Hey everyone, I've been following along in the thread for a while, but thought I would chime in. I received a scholarship this year and I'm very excited about WWDC; I can't believe it is already less than a month away! This is my first time applying and going to WWDC, so I am very curious about the details and I appreciate everyone who's been posting them!
I emailed them to ask about travel accommodations on Monday evening and I received a reply yesterday (Tuesday) evening. The relevant part of that reply was:
"I will need some time to research your request with the appropriate internal teams. I will contact you back if additional information is needed or if I have an update."
It's not a no, but it's not a yes, either.
I also got a phone call yesterday with details about where to check in, etc. Nothing was mentioned about travel expenses, which means that even if they decide to cover any of the cost, it will likely be a reimbursement, not an upfront payment or arrangement. As an example, Google provides scholarships to certain conferences, but you have to make the arrangements yourself, and they hand you a prepaid card when you arrive at the conference.
So, here is my unsolicited advice. Act as if they will not cover anything, decide if you can afford to go, and if you can, book everything as soon as possible! Then email them to ask about reimbursement, because you may be pleasantly surprised. If you cannot afford to go on your own, email them right away to tell them this, then be ready to book everything last minute, or if possible make reservations that have a flexible cancellation policy (probably not possible with airfare, but possible with some hotels or airbnb).
Also, most of the hotels are sold out of the rooms contracted by the Moscone Center already (you can see them under Lodging on the More page of the WWDC site). However, we called one of them that was sold out, and they still had other rooms available, and they actually ended up beating the conference rate after some friendly conversation and we told them why we were going.
Good luck, and I'm looking forward to meeting everyone soon!
I emailed them to ask about travel accommodations on Monday evening and I received a reply yesterday (Tuesday) evening. The relevant part of that reply was:
"I will need some time to research your request with the appropriate internal teams. I will contact you back if additional information is needed or if I have an update."
It's not a no, but it's not a yes, either.
I also got a phone call yesterday with details about where to check in, etc. Nothing was mentioned about travel expenses, which means that even if they decide to cover any of the cost, it will likely be a reimbursement, not an upfront payment or arrangement. As an example, Google provides scholarships to certain conferences, but you have to make the arrangements yourself, and they hand you a prepaid card when you arrive at the conference.
So, here is my unsolicited advice. Act as if they will not cover anything, decide if you can afford to go, and if you can, book everything as soon as possible! Then email them to ask about reimbursement, because you may be pleasantly surprised. If you cannot afford to go on your own, email them right away to tell them this, then be ready to book everything last minute, or if possible make reservations that have a flexible cancellation policy (probably not possible with airfare, but possible with some hotels or airbnb).
Also, most of the hotels are sold out of the rooms contracted by the Moscone Center already (you can see them under Lodging on the More page of the WWDC site). However, we called one of them that was sold out, and they still had other rooms available, and they actually ended up beating the conference rate after some friendly conversation and we told them why we were going.
Good luck, and I'm looking forward to meeting everyone soon!
