is : 5 Piekary Street, and the building has a logo at the front door that reads 'Wyższa Szkoła Języków Obcych'. (Check the programme for other venues used at PLM 2005 on Friday, 22 April)

ELECTRICITY and TV/VIDEO Standard

Polish sockets are standard European sockets, with a voltage of 230V, and a frequency of 50Hz. All visitors coming from countries using appliances/plugs that do not work with such sockets/voltages (especially American and British guests) are advised to bring adapters.

For TV and video, Poland is in Region 2 for DVD-Video purposes (as opposed to Region 1 for North America), so DVD-V discs brought from Region 1 may not be playable on most equipment and vice versa. The TV/Video standard for colour transmission is PAL, clocked at the usual European 50Hz. VCR's capable of NTSC-playback are widely available, but not all TV sets around can manage with the overclocked 60Hz PAL that comes out as a result of NTSC-to-PAL conversion. Please take that into consideration if planning a video presentation. Of course, these limitation do not apply if you wish to plug your portable computer to an LCD overhead display, as these devices usually do fine with 60Hz VGA input signal. Please write to us if you have technical questions regarding your presentation.

TELEPHONES

All European GSM mobiles will work without problems. Polish operators use both of the two standard European GSM bands, 1800 and 900 MHz. The UMTS mobile standard is rather scarcely available.

The international code for Poland is +48, the area code for Poznan is 61.

WEATHER

Polish weather can be quite changeable in April, although traditionally the conference has enjoyed fair, sunny weather with temperatures between 15 and 25 Centigrade during the day. Nights can be cooler. With worse luck, a raincoat and umbrella may find some use. Current forecast available here.

Last updated: 17 April 2005.

PLM 2005 Home Page