Kids welcome! Info for parents attending CHI’23

CHI welcomes kids at all ages and wants to support parents in juggling their work and family obligations. Here you can find all information for attending CHI with your children or if you need any child caregiving services, including:

• Access for children to the conference venue
• Childcare during the main conferences days
• Nursing room
• Bringing your own caregiver
• Networking opportunities for families
• Hamburg with kids

In the following, we will explain these in detail. If you have questions that we did not answer, please reach out to the Family Chairs: [email protected]

Access for children to the venue

If your child(ren) will accompany you to the conference center, please indicate that during the registration process. On the page asking for your preferences, there is a checkbox saying: I am interested in bringing my child(ren) to CHI23 and the conference center. When you check that, the Family Chairs will reach out to you and send you a separate form for registering your kids. At the conference, they will get a badge and be allowed to access the venue. This is free of charge.

Alternatively, you can also reach out to the Family Chairs individually to be sent the registration form for kids: [email protected]

Childcare during the main conference days

We are happy to announce that we will be offering free, high quality childcare for children from 2 years of age during the main conference days (Monday – Thursday) starting at 08:30 and running throughout the day (with a break during lunch). This will be offered by “Deine Kinderbetreuung”. Deine Kinderbetreuung employs over 60 professionally trained caregivers. They are experienced in offering high quality child care during events and conferences and speak multiple languages. At CHI, they will offer fun activities, and a multitude of games, and toys for toddlers and older children alike but also a space to relax and calm down.

How to book: During registration, please check a box that you are interested in childcare at CHI. The Family Chairs will then reach out to you for registering your kids and indicating special needs or preferences. If you already registered for CHI, or in case you forget to check the box, no problem! Please reach out directly to the Family Chairs at [email protected] and we will get back to you. Please note that spots are limited and assigned on a first-come first-serve basis.

For Workshop attendees: We are happy to help you organize childcare during workshops. Please reach out as early as possible to the Family Chairs: [email protected]. Note that this needs to be covered by parents.

For parents of younger children (below 2): If you need childcare for your baby, please reach out to the Family Chairs as early as possible to arrange an individual solution: [email protected]. Note that this needs to be covered by parents.

Nursing room

Next to the Kids’ room, a separate room will offer a comfortable, quiet space for parents and caregivers. This space can be used to pump breast milk or to feed and calm down your baby, among other caregiving needs. There will be a refrigerator to store breast milk (please bring your own containers and label them). The room will be furnished with a microwave and a bottle warmer to heat baby food as well. Please reach out to the Family Chairs should you have any other needs: [email protected]

Is a caregiver accompanying you?

If you travel with your children and are accompanied by a caregiver for your child(ren) (e.g. partner, grandparent, nanny, etc.), we know that there may be circumstances when the caretaker needs to access the conference venue (e.g. to bring the baby for nursing). If this is the case for your family, please reach out to the Family Chairs: [email protected]

Please explain your situation, and we’ll do our best to support you. We have a limited number of companion passes that we can give out for free to caretakers of children. These passes will allow access to the conference center’s common areas, but not to the conference sessions.

CHInnecting parents – networking event and online panel

The motto of this year’s CHI is to (re)connect people. We want to make this as easy as possible also for families and parents in our community. The challenges of integrating work and family life go far beyond traveling to conferences. At CHI, we want to help you to connect with other parents to exchange experiences about these challenges, to find a peer group to brainstorm solutions and to learn from each other. For that we are planning two events:

1. An in-person networking event during CHI where you can join with or without your family to connect with other parents in our community. More about this in a separate blog post soon.
2. An online panel: CHI and family life, on 2nd of March between 12:00 pm and 1:30 pm (ET) / 6:00 pm and 7:30pm (CET). This is free and open for anyone to join.

Hamburg with kids: resources for families

Here you can find some first information about fun things to do in Hamburg with kids. Our interactive map also has some useful resources for parents, pointing out playgrounds, supermarkets, kid-friendly restaurants (some with playrooms!) and fun activities (after showing the corresponding layers).

You can buy diapers, baby food and similar items, from most supermarkets (e.g. Edeka, Rewe) or Drugstores (e.g. Rossmann, DM, Budni).