Rumour has it that the Pirates are a bit unorganized. It has also been an European inside joke for centuries that Germans are, extremely and uncanningly organized.

So what happens when German Organization skills and Pirates unite? The results were amazingly well organized general assembly which again resulted in productivity and happiness.

As soon as we entered the town, Neumarkt, we were greeted by signs of the German Pirate party which led the way to the Assembly. It was a bit like treasure hunt.

The assembly comfortable hosted over 1000 pirates, participating, a well equipped press room and accessible food stalls. Everything organized by pirates.

I must say that I was very happy to see that they decided not even bother with trying to have a wireless internetconnection for everybody, but instead provided a high quality internet through wired connections. Therefore therer was no frustration because of flunky wireless connection and people could get their Twitter and facebook fix.

I was equally impressed with the organization of the food. There was something for everyone, vegan, meat-dishes, grill and beverages. It was nicely organized, even one booth which was selling coupons for food so there was never a hassel because of lack of change or something alike. It is not easy to make enough food to feed ten dozen people and I must say that the Germans did splendidly.

There is one exception though. The coffee management was a borderline crisis situation. Apparently, the coffee machine was somehow broken. The fact that there was not another coffee machine or some alternative method to make the coffee to make sure that the Black Essence of Life was available to the attendees was, in my opinion, the only flaw of the organization of the assembly. But, people could of course retire to Club Mate.

Overall, I enjoyed the assembly. Lots of good people attending, the organization was superb and it showed. A well organized assembly means that people are not worrying about that the food takes too long time or that the wifi is down again. This meant that the German Pirate Party managed to have a productive assembly which got good reports from the media and made a great impression on us, the international guests.

This also made me realize how important it is to meet in person. To share an experience of something like this assembly, get to meet new people and participate in a discussion which would otherwise not happen. It builds trust and relations and I really hope the Germans will continue to have general assemblies, as they are great fun!

Thank you for an amazing weekend!