Thanks to their free accessibility for testing purposes on real mobile devices, Open Device Labs have gained a tremendous popularity during the last year. Today the central register at opendevicelab.com comprises an impressive number of 67 ODLs worldwide, providing more than 1,000 devices available in 22 countries. Which means that, on average, almost every week a new ODL has been launched somewhere across the planet. Speaking in mathematical terms, Germany and its 13 labs represent 20% of all ODLs worldwide.

During the past months, we've had great fun meeting some of our colleagues from other labs, all of which seem to be driven by the same spirit. Building up their ODLs, many have made similar experiences, overcome the same obstacles and encountered common questions and challenges. We frequently noticed issues which have occupied our fellow team mates in parallel, e.g.

• Which hardware and software setup is suitable for my ODL?
• Which form of organization is fiscally or actuarially resonable?
• What rules should apply to the use of my ODL?
• How do I deal with legal issues such as the liability?

up to the most frequently asked question:

• How do I get people to use my ODL?

The answers to most of these questions are most likely valid throughout all ODLs – or at least so long as they operate in roughly the same context, e.g. the same legal system. Thus, isn't it pretty obvious to team up in order to find the proper answers?

With the ODL Admin Meetup we want to provide a platform for all ODL admins to meet in real life, exchange their experiences and develop answers and strategies together. For the organization of the meetup, Joschi Kuphal (co-founder of the Nuremberg ODL and CEO of the media agency Tollwerk) and Marc Thiele (founder of the Dusseldorf ODL and mastermind behind beyond tellerrand) joined forces and, for starters, target all the German speaking ODLs. But naturally, the meetup cordially invites all international colleagues as well and will be geared accordingly in case of interested participants from outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The meetup is scheduled for

News and updates concerning the meetup will be published through the

which should be followed by everyone interested in the meetup and/or its participation. In addition, any interested Open Device Lab is invited to join the

in order to get involved, discuss, and submit session proposals. We hereby ask for your explicit declaration of interest on either channel so that we can assess the situation and set up the meeting accordingly.

Any questions concerning the ODL Admin Meetup can be directed to the above mentioned twitter account or by e-mail to odladm(at)odl-nbg.de.

In addition to the meetup, and thematically adjacent, Marc and Joschi are organizing a mini conference called

Among the speakers will be

• Jeremy Keith
• Vasilis van Gemert
• Tobias Baldauf
• Bastian Allgeier
• Vitaly Friedman
• and more (to be announced soon) 

Please visit the conference website

for tickets and all the details. News and updates on the conference will also be spread via the @odladm twitter account or the website of the Nuremberg Web Week 2013 soon.